Top 100 2025 vs 2026

Hufftwoseven · Feb 5, 2026

Just wanted to point out that in the 2025 recruiting class, we signed 1 top 100 prospect. I know a lot were perplexed and underwhelmed with that class, finishing ranked 14th while coming off 10 wins. I personally thought it was unacceptable when Mario’s whole selling point as a CEO HC is his recruiting acumen.

Well fast forward to this 2026 class and the staff put that in the rear view by signing 6 top 100 players according to 247 rankings. 7 in the top 120 on both the 247 and composite scales.

Moving forward, I think it’s acceptable to expect 1 five star as the FLOOR. USC, Bama, OSU, ND, Texas and Oregon all signed 3+ 5 stars. I think it’s fair to expect this staff to sign 2+ with sustained success. But most importantly, I believe landing 5-8 in the top 100 is where you get the bang for your buck.

Cheers to the 2027 recruiting season, I’m assuming it heats up as we get into spring.

ToneyDaGawd · Feb 5, 2026

Not worried about the Top 100 or 24/7, rivals, etc rankings. This staff has proven their evals are pretty **** good.

Morey161 · Feb 5, 2026

Considering Malachi Toney was a 3 star and a NA ranked nationally and Bryce Fitzgerald was ranked 237 nationally, not including Josh Moore, Kellen Wiley, Jaboree Antoine, Gerard Pringle ect I am ok with it because in the end those guys are all going to be ranked 100 type players with Toney being a top 3 player in cfb period.

Go Canes!! · Feb 5, 2026

Have a feeling our staff’s Top 100 are vastly different than those of the recruiting sites.

lfoliva9988 · Feb 5, 2026

recruiting rankings are important, I'm not denying that and they've seemed to get more accurate as time goes on.....but you simply cant understate/skip the process of evaluating at the same time.

The secret sauce is having more "blue-chip recruits" than not and then also being able to hit/evaluate on some guys that maybe weren't super highly ranked but were just pure football players. Toney is the perfect example. He was not "highly ranked" by the recruiting services but everyone wanted him (OSU and Miami being the big battle). That tells you what you need to know.
Same thing when a 3 star OL is being heavily recruited by Miami, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc.

in this years class, I feel that person is J. Wyman at DB. He was a borderline 3/4 star recruit but he was being pursued by UGA, Auburn, UF, LSU, etc. (teams that have consistently recruited that position well).

Noliaboi · Feb 5, 2026

Recruiting rankings do matter. Why? Because perception matters and it’s easier to get top kids to join a top class rather than a top 15-20ish class.

90scane · Feb 5, 2026

The rankings are just a good summary. After Indiana just won the Natty with 4 blue chippers, I'm not sure I'm going to hold Mario to any standard outside of making the CFP!

Rellyrell · Feb 5, 2026

Not to be a ****, especially after the season we’ve had, but have they, though, on the HS recruiting side? (List based upon highest to lowest rankings)

2022:
1. Moss - Bust
2. Kelly - Bust
3. Skinner - Bust
4. Citizen - Bust
5. Rogers - Bust
6. Graves - Bust
7. Bisainthe -

8. J. Brown - Bust
9. Williams - Bust
10. Horton - Hit, transferred
11. Harris - Bust
12. Moten Sr -

13. McCoy - Bust
14. Cooper -

15. Young - Hit, transferred

2023:e
1. Mauigoa -

2. Samson - TBD
3. Bain -

4. Wayne - Bust
5. R. Williams - Bust
6. Joseph - Bust
7. Stafford - Bust
8. Fletcher -

9. Acheampong - Bust
10. Bryant - Bust
11. D. Brown - Inconsistent/TBD
12. Aguirre Jr. - Bust
13. R. Washington - Bust
14. C. Johnson Jr. - Bust
15. B. Washington- Bust
16. Horton - Bust
17. Kinsler IV - Bust
18. Kirk - Bust
19. E. Williams - Bust
20. Carver - Bust
21. Spencer - Bust
22. Tripp Jr - Bust
23. Pulliam - Bust
24. Tinilau - Bust
25. Joyce - Inconsistent
26. Freeney - Bust
27. Ruskavich - Bust

2024:
1. Scott -

2. Blount -

3. Lightfoot -

4. Trader - Bust
5. Carr - Bust
6. Pickett Jr - Bust
7. Patterson - Bust
8. Hayes - Bust
9. Lyle - Bust
10. Robinson - Bust
11. A. Jones - Bust
12. Lofton - Inconsistent
13. Mack - Bust
14. Rudolph - Bust
15. Pruitt - TBD
16. Bell - Inconsistent but more hit than anything
17. Thomas - Bust
18. Anderson (everyone’s fave QB) - Bust
19. Day - Bust
20. Plazz - Bust
21. McConathy II - Bust
22. Frédérique Jr. -

23. Wheatley-Humphrey - Bust
24. Minaya - TBD
25. Russell - Bust
26. Francavilla - Bust
27. Murray - Bust
28. Daragjati - Bust

I won’t consider the 2025/2026 classes just yet, b/c both are either true freshmen, RS-freshmen, or true sophomores.

I think u’re conflating what we’ve been able to do in the portal w/ HS evaluations. There’s a reason we’re diving into the portal every off season & it’s due to the quality of our HS recruiting has been something left to be desired. On3 had a podcast a couple of days ago praising our relentless attitude towards the portal, while also cautioning this dangerous game we’ve played 3 yrs in a row by getting top portal QBs to commit at the very last minute, & this yr it literally almost bit us in the ***.

The 2025-26 team featured the following portal players, either starting or playing heavy snaps:
•Carson Beck
•Charmar Brown
•Alex Bauman
•Keelan Marion
•CJ Daniels
•Carter Davis
•Mohamed Toure
•Keionte Scott
•Jakobe Thomas
•Zachariah Poyser
•Akheem Messidor
•Xavier Lucas
•Ethan O’Connor
•David Blay Jr
•James Brockermeyer

68% of our starters/heavy rotation were transfers, & this off season, what did the fans beg for? More transfers, which indicates our HS evaluations are still a tad off. Yes we can praise Toney (as we should), or Fletcher, Moten Sr, Lightfoot, Scott, even Blount…but u’re talking about a small % of hits based upon 100+ HS recruits that are making a difference on the field or have the potential to.

We have to raid the portal b/c the Sr leadership that was supposed to come via the classes of 2022-2023 was an unmitigated disaster, & the class of 2024 provided little to no upperclassmen leadership to bridge the youngins of 2025 & 2026. That’s not being a mope vs. providing a clear, detail picture as to the state of HS recruiting from 2022-2024. Hopefully 2025 eradicates its predecessors & become what the others couldn’t.

dccane06 · Feb 5, 2026

TBF you're also not giving some guys time to develop/grow. Don't think you should call guys busts until they leave here in one way or another. Calling some kids busts after a sophomore year just because they haven't had instant impact?

Kapulaites · Feb 5, 2026

Matt McCoy bust? Good work though.

ToneyDaGawd · Feb 5, 2026

I get your point and point taken. But that's being a little disingenuous. A lot of those busts aren't actually busts. Some guys are just going to be depth pieces and that's okay. I also wouldn't blame the staff for a player being injury prone and that turning out into a 'bust'. The issue you have these days is kids transferring after 1 year if they aren't starting or chasing a bag and don't want to develop. Not everyone can have a Toney type impact. Take Skinner or Trader for example. They have all the physical tools to be great, but something just isn't clicking. Really hard to eval that.

But even if you look at the "portal transfer rankings" those rankings don't really matter. Pretty sure Keionte Scott was a "3 star" transfer. I'm just saying I personally trust the type of guys the staff is targeting and trying to bring in and that the 24/7 star ranking only plays a small piece into it. I mean we've basically reversed what Manny Diaz's staff was doing when we were pulling "5 stars" who actually were busts. Mario's 5 stars seem to be the ones that hit. Whereas before we had a lot of Lorenzo Lingard types it seems.

Rellyrell · Feb 5, 2026

A Bust is someone who’s no longer w the program &/or guys who are not playing here. I guarantee u didn’t know or remember half of the names I posted.

Rellyrell · Feb 5, 2026

Absolutely; he’s been unplayable due to penalties & getting beat. Why do u think every time coach has given him an opportunity to play, he’s quickly moved out the lineup?

Rellyrell · Feb 5, 2026

How many of those guys r still on the team &/or will play a meaningful snap here? I clearly listed who’s inconsistent & TBD, but I won’t u to name anyone I listed as a bust that’s still on the team or u expect to play meaningful snaps this season. One thing I absolutely despise is being accused of being disingenuous, but I’m probably one of the most brutally honest ppl in society, so pls correct my “disingenuousness.”

I’ll wait.

Ghandi · Feb 5, 2026

Can you define bust?

I saw a guy like Horton, who will be an NFL receiver, marked as a bust.

DMoney · Feb 5, 2026

Haven’t gotten through the whole list, but under what criteria could McCoy be a bust? He’s a three star who played a ton of snaps on the best OL in America and a Top 2 team.

Exercises like this are tricky in the Portal age. If a player turns into a good player elsewhere, how was it a bad eval?

I’d wager that the HS recruiting of almost every team in America would look bad under the standard of the OP.

ToneyDaGawd · Feb 5, 2026

I think we're talking past each other. Half of our transfers were instant impact and at least half of those were "3 star" transfers. I'm saying the star rankings don't matter as much as they appear. Not only that, but so far its shaping up to show that the 2025 class had more hits per capita than the previous ones. That probably gets easier as recruiting gets easier with the team winning more....That's it.
But, I think the other posters are agreeing that you can't call someone a bust just because they haven't had an instant impact by their soph year.

We could easily make an argument that stated that the staff is elite at evaluating talent, but maybe not elite at developing talent yet? I mean that does seem to be the narrative around the media. "Miami just keeps getting transfer QB's because they can't develop their own, etc."

I really don't care. Just keep bringing me more winning seasons and playoff appearances after the last 20+ years.

Calinative · Feb 5, 2026

Lmao certified hater coming off the National championship is a funny position to place yourself.

Kelly and Graves are busts? Kelly was good. Graves was a starter on a CFP team - same as Horton.

McCoy is a bust? Samson TBD? Smfh

Damari was good this yr just constantly injured. That meets the definition of bust/TBD?

Popo was a contributor at LB and is going to start at NCst.. That's a Bust?

Pickett jr is a bust already? McConathy, day a bust?... What lol

Bell "more hit than anything" lol

There are 22 starting jobs....

PennsylvaniaCane · Feb 5, 2026

How many of these busts had injuries? You have Citizen listed as a bust. The guy had pretty much a career ending injury didn’t he?

Lyle a bust? Guy was the starter for the ND game and got hurt. Yeah he must suck.

McConathy played a lot as a true freshman. Another “bust” who was hurt most of the year.

Day a bust? Pretty sure I saw him on the field at the end of the OSU and Ole Miss games. Wild that the coaches are unaware he’s a bust.

McCoy a bust and Samson TBD lol. Guys split snaps on a top 2-3 OL in the country.

Isn’t it 7 of the last 8 QBs in the past 2 final fours were from the portal. Lots of coaches must suck at evals I guess.

AUcane · Feb 5, 2026

I hear you where you're going but you're way too binary for these ratings. There are degrees to evaluate a player. Be more honest with that and you'll get more good feedback. Try a numbering system - 1 - bust, 4 - multi year starter, 2- inconsistent, never a consistent starter, 3 - one year starter, etc

Top 100 2025 vs 2026

2026 on the horizon

Junior

Junior

Often imitated

Redshirt Freshman

Sophomore

Sophomore

RellyReez is Back Fa Sheez

Sophomore

Freshman

Junior

RellyReez is Back Fa Sheez

RellyReez is Back Fa Sheez

RellyReez is Back Fa Sheez

Junior

D-Moni

Junior

All-ACC

Senior

All-ACC