On Friday we took a look at how two of the College Football Playoff semifinalists were built. Today, it's time to take a similar look at Notre Dame and Penn State.
What we found is that Notre Dame and Penn State are less extreme versions of Ohio State and Texas: not quite as veteran, not quite as star-studded. The Fighting Irish and Nittany Lions are ninth and 11th, respectively, in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite (all rankings herein come via the 247Sports composite), to Ohio State and Texas's third and fourth.
However, when taken together, the construction of the 2024 Final Four reveals some truths about how to succeed in college football for players and coaches alike. Here, we have not the top 100 players in the sport, but the 100 players who see the most action on the four teams standing above the other 130 in major college football.
What can we learn?
There are very few shortcuts to the field in big-time college football: Eighty-five of the top 100 players signed with their respective schools out of high school. Similarly, only four true freshmen will see starter-level snaps in this week's games: three 5-star recruits, and a fourth (Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore) who's starting due to an injury to a player above him.
Forty-four of the top 100 are in their fourth, fifth or sixth year of college football. The majority of the remaining 56 are in their third year.
In short, unless you're an all-conference level player elsewhere or an absolute freak show of an athlete, don't expect to walk into a starting role at Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame or Penn State.
The best of the best visit the portal, but they do not live there: I'm going to repeat this stat because it's a lesson worth internalizing for players and coaches alike: 85 of the 100 players who will see the most snaps in the 2024 CFP Final Four signed with their respective programs out of high school.
This is especially true on the line of scrimmage. Even accounting for injury, on average the CFP semifinalists reserved one starting spot apiece along their offensive and defensive lines. Taking a transfer here and there along the line of scrimmage is perfectly acceptable, but the best teams are not building their lines of scrimmage through the portal.
Notre Dame and Penn State especially are full of first-year starting linemen who are in their second, third and fourth years in the program.
Quarterbacks are different, though: Penn State's Drew Allar is the only starting quarterback to sign with his team out of high school.
Experience at that position is a must, though. Thursday night's Orange Bowl will be Allar's 29th start, which makes him the rookie of the group. Ohio State's Will Howard is in the 40s, while Texas's Quinn Ewers and Notre Dame's Riley Leonard are in the mid-30s.
NOTRE DAME
4+ year players: 11
Transfers: 4
5-star recruits: 0
Top 100 recruits: 4 (two players were rated 101st and 102nd, respectively)
Offense
Quarterback
Riley Leonard: 3-star recruit; signed with Duke in 2021; 35 career starts
Running Back
Jeremiyah Love: 4-star, top 100 recruit
Jadarian Price: 4-star recruit
Wide Receiver
Beaux Collins: 4-star, top 100 recruit; signed with Clemson in 2021
Jaden Greathouse: 4-star recruit
Jordan Faison: former walk-on
Tight End
Mitchell Evans: 3-star recruit
Offensive Line (L-to-R)
Anthonie Knapp: 4-star recruit
Billy Schrauth: 4-star recruit
Pat Coogan: 3-star recruit; 24 career starts
Rocco Spindler: 4-star, top 100 recruit
Aamil Wagner: 4-star recruit
(Starting C Ashton Craig and LT Charles Jagusah, a top 100 recruit, were lost for the year to injury)
Defense
Defensive Line
Joshua Burnham: 4-star recruit
Gabriel Rubio: 4-star recruit
Howard Cross III: 4-star recruit; sixth-year player
RJ Oben: 3-star recruit; signed with Duke in 2019
(Starting edge Boubacar Traore and DT Rylie Mills, a fifth-year senior and All-American, were lost for the year to injury)
Linebacker
Jack Kiser: 3-star recruit; sixth-year player
Drayk Bowen: 4-star recruit
Jaylen Sneed: 5-star recruit
Defensive Backs
Christian Gray: 4-star recruit
Xavier Watts: 4-star recruit; fifth-year player
Adon Shuler: 4-star recruit
Jordan Clark: 4-star recruit; signed with Arizona State in 2019; sixth-year player
Leonard Moore: 4-star recruit
(CB Ben Morrison, an All-American, was lost for the year to injury)
PENN STATE
4+ year players: 9
Transfers: 3
5-star recruits: 4
Top 100 recruits: 6
Offense
Quarterback
Drew Allar: 5-star recruit; 28 career starts
Running Backs
Kaytron Allen: 4-star recruit
Nick Singleton: 5-star recruit
Wide Receivers
Harrison Wallace III: 3-star recruit
Omari Evans: 3-star recruit
Liam Clifford: 3-star recruit
Tight End
Tyler Warren: 3-star recruit; fifth-year player
Offensive Line (L-to-R)
Drew Shelton: 4-star recruit
Olaivavega Ioane: 3-star recruit
Nick Dawkins: 3-star recruit; fifth-year player
Sal Wormley: 4-star recruit; sixth-year player; 41 career starts
Nolan Rucci: 5-star recruit; signed with Wisconsin in 2021
Defense
Defensive Line
Adbul Carter: 4-star recruit
Coziah Izzard: 4-star recruit; fifth-year player
Zane Durant: 4-star recruit
Dani Dennis-Sutton: 5-star recruit
Linebackers
Tony Rojas: 4-star, top 100 recruit
Kobe King: 3-star recruit
Dominic DeLuca: former walk-on
Defensive Backs
AJ Harris: 4-star, top 100 recruit; signed with Georgia in 2023
Cam Miller: 4-star recruit
Zakee Wheatley: 4-star recruit
Jaylen Reed: 4-star recruit
Jalen Kimber: 4-star recruit; signed with Georgia in 2020; fifth-year player
SUMMARY
44 of 100 have spent four or more years in college -- and the lines and quarterbacks are especially old
85 of 100 signed with their respective schools out of high school -- including all but three linemen
4 of 100 true freshmen starters -- three of the four were 5-star recruits
18 of 100 were 5-star recruits, a group that accounts for roughly 1 percent of all recruits
30 of 100 were top-100 recruits. Roughly 2,500 high school players sign with FBS schools each year.