Teams with the highest percentage of blue-chip signees in the 2025 class⭐️

Read: https://t.co/MToICxvdus pic.twitter.com/9h48X63z3y

— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) December 11, 2024

He have a damn good class

Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

Keep in mind he had to recruit against the narrative of the direction of our program. Turn the program around and we'll be in good shape. Easier said than done though I guess.

This. We are competing against SEC teams. We need to be out recruiting them which is a monumentally tough task.

Hopefully Elko and staff can develop a lot of these guys into NFL players. If he does that then we'll be right in the mix for the playoffs and more.

Phil Knight ain't playing around.

There is no such thing as recruiting as we knew it

It's who pays and where they can go to have fun spending it

These are Simi Professional athletes now

Why are kids still going to LSU?

Yup, every year. So little with so much

the most cool guy said:

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Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

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And there it is

6th in the freakin country but that's not good enough for some

72% blue chips is more than enough to win a title and last I checked we don't play all 3 of those sec teams every season

NyAggie said:

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the most cool guy said:

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Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

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And there it is

6th in the freakin country but that's not good enough for some

72% blue chips is more than enough to win a title and last I checked we don't play all 3 of those sec teams every season

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Well maybe there's a reason people feel that way.

Here's our recruiting class rankings in the SEC the past 13 years:

2025 - #4
2024 - #9
2023 - #6
2022 - #1
2021 - #4
2020 - #4
2019 - #3
2018 - #6
2017 - #6
2016 - #8
2015 - #6
2014 - #3
2013 - #5


We've been recruiting better than ever since joining the SEC, but it seems like for us to finally make it over the hump we need our own Urban Meyer or discount Nick Saban (because there will never be another like him) and all the best players.

Because we haven't done **** in over a decade (with the exception of a once in a lifetime player) with similarly ranked classes.

NyAggie said:

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the most cool guy said:

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Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

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And there it is

6th in the freakin country but that's not good enough for some

72% blue chips is more than enough to win a title and last I checked we don't play all 3 of those sec teams every season

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And there what is? You realize we play in the SEC, right? That's literally all that matters. It's just like the composite class rankings. Yippee, we signed a top 8 class. But we're not recruiting top 8 talent and then playing a Big 12 or ACC schedule or some other no-name conference schedule. If we're barely in the top 25% in the SEC talent-wise (right now we might not even be in the top half), the odds favor us playing multiple teams every year that are more talented than we are, and the odds favor us coming up against a more talented team in the conference championship.

Signing a top 8 class is cool, but it's a lot less cool when 4 of the teams ahead of you are in your conference, plus an LSU team that is one spot below you with a higher average player rating.

If you want to be in the best conference, you have to recruit against the best teams. And if you want to win the best conference, you have to out-recruit the best teams. 5th or 6th in the conference won't cut it. There's no reason to celebrate out-recruiting 95% of other college football teams when we're still being out-recruited by 25% of our own conference.

I acknowledge and appreciate that we are at least getting enough talent to compete with the best teams in the conference, but we aren't going to out-talent anyone noteworthy. Elko is going to have to coach better.

AGinHI said:

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NyAggie said:

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the most cool guy said:

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Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

---

And there it is

6th in the freakin country but that's not good enough for some

72% blue chips is more than enough to win a title and last I checked we don't play all 3 of those sec teams every season

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Well maybe there's a reason people feel that way.

Here's our recruiting class rankings in the SEC the past 13 years:

2025 - #4
2024 - #9
2023 - #6
2022 - #1
2021 - #4
2020 - #4
2019 - #3
2018 - #6
2017 - #6
2016 - #8
2015 - #6
2014 - #3
2013 - #5


We've been recruiting better than ever since joining the SEC, but it seems like for us to finally make it over the hump we need our own Urban Meyer or discount Nick Saban (because there will never be another like him) and all the best players.

Because we haven't done **** in over a decade (with the exception of a once in a lifetime player) with similarly ranked classes

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I sorta agree with you. But even with Johnny it was a cotton bowl win. It's depressing to know that we still couldn't get over the hump with a generational player like Manziel.

2020 was a 1 loss season and a orange bowl victory

vander54 said:

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Teams with the highest percentage of blue-chip signees in the 2025 class⭐️

Read: https://t.co/MToICxvdus pic.twitter.com/9h48X63z3y

— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) December 11, 2024

He have a damn good class

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It's crazy that Texas has the No. 1 class on On3 with a 72% blue chip rate compared to Oregon's 95% blue chip rate. You'd think the extra few non-blue chip recruits wouldn't push the low C average past the Duck's A average.

https://www.on3.com/db/rankings/industry-team/football/2025/

Georgia even has 28 recruits to Texas' 25 and a 14% better blue chip rate - but a lower rated class per On3. I don't want to accuse a tweet of being misleading, but the blue chips might not be fungible.

TheDecadeSapling said:

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Keep in mind he had to recruit against the narrative of the direction of our program. Turn the program around and we'll be in good shape. Easier said than done though I guess.

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Direction of the program? We just had our best season since 2020.

The emphasis that has continued to stand out to me with our targets is that speed/athleticism is clearly a priority. Lots of track athletes mixed with powerlifters.

Myles, Beal-Goines, Kelshaun Johnson, Deyjhon Pettaway, and Adonyss Currie all run sub-11 40s.

Rashad Johnson, Kiotti Armstrong, Marco Jones, Noah Mikhail all fit the rangy frame that teams are looking to build around.

Sanders, Rink, and Sims on the DL are all very strong with excellent production profiles in high school. The latter 2 are good in the field events.

Pretty much the whole OL are multisport guys with my favorite being Lamont Rogers playing goalkeeper for his school's soccer team at 6'6" 300+.

Bill Superman said:

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TheDecadeSapling said:

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Keep in mind he had to recruit against the narrative of the direction of our program. Turn the program around and we'll be in good shape. Easier said than done though I guess.

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Direction of the program? We just had our best season since 2020.

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You do realize that the vast majority of this staff's recruitment work was done in the shadows of a 5-7 season, long before this year's results, right?

AGinHI said:

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NyAggie said:

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the most cool guy said:

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Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

---

And there it is

6th in the freakin country but that's not good enough for some

72% blue chips is more than enough to win a title and last I checked we don't play all 3 of those sec teams every season

---

Well maybe there's a reason people feel that way.

Here's our recruiting class rankings in the SEC the past 13 years:

2025 - #4
2024 - #9
2023 - #6
2022 - #1
2021 - #4
2020 - #4
2019 - #3
2018 - #6
2017 - #6
2016 - #8
2015 - #6
2014 - #3
2013 - #5


We've been recruiting better than ever since joining the SEC, but it seems like for us to finally make it over the hump we need our own Urban Meyer or discount Nick Saban (because there will never be another like him) and all the best players.

Because we haven't done **** in over a decade (with the exception of a once in a lifetime player) with similarly ranked classes.

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Maybe don't have 80% of your number 1 class not finish its eligibility at your school


Maybe don't hire there worst oline coach in modern football history

Maybe keep a qb healthy for a full season

Maybe recruit and develop some high end WRs and linebackers instead of recruiting 10,000 defensive linemen

Maybe hire a coach who is worth a damn and has accountability in his program (I believe we finally got that one right)

There's a lot more that goes into a football program than just recruiting rankings and blue chip ratios, and we've been failing at most of them since the 90s

If we had top 8 talent that was well-balanced across the roster and were doing everything else necessary to win at a high level, we'd be winning at a high level

This program, despite recruiting rankings, has been completely mismanaged for over 2 decades

We've played UGA ONCE in the SEC.

If we just beat the schools we outrecruit, we'd have finished 10-2 this year.

Our problem has not been being out recruited by the top of the conference - it has been losing games to teams we have out recruited. Our problem isn't losses to Bama, LSU, UGA. Our problem has been losses to MSU, Ole Miss, Auburn.

We will never out recruit the conference enough to win by having overwhelming talent. Have to improve our talent profile AND win the games where we have close or better talent.

Im looking forward to seeing how these Elko recruits perform. My guess is Elko will do a better job of getting classes without as many problem kids as far as character.

They got plenty of production out of the portal last year but it's probably easier to identify players after you have some college tape to review. Still, they did a solid job in that area.

On3 is just the new Rivals. Not surprised at all Texas ended up with the number one class from them. Back in the day Rivals made it obvious the bias for Texas recruits. They now know how to tweak things to probably not make it as obvious but at the end of the day it's owned and run by those that have a vetted interest in helping out Texas. In the end it does not do anything really besides sway social media. Maybe back in the Rivals, Mac Brown sip time it helped out recruiting but not so much now.

Of course we all want to be bama or georgia and recruit #1 or #2 every year, but I do not consider that very realistic right now. We are a perennial 8-5 team, and even worse than that on average from 2021-2024.

Yes, we have had plenty of 4-6th ranked sec classes that didn't translate to championships. Maybe it will be more of the same. But it's TBD. Recruiting is not binary. You either have the right guy in charge, or you don't. Is Elko that guy? Far too early to know, one way or the other, no matter how many think they have it figured out.

For example, even though saban recruited elite classes right off the bat, he won the SEC in his 2nd season off of classes ranked mostly in the 4-7 range in the sec. His elite class were true fish and mostly redshirting during that first 12-2 season. He didn't start winning because of his recruiting. He just helped maintain it and elevate the winning even further because of his recruiting.

Tennessee is in the playoffs now and have 4 classes on campus all worse than this one on paper. No reason why with the right coach we can't be there soon enough, too, with 8th ranked classes.

We have to walk before we can run. Our chances of winning a title / going to the playoffs are far more likely to mirror seasons like Auburn 2010, what Clemson did, what FSU did under Fisher, what Michigan did last year, and what Tennessee is now than becoming Georgia/Bama overnight. Win more games, and we can think about finishing top 2-3 in our conference more. 2026 actually has a pretty good chance to do just that already. We need at minimum a 9-3 and ideally 10-2 type season, showing improvement.

This was also before the portal world, which adds yet another variable. I believe that recruiting top 10, especially in the portal world, is MORE than enough now to be a playoff caliber team and give yourself a reasonable chance. If you have the right coach in charge who can evaluate, develop, and keep the right talent (and before anyone says it, you will always lose 15+ guys to the portal. It's still about analyzing your roster and keeping the right ones. You don't want to lose Walter Nolens, but most don't matter)

beerad12man said:

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Of course we all want to be bama or georgia and recruit #1 or #2 every year, but I do not consider that very realistic right now. We are a perineal 8-5 team, ...

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Certainly could be considered taint or gooch if 8-5 is the norm....

Sign a top 10 class every year and you'll have the talent to compete no matter what.

People who whine are spoiled by Jimbo's "success"

Sign a top 10 class
Get what you need in the portal
Coach your arse off

That's the recipe for sustained winning & competition

MisterJones said:

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Sign a top 10 class every year and you'll have the talent to compete no matter what.

People who whine are spoiled by Jimbo's "success"

Sign a top 10 class
Get what you need in the portal
Coach your arse off

That's the recipe for sustained winning & competition

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Grow and develop your "talent" into legit NFL prospects.
We've done a piss poor job in that area.

AGinHI said:

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NyAggie said:

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the most cool guy said:

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Tied for 4th in the SEC..not terrible. Also not ideal.

---

And there it is

6th in the freakin country but that's not good enough for some

72% blue chips is more than enough to win a title and last I checked we don't play all 3 of those sec teams every season

---

Well maybe there's a reason people feel that way.

Here's our recruiting class rankings in the SEC the past 13 years:

2025 - #4
2024 - #9
2023 - #6
2022 - #1
2021 - #4
2020 - #4
2019 - #3
2018 - #6
2017 - #6
2016 - #8
2015 - #6
2014 - #3
2013 - #5


We've been recruiting better than ever since joining the SEC, but it seems like for us to finally make it over the hump we need our own Urban Meyer or discount Nick Saban (because there will never be another like him) and all the best players.

Because we haven't done **** in over a decade (with the exception of a once in a lifetime player) with similarly ranked classes.

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Our recruiting rankings during the Sumlin and Jimbo years are skewed.
Just because a kid had a high "star" ranking doesn't mean it was a good fit for us.

Our issue has been subpar evaluations relative to team needs, combined with subpar development once they're on campus.

I've said it before on several other posts....until we're recruiting, retaining, and developing players to a point we're consistently putting 8+ into the NFL draft every year (like the elites currently do), we're still gonna be on the outside looking in.

People saying "we have the talent" are out of their minds.
We've recruited some "star rankings" based on recruiting services, which means there's athletic potential.

But we don't have anywhere near the "talent" and legit NFL draft prospects that the top tier programs do.

Listening to Elko's interviews post-signing day, it sounds like finding and developing NFL talent is his main objective.

Agmaniacmike12 said:

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The emphasis that has continued to stand out to me with our targets is that speed/athleticism is clearly a priority. Lots of track athletes mixed with powerlifters.

Myles, Beal-Goines, Kelshaun Johnson, Deyjhon Pettaway, and Adonyss Currie all run sub-11 40s.

Rashad Johnson, Kiotti Armstrong, Marco Jones, Noah Mikhail all fit the rangy frame that teams are looking to build around.

Sanders, Rink, and Sims on the DL are all very strong with excellent production profiles in high school. The latter 2 are good in the field events.

Pretty much the whole OL are multisport guys with my favorite being Lamont Rogers playing goalkeeper for his school's soccer team at 6'6" 300+.

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Love those sub 11 40's. I should start working out.

deer corn said:

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Why are kids still going to LSU?

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probably alot of that is just high school athletes in Louisiana are very good

deer corn said:

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Why are kids still going to LSU?

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Only P4 school in a state filled with talent
Close enough to recruit other states with talent TX, MS, AL, GA, FL
NC's in '03, '07, '19
Winning tradition
Top tier facilities
Brand name in college athletics
Current NFL stars and history of former players w/success in NFL
Say what you want about Kelly but he has some of the best assistants in the business- Frank Wilson, Brad Davis, Bo Davis, Corey Raymond, Blake Baker
Top-tier of the SEC in NIL

We have recruited well enough since joining the SEC that we should've been competing for the league championship.
It gets back to player development which apparently has not transpired.
That gets back to coaching.
We shall see you what Elko can do.

NYAggie and TxAg76

we're speaking the same language.

JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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We've played UGA ONCE in the SEC.

If we just beat the schools we outrecruit, we'd have finished 10-2 this year.

Our problem has not been being out recruited by the top of the conference - it has been losing games to teams we have out recruited. Our problem isn't losses to Bama, LSU, UGA. Our problem has been losses to MSU, Ole Miss, Auburn.

We will never out recruit the conference enough to win by having overwhelming talent. Have to improve our talent profile AND win the games where we have close or better talent.

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And if Elko can hit the 9, 10 win mark in the next year or 2, then maybe the recruiting picks up as well and you get into the upper echelon of SEC teams.

Quote:

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Here's our recruiting class rankings in the SEC the past 13 years:

2025 - #4
2024 - #9
2023 - #6
2022 - #1
2021 - #4
2020 - #4
2019 - #3
2018 - #6
2017 - #6
2016 - #8
2015 - #6
2014 - #3
2013 - #5

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WOW. I've never seen it listed listed like that.

MisterJones said:

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Listening to Elko's interviews post-signing day, it sounds like finding and developing NFL talent is his main objective.

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Yep. Let's hope he's successful.
If so, could be start of a new era.

Agmaniacmike12 said:

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The emphasis that has continued to stand out to me with our targets is that speed/athleticism is clearly a priority. Lots of track athletes mixed with powerlifters.

Myles, Beal-Goines, Kelshaun Johnson, Deyjhon Pettaway, and Adonyss Currie all run sub-11 40s.

Rashad Johnson, Kiotti Armstrong, Marco Jones, Noah Mikhail all fit the rangy frame that teams are looking to build around.

Sanders, Rink, and Sims on the DL are all very strong with excellent production profiles in high school. The latter 2 are good in the field events.

Pretty much the whole OL are multisport guys with my favorite being Lamont Rogers playing goalkeeper for his school's soccer team at 6'6" 300+.

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Is Track and Field our new night of champions? You all really do buy into all the coach speak.