NCAA Football

The Country's Five Most Disappointing Recruiting Classes

Posted Feb 06, 2008 7:47PM By Brian Cook (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Auburn Football, Michigan Football, Michigan State Football, Tennessee Football, Texas Football, NCAA FB Recruiting

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Note this is "disappointing," not "worst." We're not looking for the class with the absolute least potential to win D-I games but the schools that really should have done better than they did. So breathe easy, Buffalo. A further note: rankings here are all Rivals'; sometimes Scout disagrees vehemently but that's rare.

Without further adieu:

5. Texas. Perhaps a harsh assessment for Rivals' #14 class, but as the dominant power in the nation's most football-mad state Texas should never, ever have a class outside of the top ten, even when it's kind of small. Texas whiffed on the top three players in-state, all of whom ended up at hated Oklahoma. Striking out on national #1 RB Darrell Scott was the icing on a mildly crap sundae for the Longhorns.

It's not that Texas' class is bad, per se. It's actually pretty good. (You can tell by the #14 above. That's math.) But there's no school in the country with a better built-in advantage when it comes to high school talent, and there's no way Texas should strike out on four of the top five players instate.

Mack Brown will spring his revenge soon, no doubt: rumor is that the next next Vince Young, class of 2009 QB Russell Shepard, is soon to don burnt orange.

4. Michigan State. If there was ever going to be a year when Michigan State re-asserted itself as a threat to Michigan instate or to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and increasingly irritating Cincinnati around the Midwest, this would be it. Michigan suffered a humiliating series of losses and much of the state was operating under the foregone conclusion that Lloyd Carr would be retiring at year's end. When Michigan made a hire, Rich Rodriguez swept out all but one Carr assistant. Mark Dantonio's long association with Jim Tressel was supposed to give him the edge when it came to Ohio recruits.

The result? Detroit wide receiver Fred Smith and no other four-star players. Michigan State struck out on instaters Nick Perry (USC) and Mark Ingram (Alabama) late; Ingram's decision to flee is especially grating since his father was one of Michigan State's best wide receivers. Ohio linebacker Taylor Hill took an official visit to MSU and liked it so much he committed to Michigan on the way home. Hell, linebacker Yourhighness Morgan took a look at MSU and said "thanks, but I'm going to play for Florida."

Florida Atlantic.

MSU ranks 7th in the Big Ten, and this was both their new-coach-bump year and a year in which Michigan changed coaches. Michigan's little brother continues to bow down.

3. Auburn. Tommy Tuberville got smoked up and down by Nick Saban. It's incredible. The top ten recruits in Alabama: 'Bama 7, Auburn 0. The top 20: 'Bama 14, Auburn 2. And this is coming off a six-year run of Auburn dominance in the Iron Bowl!

It gets worse. Of Auburn's top recruits, the two five-stars are JUCO guys and RB Onterrio McCalebb is not expected to qualify. Given Auburn's severe grade attrition a year ago, the NCAA Clearinghouse will probably gun down another four or five guys, leaving the Tigers with very little to combat Nick Saban's tide (ha!) of incoming talent. Tiger fans, savor this six-game win streak. It'll take some doing to keep it going.

One bright spot: they've got a guy named "T'Sharvan."

2. Iowa. No school has been hurt more by the increased competition in Illinois than Iowa. In 2005, Ron Zook was about to get fired at Florida and Tyrone Willingham was golfing his way out of the Notre Dame job, leaving Illinois wide open for a surging Iowa program. The Hawkeyes pulled six kids out of the state, one of them a five-star and four others four stars, en route to the #11 class in the country.

Enter Zook and Weis, exit light for Iowa recruiting. This year Iowa pulled only two Illinois commitments, both of them three-star kids, and the only reason QB John Wienke signed with Iowa was the sudden shift in Michigan's offensive philosophy brought about by the hiring of Rich Rodriguez. Iowa has no four star players among 24 commits and missed on the top two instate prospects. The third? James Ferentz, the son of Kirk Ferentz.

Iowa is languishing at #54 nationally, and if the rapidly aging 2005 class, now in their fourth year at Iowa, doesn't start living up to their hype things are going to start getting mighty crotchety in Iowa.

1. Tennessee. Hey, at least Iowa and Michigan State don't pretend to be national powers. Tennessee does, but they won't be for much longer if they keep up this recruiting pace. The other UT has 18 commitments and only four four-stars, none among the top 100, and one of those is a JUCO who will only provide two years of service. Tennessee struck out on every major target it swung at despite a surprising season that garnered an SEC championship game berth and a New Year's Day bowl victory.

The departures of renowned QB guru David Cutcliffe (for a death job at Duke) and his right-hand man Trooper Taylor contributed to the off year, but the end result at UT (#37) is something no program that considers itself elite should ever see on signing day. Fulmer may have staved off an axing this year; the long term trend is not good.

Photos: SEC Cheerleaders

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