College football’s top rated 2023 recruiting classes
The class of 2023 recruiting cycle is heating up. It is summer official visit season for many of the top recruits in the country. Arch Manning, Nyckoles Harbor, and other top class of 2023 recruits remain uncommitted.
Georgia, Alabama, and Texas A&M finished the class of 2022 recruiting cycle with historically good classes. Texas A&M had arguably the greatest recruiting class of all time. Yet, the Aggies and Crimson Tide are not among the top ranked classes in the 2023 cycle (for now).
Now, let’s focus on the class of 2023. Every football program is different. Some programs, like several of the highly ranked classes, prefer to secure commitments as early as possible, while other programs, like Clemson, prefer to ensure that committed recruits never decommit.
What college football team has the highest ranked 2023 recruiting class? There are several surprising programs with elite recruiting classes thus far (as of June 9, 2022).
No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
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Total commitments: 14
Number of four- and five-star commitments: 12
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is recruiting at an elite level for the Fighting Irish. If Notre Dame continues to recruit like this, then they will continue to be in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.
No. 2 Texas Tech Red Raiders
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Total commitments: 20
Number of four- and five-star commitments: three
Texas Tech is perhaps the most surprising success story of any program at the moment. The Red Raiders are loading up on three-star recruits in the class of 2023 and probably won’t finish among the top 10 teams in the country. Still, the Red Raiders should finished better than 45th (their 2022 recruiting ranking).
No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions
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Total commitments: 12
Number of four- and five-star commitments: five
James Franklin and Penn State finished with the No. 8 class of 2022. The Nittany Lions are proving that was no fluke.
No. 4 Cincinnati Bearcats
(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Total commitments: 18
Number of four- and five-star commitments: two
Cincinnati has the ability to recruit at a higher level now that recruits know they’ll be playing in the Big 12. The Bearcats have a lot of momentum from making the College Football Playoff.
No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes
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Total commitments: 10
Number of four- and five-star commitments: nine
Ohio State is destined to stay among the top rankings. The Buckeyes are one of the best recruiting programs in college football and the class of 2023 should be no different. Four-star offensive tackle Luke Montgomery is Ohio State’s top ranked recruit at the moment.
No. 6 Northwestern Wildcats
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Total commitments: 17
Number of four- and five-star commitments: one
Northwestern is off to a hot start with the class of 2023. The Wildcats won’t finish the cycle ranked in the top ten, but head coach Pat Fitzgerald should be confident that Northwestern can have a better cycle than the class of 2022.
No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks
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Total commitments: 12
Number of four- and five-star commitments: four
Sam Pittman continues to do an excellent job with the Arkansas football program. Pittman has helped restock the talent level in Fayetteville. In fact, the Razorbacks have the top ranked class of 2023 in the SEC at the moment.
No. 8 Louisville Cardinals
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Total commitments: 10
Number of four- and five-star commitments: four
The Louisville Cardinals are another surprise name among the best recruiting programs so far in the class of 2023. Can the Cardinals keep it up? Louisville would really benefit from a surge of talent.
No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers
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Total commitments: nine
Number of four- and five-star commitments: four
Tennessee fans know from the class of 2021 recruiting cycle that it is not as important how you start a recruiting class. What really matters it is how you finish it. The Volunteers are under much steadier leadership under Josh Heupel and have a commitment from five-star quarterback Nicholaus Iamaleava.
No. 10 Georgia Bulldogs
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Total commitments: eight
Number of four- and five-star commitments: six
Kirby Smart and Georgia are in a fine position for the class of 2023. The Bulldogs finished with No. 3 class last cycle and have a lot of great selling points for incoming recruiting targets including five-star quarterback Arch Manning.
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