When Deshaun Watson, a Georgia native, was deciding on a college back in 2014, he picked the Clemson Tigers over a slew of SEC schools — including Florida, which was at one point his dream school.

Fast forward to the end of the 2016 season and Watson (the No. 41 overall recruit in his class) and the Tigers are College Football Playoff champions after besting Alabama in a rematch of last year’s title game.

(For good measure, Clemson WR Artavis Scott was also a highly touted SEC-area recruit.)

That leaves many what-ifs for SEC fans and leaves the conference’s top coaches scrambling to make sure the next Watson doesn’t slip away.

However, keeping 100 percent of the recruits from SEC country in their home conference is unreasonable, so naturally some top 2017 players got away.

Therefore, let’s take a look at the top-10 players most likely to leave SEC coaches asking “what if?” in a few years.

(Note: Rankings from 247Sports are used for all players listed below.)

Walker Little, 5-star OT, No. 1 overall — Stanford

Little, from Bellaire, Texas, will head west to join David Shaw’s Stanford Cardinal. The massive 6-foot-7, 315-pound tackle is sure to be an anchor for the Cardinal’s offensive line the next few years.

Cam Akers, 5-star RB, No.7 overall — Florida State

Akers, a Mississippi native, was considering Ole Miss and LSU, but ultimately decided to join Jimbo Fisher’s Florida State program. The No. 1 overall running back in the 2017 class will try to fill Dalvin Cook’s shoes for the Seminoles.

Baron Browning, 5-star LB, No. 10 overall — Ohio State

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer still has plenty of SEC-area ties from his highly successful tenure at Florida. Browning, a Texas native, is the first player on this list who will head to Columbus, but as you’ll quickly see, he won’t be the last.

Jeffrey Okudah, 5-star CB, No. 12 overall — Ohio State

See? Meyer’s crew makes another quick appearance on the list, landing yet another highly touted defender from Texas. The Buckeyes’ defense will be loaded again in 2017.

Shaun Wade, 5-star CB, No. 16 overall — Ohio State

See above. Replace “Texas” with “Florida.”

Davis Mills, 5-star pro-style QB, No. 19 overall — Stanford

David Shaw is quite a recruiter, too, landing another top offensive player from SEC country. Mills, a Georgia native, is a perfect fit for Shaw’s pro-style offense.

Joshua Kaindoh, 5-star DE, No. 20 overall — Florida State

The IMG Academy player will head to Tallahassee to join forces with Cam Akers at Florida State.

Robert Barnes, 5-star S, No. 27 overall — Oklahoma

Barnes, a Texan, will play for Bob Stoops in college. The Big 12 doesn’t have the same defensive reputation that the SEC has, but the Sooners will be loaded in 2017 and are often a top college squad.

Tee Higgins, 4-star WR, No. 34 overall — Clemson

After the Tigers lose Scott and Mike Williams to the NFL draft, they’ll need to rebuild quickly. Higgins, a Tennessee native, is looking to be the next Clemson receiver to work his way into a favorable draft position.

D.J. Matthews, 4-star WR, No. 42 overall — Florida State

Matthews, a Florida native and high-school teammate of Shaun Wade, is also spurning the SEC. He’ll still get to see plenty of SEC squads over his college career, though, as the Seminoles will face Alabama in Week 1 of the 2017 season and have a yearly rivalry with Florida.