Rivals rankings director and national transfer portal analyst Adam Friedman is joined by national recruiting analyst Marshall Levenson, Jefferson Powell of DeathValleyInsider.com and Brandon Helwig of UCFSports.com to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
MORE FACT OR FICTION: Jahkeem Stewart will end up at LSU
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1. The next national champion is in the top 10 of the team recruiting rankings.
Friedman: FICTION. Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia are the obvious title contenders in the top 10 of the team recruiting rankings. Odds are good that one of these three wins the national championship but there are a few outside the top 10 that could just as easily achieve the ultimate success. Oregon at No. 12, Texas at No. 13 and Ole Miss at No. 28 have national title aspirations this season too. Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see any of these six programs win it all this year but I’ll bet on Oregon, Texas and Ole Miss at this moment.
Levenson: FACT. You could look at programs such as Oregon (No. 12) or Texas (No. 13), which are outside the top 10 and feel they are favorites. But, I am looking at the usual suspects such as Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Georgia sitting at the top four spots and I feel good a champion could be among that group. If I were to pick a national champion before the season started, it would probably be in that group, notably Georgia being the current betting favorite to win the title. I even look at names such as Oklahoma (No. 9) and Tennessee (No. 10) as potential title contenders. Do I believe they will be in the title game? No, but they should be among the favorites to end up in a 12-team playoff with at least a chance. This season is probably one of the more wide open ones we've seen in years, but it would still be wise to lean on those who have done it time and time again over the past two decades just as Alabama, LSU and Georgia have demonstrated.
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2. Recent LSU commit CJ Jimcoily should be projected as a linebacker.
Friedman: FACT. CJ Jimcoily was trending toward a position change last offseason and appears to still be on that track. Currently listed as a safety, the new LSU commit has the makings of an impressive linebacker. At 6-foot-3 and nearly 210 pounds, the hard-hitting defender has the frame to continue adding mass when he reaches the college level. Jimcoily sports a solid sub-4.8 40 time along with a 32-inch vertical and a 120-inch broad jump. Those measurables are fine for a safety but those numbers make him one of the better linebacker prospects in this class.
Powell: FACT. Jimcoily has tremendous size for a safety and exceptional athleticism but he may project better at the linebacker position when looking at his long-term career potential. Ultimately it could depend on how he transitions once he gets to campus, but with his size and athleticism he could easily play any of the linebacker positions. He could also be an ideal candidate for LSU's STAR position, which would put him closer to the line of scrimmage similar to what we're expecting to see from Major Burns this season. But in terms of long-term potential, he projects better at one of those spots over one of the traditional safety spots.
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3. UCF will be the first Big 12 team not named Texas or Oklahoma to finish with a top-20 class since TCU in 2016.
Friedman: FACT. How about the Knights? They were already trending toward signing their highest-ranked class ever and then they flipped Rivals250 receiver Jayvan Boggs away from Missouri. Gus Malzahn and his staff easily have the best recruiting class in the Big 12 right now. They hold as many four-star commitments (nine) as the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Big 12 combined (TCU and Baylor). The Knights are building a roster that should be able to compete for Big 12 championships in the very near future.
Helwig: FACT. Quite possible. UCF's recent flip of Boggs rocketed its 2025 team ranking into the top 15. The Knights have nine four-star commitments, which is a commanding lead on the rest of their Big 12 brethren (TCU has five four-star commits, Baylor and Colorado have four).
It's believed UCF's class is mostly done, though the staff continues to work targets who have committed elsewhere. If they can hang on to their current group of 20 pledges, plus add a couple more high-profile players, they'll have a great chance to remain in the top 20 come National Signing Day.
In the wake of landing Boggs, who is the highest-ranked commit in UCF history, head coach Gus Malzahn spoke about the recent recruiting successes.
"This place, people wanna come here," Malzahn said. "Everybody can see the future. There's a handful of other guys that I believe they wanna come too. We'll see what happens. We gotta win on the field. We win on the field and the floodgates are gonna open up.
"It's gonna be a lot of fun. But it's an exciting time right now to be a part of our program and to be the head coach."
