When recruits enter the college ranks, they’re often — even if not by the coaches — expected to contribute to a team right away.

With 20-plus players per class, 85 scholarship spots and a series of other higher-education variables, immediate influence isn’t always easy to come by for blue-chip prospects. Inevitably, the SEC always has a strong core of players that affect the conference outlook from the beginning, having sensational freshman years, and that often carries over to subsequent seasons.

The transition from freshman year to sophomore year often makes or breaks a player’s eventual NFL chances. Last season’s SEC All-Freshman Team was loaded with talent, and many of those honorees figure to fill into equal or bigger roles in the 2016 season. Here’s a look at five super sophomores to look out for this season (By unpopular demand, there’s three Alabama players on the list. But there’s a reason the Crimson Tide always have No. 1 classes and win championships, so just accept it). Forty different players have an argument to make this list, so these five just have especially worthy credentials.

Calvin Ridley, wide receiver, Alabama

He didn’t end up winning the SEC freshman of the year award, likely because he came on too late in the season — and the freshman talent pool was so high — but Calvin Ridley stepped up more on the biggest stage than any football player in the nation, class aside.

Ridley barged onto the scene with a five-catch, 120-yard performance against Georgia. He improved on that with nine catches and 140 yards a week later against Arkansas. Ridley returned to humanity with a series of sub-100-yard games later in the season, but most of those outings included at least five receptions. Then, in the SEC Championship Game and College Football Playoff semifinal, Ridley combined for 16 catches, 240 yards and 2 touchdowns with everybody watching.

Ridley wrapped up 2015 with the most receptions in the conference (89) and second-most receiving yards (1,045), behind only Laquon Treadwell, making Ridley the leading returning receiver in the conference. There’s a strong crop of sophomore receivers — Christian Kirk (more later), Terry Godwin, Antonio Callaway — and Ridley might be the best of the bunch.

He certainly looked the part last year, and there’s no reason to think that will change in 2016.

Christian Kirk, wide receiver, Texas A&M

By the end of the season, Ridley began getting a majority of the freshman attention in the SEC, but Christian Kirk made it hard to forget about him. When it came time for All-Freshman Team selections, Kirk certainly made his mark on the voters.

Kirk got first-team selections as a wide receiver, all-purpose athlete and return specialist, which unsurprisingly made him the freshman of the year, as well. As good as Ridley’s second half was, Kirk did enough throughout the entire season to stand above his freshman wide receiver companion at season’s end.

At receiver, Kirk finished behind only Ridley and Treadwell in receiving yards amid an 80-catch season that included four 100-yard games. He’ll return to a stacked Texas A&M receiving corps that helps prevent defenses from putting their entire focus on one receiver. And he makes plays elsewhere, too.

Kirk carried the ball 11 times and returned two punts for touchdowns. He’s a threat no matter how he gets the ball in his hands.

In other words: Trevor Knight, don’t mess this up.

Bo Scarbrough, running back, Alabama

This might be the surprise of the list, and Derrius Guice supporters will probably back out of this link pronto.

In many ways, this is a system choice. As good as Ridley is, the Crimson Tide are founded upon a ground-and-pound foundation. And it’s a never-ending next man up philosophy. There was Mark Ingram, then Trent Richardson, then Eddie Lacy, then T.J. Yeldon, then Derrick Henry. You’re kidding yourself if you think Bo Scarbrough is any different than the rest.

Scarbrough didn’t make the All-Freshman team. That distinction went to Guice and Arkansas running back Rawleigh Williams III. But Scarbrough had to deal with, you know, the 2,000-yard Heisman winner ahead of him on the depth chart.

In fact, Scarbrough finished the season 68th in rushing yards (104), a spot behind Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen. So, sure, Scarbrough doesn’t scream super sophomore, but he will be.

At 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, Scarbrough fits into Nick Saban’s new mold of monster-sized backs that also have the ability to break away from a secondary. It’s pretty much a single-game sample size with Scarbrough — 18 carries, 104 yards and a touchdown — but he’s going to fill the shoes of the Crimson Tide’s running back legacy.

Arden Key, defensive lineman, LSU

He made the all-names team and the All-Freshman team in 2015, and he’ll be back in 2016 to lead the LSU defense.

Arden Key came to LSU last season with the expectations of becoming an impact player right off the bat. He wasn’t that, exactly, but he did have some big-time moments for the Tigers during his freshman campaign.

Key rounded out his first year in purple and gold with five sacks, finishing tied for 15th in the conference in that category. His 41 tackles and nine quarterback hurries, while not earth-shattering, still put him in the conversation among the conference’s top returning defensive linemen, especially among the sophomore class.

The biggest key for Key? He got better as the season progressed.

All five of his sacks came against SEC competition, and 4.5 of them came during or following the Florida game at the midway point of the season. In the regular-season finale, Key had his biggest stat-filler of the season, recording eight tackles and 1.5 sacks against Texas A&M.

LSU is known for NFL-ready players in its front seven. Key is another one.

Marlon Humphrey, defensive back, Alabama

Make Marlon Humphrey the third head of the Crimson Tide sophomore dragon. Honestly, Minkah Fitzpatrick could make the list, too.

But Humphrey, of the redshirt sophomore variety, won a spot on then-Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart’s defense at the start of the season, and carried that momentum into a 15-start season all the way through the College Football Playoff championship run.

Statistically, he tied for eighth in the SEC with three interceptions. Humphrey deflected eight passes throughout the year and forced two fumbles, an indication of his defensive disruption.

The jury is still out on the legitimacy of the clutch gene, but if it’s a real thing, Humphrey’s DNA is chock full of it. In a top-10 battle (well it was at the time anyways), Humphrey intercepted a pass that was a dagger in the massacre against Georgia. He then picked off Dak Prescott in the fourth quarter and returned it 29 yards for his second career interception. Three weeks later, he grabbed another in the SEC Championship Game against Florida.

Alabama defenses always have a secondary crutch, and even though he’s just a sophomore, Humphrey has the talent and experience to be that guy for the Crimson Tide in 2016.