Quick Thoughts
Baylor: Matt Rhule and the Baylor Bears have salvaged at the very least respectable numbers out of this class. Baylor has added to its class by raiding Houston, SMU of commits, and by targeting recruits who seem to have topped out in potential early in their high school careers and were cut loose late by schools. There isn't an abudance of "Big 12" ready talent here out of the gate. Rhule has shown he can win with lesser talent, will his coaching ability transfer into this league is the question. Rhule and Company should be commended for their close, they're likely to finish in the 55-65 range of FBS recruiting which is much higher than I thought plausible a month ago. I do expect them to add prospects long after National Signing Day ends, the roster is deeply depleted.
Iowa State: Campbell's staff just keeps plugging along, focused on the defensive front seven and the offensive line. The talent he has committed is marginal P5 talent, which should be great news and celebrated. Iowa State is competing with low level P5 schools on much of its commits, rather than a majority MAC/CUSA as in the past. I expect them to tumble a bit as schools behind them add more prospects,a Top 50 class is certainly possible.
Texas Tech: Kliff absolutely needs his Juco defensive signees to hit, they are on the whole low/mid level P5 prospects but they have to contribute immediately and instantly. Outside of Jack Anderson on the OL the high school class isn't anything remarkable on either side of the ball but has plenty of quantity. Class should end up in the high 30's or mid 40's.
Oklahoma State: Mike Gundy and Company have alway done a great job at identifying talent. The problem for Oklahoma State this cycle is their offensive line talent has been poached by Texas and A&M making it a bit unbalanced at the time of this writing. Oklahoma State will finish in the Top 3 of the Big 12, borderline Top 25/30 class,
Kansas: The rebuild job continues, the class seems to be poised to finish in the 70's much of the talent is won versus competing against the G5, while winning some battle versus low tier P5. Kansas will also benefit from talent that redshirted last year due to transfer.
TCU: Small class size, high on quality. Class won't rank well with the services due to its size but it's an extremely good group. - Nothing has changed here on this assessment, quality high, quantity low. Mid 50's expected
Kansas State: This is a typical recruiting class for Snyder, though it is disheartening a bit to see them trail Baylor in the standings. There needs to be more of an emphasis on recruiting, program's engine only runs with Snyder behind the drivers seat, someone else will presumably take over this program before this class graduates. Class will finish in the 70's
WVU. A month ago I wrote that it felt like it was a developmental class, well it still feels that way.Dana addressed needs with midterm jucos, but there isn't a lot of sizzle coming for national signing day, and the bottom portion of their class isn't P5 caliber. Should finish in the 40's.
Texas: Herman's class has come together, it should be a Top 25/low 30 class at the end of the day. Class is small but the top portion is quality, this is pretty much a filler class for Herman lots of depth kids poached from Houston and SMU.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma fended off a host of suitors for CeeDee Lamb and Rambo over the last month, it seems Oklahoma may not be able to fend off such suitors for Jacob Phillips. The class will be the highest rated class Oklahoma has signed since at least 2009, and should finish firmly inside the Top 10. Class still needs to finish off with two more defensive linemen and defensive back at the very least, and at this point of the recruiting game count those adds on the defensive line as developmental at best.
Projected Finish
#1 Oklahoma
#2 Texas
#3 OSU
#4 Tech
#5 WVU
#6 ISU
#7 BU
#8 TCU
#9 Kansas
#10 KSU
Recruiting wrap up will be posted on February 3 with a more in depth look at each class.
