Realignment lingers, but can SMU compete at P5 level?

[AfricanMustang]

If the Mustangs do finally get that long-awaited Power Five bid, will they have the talent to be competitive?

ItΓÇÖs hard not to see that 2025 was a consideration when SMU filled out its 2023 class.

Recruiting is always about the future, but in todayΓÇÖs college football world there are creative ways to build toward it. Teams are trying to balance how many scholarships they devote to high school recruits, and how many they use in the transfer portal.

SMUΓÇÖs 33-person signing class featured a near perfect split, and though the Mustangs used the portal to address immediate needs ΓÇö like a secondary that craved experience as well as depth ΓÇö they also used it to buy low on high-upside players that could develop down the road. Six of SMUΓÇÖs 17 transfers were four-star recruits in high school, including both running back transfers SMU added: Miami (FL)ΓÇÖs Jaylan ΓÇÿRoosterΓÇÖ Knighton and Texas A&MΓÇÖs LJ Johnson Jr.

“You have to address your issues for now, for this coming season, every year, because we’ve got to win now,” Lashlee said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re here or anywhere else: You have to win and you have to win now. But anytime you can address an issue and also for the next couple of years, that’s a win-win … that’s a big deal for us.

ΓÇ£The more years the better, right?ΓÇ¥

The majority of SMUΓÇÖs transfer portal class will have at least two years of eligibility. Some have three. PJ Williams, a near-five-star recruit in the Class of 2022 and a Texas A&M transfer, will have four years if he wants.

ΓÇ£HeΓÇÖs a ball of clay in a lot of ways,ΓÇ¥ SMU offensive line coach Garin Justice said of Williams. ΓÇ£He was a basketball player that kind of turned onto football late. Where he goes, how he develops, whatever role he fills is kind of up to his progression. I know itΓÇÖs going to be something special when he gets there; itΓÇÖs just the timetable weΓÇÖre not sure of.ΓÇ¥

Speaking of timetables, it may be a little premature to estimate when exactly SMU might debut in a Power Five conference. SMU hasnΓÇÖt even been extended an invite to the Pac-12 yet, though momentum suggests itΓÇÖs a high possibility.

Still, if a school wants to be in a Power Five conference, it has to act like a Power Five team. And in this case, it has to recruit like one.

So, how would this SMU class stack up against the rest of the Pac-12? Including San Diego State and excluding USC and UCLA, which are bound for the Big Ten, SMU wouldΓÇÖve had the third-worst high school recruiting class in the conference but the second-best transfer portal class, according to 247Sports data.

SMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons was asked Wednesday if he was worried about recruits in this class changing their mind before they officially signed their national letters of intent, binding them to the Mustangs.

ΓÇ£Every single one,ΓÇ¥ Symons said.

Symons then pointed to some of his transfer signees and high school signees who had Power Five options.

ΓÇ£I think weΓÇÖve got a lot of talent already on our roster,ΓÇ¥ Symons said, ΓÇ£and then with this influx of talent, weΓÇÖve got a chance to make us really special.

ΓÇ£This is a really strong signing class.ΓÇ¥

Roster construction will be a yearly endeavor featuring plenty of turnover now that the transfer portal exists. Which means it would be naive to think every SMU player who could be around in 2025 will be.

ΓÇ£Every year is different,ΓÇ¥ Lashlee said. ΓÇ£But we want the right guys here and weΓÇÖre going to set our sights high.ΓÇ¥

Which means trying to punch above their Group of Five recruiting weight class, even if we donΓÇÖt know when a Power Five debut could come.

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/smu-m ... ive-level/

[Digetydog]

Play in P5 = recruiting to P5 level.

[ponyboy]

Right. ItΓÇÖs a dumb question, akin to asking whether being P5 helps recruiting. Um, yes.