Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman is joined by Ryan Young of TrojanSports.com, Jed May of UGASports.com and Caleb Jones of AuburnSports.com to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
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1. USC has improved its chances with several elite defensive targets in the 2025 and 2026 classes.
Young: FACT. It can only help. In talking with a number of top targets over this past year, the recurring refrain was that they liked USC's new defensive coaches and the vision, but they wanted to see it in action, have something tangible to know what it would look like. Well, most of the college football world saw their performance Sunday. That was such a valuable spotlight for this program, especially with the way the defense played.
Immediately after the game, Jahkeem Stewart, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2026 Rivals250, was engaging publicly with a USC staffer on Twitter. Bryce Perry-Wright, a top-50 prospect and four-star defensive tackle, tweeted an emoji. Recruits noticed the same as the rest of the college football world noticed.
It's impossible to quantify in the immediate aftermath what exact impact it will have, but absolutely it helps as they try to close out this 2025 class and then build momentum for 2026. Stewart seems like a big one, though, as he's looking highly at both LSU and USC and was at the game.
Spiegelman: FACT. Lincoln Riley made home-run hires bringing in D'Anton Lynn from UCLA to oversee the defense, tabbing Eric Henderson to coach the defensive line and Doug Belk in the secondary. We saw an offseason's worth of preparation – and so did several key recruits such as Stewart and Shamar Arnoux's father, as well as a national audience.
One game isn't going to alter the mind of a recruit or a parent; a season will. This staff is making in-roads in key recruiting states like Georgia, Texas and California. More signature wins on this Big Ten schedule will give plenty of fuel to top defensive targets down the road – Stewart and other notable defensive targets such as Joseph Mbatachou.
2. Georgia will add at least four more defensive linemen before the end of the 2025 recruiting cycle.
May: FACT. Georgia’s involvement in the recruitments of five-stars Elijah Griffin and Justus Terry is well-documented. At this point, the Bulldogs have to be considered the favorite for both.
Georgia is also looking to add another interior defensive lineman, likely via a flip. Florida State commit Kevin Wynn and Rutgers commit Braxton Kyle are two candidates at the top of the list. More toward the end of the defensive line, Georgia is a top contender for recent Rutgers decommit Chase Linton, who attended Georgia’s season-opening win against Clemson. At this point the Bulldogs appear to be the favorite for him as well.
As long as Georgia closes on Griffin, Terry, and Linton, plus adds another interior guy, four more defensive linemen is very doable in this 2025 class.
Spiegelman: FACT. If we're playing a numbers game, I really like Georgia to add at least four if not more up front as it continues the push toward the No. 1 class in the country.
Georgia flipped Rivals250 defensive end Isaiah Gibson away from USC over the summer and continued to reshuffle the board after summer evals and the start to the high school football season in Georgia. The Dawgs are in the lead group for both five-star in-state defensive tackles, Terry and Griffin, who are expected off the board sometime this season or shortly after. Georgia is pressing to flip Wynn and Kyle, and has a strong chance of it. Georgia is also surging with Linton, a one-time Rutgers verbal who is coveted in Athens after camping there over the summer.
3. After surging to a top-five recruiting class over the summer, Auburn's biggest flips might still ahead during the season.
Jones: FACT. There were plenty of fireworks in July and into August for Auburn, but the Tigers could be on their way to making even more noise this fall. Auburn is in contention for several high-end prospects and are trending in the right direction of adding even more elite talent.
Deuce Knight headlines that group that Auburn is targeting, as the Tigers continue to be the team most likely to pull him away from his Notre Dame commitment. Auburn appears to be the team to beat for recent Miami decommit Elijah Melendez. Running back Ousmane Kromah is narrowing in on a decision and Auburn is high on his list. With a couple of visits in recent months, Ohio State commit Na’eem Offord also appears interested. Georgia Tech wide receiver commit Sam Turner and undecided offensive lineman Andrew Babalola also remain possibilities.
Summer was hot for Auburn, but this fall could be even hotter.
Spiegelman: FACT. Hugh Freeze and Auburn made a statement over the summer by adding commitments from Broderick Shull, Eric Winters, Jared Smith and Blake Woody, and flipping Alvin Henderson away from Penn State and then Derick Smith and Antonio Coleman from Alabama, and Nathan Marshall away from Michigan.
The best still might be yet to come for these Tigers, who are trending to flip blue-chip quarterback Deuce Knight and are in the running to do with the same with five-star cornerback Na'eem Offord and Rivals250 receiver Sam Turner. Auburn is also leading the way with four-star running back Ousmane Kromah and four-star linebacker Elijah Melendez, who were both on the Plains (again) for the Tigers' Week 1 win.
