In the early stages of the NIL/Portal era, it seemed as if the elites had simply added a moat and an electric fence around their already-walled off neighborhood. Case in point: the 2023 CFP semifinalists were Michigan, Alabama, Texas and Washington. The 2024 Final Four? Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas again, and Penn State. Six of those seven programs rank among the top seven all-time in wins.
But the 2025 Final Four? Thirty-fourth, 41st, 42nd and, ahem, 102nd.
How are we to make sense of this? The No. 1 seed in the bracket is the 72nd most talented team in the country.
Perhaps nothing explains how drastically, and how quickly, things have changed than this. In last year's Ohio State-Texas semifinal, the teams started 20 former top-100 recruits and nearly 84 percent of the starting lineups were homegrown. In Thursday's Ole Miss-Miami semifinal, the teams will start four former top-100 recruits, and nearly 60 percent of the starters are transfers.
In the day and age of unlimited movement and seemingly endless careers, college football mirrors college basketball in that the best teams find a way to get old and stay old. I suspect we'll learn that even more when we get to Indiana-Oregon, but in Ole Miss-Miami, each team will start 12 players who are in their fourth, fifth, sixth or even seventh year of college football. The quarterbacks began their collegiate journeys in 2020 and 2021. Only one true freshman, Miami receiver Malachi Toney, will start for either team.
When either team puts the ball in the air, a transfer quarterback will throw the ball to, more than likely, a transfer back, receiver or tight end, and that player will be defended by a transfer defensive back. But both teams' defensive lines are almost exclusively homegrown.
OLE MISS
4+ year players: 12
Transfers: 14
Top 100 recruits: 2
Offense
Quarterback
Trinidad Chambliss: unrated recruit, signed with Ferris State in 2021; 28 career starts
Running Back
Kewan Lacy: 4-star, signed with Missouri
Wide Receiver
De'Zhaun Stribling: 3-star, signed with Washington State in 2021; Ole Miss is his third school
Cayden Lee: 3-star, signed with UCF
Tight End
Dae'Quan Wright: 3-star, signed with Virginia Tech in 2022
Offensive Line (L-to-R)
Diego Pounds: 3-star, signed with North Carolina in 2021
Delano Townsend: 3-star, signed with UAB
Brycen Sanders: 4-star, signed with Ole Miss
Patrick Kutas: 4-star defensive lineman out of high school, signed with Arkansas in 2022
Jayden Williams: 3-star, fifth-year player with 33 starts
Defense
Defensive Line
Kam Franklin: 4-star, signed with Ole Miss
Zxavian Harris: 4-star, signed with Ole Miss
Will Echoles: 4-star, signed with Ole Miss
Suntarine Perkins: 5-star, signed with Ole Miss
Linebackers
TJ Dottery: 4-star, signed with Clemson in 2022
Jaden Yates: 3-star, signed with Marshall
Defensive Backs
Chris Graves, Jr.: 4-star, signed with Miami in 2022
Antonio Kite: 4-star, signed with Alabama in 2022
Kapena Gushiken: 3-star who signed with Saddleback College, then transferred to Washington State
Wydett Williams, Jr.: unrated recruit who signed with Delta State, then transferred to ULM
Sage Ryan: 5-star, signed with LSU in 2021
MIAMI
4+ year players: 12
Transfers: 12
Top 100 recruits: 2
Offense
Quarterback
Carson Beck: 4-star, signed with Georgia in 2020; 41 career starts
Running Back
Mark Fletcher: 4-star
Wide Receiver
Malachi Toney: 4-star, true freshman
Keelan Marion: High school class of 2019, played previously at prep school, UConn and BYU
CJ Daniels: 3-star, signed with Liberty in 2020; played four seasons with Flames, and 2024 with LSU
Tight End
Elija Lofton: 4-star
Offensive Line (L-to-R)
Francis Mauigoa: 5-star, top 10 recruit
Matthew McCoy: 3-star
James Brockermeyer: 4-star, signed with Alabama in 2021, spent 2024 at TCU
Samson Okunlola: 5-star
Markel Bell: signed with Holmes Community College in 2022
Defense
Defensive Line
Rueben Bain: 4-star, top 100 recruit
Justin Scott: 5-star, top 10 recruit
Ahmad Moten, Sr.: 3-star
Akheem Mesidor: 3-star, signed with West Virginia in 2020
Linebacker
Mohamed Toure: 3-star, signed with Rutgers in 2019
Wesley Bissainthe: 4-star
Defensive Backs
Keionte Scott: Sixth-year player who played two seasons of junior college and three at Auburn
Zechariah Poyser: Unrated recruit who signed with Jacksonville State
Jakobe Thomas: 3-star, signed with Middle Tennessee in 2021; Miami is his third school
Xavier Lucas: 3-star, signed with Wisconsin
Ethan O'Connor: 3-star, signed with Washington State
We'll be back later in the week with a look at Indiana-Oregon.