Rivals rankings director and national transfer portal analyst Adam Friedman is joined by Radi Nabulsi of UGASports.com, Marcus Benjamin of CanesCounty.com and Jeremy Birmingham of DottingTheEyes.com to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
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1. With Georgia’s recent run-ins with police, Kirby Smart is becoming more like Urban Meyer at Florida than he is becoming Nick Saban.
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Friedman: FICTION. This is fiction … for now. It’s incredible that Kirby Smart has not been able to get a handle on his players’ penchant for speeding. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , there have now been 24 arrests of Georgia football players for driving-related incidents since January of last year. Whether the charges were ticky-tacky or not, that’s an absurd total that would land any coach in hot water. Does anybody remember recurring off-field incidents like this by teams coached by Nick Saban? No, but that doesn’t immediately swing Smart toward Urban Meyer’s end of the spectrum. Meyer’s Florida teams had longer arrest records and they were filled with many more serious charges than speeding.
Nabulsi: FICTION. On TV and radio, I am constantly asked about Smart in relation to Nick Saban and the dynasty the Alabama coach created in Tuscaloosa. Smart has won two out of the last three national championships, and he is primed for another title run. The comparisons to Saban are constant, as Nick is the gold standard for coaches. Smart has not lost a regular-season game in three years. That is far more Saban-esque than Meyer-like.
Yet off-the-field issues continue to plague Smart’s program. His detractors would love to say he’s another Urban. Yet this is a new era. Smart has a loaded roster of four- and five-star athletes who for the most part all have newer, higher-performance vehicles that were bought with their NIL funds. Let me know when 18-year-olds as a whole decide to stop driving fast, especially in custom cars. Smart has brought in the local police, the state patrol, the athletic director, countless speakers and the school president to speak with his players. Yet they still make offseason headlines, often being arrested on misdemeanor charges that at other schools would be simple traffic tickets. (See the $26 bonds.) Smart has also implemented player suspensions, dismissals and fines for these violations.
Opponents will point to the recurrence of these incidents as evidence that Smart “doesn’t care” about the headlines so long as he wins. I’ll point to the fact that being young, rich and stupid is undefeated, regardless of the consequences.
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2. Miami will sign more than two four-star defensive linemen.
Friedman: FACT. This has to be a fact, right? There’s no way Miami doesn’t sign a couple of four-star defensive linemen with how it recruited over the last few years. That being said, the Canes don’t have a defensive line commitment yet. In fact, Miami is the only team in the top 10 of the team recruiting rankings without a defensive line commitment. After signing eight defensive linemen in the 2024 recruiting class and bringing in five transfers up front, the defensive line may not be a huge area of need for the Hurricanes but surely Mario Cristobal and staff will end up flipping a couple of defensive linemen before National Signing Day.
Benjamin: FACT. Miami signed seven blue-chip defensive linemen in 2024 with three of the five-star variety. There is plenty of reason to believe that Miami will have another successful class when it comes to the D-Line this cycle, even though the Hurricanes are yet to tally one on the board.
Even though Miami potentially missed out on local talents Randy Adirika and Floyd Boucard and in-state talent Jarquez Carter, Miami will still push for flips if the team has success on the football field.
Boucard is certainly a player who will be on flip watch despite his commitment to Oklahoma, and the Canes are in contention for five-star Elijah Griffin and four-star Walter Mathis.
My guess is Miami gets two out of three with a potential surprise down the line.
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3. Ohio State needs the defensive line to be a strength of this recruiting class.
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Friedman: FACT. It’s been a couple of lean back-to-back years for Ohio State when it comes to recruiting highly ranked defensive linemen. Sure, there have been a couple but Ohio State will need to replace a lot of talent after this season.
The crop of defensive linemen in the 2025 class across the nation is fairly deep and there are a number of difference-makers at the top of the rankings. Larry Johnson is one of, if not the best defensive line coach in the nation, and he’s proven to be an ace recruiter. So far he’s reeled in six defensive line commitments in this class and five of them are in the Rivals250.
There’s still room for another big fish or two but, if this cycle were to end today, Ohio State fans should be happy about the depth and range of talent in this group.
Birmingham: FACT. Ohio State will lose all four of its defensive line starters after the 2024 season and depth is an issue for 2025…
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