Ranking College Football's Rosters for 2019

Author:
Steven Lassan
Publish date:
Feb 19, 2019

Nick Saban, Alabama Crimson Tide Football

Recruiting is the foundation for winning national championships, competing for CFB Playoff berths or performing at a high level in college football. While recruiting rankings aren’t 100 percent accurate, there is plenty of truth in the rankings and evaluations by the experts. Additionally, with advances in technology to watch more prospects, along with more offseason camps, the rankings for prospects and classes as a whole are more accurate than they were just a few years ago. Since the start of the CFB Playoff era, all five champions have come from teams ranked inside of the top eight in overall roster talent. It’s no secret what a program needs in order to win big at this level. Great coaching, support staffs, state-of-the-art training facilities and luck certainly helps, but talent on the roster (and player development) provides a significant head start in the race to win it all each season.

Just how important are recruiting rankings and the overall talent evaluation? Alabama (No. 1) has won five national championships since 2009. Additionally, the Crimson Tide, Georgia and Ohio State - the top three teams in this metric - have all played for or won a national title in the CFB Playoff era. Three teams from the SEC rank inside of the top four for 2019, with Ohio State (No. 3) and USC (No. 5) rounding out the top five.

Below are the national recruiting ranking averages for the Power 5 schools, Notre Dame and BYU over the last five classes according to 247Sports Team Composite rankings and each team's record over the last five seasons. Obviously, this doesn't take into account attrition. However, with a five-year window in place, this should be considered relatively even across the conference.

By Conference: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | Pac-12 | SEC

Ranking College Football's Rosters for 2019


Rk	Team	Conf	19	18	17	16	15	Avg	W/L	Conf. W/L
1	Alabama	SEC	1	7	1	1	1	2.2	67-6	37-3
2	Georgia	SEC	2	1	3	7	5	3.6	52-16	29-11
3	Ohio State	Big Ten	14	2	2	4	7	5.8	62-7	39-4
4	LSU	SEC	5	15	7	3	6	7.2	44-19	25-15
5	USC	Pac-12	20	4	4	8	2	7.6	43-23	31-14
6	Florida State	ACC	18	11	6	2	3	8	45-20	25-15
7	Auburn	SEC	11	12	9	9	8	9.8	41-25	21-19
8	Clemson	ACC	10	6	16	10	9	10.2	65-7	36-4
9	Texas	Big 12	3	3	26	11	10	10.6	33-31	24-21
10	Oklahoma	Big 12	6	9	8	20	14	11.4	54-13	38-7
11	Texas A&M	SEC	4	17	12	18	11	12.4	40-25	20-20
12	Notre Dame	Ind	15	10	11	15	13	12.8	44-20
13T	Florida	SEC	9	14	10	13	21	13.4	40-23	25-15
13T	Tennessee	SEC	12	20	17	14	4	13.4	34-29	14-26
13T	Penn State	Big Ten	13	5	15	19	15	13.4	45-21	27-16
16	Michigan	Big Ten	8	21	5	5	37	15.2	43-21	29-14
17	Oregon	Pac-12	7	16	19	28	16	17.2	42-24	26-19
18	Miami	ACC	28	8	13	21	26	19.2	40-25	24-16
19	South Carolina	SEC	17	19	21	26	19	20.4	32-32	16-24
20T	Ole Miss	SEC	22	31	30	6	17	21.2	35-27	17-23
20T	UCLA	Pac-12	44	18	20	12	12	21.2	31-32	20-25
22	Washington	Pac-12	16	13	22	29	27	21.4	47-21	30-15
23	Stanford	Pac-12	21	39	14	16	24	22.8	48-19	32-13
24	Nebraska	Big Ten	19	22	23	24	30	23.6	32-31	20-23
25	Mississippi State	SEC	24	27	24	31	18	24.8	42-23	21-19
26	Michigan State	Big Ten	30	32	35	22	22	28.2	43-22	27-16
27T	Virginia Tech	ACC	26	24	25	41	29	29	39-27	22-18
27T	North Carolina	ACC	32	23	27	35	28	29	30-33	19-21
29	Arizona State	Pac-12	31	37	37	27	20	30.4	35-29	23-22
30T	Arkansas	SEC	23	55	28	25	23	30.8	28-35	11-29
30T	TCU	Big 12	33	25	31	23	42	30.8	47-19	30-15
32	Baylor	Big 12	35	30	39	17	36	31.4	36-28	22-23
33	Kentucky	SEC	34	38	29	34	38	34.6	34-29	17-23
34T	Maryland	Big Ten	46	28	18	42	49	36.6	25-37	13-30
34T	Wisconsin	Big Ten	27	44	40	32	40	36.6	53-15	34-9
36	NC State	ACC	29	26	52	49	31	37.4	40-25	20-20
37T	Oklahoma State	Big 12	37	33	38	44	39	38.2	44-21	27-18
37T	Utah	Pac-12	43	34	33	36	45	38.2	44-22	25-20
39	Louisville	ACC	72	29	32	37	32	40.4	36-28	21-19
40	Missouri	SEC	36	42	50	53	25	41.2	35-29	18-22
41	Pitt	ACC	55	46	34	30	47	42.4	34-31	24-16
42	West Virginia	Big 12	49	35	57	39	35	43	40-24	27-18
43	California	Pac-12	41	43	70	38	34	45.2	30-32	16-29
44	Iowa	Big Ten	40	40	41	46	60	45.4	44-22	27-16
45	Duke	ACC	47	61	47	33	51	47.8	36-28	16-24
46	Arizona	Pac-12	56	58	45	43	43	49	32-32	20-25
47	Minnesota	Big Ten	42	36	58	48	63	49.4	35-29	17-26
48	Washington State	Pac-12	64	45	44	55	41	49.8	40-24	28-17
49	Georgia Tech	ACC	52	51	46	59	44	50.4	35-28	20-20
50	Indiana	Big Ten	38	48	63	56	52	51.4	26-36	11-32
51T	Northwestern	Big Ten	51	59	48	51	54	52.6	41-24	29-14
51T	Vanderbilt	SEC	58	41	64	54	46	52.6	24-28	9-31
53	Virginia	ACC	39	64	56	60	50	53.8	25-37	14-26
54	Texas Tech	Big 12	67	74	51	45	33	54	27-35	15-30
55	Iowa State	Big 12	48	53	53	52	66	54.4	24-38	15-30
56	Colorado	Pac-12	45	52	36	69	71	54.6	26-37	13-32
57	Illinois	Big Ten	63	54	43	71	48	55.8	20-41	9-34
58	Syracuse	ACC	53	50	55	66	58	56.4	25-36	13-27
59T	Purdue	Big Ten	25	49	71	80	65	58	21-41	12-31
59T	Wake Forest	ACC	54	60	65	58	53	58	28-35	12-28
59T	Rutgers	Big Ten	61	57	42	74	56	58	19-42	7-36
62	Oregon State	Pac-12	68	69	49	46	61	58.6	14-46	6-39
63	Kansas State	Big 12	62	68	60	73	55	63.6	37-27	24-21
64	Boston College	ACC	60	67	66	75	62	66	31-32	14-26
65	BYU	Ind	79	78	67	50	64	67.6	37-27
66	Kansas	Big 12	65	62	68	89	74	71.6	9-51	3-42

Conference Data

Takeaways from Roster Rankings

* The SEC claims three out of the top four teams in the roster rankings for 2019.

* Additionally, seven other SEC teams rank inside of the top 25 in roster rankings, including Auburn (No. 7), Texas A&M (No. 11) and Florida and Tennessee tied for No. 13.

* Alabama has signed the No. 1 class in four out of the last five years (2015-19).

* Georgia was No. 5 in the roster rankings prior to the 2016 season. However, thanks to elite recruiting by coach Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs have climbed to No. 2 overall. Georgia has not inked a class lower than third nationally over the last three years.

* Florida State ranked No. 3 among rosters prior to the 2016 season but has slipped to No. 6. Additionally, the gap between the Seminoles and Clemson has decreased. The Tigers ranked No. 12 prior to ’16 but are No. 8 nationally headed into ’19.

* USC is the only Pac-12 team ranked inside of the top 15 for the roster rankings. The Trojans No. 20 class in 2019 is the lowest over the last five hauls.

* Texas and Oklahoma are the only teams from the Big 12 inside of the top 25 of the roster rankings.

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* Assuming Michigan signs a class in the top 10-15 next season, coach Jim Harbaugh’s team should jump in this ranking. The Wolverines have averaged a 9.75 finish over their last four hauls. However, the overall average is dragged down by a No. 37 class in 2015.

* Notre Dame has not inked a class lower than No. 15 in each of the last five years. The Fighting Irish have yet to sign a class ranked higher than No. 10 in that stretch.

* Oregon’s No. 7 class in 2019 helped coach Mario Cristobal’s team jump from No. 20 nationally in the roster rankings last fall to No. 17 this season.

* Since inking the No. 6 class in 2016, Ole Miss’ last three hauls have averaged a No. 28 finish.

* UCLA has fallen from No. 13 in roster rankings prior to the 2016 season to No. 20 going into ’19.

* According to the numbers, TCU and Wisconsin consistently outperform their recruiting rankings. The Horned Frogs are tied for 30th but are 47-19 overall since 2015. The Badgers are tied for 34th but are 53-15 since ’15. Only four teams – Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma – have more wins than Wisconsin over that span.

* Washington State is another team that continues to outperform its recruiting ranking. The Cougars are 40-24 since 2015 and rank No. 48 in terms of roster talent.

* Minnesota ranked No. 56 in this article prior to the 2016 season but has climbed to No. 47. That’s due to improved recruiting by coach P.J. Fleck, as the Golden Gophers reeled in the No. 36 class in 2018 and the No. 42 haul in ’19.

* Duke has been on a steady climb up this list over the last few years. After ranking No. 54 prior to the 2016 season, the Blue Devils are up to No. 45.

* Virginia inked the No. 39 class in 2019, which is the best of coach Bronco Mendenhall’s tenure and the program’s highest rank since a No. 32 haul in ’14.

* Only one team (Michigan State) has ranked outside of the top 25 in roster rankings and earned a trip to the CFB Playoff.

* The roster rankings indicate Utah is fourth in talent among teams in the Pac-12 South, but coach Kyle Whittingham’s program has outperformed Arizona State and UCLA in conference play from 2015-18. Additionally, the Utes have more overall wins (44) than USC (43) in that span.

* Since the start of the BCS Era (1998), no team ranked lower than 18th (Miami) has claimed a national championship.

* Purdue averaged a No. 72 finish from 2015-17 but has improved that total to No. 37 over the last two years.