Ranking College Football's Rosters for 2026

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Ranking College Football's Rosters for 2026

Steven Lassan · Athlon Sports

Tue, Feb 17, 2026 ·

8 min read

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Ranking the college football rosters for the 2026 season provides a unique window into the talent level for all teams and how that compares to win totals, conference championships, and success on a national level. Player movement through the transfer portal has added another layer to roster building and directly impacted the four-year high school recruiting foundation. However, while immediate help can come via the portal, recruiting still remains the foundation for winning national championships, competing for College Football Playoff berths or performing at a high level.

Since the start of the CFB Playoff era, eight of the 12 champions have come from teams ranked inside of the top six in overall roster talent. Indiana's national title in '26 certainly scrambled what's possible in this sport. Although Michigan (tied for No. 11) and Clemson (No. 14) were outliers in that equation previously, the Hoosiers are down the rankings a bit at No. 44. However, all three of those teams used a good mix of talent development and solid all-around recruiting at the high school level or in the transfer portal to build a championship squad.

While recruiting rankings aren't 100 percent accurate, there is plenty of truth in the rankings and evaluations by the experts. Additionally, with advances in technology to watch more prospects, along with more offseason camps, the rankings for prospects and classes as a whole are more accurate than they were just a few years ago. Also, the transfer portal and change in eligibility rules have allowed all teams another avenue to add more talent to the roster. Bolstering the roster with transfers is now a key cog in the chase for a championship, but most programs will always want to build through the freshman ranks.

It's no secret what a program needs in order to win big at this level. Great coaching, support staffs, state-of-the-art training facilities, finding the right fits through the transfer portal and luck certainly help, but talent on the roster (and player development) provides a significant head start in the race to win it all each season.

Below are the national recruiting ranking averages for the Power 4 schools (and Notre Dame ) schools over the last five (2022-26) classes, according to 247Sports' Composite Team Rankings . Obviously, this doesn't take into account attrition or transfers, but, over time, this should be considered relatively even across the conference.

Roster Rankings by Power Conference: ACC I Big 12 I Big Ten I SEC

Ranking College Football's Rosters for 2026

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer Brett Davis-Imagn Images

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
*	*	'26	' 25	'24	'23	' 22	Five-YearAverage
1	Alabama	2	3	2	1	2	2
2	Georgia	6	2	1	2	3	2.8
3	Ohio State	4	4	5	4	4	4.2
4	Texas	7	1	6	3	5	4.4
5	Oregon	3	5	3	9	13	6.6
6T	LSU	11	10	7	5	12	9
6T	Notre Dame	5	12	9	12	7	9
8	Miami	9	13	4	7	16	9.8
9T	Oklahoma	15	17	8	6	8	10.8
9T	Texas A&M	10	9	19	15	1	10.8
11T	Tennessee	8	11	14	10	17	12
11T	Michigan	12	6	16	17	9	12
13	Florida	16	8	13	13	18	13.6
14	Clemson	20	26	11	11	10	15.6
15	Florida State	14	19	12	20	20	17
16	Auburn	30	7	10	18	21	17.2
17	South Carolina	17	18	22	16	24	19.4
18	Ole Miss	22	16	21	23	27	21.8
19	USC	1	14	17	8	70	22
20	Penn State	64	15	15	14	6	22.8
21	Missouri	31	20	20	35	15	24.2
22	North Carolina	18	43	26	31	11	25.8
23	Mississippi State	24	28	29	27	26	26.8
24	Kentucky	50	29	24	32	14	29.8
25	Arkansas	44	32	30	22	28	31.2
26	Texas Tech	18	48	25	28	43	32.4
27T	TCU	43	24	34	21	45	33.4
27T	Iowa	26	38	32	41	30	33.4
29	Maryland	47	25	38	36	31	35.4
30	Stanford	36	49	31	44	19	35.8
31	Virginia Tech	29	39	45	39	35	37.4
32	Utah	33	40	59	19	37	37.6
33	Michigan State	45	56	42	24	23	38
34	West Virginia	25	42	46	49	34	39.2
35	Rutgers	38	33	36	57	33	39.4
36	Illinois	23	45	49	38	46	40.2
37	Washington	13	23	47	26	95	40.8
38T	Nebraska	100	22	18	25	41	41.2
38T	Minnesota	27	50	35	45	49	41.2
40	Georgia Tech	42	21	33	61	54	42.2
41	NC State	49	34	28	43	64	43.6
42	Wisconsin	73	27	23	59	44	45.2
43	Vanderbilt	34	75	40	53	32	46.8
44	Indiana	32	47	65	68	25	47.4
45T	Arizona	41	51	84	40	22	47.6
45T	BYU	21	59	44	58	56	47.6
47	Baylor	71	36	62	34	36	47.8
48	Kansas State	54	35	57	33	63	48.4
49	Iowa State	55	55	53	42	39	48.8
50	Louisville	48	68	58	29	50	50.6
51	Houston	39	53	60	51	55	51.6
52	Oklahoma State	68	54	56	55	29	52.4
53	Pitt	44	52	41	52	76	53
54	Duke	68	31	61	56	51	53.4
55	Syracuse	35	41	37	88	68	53.8
56	Colorado	67	37	95	30	47	55.2
57	Arizona State	37	44	48	46	103	55.6
58	Wake Forest	40	62	52	54	71	55.8
59	UCF	62	77	39	50	52	56
60	Purdue	53	98	27	70	38	57.2
61	Cincinnati	58	61	51	75	42	57.4
62	Northwestern	51	65	80	47	48	58.2
63	UCLA	63	46	90	37	61	59.4
64	Boston College	52	58	96	63	40	61.8
65	SMU	27	30	106	72	82	63.4
66	California	57	69	55	79	59	63.8
67	Kansas	60	72	43	73	117	73
68	Virginia	101	57	88	65	65	75.2

*Note: Recruiting team rankings above compiled from 247Sports. These rankings do not take into account transfer portal class rankings or departures.

Way-Too-Early 2026 Rankings: Top 25 | ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | SEC

*The SEC takes three of the top five spots in roster rankings. Alabama (No. 1), Georgia (No. 2), and Texas (No. 4) headline the top recruiting teams in the SEC entering '26. Ohio State (No. 3) and Oregon (No. 5) from the Big Ten round out the top five.

*The SEC's dominance in recruiting continues into the next tier. LSU (tied for No. 6), Oklahoma (tied for No. 9), Texas A&M (tied for No. 9), and Tennessee (tied for No. 11) headline the next range of teams.

*Texas Tech is the first Big 12 team (No. 25) in the roster rankings. The Red Raiders have thrived in the NIL and portal era at acquiring talent. Coach Joey McGuire's team landed the No. 18 class in '26, which was the program's highest over the last five seasons.

*Despite landing the No. 1 recruiting class for '26, USC ranks No. 19 nationally in roster talent from the high school ranks entering this season. The No. 1 class was just the Trojans' second top-10 haul over the last five years.

*Clemson has dropped from No. 7 nationally in roster talent in '23 to No. 14 entering '26.

*In '23, Notre Dame ranked No. 10 nationally in roster talent. However, the Fighting Irish have climbed into a tie for No. 6 nationally thanks to two top-10 classes over the last three years under coach Marcus Freeman.

*Coach Curt Cignetti's ability to develop and get the most out of the roster is magnified even more with Indiana ranking No. 44 nationally in recruiting rankings over the last five years. The Hoosiers are having a ton of success in the transfer portal, but Cignetti's program is the first national champion since expansion to four (and later 12 teams) to rank outside of the top 15 in the five-year recruiting window.

*SMU's ranking (No. 65) is weighed down a bit by a No. 106 haul in '24. But since that class, the Mustangs have reeled in back-to-back top-30 classes. Expect coach Rhett Lashlee's team to move up the roster rankings over the next couple of years.

*Four of the lowest rosters per recruiting rankings over the last five seasons come from the ACC. Also, just four programs from the ACC - Miami, Clemson, Florida State , and North Carolina - are recruiting at a top-25 level per the 247Sports Composite.

*All 16 of the SEC's programs rank inside of the top 45 nationally.

Most Talented Group of 6 Rosters

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
*	'26	'25	'24	'23	'22	'21	Five-YearAverage
Boise State	53	67	64	67	62	313	62.6
Memphis	77	60	68	62	58	325	65
Tulane	66	74	67	71	74	352	70.4
Oregon State	110	63	87	48	53	361	72.2
South Florida	86	64	50	76	91	367	73.4
Arkansas State	81	75	77	74	67	374	74.8
San Diego State	80	79	72	78	66	375	75
East Carolina	88	77	73	66	85	389	77.8
Washington State	131	71	63	64	60	389	77.8
Colorado State	73	105	70	69	81	398	79.6

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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