There are three new coaching staffs in the Southeastern Conference heading into the 2016 season and all of them stack up quite well in terms of on-field coaching.

But as we all know, assistant coaches are vital on the recruiting trail. Thanks in no small part to the NCAA severely limiting contact head football coaches can have with recruits, the assistants are the ones that forge the relationships and do the legwork in most instances when it comes to the acquisition of talent.

Two of the three programs did such a good job assembling talented recruiters on their staff, it’s not possible to differentiate between the two.

Here is how I’d rank the new staffs based on recruiting.

1a. Georgia

Because of head coach Kirby Smart’s ability to recruit and build relationships, the Bulldogs staff automatically is in a great position to recruit at a high level. But there are many good hires from a recruiting standpoint here. The two line coaches — offensive line coach Sam Pittman and defensive line coach Tracy Rocker — not only are among the best recruiters in the country on both lines, they also are outstanding at identifying, evaluating and developing talent in those two critical areas. Special teams coordinator Shane Beamer has a long history of being an outstanding recruiter and was a huge hire as was wide receivers coach James Coley. Dell McGee, who coaches running backs, has deep ties to the state of Georgia, where he was a high school coach and linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, one of two holdovers along with Rocker off Mark Richt’s staff, has been one of the top recruiters in the SEC going on two cycles now.

1b. South Carolina

Top to bottom, this is the most proven recruiting staff the Gamecocks have ever had. New head coach Will Muschamp hired two former National Recruiters of the Year in assistant head coach/defensive line coach Lance Thompson and co-offensive coordinator/receivers coach Bryan McClendon. Additionally, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson has an excellent recent history on the recruiting trail and hiring high school coaching legend Bobby Bentley, who will coach running backs, to mine the Carolinas was a stroke of genius. The lone holdover from the previous staff, offensive line coach Shawn Elliott, was one of Steve Spurrier’s top recruiters and linebackers coaches Mike Peterson and Coleman Hutzler are young and have great potential. Tight ends coach Pat Washington was one of Phillip Fulmer’s top recruiters at Tennessee from 1995-05.

3. Missouri

New Missouri head coach Barry Odom has a staff that has a strong track record in the evaluation and development categories, something that was critical to the successful run of former head coach Gary Pinkel. Wide receivers coach Andy Hill is a long-time member of the Tigers staff, a Mizzou grad and has landed his share of talent during his career. Cornell Ford, another staff holdover, is one of Missouri’s best recruiters and has been particularly good in the talent-rich St. Louis area over the years. Defensive coordinator Demontie Cross, who returns to his alma mater, worked under Gary Patterson at TCU and is known as a terrific evaluator. Secondary coach Greg Brown, like Cross, worked under an excellent talent evaluator in Bobby Petrino at Louisville.