The final rankings update for the 2019 class has been rolling out all week and there is plenty to breakdown. Take a look at the final Rivals250 for the 2019 class in this version of By The Numbers.
RIVALS RANKINGS WEEK
Monday: Top 10 revealed
Tuesday: Rivals100 released | Mind of Mike | New Five-Stars
Wednesday: Rivals250 released | Roundtable
Thursday: Offensive position rankings released
Friday: Defensive position rankings released
2011 - The last recruiting class with fewer than 30 five-stars
When the 2019 recruiting class entered the limelight about a year and a half ago many people believe it to be one of the weaker classes in recent memory. It turns out they were right. The 2019 class is finishing with the fewest five-stars (30) since the 2011 class (26). There have only been five classes in the Rivals.com era to finish with fewer than 30 five-stars so the 2019 class isn’t historically bad but it certainly hasn’t reached the levels of the last few recruiting classes.
93 - The number of prospects that made the final Rivals250 that weren’t in the first version
The first full version of the 2019 Rivals250 was released in August of 2017. Since then the Rivals250 and the entire class of 2019 rankings have been updated six times. After all of those updates, the final Rivals250 features 93 prospects that weren’t on the first one and the final Rivals100 has 54 prospects that were in the first Rivals100.
Between each update to the rankings, the Rivals.com analyst team is, in addition to reviewing film of thousands of college football prospects, out at camps, combines, 7-on-7 tournaments, workouts, practices, regular season games, postseason games, and all-star games evaluating as many prospects as possible and building on the previous evaluation of prospects. All of that work helped produce the final Rivals250 for the 2019 class.
14 - The number of prospects in the Rivals250 that are unsigned or uncommitted
There has been a flurry of commitments since the Early Signing Period in late December and many more are on the way but teams across the country have a significantly smaller pool of elite prospects to choose from. Only 14 players in the Rivals250 have yet to sign their National Letter of Intent or issue a verbal commitment. That means 236 players in the Rivals250 have either signed with their future team or are verbally committed.
9 - The number of teams that have at least 10 commitments in the Rivals250
Alabama holds the most commitments in the Rivals250 with 20 followed by Georgia with 13. Clemson and Texas have 12 while LSU, Michigan and Texas A&M have 11. Oklahoma and Oregon have 10 each. It is worth noting that three of the College Football Playoff teams from this season (Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma) each have at least 10 commitments from Rivals250 prospects. These nine teams hold commitments from 44 percent of the Rivals250, more than the combined total of the next 24 teams. Notre Dame, one of the four College Football Playoff teams from this season, has seven commits in the Rivals250.
21 - The number of prospects that moved up at least 40 spots in the Rivals250
This is a big number for the final rankings update and there are a few moves that need be highlighted. Texas signee Tyler Owens, Alabama signee Marcus Banks, former Mississippi State commit Charles Moore, USC signee Drake Jackson and Michigan signee Trente Jones all moved up over 100 spots in the Rivals250 while Alabama signee Jordan Battle, Ohio State signee Jameson Williams and Florida signee Tyron Hopper got bumps of at least 80 spots.
On the flip side, Wake Forest signee Nolan Groulx, LSU commit Maurice Hampton, and Clemson signee Briton Constantin all fell more than 100 spots. Oklahoma signee Jeremiah Criddell, Michigan State signee Devontae Dobbs and Alabama signee Amari Kight also fell at least 60 spots.
Also of note, there are 17 new faces in the final Rivals250, including players like Florida signee Mohamoud Diabate, Nebraska signee Bryce Benhart, USC signee Puka Nacua, South Carolina signee Cameron Smith, Virginia Tech signee Jaden Payoute and many others. Diabate is the only player new to the Rivals250 that also made the Rivals100.