ACC Talent Acquisition a Case of Different Strokes for Different Folks

A breakdown of talent inflow and a bit of myth busting around new ACC members

On October 15th, the Transfer Portal will celebrate its sixth birthday.

After a few years of figuring out the new landscape, teams appear to have settled into a rhythm around their recruiting mix.

In this article, I will break down the numbers from 2022-24, taking averages of each ACC team’s overall national recruiting rank, high school rank, and transfer portal rank.

First, here are the three-year averages for each team:

At a high level, the rankings reveal that:

1. The ACC is full of mediocre programs.

2. Losing Clemson and Florida St. would all but end any realistic hope of a conference member competing for National Championships year-in and year-out.

3. The new member programs are better at recruiting than a lot of ACC fans probably realize.

Teams generally fall into one of three groups: reliant on high school recruiting, reliant on the transfer portal, or balanced. Most interesting is the fact that there does not seem to be one particular path toward building a conference title contender.

It’s more about finding out what works for each team given its location, culture, history, and expectations.

Dependent on high school recruiting

Clemson, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Stanford, NC State, and Wake Forest

This group, from a football perspective, is the strongest. Stanford has been down in recent years, but the Cardinal had a very strong program in the 2010s. All the other teams are at least above average.

Clemson and Stanford are in this group by default because neither is active in the transfer portal.

The other four schools are all located in the same talent-rich area and compete against each other for high school recruits.

It says something about just how much talent there is in Virginia and North Carolina that there can exist four consistently good programs in such a small footprint.

Dependent on the transfer portal

Louisville, California, SMU, Syracuse, and Virginia

One could fairly divide this group into teams located in talent-rich states (Cal, SMU, and Virginia) and teams located in talent-poor states (Louisville and Syracuse).

The transfer portal is an obvious boon to teams located in areas devoid of high school talent. However, it is also helping prestigious public universities like Cal and UVA.

SMU is different. Football matters at SMU, and Texas is full of talent. What has held back the Mustangs in recent years (decades?) is conference affiliation.

Moving to ACC should help on that front and, indeed, after bringing in high school recruiting classes ranked 82nd, 72nd, and 108th since 2022, SMU’s 2025 class is currently ranked 22nd.

Even if that rank dips a bit as commitments roll in at other schools, SMU is now able to recruit at a much higher level. And they are.

Balanced

Miami, Florida St., Georgia Tech, Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Duke

Florida St. and Miami are name brands, nationally, so there is no surprise in seeing those two programs dominate in both recruiting categories.

Half of the teams in the group are private schools (Miami, Boston College, and Duke).

Three out of the four non-Florida schools are second-tier programs in their respective states (Georgia Tech, Pitt, and Duke).

Things, however, are not especially clean in this group. Take, for example, Georgia Tech. They were heavily dependent on the portal in Geoff Collins’s final years as head coach. Brent Key has turned that around and high school recruiting is now the main source for talent.

Over three years the averages give us the appearance of balance, but really, the Yellow Jackets are a recruiting operation in flux.

Offseason coaching changes at Boston College and Duke could have a similar impact in Chestnut Hill and Durham. Both schools are off to a strong start with their respective 2025 high school classes (BC - 47th and Duke - 31st).

A note about Cal, SMU, and Stanford

Virginia Tech is tied with Stanford for 6th place in average overall recruiting rank for the 2022-24 classes. Cal and SMU follow closely behind.

SMU, especially, appears primed to become an upper echelon team in the ACC. But don’t sleep on the California schools.

Yeah, yeah, I know they haven’t won a lot lately, but they recruit at a much higher level than most Tech fans would want them too.

And that should make trips out west, for as long as this crazy league remains a going entity, a dicey proposition.