SEC underdogs Mississippi State, Kentucky in ESPN 300 top 25 recruiting rankings
SEC underdogs Mississippi State, Kentucky in ESPN 300 top 25 recruiting rankings
It ain’t easy being middle of the pack in the SEC.
You survey the college football landscape. Spy four or five conferences nearby where your team would wipe the floor with the competition. You know you could have a record book chock-full of 10-win, conference championship seasons that it looks like a stamp collection. But then you’d be giving up the SEC dream.
What hope do these journeyman teams of the SEC have? Along with a little luck, a few great plays, and a rock-solid football culture, there’s only one way to join the Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tides, and LSU Tigers of the world. And that’s to win the talent wars.
ESPN just released its updated 2025 recruiting class rankings, and while the usual suspects from the SEC still dominate the charts, with Georgia, Alabama, and LSU being joined in the top 10 by the Auburn Tigers: two unlikely underdogs have scrapped their way into the top 25 with the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners.
At No. 14, the Mississippi State Bulldogs skyrocketed from their previously unranked position by adding three ESPN 300 prospects. How did they accomplish this huge leap? All signs point to first-year head coach Jeff Lebby breathing fresh air into the Mississippi State recruiting program. While he had his staff hit the transfer portal hard to improve the roster, he also put renewed emphasis on keeping top in-state talent, including ESPN 300 offensive lineman Mario Nash Jr., who was the Atlanta Under Armor Camp MVP, and Linebacker Tyshaun Willis, who notched over 100 tackles in his junior season.
Coming in at No. 25 are the Kentucky Wildcats. Over the past couple of seasons, Mark Stoops has shown how adept he is at leveraging the transfer portal, coming in at No. 8 in On3’s portal success rankings, bringing in three highly-touted quarterback transfers in a row, including two current NFL QBs: Tennessee Titans starter Will Levis and Baltimore Ravens backup Devin Leary. But Stoops and co. have also gotten better at recruiting talented high school prospects, making an impressive haul from Ohio, including top running back talent, Marquise Davis, and also keeping in-state defensive talent like ESPN 300 safety Martels Carter Jr.
It’s still a long way to the top for teams like the Bulldogs and Wildcats, especially when even new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer is bringing in epic hauls of talent for SEC stalwarts like the Crimson Tide.
But if Lebby and Stoops can keep inching their way up the recruiting ranks, that magical Cinderella season for an underdog team in the SEC may be closer than ever.