I understand the gripes and complaints on recruiting. I also understand that there is a definite correlation between top tier talent and championships. However, I try to look at it as a whole picture type of deal from season to season. Factor in the coaching staff and their impact to develop talent, game plan, make in game adjustments, and what conference/division are you in. Clearly, most of those things don't have anything to do with recruting but these are the things I look at when evaluating how well we did on the trail. Let's take a look at 4 of the 5 teams that finished ahead of us excluding Alabama in the SEC, and a couple of programs in other conferences that in my eyes should be knocking it out of the park on the recruiting trail.
I grabbed the class rankings from 247, it covers 2016-19 as does the W-L records.
LSU - 2, 7, 15, 5 (8-4/9-4/10-3/15-0).
Texas A&M - 18, 13, 17, 4 (8-5/7-6/9-4/8-5) Jimbo become HC in 2018
Georgia - 6, 3, 1, 2 (8-5/13-2/11-3/12-2) Kirby become HC in 2016
Auburn - 9, 9, 12, 11 (8-5/10-4/8-5/9-4)
Florida - 12, 11, 14, 9 (9-4/4-7/10-3/11-2) Dan Mullen took over in 2018
USC - 10, 4, 4, 20 (10-3/11-3/5-7/8-5) Clay Helton become HC in 2016
Clemson - 11, 16, 7, 10 (14-1/12-2/15-0/14-1)
Texas - 7, 25, 3, 3 (5-7/7-6/10-4/8-5) Herman become HC in 2017
LSU - To begin with they are in the West, which is a whole different beast in itself. Even with those 3 top 10 classes, 2 being top 5 classes, they were losing at least 3 games a year until this last season. In all honesty, I don't think they win this past championship without the transfer of Joe Burrow and Joe Brady falling into their laps. It happened though, and we have to give Coach O credit for putting together a staff that made the neccessary changes on the field, developed talent, and can recruit at a high level.
Texas A&M - Another team stuck in the West and Jimbo has only been there for 2 years. He has been killing it on the trail, not a surprise, he is a great recruiter. Last year they had the toughest schedule in football and took some lumps. They did look better at the end of the year but they still have a question mark for Mond going into this season. Will Jimbo be able to develop him? The jury is still out on that question. On the defensive side of the ball the talent is starting to show.
Georgia - As of right now they are still considered the beast of the East. I personally feel like if Franks hits the flea flicker in 18, and we can stop Fromm on converting 3rd and California this past seasoo, we win both of those games. But if you look at the talent differnce, Florida had no business in being in either of those two games. Yes Kirby has been recuritng out of this world but I still question his coaching staffs ability to develop talent in certain areas and his decision making when it comes down to crunch time. Even with all of that talent and playing in the East that is down, he was only able to win 1 SEC championship. Realisticly, its going to hard for Gerogia to be that much more talented as a whole than the team we saw last year. Plus, they have had some changover on the staff and lost arguably thier best/most valuable recruiter in Sam Pittman.
Auburn - Again, another team that is stuck in the gauntlet that is the SEC West that is stuck with a permanent game against Georgia every year. Take that into account with the fact that Gus and his staff have a proven track record of not being able to develop talent. Gus doesn't scare me when the talent levels are equal or close and the game is going to come down to coaching. See this past years match up for example. Even with those recruiting classes that have fell short of what LSU, Georgia, and Bama have achieved, he has been able to get wins against them. In short, Auburn doesn't scare me. Auburn has been able to beat more talented teams with less talent and sub par coaching.
Of course we will face the teams in the west on a rotational basis excluding LSU. If we can just take care of business in the East, then I like our chances in Atlanta no matter who comes out of the West.
USC - They are located in a recruting hot bed and should be the top dog in a really bad conference. They have had talent over the last 4 years, but it has equated to nothing due to the lack of coaching and disorganization at the administration level. Point being talent will only get you so far.
Texas - They are back!!! Just kidding lol but in all honestly they might be this year. Texas went blow for blow with LSU at the beginning of the season for almost the whole game. If they played late in the season, I don't think it is that close of a game even if they are healthy. Texas had tons of injuries through the year, almost as bad as 2013 was for us. Herman has been able to pull in 2 top 5 classes in the past 3 years with another top 10 finish this year. Those recrutis should start showing thier worth this season. Also, there has been some shake ups in the coaching staff.
Clemson - Lil ol Clemson. If I have to hear that BS one more time I'm going to puke. They are fortunate enough to be stuck in the Almost Competitive Conference. Dabo and his administration made a decision about 8 years ago to absolutely sell out for the football program and it has really shown over the past 6 seasons. The continuity of their coaching staff is a major accomplishment in itself. That goes a long way in recruiting and developing talent. However, it doesn't hurt having Tahj Boyd, Deshaun Watson, and Trevor Lawerence as QB for your program. With an elite QB and less talented teams on paper, they were able to pull off wins against Ohio State 3 times( 2 of those was with Urban there), a good Florida State team, go head to head with Bama and then beat them 2 times in the following years. Yes, now they are consistenly landing top 10 classes but the point is they have won championships against the SEC Elite by recruting guys who they feel fit thier system and culture.
I've said all that to say this. I believe this was a really solid recruting class. With the proven track record of Mullen and company to develop talent, not only here but at Miss State as well, we can compete with the big boys year in and year out. Especially if we can recruit at this level consistenly or higher. We are in a good place with our QBs. I think Trask could be Burrow esque if we can develop and average run game. Emory and AR have tons of talent and are a perfect fit for the offense Mullen wants to run. We are loading up on talent on D, and still have the original coaching staff minus Scott. Our program is in a great place.
Sorry for the novel lol, this is what happens when you're at work and there is nothing to do.
Go Gators!