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College football’s traditional National Signing Day passed Wednesday without a single Big 12 recruiting class finishing among the top 20 in the 247Sports Team Rankings. It marks the first time in the 247Sports era that the league failed to produce a top-20 class.
Mark it down as the latest consequence of conference realignment.
The Big 12 is growing by two members for the 2024 season, swelling to 16 teams, but only one of them (Texas Tech at No. 24) finished with a top-30 class. Former Big 12 schools Texas (No. 6), Oklahoma (No. 8), Nebraska (No. 18), Missouri (No. 19) and Texas A&M (No. 22) all rank ahead of the present-day Big 12’s highest-ranked high school class.
As Oklahoma and Texas depart for the SEC, the conference gets an infusion of four new teams from the Pac-12 in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. While each have either significant recent success or proud pasts to draw upon, high school recruiting prowess is lacking among the new members.
Of the newcomers, Arizona State’s high school class is the best at No. 47. Bringing up the rear is Colorado’s class, which is ranked No. 118 under coach Deion Sanders.
The signing day statistics aren’t great for the Big 12, but high school recruiting mediocrity in the revamped league is not necessarily a death warrant. The conference is full of schools invested in football, and many of them boast successful track records. That will give the league ample opportunity to seize national relevance in the 12-team playoff era.
Working the portal
Pursuing transfers may prove to be the preferred method of talent acquisition for many Big 12 programs in the new era. Take Colorado, for example. The Buffaloes’ shockingly lean high school recruiting crop stands out, but it can be explained…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/national-signing-day-big-12-poised-to-finish-outside-top-20-in-recruiting-rankings-amid-texas-oklahoma-exits/
Author : David Cobb
Publish date : 2024-02-07 19:13:40
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