MORE ASK FARRELL: Is Alabama's air of superiority slipping away? | Can Georgia win a third straight recruiting title? | Which Rivals100 prospects are undervalued?
CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
As we head into the all-important final weekend before National Signing Day, a look at the team recruiting rankings is always worthwhile.
Atop the rankings is Clemson, followed by Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State. All five are national powerhouses, so it’s not a major surprise to see any of those schools challenging for the team recruiting championship.
Six through 10 gets a little interesting, however, as Texas A&M leads that group with Florida, Oregon, Auburn and Michigan rounding it out.
The Aggies have done particularly well in the state of Texas by landing the second- and fourth-best players in the state in five-star receiver Demond Demas and five-star defensive back Jaylon Jones. They could really pull off the trifecta by landing five-star RB Zachary Evans, but that seems unlikely.
The knock on Florida coach Dan Mullen is that he’s not an elite recruiter, but he has to be happy with the Gators sitting in seventh place, led by five-stars Gervon Dexter (DT) and Derek Wingo (LB), plus 14 four-stars in the class.
Oregon continues to dominate Pac-12 recruiting as the Ducks are separating themselves from other teams in that conference. Five-star linebackers Justin Flowe and Noah Sewell lead the group that’s ranked eighth nationally and tops in the conference by a wide margin.
Neither Auburn nor Michigan have any five-star commitments, but both have 13 four-star pledges.
In the 11 to 15 range is Tennessee with a strong showing despite marginal results on the field, followed by Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami and North Carolina.
ASK FARRELL
There could still be significant changes to the team rankings in the coming days with the handful of elite prospects getting ready to decide, but heading into the final weekend we ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell which team toward the top of the rankings has been the biggest surprise.
“The Aggies are the surprise. Jimbo Fisher is an excellent recruiter, but with Tom Herman at Texas and Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma and so many other schools such as LSU and Ohio State recruiting the state of Texas so well, I figured it would be much more difficult to crack the top 10. However, Fisher has done a very good job recruiting the East Coast especially, and has a national recruiting outlook for the Aggies program. Every one of the top 10 teams has won bigger games in recent years than Texas A&M, but the Aggies could be moving closer to making a difference.”
