Early National Signing Day 2020: List of 5-Star Recruits Heading to Each School

As is customary around every national signing period, college football coaches around the country will talk about how recruiting ranks—and especially the number of stars next to a prospect's name—don't matter. And, as always, they will be wrong. 

On an individual level, recruiting rankings might not be the best predictor of a player's success. Numerous things factor into how good a prospect ends up being, and oftentimes, underrated ones outperform players who ranked ahead of them. But the aggregate is a different story altogether. 

Translation: The more blue-chip prospects a school recruits, the more conference and national titles it wins. 

Below is where every five-star prospect that has signed is headed. Still unsigned are DE Korey Foreman (No. 1 overall), DE J.T. Tuimalaou (No. 3), OT Tristan Leigh (No. 11), LB Terrence Lewis (No. 16) and RB Camar Wheaton (No. 26). 

Foreman, who was once committed to Clemson, is predicted to end up at USC, while Tuimolaou is down to Ohio State and Alabama. 247Sports predicts Leigh and Wheaton will join No. 1 overall quarterback Caleb Williams at Oklahoma, which would boost the Sooners past LSU, Oregon and Clemson into the No. 4 spot. Lewis, the highest-rated linebacker still on the board, isn't signing until Jan. 2, but he's been predicted by recruiting analysts to Auburn, though the Tigers' firing of head coach Gus Malzahn could potentially change that. 

Teams with Multiple Five-Star Signees

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Alabama (6) 

WR Jacorey Brooks (No. 34)
CB Ga'Quincy McKinstry (No. 23) 
DT Damon Payne (No. 19)
DE Dallas Turner (No. 8) 
OT Tommy Brockermeyer (No. 5)
OT JC Latham (No. 2)

Ohio State (5) 

QB Kyle McCord (No. 25)
RB TreVeyon Henderson (No. 24)
OT Donovan Jackson (No. 17)
WR Emeka Egbuka (No. 9)
DE Jack Sawyer (No. 4)

Georgia (4)

OLB Smael Mondon (No. 29)
OLB Xavian Sorey (No. 20)
QB Brock Vandagriff (No. 14)
OT Amarius Mims (No. 7)

LSU (2) 

S Sage Ryan (No. 28)
DT Maason Smith (No. 18)

Clemson (2) 

LB Barrett Carter No. (33)
RB Will Shipley (No. 30)

Miami (FL) (2)

S James Williams (No. 13)
DT Leonard Taylor (No. 10)

The top five teams in 247Sports recruiting rankings—Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU and Clemson—have appeared in or won the College Football Playoff National Championship in the past six years. They also consistently draw the most five-star prospects into their programs. Coincidence? Not likely. 

In the 2021 class alone, that quintet has signed 19 of the 29 available five-star prospects, and over the last five years, has combined to sign 88 of the 156 (56.1 percent) five-stars. The next five closest teams have combined to sign 27 in that same period. And in the last two recruiting cycles, that gap has grown even further with those five schools signing 38 of 61 five-star prospects (62.3 percent). Although schools like Oklahoma, Florida, Texas—and even Miami this year—have been able to grab one or two blue-chippers per cycle, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU and Clemson are continuing to widen the gap between themselves and everyone else. 

And surprisingly enough, despite not winning a national title during that period, Georgia actually leads all schools with 23 five-stars, while Alabama is just behind with 21. The Crimson Tide are still in contention for the No. 1 overall player in this year’s class, defensive end J.T. Tuimolaou, who is reportedly down to Alabama and Ohio State.

Best of the Rest

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Oklahoma (1) 

QB Caleb Williams (No. 6)

Florida (1) 

CB Jason Marshall (No. 27)

Texas A&M (1) 

DE Shemar Turner (No. 31)

Michigan (1)

QB J.J. McCarthy (No. 22) 

North Carolina (1) 

DE Keeshawn Silver (No. 32) 

Wisconsin (1) 

OT Nolan Rucci (No. 15)

Texas (1) 

ATH Ja’Tavion Sanders (No. 21)

Washington (1)

QB Sam Huard (No. 12)

Competing with the likes of Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia on the recruiting trail is akin to pushing a boulder uphill for most of the other high-level college football programs around the country. Those schools have lavish facilities, multi-million dollar assistant coaches, and recruiting staffs that dwarf those of most other programs. And when you combine that with the on-field success those teams have and the number of players they send each year to the NFL Draft, it's not difficult to understand how they reel in the majority of elite prospects. 

For Oklahoma, which has been to the College Football Playoff four of the past five seasons, finding and targeting specific needs has been the key to competing with the elite recruiting schools. The Sooners invest heavily in recruiting quarterbacks, and they've had success with landing elite transfers (Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts), as well as high school prospects (Spencer Rattler and this year's No. 1 QB Caleb Williams). OU has also sent a slew of receivers to the NFL in recent years, including Marquise Brown, CeeDee Lamb and DeDe Westbrook. And even though that's served them well in winning the Big 12, the Sooners are 0-4 in the College Football Playoff, losing by an average of 18 points per game. 

None of the other above schools have made it into the CFP since its inception, but Texas A&M could make its first appearance depending on how things shake out during Conference Championship weekend. The Aggies would be the first SEC school not named Georgia, Alabama or LSU to make it into college football's final four, proving just how difficult it is to even beat those schools once every couple years, let alone regularly. And it might even be harder to do it on the recruiting trail.