Don’t crown Texas yet: All-SEC teams, Blue-Chip Ratio say Georgia has talent

In terms of high-end talent, Texas placed five players on the first-team All-SEC, while Georgia had eight. Four of those Georgia players qualified as specialists, as the Bulldogs swept in that category.

The Bulldogs had zero offensive players on the first team, while Texas had two. UGA’s Oscar Delp was a second-team selection at tight end, while offensive lineman Earnest Greene and running back Nate Frazier landed on the third team.

Georgia placed four defenders on the first team compared with Texas’ three. Even with having to replace three first-round picks, Georgia’s defense should be among the more talented units in the nation this coming season.

But All-SEC teams are perhaps not the real measure of talent. Consider that Arch Manning, who has made all of two starts in his college career, earned a third-team nod over more proven players such as Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and Arkansas’ Taylen Green.

Georgia does trump Texas in another important roster measuring tool, as Bud Elliott’s Blue-Chip Ratio was unveiled last week. The Blue-Chip Ratio takes note of the percentage of a team’s roster that consists of four- or five-star prospects.

Since the advent of modern recruiting rankings in the early 2000s, every national champion has had a roster comprised of at least 50% blue-chip prospects.

Georgia’s 2021 title team was made up of 80% blue-chip recruits. The 2022 team, which also won the national championship, came in at 77%.

On paper, Georgia has a great percentage of blue-chip prospects entering 2025: 84%. That is the third-highest mark in the country behind Alabama and Ohio State, which are both at 89%.

Texas A&M is the only other team to push past the 80% mark, as the Aggies come in at 82%. Texas is just behind Georgia in this metric, as the Longhorns sit at 78%.

Texas and Alabama are two of the five teams Georgia will play this season that have a roster made up mostly of blue-chip recruits. Florida (64%), Auburn (64%) and Tennessee (54%) are the other three programs.

The Blue-Chip Ratio doesn’t factor transfer additions into the rankings. That perhaps undervalues programs such as Ole Miss, which has been able to consistently outperform its recruiting rankings under Lane Kiffin. (The Bulldogs host the Rebels on Oct. 18.)

On a spreadsheet, Georgia may have one of the more talented rosters in the country, but Smart repeatedly told reporters last week that Georgia will be a good bit younger in 2025 than in years past.

“I mean, it’s just we’re a different team right now. We’ve got 54% of our roster (in their) first, second year. I looked at it the other day, and it’s the most we’ve ever had in their first or second season at Georgia, and that’s a lot. It’s over half your team.”

No area better exemplifies the difference between the perception of Georgia and the reality that Smart is staring at than the defensive front.

Christen Miller, who was voted first-team All-SEC, is Georgia’s most proven defensive lineman. Xzavier McLeod made meaningful contributions a year ago after transferring from South Carolina.

Beyond that, the group is something of an enigma despite having three former five-star prospects in Elijah Griffin, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Jordan Hall. Griffin will be a freshman this year, and Jonah-Ajonye and Hall have combined to miss more games than they’ve played in their careers.

The potential is there for this group. But it must prove that this coming season.

“I feel good about the defensive line,” Smart said. “When you lose the guys that played all those snaps, there’s just tons of snaps lost. That’s why we’re like a whole new team.”

This Georgia team will be tested early and often. The Bulldogs play Tennessee and Alabama in September. Both the Volunteers and Crimson Tide have talented rosters, but because the games are early in the season their depth advantages over the Bulldogs may not be as pronounced.

Elliott’s Blue-Chip Ratio is used to determine which teams have enough raw talent to win a national championship. Georgia checks that box and has done so every year under Smart.

How that talent is developed and deployed will go a long way in determining if Georgia can finish better than second in the SEC and perhaps win a third national championship under Smart.