4. Notre Dame
Adjusted average: 3.07
Hit rate: 78%
Class rank in 2016: 15th
Four-year record: 37-14
Top signees: CB Julian Love, DE Julian Okwara, DE Khalid Kareem, WR Chase Claypool, QB Ian Book
Notre Dame finishing in the top five of this re-rank is sort of fascinating when you consider the timing. As coach Brian Kelly sized up what comes next for his program in December prior to the Irish’s Camping World Bowl win over Iowa State, he shared an ambition that’s been on his mind lately. He said his viewpoint is changing when it comes to national recruiting and how their classes compare to college football’s top talent factories.
“We want to break out of the 15th-ranked or the 10th-ranked, and we want to get into that next echelon,” Kelly said. “And so, philosophically, we have to do some things to get to that level.”
What does it take for the Irish to get there? Great question. But terrific classes like this one put them in position to start thinking that way. This 2016 group helped catapult the 2018 Irish into the College Football Playoff. Nine members of the class started against Clemson in the semifinal, and every single one of them became multi-year starters for the program. This 23-man haul really only had four misses, too. This class developed about as well as you could hope and has provided a ton of leadership. The Irish have recruited the right kind of guys. The question now: What will it take to achieve this kind of developmental success with even better raw talent? For Kelly and the Irish, that’s the key to consistent CFP contention.
5. Georgia
Adjusted average: 3.07
Hit rate: 75%
Class rank in 2016: 6th
Four-year record: 44-12
Top signees: S J.R. Reed, WR Mecole Hardman, OL Solomon Kindley, DT Tyler Clark, WR Javon Wims
Transition classes are never easy, and Kirby Smart and his staff found a lot of success in how they attacked this one. They managed to hold onto the early enrollees and the core of the class they inherited. They hit the road and added some big-time talent in January and February with Hardman, Kindley, Isaac Nauta, Riley Ridley and Tyler Simmons. And they were careful not to reach too much, knowing it was wiser to save spots for a 2017 recruiting class that became one of the nation’s best. And later that summer, they happened to find the steal of the class in Reed, an unheralded transfer from Tulsa who developed into a consensus All-American and Thorpe Award finalist.
Smart has established a dominant recruiting operation in Athens ever since this class — more top-three classes, more five-stars, way more hype — but this initial group was full of future starters who contributed to three SEC East titles and came oh-so-close to winning a national championship.
6. Michigan
Adjusted average: 3.06
Hit rate: 72%
Class rank in 2016: 8th
Four-year record: 37-15
Top signees: LB Devin Bush Jr., DE Rashan Gary, OL Ben Bredeson, CB David Long Jr., CB Lavert Hill
This was Jim Harbaugh’s
famous first full recruiting class at Michigan, the one that cranked up all the hype and hope for the years ahead. Four years later, the results of this class feel fairly reflective of the Harbaugh era. This group was undeniably loaded from a talent standpoint. And it probably should’ve won more than 37 games.
This class had everything: top-end talent, multi-year starters, leaders and depth. Bush became a consensus All-American. Gary, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, became a first-rounder. The list of signees who made more than 20 starts for the Wolverines is impressively long: Bush, Gary, Bredeson, Long, Hill, Josh Metellus, Khaleke Hudson, Michael Onwenu, Carlo Kemp, Sean McKeon, Quinn Nordin and Will Hart. Most of them earned All-Big Ten recognition in 2019. Most of them should play in the NFL.
It’s tough to describe a class as stacked as Michigan’s as being disappointing. They didn’t win a Big Ten title during these four years, and they didn’t beat Ohio State. But it’s fair to say they helped Harbaugh set a strong foundation for consistent success, one that future classes need to capitalize on.
7. Minnesota
Adjusted average: 3.04
Hit rate: 88%
Class rank in 2016: 46th
Four-year record: 32-19
Top signees: DB Antoine Winfield Jr., WR Tyler Johnson, LB Carter Coughlin, LB Thomas Barber, OL Conner Olson
This class signed to play for former head coach Tracy Claeys. No way could they have imagined what they were getting a year later when P.J. Fleck arrived in the Twin Cities. When a fiery coach like Fleck comes in preaching culture change and building a brand new foundation, that usually leads to a lot of roster attrition for classes like these. The Gophers’ players and coaches deserve a ton of credit, then, for what they’ve built together because this class really only had two departures after Fleck took over (and one was Drew Hmielewski, who opted to focus on baseball).
Eight members of this class were starters on the Gophers’ 2019 squad that made the leap from seven wins to 11. Winfield earned consensus All-America honors as a redshirt sophomore. Johnson established himself as an All-Big Ten wideout, and Coughlin’s 22.5 career sacks were third-most in school history. Fleck will forever be able to point to this class and the standard it established as indisputable evidence that the Gophers’ culture and their unique way of doing things works.
8. Ohio State
Adjusted average: 3.01
Hit rate: 68%
Class rank in 2016: 4th
Four-year record: 49-6
Top signees: DE Nick Bosa, QB Dwayne Haskins, S Jordan Fuller, OL Michael Jordan, LB Malik Harrison
Make no mistake, this was absolutely not a bad class for Urban Meyer and Ohio State, even by the program’s incredibly high standards. Bosa and Haskins were inarguably two of the very best players of the entire 2016 recruiting cycle. The Buckeyes’ 2016 haul included six players who would go on to earn first- or second-team All-Big Ten recognition, and eight members of the class started games for the 2019 squad that got back to the College Football Playoff and won a third consecutive Big Ten title. If you prefer to judge these classes by the top 10 players they produced, Ohio State is right there with the best of the best.
But, in fairness, if you compare this group with the
incredible 2017 class (trust me, that one is going to age well in next year’s re-rank), you’ll start to understand why the Buckeyes ended up in this spot. The class average is weighed down a bit by seven signees who didn’t contribute much and ended up transferring. But this class still produced many more hits than misses.
9. Utah
Adjusted average: 2.97
Hit rate: 81%
Class rank in 2016: 37th
Four-year record: 36-18
Top signees: RB Zach Moss, DE Bradlee Anae, OL Garett Bolles, DB Julian Blackmon, DT Leki Fotu
Now this is really an exceptional class. The Utes have one of the more unique recruiting operations among Power 5 programs. Under Kyle Whittingham, they’ve consistently done a terrific job of identifying and landing underrated gems and impactful transfers while also signing high school players who may take two-year missions and join the program in the future. And they hit the jackpot with this group, which produced the Pac-12’s Offensive Player of the Year, three All-Americans, several more all-conference players and, surely, lots of future draft picks.
This class had the superb Hallandale Trio of Moss, Tyler Huntley and Demari Simpkins. This class had the dominant defensive line duo of Anae and Fotu. This class had Blackmon, who made
The Athletic’s All-America team. This class had Bolles, a first-round draft pick in 2017. This class even had All-American punter Mitch Wishnowsky, who just played in the Super Bowl on Sunday night. And those are just the headliners. More than 20 members of this sizable class stayed in the program and played a role in the Utes’ back-to-back Pac-12 South titles.
