Rivals national recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr. is joined by national recruiting director Adam Gorney, national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman and Russell Johnson of JacketsOnline.com to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
1.
One of the 2026 quarterback recruits in the state of Florida will eventually touch five-star status.
Gorney: FACT. There are two five-star quarterbacks are in the 2026 Rivals250 right now and that number will surely grow as we get later into the cycle. Georgia commit Jared Curtis will have a very good chance at making a run at a fifth star, but so will Florida quarterbacks Noah Grubbs, Brady Hart and Dia Bell. I just don’t know which one to pick yet.
They’re so close together in the rankings, all of them coming in between No. 39 to No. 44 in the updated Rivals250. They all have a very good chance of moving up seven to 10 spots to get into that five-star range.
It’s no guarantee any of them make it but if more quarterbacks are going in the first round of the NFL Draft every year, it stands to reason that we’re going to have more five-star quarterbacks. So there’s a very good chance that one of the three among Grubbs, Hart and Bell will end up as a five-star.
Garcia: FACT. A Floridian quarterback hasn’t seen five stars next to his name since IMG Academy quarterbacks Kellen Mond and Shea Patterson, and they weren’t exactly Sunshine State natives. Outside of the boarding school, the five-star Florida crown goes all the way back to college legend Tim Tebow from the class of 2006.
It means the state has had a huge void despite its football prowess, so why not have a whole group of contenders to work to potentially buck the trend? Notre Dame commitment Noah Grubbs and Florida commitment Will Griffin have four stars and multiple years of starting varsity experience to their names already, while fellow four-stars Dia Bell, Brady Hart, Dereon Coleman and Michael Clayton are each coming off of breakout 2023 seasons.
They are all different in terms of style, but one of the six could make the jump in big chunks over the next 18 months or so. Griffin, Bell and Coleman offer dual-threat tags to their evaluations while Hart, Grubbs and Clayton have staggering size and big arms to boot.
RELATED: Breaking down the 2026 QB rankings
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2.
Four-star linebacker Logan Anderson is the hottest football recruit in Alabama.
Spiegleman: FACT. No prospect in the state of Alabama is garnering more buzz than Logan Anderson, and for good reason. Anderson made the transition from safety down into the box at linebacker this spring, and has been thriving in the new role ever since.
In addition to catching our eyes on the field, Anderson has been tearing up prospect camps this summer. At Auburn, he clocked a 4.44-second 40 time to go along with a 35.9-inch vertical jump. The numbers and the downhill play style are outstanding.
Georgia, Clemson and Auburn have put offers on the table. Plenty more programs in the SEC and ACC may not be far behind.
Garcia: FACT. Anderson’s prep resume is as good as anyone’s through three seasons. He has dominant two-way tape, state championship rings and a great frame at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds. But playing Class 2A football on an old-school, run-heavy offense didn’t allow for as much recruiting exposure as one would otherwise think. So camp season has been where Anderson’s floor of Group of Five offers were going to meet his Power Four ceiling, and the latter has prevailed as he has added the scholarship offer from every camp attended.
Now a four-star prospect, Anderson is projected as a three-down linebacker who can really run and is comfortable in space. The rise won’t soon slow down, from an offer perspective, at a minimum.
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3.
Three-star offensive tackle Damola Ajidahun will be tough to pull out of the state of Georgia.
Johnson: FACT. Damola Ajidahun is the type of prospect that in recent years has landed at one of the several out-of-state Power Four programs that recruit the state of Georgia heavily. As early as both Georgia Tech and Georgia entered the mix, it is clear that both programs thought highly of him early in the process and got strong early evaluations on him.
Ajidahun officially visited Georgia Tech last weekend, and raved about it at a level that it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he were to pull the trigger on a commitment. He’s got other trips coming up to Ole Miss, South Florida and Georgia. A trip to Oxford could persuade him to pledge to the Rebels, but the chances of him landing in Athens or Atlanta are currently high.
Garcia: FICTION. It’s a new day and age in recruiting. Different prospects value different things in the process in the modern era, and Ajidahun is in a unique spot on multiple fronts.
First, he’s not the towering, high-floor offensive lineman we typically see Georgia bring in. Georgia Tech certainly got the ball rolling on official visits and set the bar high, something to watch going forward.
On the other front, multiple SEC programs that have done well in the Peach State are in the middle of this. Florida has multiple offensive line coaches and has been productive at the position. Ole Miss is always in contention for the type of high-flying offense most offensive recruits clamor for, so any of the Power Four contenders can build a case here.
