SEC Football: Fear of the SEC’s power driven by recruiting

Since Nick Saban built the most dominating program in college football, the Alabama Crimson Tide has been hated and feared. The ill will spread to SEC football in general, with the success of LSU, Georgia, and potentially on the horizon, Texas A&M.

In addition, the future move to the SEC by Oklahoma and Texas fueled even more hate and fear of the SEC. Much of the recent failure to agree on CFB Playoff expansion is directly tied to the other Power Five conferences trying to deter continued dominance by the SEC.

What has most recently exacerbated tensions is the impact of NIL money. More so than any other conference, SEC football programs have willing NIL partners to pump money to players. In some cases, the deals are large enough to drive a recruit’s selection of a school.

The 2022 class recruiting cycle provides proof of the power of SEC football. That power has been a given for many years, but based on the 2022 class, the ability of SEC teams to attract elite recruits has grown even more.

With the entry of On3 to the media landscape of covering recruiting, player rankings are more varied. What has been the recruiting standard, the 247Sports Composite still combines player ratings from 247 Sports, Rivals and ESPN. It, as yet, does not include On3 in the Composite. Not only does On3 have its own player rankings, it combines them with the other three sources to create the On3 Consensus recruiting rankings.

Reviewing the differences in the Composite and the Consensus is interesting. For example, On3 rates new Alabama football players Tyler Booker and Amari Niblack higher than the other sources, having both of them as 5-Stars.

A good way to gauge why SEC football is so hated and feared is to look at the most elite recruits in the 2022 class; the Top 50 players in the Composite and the Consensus.

The current and future SEC teams (Oklahoma and Texas) dominate the 2022 recruiting class.

• In the 247Sports Composite, 26 of the 45 signed, Top 50 players are on current SEC teams. plus Texas. The other four Power Five conferences and Notre Dame combined have 17, Top 50 players.
• In the On3 Consensus, 28 of the 46 signed, Top 50 players are on current SEC teams, plus Oklahoma and Texas. The other four Power Five conferences and Notre Dame combined have 17, Top 50 players.

The rest of college football knows as long as the SEC has such recruiting domination, no other conference can come close to competing on the field.

In addition to the numbers above, among the few still unsigned 2022 recruits, most will likely end up with SEC teams.