While it’s not a requirement, and CBS Sports’s Bud Elliot is clear about that, since 2011, when he began the project, every national champion has cleared the blue-chip ratio. That means that over the last four years, they have recruited more four and five-star players than two and three-stars.
This year, despite the significant roster churn that occurred when Nick Saban retired and Kalen DeBoer took over, and despite expectations (that have since been disproven) that DeBoer would be a subpar SEC recruiter, Alabama is the No. 1 team on Elliot’s 2025 blue-chip ratio.
Alabama leads the country in Bud Elliot’s blue-chip ratio
Of the last four recruiting cycles, which are factored into Elliot’s blue-chip ratio, Alabama’s lowest-ranked class is the 2025 group that finished No. 3 in the country. The 2023 class ranked No. 1 while 2022 and 2024 were both No. 2, a nice parting gift from Saban’s decade and a half of dominance.
Transfers are not factored into the blue-chip ratio, only the high school and junior college recruits who sign with the program.
So, what is Alabama’s blue-chip ratio? The Crimson Tide check in even with Ohio State at 89% for the 2025 season, clear of Georgia and Texas A&M, the only two other programs with over an 80% ratio. There are only 18 teams in the country that have a higher concentration of four and five-stars than two and three-stars.
Alabama has won the national championship five times since the inception of Elliot’s blue-chip ratio in 2011, including the 2011 and 2012 titles. Here are the blue-chip ratios of Alabama’s five national title teams:
- 2011 Alabama: 71%
- 2012 Alabama: 71%
- 2015 Alabama: 77%
- 2017 Alabama: 80%
- 2020 Alabama: 83%
The transfer portal era has brought some fluctuations to the blue-chip ratio data, with 2023 Michigan representing a bit of an outlier as one of just three teams since 2011 with a blue-chip ratio under 60 percent. Still, it can be an important indicator, and in 2024, Ohio State’s blue-chip ratio was 90 percent, the highest of any national champion in the database.
Alabama’s 89 percent blue-chip ratio certainly doesn’t guarantee a national title, especially with a question mark at quarterback, but it’s not a bad thing either. Alabama has amassed talent as well as any program in the country, and that will keep the Tide in contention in 2025.