If there’s one commonality among annual College Football Playoff contenders, it’s that recruiting serves as the foundation for a healthy program and long-term success. Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State are recent examples proving the importance of identifying and developing elite high school talent from within.

But that’s not the only path anymore. Now there are other roads that lead to success on the field. Teams are racing to use all roster-building avenues to compete amid CFP expansion.

The transfer portal has changed how programs build rosters. Some schools, such as Colorado, have gone all-in looking to overhaul and infuse their roster with experienced talent via transfers. Others, such as Clemson, lean more heavily on traditional prep recruiting while using the portal sparingly.

Today, we rank the top 25 groups of newcomers — recruits and transfers combined — based on who could see the most impactful immediate returns for 2024.

Recruits: WR Ryan Wingo, DE Colin Simmons

Texas’ No. 5 recruiting class includes impact freshmen on both sides of the ball. Wingo is receiving coaching reviews similar to those of five-star WR Jeremiah Smith of Ohio State. Wingo’s size, speed and natural pass-catching skills are already elite. Simmons may have a harder time getting meaningful reps given the talent around him, but he’s being compared to Anthony Hill Jr. as a pass-rusher because of his speed, bend and power. Both are mature and explosive true freshman playmakers.

Transfers: WR Isaiah Bond (Alabama), WR Matthew Golden (Houston), WR Silas Bolden (Oregon State), TE Amari Niblack (Alabama), DL Trey Moore (UTSA), DL Tiaoalii Savea (Arizona), S Andrew Mukuba (Clemson), CB Jay’Vion Cole (San Jose State), DT Bill Norton (Arizona), DL Jermayne Lole (Louisville)

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, a one-time Alabama assistant, benefitted from the coaching change in Tuscaloosa. Texas landed receiver Bond, who led Alabama with 48 catches, and tight end Niblack, who was among the Tide’s leaders in receptions and touchdowns. Bringing in Golden from in-state Houston was another coup. The four-star 2022 recruit was an immediate contributor for the Cougars and should replace lost production in both the passing and return games. Bolden is coming off his most productive season at Oregon State with 54 catches in 2023, doubling his output from the first three years. Defensively, the Longhorns stacked the trenches with run-stuffers. After adding Norton and Savea from Arizona, Lole was a recent flip from Oklahoma. Texas addressed the void at defensive tackle after losing Byron Murphy and T’Vondre Sweat to the NFL.

College football’s spring transfer period opened on April 16. More than 2,000 players transferred during the December transfer period, and while we might not see that volume during the spring, it’s the final chance for teams to use the portal to fill needs or add to their roster. It’s also the last time players can change schools before the season starts.

These rankings will be adjusted as new players enter the portal, and we’ll add notes on what each transfer brings to his new program as players commit.

PHILADELPHIA — Rob Thomson watched Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto hit solo homers and Edmundo Sosa hit a three-run shot to lead the Philadelphia Phillies past the Texas Rangers 11-4 on Wednesday night in a game that gave them the best 50-game start in baseball since Seattle in 2001 and came away with one question about the Mariners.

“What’d they do?” Thomson asked.

The third-year Phillies manager asked the rhetorical question because he knew exactly the fate of those Mariners who started 38-12 and went on to tie an MLB record with 116 wins.

The Mariners failed to win the World Series.

“That’s right,” Thomson said. “So you’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep grinding, keep pushing all the way through.”

Realmuto extended his hitting streak to 12 games and added three RBIs, and Alec Bohm hit a two-RBI double in the sixth inning that made it 10-3 and gave him an National League-best 46 RBIs.

Already boasting the best record in baseball, the Phillies are 36-14 — the best start over 50 games in franchise history, and they are just the 26th team in National League history to win at least 36 games over the first 50 played. The 1998 Braves were the last to get off to such a fast start.

The Phillies had never been better than 35-15 (1993, 1976) through their first 50 games over the course of franchise history that dates to 1883.

The Phillies won their fifth straight game and 17th of their past 20. They’re 21-8 at home and winners of 17 of 19 at Citizens Bank Park.

“We know that in any situation we’re put in, we can come through it,” Realmuto said. “We have a chance to win every game no matter where we’re at. If we’re down late, we have confidence in ourselves. I think that just speaks to the culture that we’ve built here.”

Matt Strahm (3-0) pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings to pick up the win in relief.

The good times are rolling in Philly — though it took a hot minute during a game in which temperatures hovered near 90 degrees at first pitch. Leody Taveras crushed a solo homer off Phillies starter Taijuan Walker in the second and the Rangers actually led 2-0.

The early hole was nothing but a pesky inconvenience for this year’s Phillies. They took advantage of two errors in the second inning by the World Series champions to tie the game 2-all.

Brandon Marsh‘s RBI single made it 2-1. Marsh then tried to steal second only for Rangers starter Dane Dunning (3-3) to wheel around and throw the ball into center field, bringing home the tying run. Marsh was just getting started on a big night; the left fielder threw out Corey Seager at third base in the fourth inning on Adolis Garcia‘s hit into the corner.

Realmuto’s sixth homer of the year in the third made it 3-2, and he knocked in two more in the sixth with a bases-loaded single for an 8-3 lead.

Dunning left with two runners in the fourth after he threw 74 pitches in his first start since he returned from the injured list. Dunning was sidelined by a right rotator cuff strain.

Manager Bruce Bochy brought in Jonathan Hernandez, and the move instantly backfired. Sosa crushed one off the end of the bat and hit a three-run homer to right on the reliever’s first pitch that made it 6-2.

Walker struck out five but allowed three runs in 4⅔ innings.

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.