Which Pac-12 school has dominated the recruiting world most since 2010?
When you look at the history of college football out on the west coast, several different eras have come and gone throughout the years. From the days back in the Pac-8, the Pac-10, or the Pac-12, there are a handful of teams who have had their day in the sun, with schools like USC, Washington, Oregon, UCLA, and Utah all largely staying near the top of the rankings for the most part.
The same can largely be said when we get to the topic of recruiting. If you look at the history of the conference as a whole, there has been no school more dominant than the USC Trojans when it comes to signing and developing top-rated talent. While most schools are lucky to have had a dozen 5-star players to sign with their team, the Trojans boast a number greater than 60. Going back decades, USC is in a class of its own when it comes to recruiting.
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But is that still the case when you narrow the scope of things and look at more recent history? The Ducks can’t boast historical recruiting numbers like USC, but since 2010, can Oregon hold a candle to the Trojans when it comes to top-rated commitments?
That’s a question that we wanted to find out. Last week, I looked at the top 50 rated recruits in the Pac-12 since the year 2010, trying to figure out if it could tell us anything about ratings, and how well they can predict future success.
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Now I want to look at the top 100 recruits during that timeframe and try to see which Pac-12 team has been the most successful at landing elite talent over the last decade.
To do this, I ranked the top 100 Pac-12 recruits since 2010 and found how many top 50 players and top 100 players each team landed.
Here’s what I found:
Tied Last — Washington State Cougars
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Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top Five Recruits since 2010
4-star WR Gabe Marks (0.9325)
4-star CB Ayden Hector (0.9220)
4-star DT Thomas Toki (0.9075)
4-star QB Tyler Bruggman (0.8992)
4-star WR Jamire Calvin (0.8953)
Analysis: It feels pretty safe to say that recruiting is not a strong suit for the Washington State Cougars. The highest-rated commit of all-time — 4-star WR Michael Bumpus — would have barely made the top-100 list before we cut it down to the past decade. It makes sense, too, because WSU hasn’t found much success on the field in the past decade, either.
Tied Last — Utah Utes
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top Five Recruits since 2010
4-star CB Clark Phillips III (0.9744)
4-star LB Ethan Calvert (0.9652)
4-star CB Jaylon Johnson (0.9619)
4-star LB Lander Barton (0.9587)
4-star OT Spencer Fano (0.9564)
Analysis: To be honest, seeing the recruiting prowess of Utah makes me more impressed by the success that they’ve been able to find over the past decade. The Utes don’t have a single player inside the top 100, but they have managed to win back-to-back Pac-12 titles. That’s some good coaching, if nothing else.
10 — Arizona Wildcats
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 1
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 91 — 4-star WR Tetairoa McMillan (0.9779)
4-star OT Keenan Walker (0.9363)
4-star S Marquis Flowers (0.9345)
4-star CB Cam Denson (0.9339)
4-star OG Michael Eletise (.9240)
Analysis: The Wildcats got one player inside the top 100, but Arizona has struggled in the recruiting game for the most part. They’ve found success in the transfer portal, and some of their lower-rated players have definitely produced, but this ranking doesn’t surprise me for the most part.
9 — Arizona State Sun Devils
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 1
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 65 — 4-star QB Jayden Daniels
4-star WR N’Keal Harry (0.9735)
4-star QB Brady White (0.9673)
4-star QB Jaden Rashada (0.9623)
4-star DE JoJo Wicker (0.9599)
Analysis: I would be interested to see how this ranking would look after a decade of Kenny Dillingham being in Tempe. He landed the 4th-highest-rated player in program history with QB Jaden Rashada but outside of that, there haven’t been a ton of recruiting fireworks at ASU.
8 — Oregon State Beavers
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 0
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 1
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 51 — OG Isaac Seumalo (0.9876)
4-star QB Aiden Chiles (0.9365)
4-star DL Kelze Howard (0.9073)
4-star ATH Christian Wallace (0.9068)
4-star CB Dashon Hunt (0.9045)
Analysis: The Beavers snuck one top-100 player into the mix, and they almost had a top-50 player at that with Isaac Seumalo. True freshman QB Aiden Chiles almost made the cut as well, and the Beavers have a lot of talent that could grow with expected elite coaching from Jonathan Smith.
7 — Colorado Buffaloes
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 1
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 1
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 30 — 5-star CB Cormani McClain (0.9921)
4-star CB Yuri Wright (0.9690)
4-star OT Jake Moretti (0.9567)
4-star RB Dylan Edwards (0.9311)
4-star RB Ashaad Clayton (0.9280)
Analysis: Good on Deion Sanders for landing the Buff’s only top-100 player during his first year in Boulder. It will be interesting to see how many elite players he is able to land in the next couple years because outside of the most recent additions, there’s not a ton of recruiting prowess to speak of.
6 — California Golden Bears
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Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 2
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 3
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 19 — 5-star WR Keenan Allen (0.9949)
No. 40 — 5-star WR Demetris Robertson (0.9905)
No. 93 — 4-star QB Zach Kline (0.9771)
4-star DL Viliami Moalla (0.9732)
4-star LB Cecil Whiteside (0.9717)
Analysis: The recruiting history at California was better than I realized. With Keenan Allen and Demetris Robertson, the Golden Bears have a pair of top-50 players, and even more, if you were to expand this ranking to all-time.
5 — Washington Huskies
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Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 2
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 5
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 7 — 5-star S Shaq Thompson (0.9977)
No. 24 — 5-star QB Sam Huard (0.9935)
No. 61 — 5-star DE Sav’ell Smalls (0.9843)
No. 96 — 4-star TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins (0.9765)
No. 97 — 4-star WR Kasen Williams (0.9764)
Analysis: Now we’re getting to the upper-tier of recruiting. While Washington doesn’t hold a candle to USC, they are respectable in the fact that five players landed in the top 100 over the past decade, with multiple 5-stars to claim.
4 — Stanford Cardinal
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 5
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 10
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 9 — 5-star OT Foster Sarell (0.9978)
No. 15 — 5-star OT Walker Little (0.9952)
No. 23 — 5-star OT Kyle Murphy (0.9937)
No. 32 — 5-star QB Davis Mills (0.9918)
No. 45 — 5-star DE Solomon Thomas (0.9885)
Analysis: Do you love anything as much as Stanford loves a 5-star offensive tackle? I was impressed by the number of players that the Cardinal have in the top 100, let alone the top 50. It looks like Troy Taylor is going to get them back to that level of recruiting prowess as well.
3 — UCLA Bruins
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Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 9
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 13
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 2 — 5-star DE Jaelan Phillips (0.9988)
No. 7 — 5-star QB Dante Moore (0.9977)
No. 13 — 5-star DT Eddie Vanderoes (0.9959)
No. 26 — 5-star QB Josh Rosen (0.9932)
No. 29 — 5-star LB Mique Juarez (0.9924)
Analysis: Five players in the top 30 is pretty impressive, with 9 in the top 50. UCLA has claim to the No. 2 recruit in the Pac-12 over the past decade, and 5-star QB Dante Moore could end up being incredibly special if things pan out under Chip Kell going forward.
2 — Oregon Ducks
(Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images)
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 9
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 18
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 3 — 5-star DE Kayvon Thibodeaux (0.9987)
No. 10 — 5-star LB Justin Flowe (0.9967)
No. 24 — 5-star LB Noah Sewell (0.9935)
No. 27 — 5-star RB De’Anthony Thomas (0.9926)
No. 32 — 5-star OT Josh Conerly (0.9918)
Analysis: While the Ducks don’t have the talent at the top compared to UCLA, they surely have it in bulk, boasting 18 of the top 100 recruits over the past decade. With a pair in the top 10, and four in the top 30, it’s clear that Oregon’s recruiting game is top notch.
1 — USC Trojans
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Top-50 Recruits since 2010: 22
Top-100 Recruits since 2010: 47
Top Five Recruits since 2010
No. 1 — 5-star DL Korey Foreman (0.0002)
No. 3 — 5-star WR Robert Woods (0.9987)
No. 5 — 5-star CB Iman Marshall (0.9985)
No. 6 — 5-star WR Zachariah Branch (0.9980)
No. 11 — 5-star S Su’a Cravens (0.9962)
Analysis: I mean, come on. It’s just not fair. USC almost has more top-50 recruits over the past decade than the next three schools combined. They nearly have half of the top 100 recruits in the past decade. They have four of the top 10 recruits and five of the top 11. If you ever start to think highly about your favorite teams’ ability to recruit, go ahead and look at the Trojans for a trip back to earth.
