Here is a look at the starters (or co-starters) listed on the Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt depth charts going into the Birmingham Bowl and their Rivals' star and point rankings as high school recruits.

We’ll go position by position, starting with the offense first:

Offense

Quarterbacks:

Diego Pavia (Unranked, I included his high school and JuCo card)

Haynes King (3-star, 5.7)

Running backs:

Sedrick Alexander (3-star, 5.7) or

Chase Gillespie (3-star, 5.6) or

Moni Jones (2-star, 5.2)

Jamal Haynes (3-star, 5.6, was ranked as an athlete)

Tight Ends:

Cole Spence (3-star, 5.7) or

Eli Stowers (4-star, 5.8, was ranked a as a dual-threat QB)

Avery Boyd (3-star, 5.6, was ranked as a wide receiver)

or Jackson Hawes (Unranked, was a defensive end in high school)

Wide receivers:

Junior Sherrill (3-star, 5.6)

Richie Hoskins (unranked, was ranked as an athlete)

Quincy Skinner Jr. (4-star, 5.8)

Malik Rutherford (3-star, 5.7)

Chase Lane (3-star, 5.6)

Abdul Janneh (unranked)

Offensive line:

Quick tackle: Steven Hubbard (unraked, was ranked as an offensive guard)

Quick guard: Kevo Wesley (3-star, 5.7, was ranked as an offensive tackle)

Center: Delfin Xavier Castillo (3-star, 5.6, was ranked as an offensive tackle)

Strong guard: Steven Losoya (2-star, 5.4)

Strong tackle: Chase Mitchell (2-star, 5.2)

Left Tackle: Ethan Mackenny (3-star, 5.5)

Left Guard: Joe Fusile (unranked)

Center: Weston Franklin (3-star, 5.7, was ranked as an offensive guard)

Right Guard: Keylan Rutledge (2-star, 5.4)

Right Tackle: Jordan Williams (3-star, 5.7)

Defense

Defensive line

End: Khordae Sydnor (3-star, 5.5)

Tackle: De'Marion Thomas (3-star, 5.7)

Tackle: Yilanan Quattara (3-star, 5.5)

RZ (Edge): Miles Capers (2-star, 5.4, was ranked as an outside linebacker)

End: Josh Robinson (3-star, 5.7)

or Sylvain Yondjouen (3-star, 5.5)

Nose: Zeek Biggers (2-star, 5.2, was ranked as an offensive guard)

Tackle: Makius Scott (3-star, 5.6)

or Jordan van den Berg (unranked)

Rush: Kevin Harris (4-star, 5.8, was ranked as a weakside defensive end)

Linebackers:

LB: Bryan Longwell (2-star, 5.4)

LB: Langston Patterson (3-star, 5.7)

Star: Randon Fontenette (4-star, 5.8, was ranked as an athlete)

Kyle Efford (3-star, 5.6)

Trenilyas Tatum (4-star, 5.8)

Defensive backs

Corner: Martel Hight (3-star, 5.7)

Corner: Jaylin Lackey (3-star, 5.6) or

Kolbey Taylor (2-star, 5.4, was ranked as an athlete)

Safety: CJ Taylor (3-star, 5.5, was ranked as an athlete)

Safety: De'Rickey Wright (3-star, 5.7, was ranked as an outside linebacker) or

Maurice Hampton Jr. (4-star, 5.8, was ranked as an athlete)

Nickel/Sam: Rodney Shelley (2-star, 5.4, was ranked as an athlete)

or Syeed Gibbs (unranked)

Strong Safety: Clayton Powell-Lee (3-star, 5.5)

Free Safety: LaMiles Brooks (4-star, 5.9, was ranked as a cornerback)

Right Cornerback: Ahmari Harvey (4-star, 5.8, was ranked as a safety)

Left Cornerback: Warren Burrell (4-star, 5.8)

Special Teams

Place Kicker and Kickoff Specialist: Brock Taylor (3-star, 5.5)

Punter: Jesse Mirco (2-star, 5.4, was ranked as a kicker)

Kicker: Aidan Birr (3-star, 5.5)

Punter: David Shanahan (2-star, 5.4, was ranked as a kicker)

Analysis: Georgia Tech has a slight advantage based on these rankings but it's not by much. In fact, the Jackets and Commodores were in battles for many of these prospects as they tend to recruit in many of the same circles. Martel Hight and De'Rickey Wright are two of the names that may sound familiar to Tech fans as the Jackets were involved with those two before they chose Vanderbilt, and there were several others as well.

While the academic part of it is a reason many people compare these two programs, they are also similar in taking under-ranked recruits and turning them into solid college starters over years of development. Both have done better in the transfer portal as well in the last few years to supplement that approach.

On paper, these two teams are pretty evenly-matched based on recruiting rankings, but what takes place on the field will show a lot more on how comparable they are. Should be a fun game with motivated teams and fan bases that hope to continue to improve their standing going into 2025 and how they are thought of in the high school recruiting world.