Who’s having a big recruiting season? Here are five teams and head coaches doing a fantastic job in 2021 after a mediocre 2020.
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You know who has the top 2021 recruiting classes without even looking.
If you guessed Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and a whole slew of SEC schools, you’re right. But there are always schools who surprise in the process and come up with big, important classes that can shape a program and future conference races.
Sometimes the class looks good because of bulk signings, sometimes it’s talent, and sometimes it’s a good blend of both.
Here are five programs bringing in somewhat surprising classes to be among the best – even if they aren’t pushing Alabama – of the 2021 recruiting season.
5. Pitt Panthers
The ACC is Clemson’s show and everyone else is a guest – especially with Florida State having a rough time getting this recruiting thing going again – but North Carolina has been excellent with Mack Brown back and Miami is putting together a fantastic 2021 haul.
Suddenly, Pitt is right there knocking on the door with a potential top 5 – or better – ACC class.
Pitt usually comes up with decent classes, but it almost never gets the top tier talents who have their choice of any program. However, when you have one of the most devastating pass rushes in college football over the last few years, top defensive linemen will notice you.
– 2021 Pitt Schedule Analysis, Best & Worst Scenarios
It helps to pump up that Pitt is Aaron Donald’s school, and it doesn’t hurt a class when his nephew – Elliot Donald – signs on. He’s not alone with a few other fantastic prospects coming in for the D line to go along with talent for the offensive front.
Depth and bulk play a factor here. Pitt needed to load up on recruits, but there’s quality to go along with the quantity.
And, yeah, it got another Donald at defensive tackle.
NEXT: Missouri Tigers
4. Missouri Tigers
SEC recruiting classes are always graded on a curve.
Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Texas A&M, and in normal years, Auburn come up with unrealistic recruiting classes no normal program can think of landing. So for everyone else, the goal is to get enough prospects that fit, all while not worrying that the class might only be among the 10th-or-so best in the conference.
And that’s the problem. An SEC school could land a top 25 national recruiting class and not be within 100 miles of upper half of the SEC hauls.
This was the year to take advantage of coaching changes and instability at South Carolina, Tennessee and Auburn. Missouri might not be after the same players those three are region-wise, but it helped that those other three are in reboot mode.
So even with all of that, the 2021 Mizzou class really is good.
– 2021 Missouri Schedule Analysis, Best & Worst Scenarios
Head coach Eliah Drinkwitz has the chops, the personality, and the positivity needed to be a strong recruiter, and his staff did the work in his first full year on the job.
It starts with the defensive line – landing a few ends from the general recruiting area to possibly be instant factors in the pass rushing rotation – getting QB Tyler Macon and RB Taj Butts was big for the backfield, and the secondary is loaded with prospects in an SEC that suddenly turned into late 2010’s Big 12.
NEXT: Kansas Jayhawks
3. Kansas Jayhawks
Big 12 recruiting is always the same.
It’s Oklahoma and Texas – in some order – and the other eight teams all get most of the same talents with the order shuffling depending on the year.
More often or not, though, Kansas has been at or near the bottom year after year, and it’s almost never pushing to have the third or fourth best class in the conference.
This year, though, everything changes.
It’s not all about the insta-fix JUCO transfers of past years, doing a nice job of building for the future – and for right now, too. And incoming freshman really will be able to compete to start right out of the gate.
The incoming skill guys are good, but the secondary is going to be the star. It’s a deep class of defensive backs – helped by flipping Edwin White from Tennessee in December – and the receivers are there, too.
Now it’s a question of just how fast this can all translate into wins – or Kansas merely being more competitive.
NEXT: USC Trojans
2. USC Trojans
It’s USC, so it’s supposed to wake up in the morning and have five-star recruits there for the taking, but that hasn’t been the case over the last few years.
The phenomenal class of 2018 was supposed to turn the program back into a superpower, but that didn’t happen, the coaching concerns have played a role, and the last few years were rough on the recruiting trail.
Last year’s class was a relative disaster – partly because of the concerns over the job status of Clay Helton, and partly because there weren’t a ton of openings – but this year’s haul reversed the trend with the best-looking group in a few years.
On the down side, this isn’t as good as class as Oregon’s, but it’s not terribly far off. At the very least, it’s got the potential to be around the top ten overall.
Landing defensive end Korey Foreman was huge, bringing in a slew of star defensive back talents was great, and in bulk, Helton was able to get excellent prospects for just about everywhere.
At the very least, it’s a class that restocks the shelves at a high level.
NEXT: Wisconsin Badgers
1. Wisconsin Badgers
Yeah, that whole Recruit To A Type thing has been cute and all, and it’s hard to argue with the success, but the talent level has to take a jump for the program to push Ohio State and finally make a run at the College Football Playoff. This class certainly isn’t at the OSU level, but for what Wisconsin does, it’s terrific.
It’s Wisconsin, so it’s not getting the elite of the elite skill guys – how this program doesn’t have five-star running backs begging to go to this place continues to be a mystery – but it’s loading up with outstanding linemen and infrastructure.
Of course it is – it’s Wisconsin.
OT Nolan Rucci had his choice of anywhere – he could’ve been Nick Saban’s next great blocker for somewhere on the Bama line, or Dabo Swinney’s next left tackle – but he comes to Madison as one of the best offensive lineman recruits the program has ever landed.
He’s not alone among the star linemen coming in for the offensive side, and the pass rushers are there for the other front – don’t dismiss how much the Watt brothers factor matters when it comes to who prospects idolize.
The most important area, though, might be defensive back. The Badgers haven’t had a slew of next level talents over the last few years, but for what this defense does, being able to have dependable parts in the secondary is everything.
Overall, think of it this way. Wisconsin has turned into a powerhouse with recruiting classes that generally rank in the 30s. This one is going to be firmly in everyone’s top 20.
