According to a leading recruiting expert, 6 SEC teams have the talent to potentially win a national championship in 2021.

Bud Elliott of 247Sports has shared his yearly breakdown of which college football teams have the best Blue-Chip Ratio. Elliott crunches the number to see which teams have rosters with the most blue-chip (4- and 5-star) recruits. To calculate the BCR, Elliott looks at signees out of high school and JUCO but not players from the transfer portal:

All scholarship signees count. Transfers and walk-ons do not. Transfers (not junior college) are not governed by the same recruit rules. And though they’re important, they are rarely consequential enough to turn a non-contender into a contender.

Elliott first introduced the BCR in 2013. In the 2013 season, Florida State won a national championship with a BCR of 53 percent. All but one national champion since then has had a BCR of 53 or higher. The 2016 Clemson team’s BCR was 52. For the yearly article, Elliott’s considers have a BCR of 50 percent or higher.

Elliott’s numbers for 2021 indicate that 16 teams, including 6 from the SEC, have the talent to compete for a national championship in 2021. It’s no surprise to see that the defending national champs lead the way:

  1. Alabama – 84 percent BCR
  2. Georgia – 80
  3. Ohio State – 79
  4. Clemson – 67
  5. LSU – 66
  6. Oklahoma – 66
  7. Texas – 66
  8. Florida – 66
  9. Texas A&M – 61
  10. Michigan – 58
  11. Auburn – 56
  12. Oregon- 56
  13. Penn State – 56
  14. Notre Dame – 55
  15. Miami -55
  16. USC – 53