The Class of 2015: A Look at the Future of College Football

For my semester long research blog, I chose to research topics regarding college football recruiting. The topics I covered ranged from the keys to getting recruited to play college football, to a few of the most prominent recruiting scandals that have occurred in college football, and  even talking about the various sites and outlets that rank the incoming recruits. For my final project, I have chosen to do a run down of some of the most prolific incoming recruits and recruiting classes, and provide some insight as to where I see the future of college football heading.

While much of the talk in the college football world is the upcoming bowl season, National Signing Day is still 8 weeks away, and college fans can't help but be intrigued by what kind of impact the incoming class of 2015 recruits will have on college football. Many recruits have already made the verbal commitments to their respective collegiate destinations, while still others will keep everyone on their heels and wait til Signing Day before tipping their hand. But before I dive in to the different team's recruiting classes and players that make them up, let's first take a look at the latest news on the college football recruiting front, as well as the current rankings of the nation's top recruits, as well as where overall incoming class rankings by team stand at this point in the process.


It's impossible to talk about an incoming recruiting class without mentioning the guy who comes in at #1 as the most coveted recruit. For the class of 2015, that honor goes to 6'4" quarterback and UCLA commit, Josh Rosen (aka "The Rosen One). It had been a while since UCLA had landed a prolific quarterback recruit, but the Southern Cal native will look to follow in the footsteps of one of the best QB's in school history, Brett Hundley.  While Rosen is not the most fleet of foot, his exceptional arm strength and strong decision making in the pocket make him the nation's top overall recruit. With highly ranked recruit Ricky Town committing to cross town rival USC, college football fans could be in for quite a treat watching these two QB's go head to head for the next few years. With UCLA's program on the rise under the direction of Jim Mora, Rosen will be an interesting player to watch develop, and should expect all the scrutiny that comes with being the highest ranked player in his recruiting class. He certainly seems poised to take UCLA to the next level, as anyone might expect.


The other seemingly unanimous choice as one of the top two quarterbacks in this year's class is Alabama commit Blake Barnett. The highly touted recruit stands in at a similar 6'4" frame as Rosen, but is advertised as more of a dual threat, running quarterback that can pick defenses apart in a number of ways. He headlines an Alabama recruiting class that comes in as the top ranked class to this point. While rankings are certainly subject to change with National Signing Day still a few weeks off, the Crimson Tide's clinch of the college football playoff berth would lead me to all but guarantee the rich will only get richer. Joining Barnett in this ridiculous recruiting class is someone who figures to be one of his go to receiving targets in Calvin Ridley, as well as 5 star defensive backs, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Deionte Thompson. You have to figure the list of exceptional recruits will only grow with time, and even now it is already being considered to have the potential to be the best recruiting class of the Nick Saban era.

Josh Sweat

The Defending National Champion Florida State Seminoles also appear is if they will have no problem reloading their talent. While they have rolled off 29 straight wins on the field, Jimbo Fisher hasn't lost his step in reeling in some of the nation's top recruits. With Jameis Winston set to declare for the NFL draft after this season, there is sure to be some uncertainty in Tallahassee this offseason, but with the (currently ranked) #2 best recruiting class coming in, Seminoles fans should fear not. The class is loaded with defensive studs such as the nation's top ranked pass rusher in Josh Sweat (pictured right), as well as two 5 star defensive backs, and a 2nd highest rated running back recruit in Jacques Patrick.  As if that weren't enough, the Seminoles also got a verbal commit from 4 star recruit and potential quarterback of the future Deondre Francois. Needless to say, I think everything down at Florida State will be just fine in the post-Jameis era.

Justin Hilliard

It should be no surprise to see schools such as Ohio State and Notre Dame rounding out some of the top ranked classes. While neither of these schools have won a national title in quite a while, they tend to dominate the Midwest recruiting scene as opposed to the Southern, SEC recruiting territory. With Everett Golson set to graduate and coming on the heels of a bitterly disappointing end to regular season play, Fighting Irish fans can take comfort knowing the fact one of they landed one of the top 5 rated quarterbacks in the class of 2015. The electrifying Brandon Wimbush could make an impact as early as next season in South Bend. Meanwhile in Columbus, everything seems to be going well for Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes. Ohio State recently shocked the college football world by crushing Wisconsin in the Big 10 championship despite starting their 3rd string QB, and is having similar success on the recruiting front. Their recruiting class is loaded defensively, headlined by two of the top linebacker recruits in the nation in Jerome Baker and St. Xaver product Justin Hilliard.

Terry Godwin

While some fans may be rattled to see a program like the Tennessee Volunteers with a top 10 recruiting class, the fact of the matter is they are an SEC program with a huge, loyal fanbase, and not to mention have by far the largest recruiting budget in the nation. Until they can get a proven coach in Knoxville, though, the Vols have some work to do before getting mentioned with the big dogs. Both Clemson and Georgia boast very impressive recruiting classes to this point as well. The Bulldogs class is anchored by massive defensive lineman recruit Trenton Thompson, who figures to clog up all sorts of SEC running lanes, as well as the versatile speedster Terry Godwin. Clemson's class has athletes top to bottom, and will hope to continue the push to be considered in the same weight class as the elite SEC teams (despite being in the ACC). Speaking of which, Clemson's in state and most hated rival isn't doing too badly on the recruiting front themselves. The South Carolina Gamecocks currently boast the 7th rated class in the country. Despite not landing a single 5 star recruit yet, Steve Spurrier has been able to recruit an exceptionally deep class, with 4 star recruits at virtually every position. With both of these heated rivals making waves in the recruiting scene, these next few years of head to head matchups will be sure to be entertaining.

With 13 of the 33 Rivals 5 star rated recruits still undecided on where they will take their talents, there is still much to be determined before National Signing Day rolls around. Unlike many recruiting classes before it, the class of 2015 has no unanimous top 5, and how these players develop is really anyone's guess. Like I mentioned before, these ranks are all subject to change with National Signing Day lurking around the corner. As I discovered in constructing my research blog, whether it's the recruits mom forging their sons signature, or a coach leaving a school at the last second and prompting the player to change his mind, no one knows for certain how these classes will turn out.

With that said, the future of college football looks like the big dogs will hold their spot. With Alabama and Florida State's recent successes, it's no surprise to see those schools dominating the recruiting scene. Pairing that with the fact they both have one of the top coaches in the nation, and coaches who figure to be there for the long haul, and as I said before, the rich just keep getting richer. As I learned from my research blog, it is often the players who were overlooked during the recruiting process because they didn't possess the measurements to be a highly coveted recruit that end up making the biggest impacts. This year's Bronko Nagurski award winner as the nation's top defensive player was Scooby Wright (aka @TwoStarScoob) who was rated a 2 star recruit and only managed a single Division 1 offer. This just proves that while the rankings of the players and teams gives fans something to read and get excited about, the fact of the matter is how these recruiting classes turn out is anyone's guess.