Jesse Mendez, one of the cornerstones of Ohio State recruiting class of 2022 (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)We're ever-so-close to releasing team recruiting rankings. It seems like forever, I know! Before we get to those, let's take a look back at how the last ten #1 overall recruiting classes actually panned out in college.
The general consensus is that these recruiting classes either played integral parts in a team title or helped elevate a team from good to team trophy contender. Or it's too early to tell.
One would expect with an exercise like this that the Big Ten would dominate and generally that's the case. However, four different conferences have seen one of their teams earn the top spot during the last decade.
During the last ten recruiting cycles, four different Big Ten teams have assumed the number one slot in InterMat's recruiting rankings: Penn State (x3), Ohio State (x2), Iowa, and Michigan. Arizona State, NC State and Oklahoma State have all earned top billing once.
Below we're looked at the #1 recruiting class each year for the last decade, highlighting some of the key recruits and their ranking at the time. There's also a brief summary of how this class impacted their respective schools.
2022: Ohio State
The Class: #1 Nick Feldman (PA), #4 Jesse Mendez (IN), #5 Nic Bouzakis (FL), #22 Luke Geog (OH), #50 Seth Shumate (OH), #131 Gavin Brown (OH)
It's still too early to make judgments on this class, but there's plenty of potential. Jesse Mendez already earned All-American honors, while Nick Feldman and Nic Bouzakis have flashed high-AA potential. Two years down the road, I think this class starts living up to the hype.
2021: Penn State
The Class: #2 Alex Facundo (MI), #5 Shayne Van Ness (NJ), #55 Gary Steen (PA), #76 Luke Cochran (UT), Max Dean (Cornell - transfer)
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