Rankings Spotlight: Former five-stars playing outside of the Power Four

Throughout the first month and half of the 2024 season some very familiar names from past recruiting classes have popped up at unlikely schools. Check out which five-stars from previous years are now playing for non-Power Four programs.

The 2022 recruiting class for Texas A&M went from crown jewel to cautionary tale. Adeleye was one of the headliners of that signing class for the Aggies but he didn’t play much his freshman year. He ended up transferring to Michigan State but that was the year Mel Tucker was fired mid-season.

This seemingly derailed Adeleye again and he transferred for a second time. He’s now at Texas State where he’s getting some good playing time and has two sacks and five tackles on the season.

Things never worked out for Collier. He was a borderline five-star in the 2021 class and he ended up signing with Florida. He never really played much for the Gators, which presumably led to his transfer to Nebraska for the following season.

This was a rinse-and-repeat situation for Collier as he still didn’t see the field much for the Cornhuskers. Now Collier is playing for Florida A&M but he’s only played in two games this season.

There was a time during the 2021 rankings cycle that Foreman was the top-ranked player in the Rivals250. He ended up finishing at No. 4 overall and signed with USC but never really got his feet under him with the Trojans. In three years he tallied just one sack and 18 tackles.

Foreman transferred to Fresno State after the 2023 season and he’s seeing regular playing time this season. He has two sacks and two forced fumbles on the year.

Grimes was originally supposed to be part of the 2021 class but he graduated early and enrolled at North Carolina for the 2020 season. He played in 11 games that season and would become one of the most well-known Tar Heels for the next two seasons. His time in Chapel Hill had mixed results and he transferred to Texas A&M following the 2022 season.

Unfortunately for Grimes, he suffered an injury that prevented him from playing at all during the 2023 season. Now he’s playing for UNLV where he’s started four games and allowed just five catches for 35 yards this season.

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Part of the heralded 2022 Texas A&M signing class, Harris played in five games for the Aggies during his freshman year but was suspended twice and transferred to LSU for the following season. He made three starts and played in five games while at LSU but was suspended again.

Harris transferred to UTSA after last season. He played in all five games this year but only started once.

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Nelson made headlines this offseason when he transferred from USC to Boise State. The former five-star quarterback was supposed to be the heir-apparent to Caleb Williams after the Heisman winner left for the NFL.

That, obviously, didn’t happen. Boise State’s quarterback situation was unsettled prior to the season and the prevailing thought was that Nelson would be able to come in and win the job. That didn’t happen either. Nelson lost the position battle to Maddux Madsen and Boise State sits at 3-1.

Thompson was an outstanding physical talent coming out of high school and if he had developed his skill set more at Oregon he would have played a lot for the Ducks. As it turns out, that didn’t happen and Thompson never played more than 100 snaps for Oregon in his three years in Eugene.

He transferred to Tulane prior to this season and many assumed he’d win the starting job for the Green Wave. Instead, Thompson is the backup again while he watches freshman Darian Mensah catch the attention of college football fans.

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Williams got off to a great start in college with Oklahoma. The five-star from Florida signed with the Sooners in the same class as Caleb Williams and then transferred with him to USC. The first year in Southern California went well for Williams, too. He was really productive and averaged more than 15 yards per reception.

Last season wasn’t a banner year for him and he transferred from USC to Tulane before this season. Williams started off the 2024 season with two 100-yard games and last weekend against South Florida he posted 94 receiving yards and two touchdowns.