Why This Recruiting Class Could Be A Barometer For Future Success

The success resulting from a previous recruiting class could be amplified in the future.

Recruiting and scouting is an imperfect business at best. Every class for every team in any given year is bound to have recruits who underachieve and those who overachieve. But there's no denying the fact that recruiting is just as important as the X's and O's portion of the job. Out of the teams to win a national championship this decade, all 8 of them had top 25 classes in the three recruiting cycles prior to their championship year. The same can be said for all 4 participants of this year's College Football Playoff. 5 of the last 8 champions had top 5 classes in all three cycles (Alabama '11, '12, '15, '17 & Ohio State '14).

While recruiting isn't the sole reason for winning games, conferences & national championships, it plays a significant role in the process. Fortunately for Georgia Tech, they finally have found themselves in a position where they have the potential to consistently recruit at a high level thanks to head coach Geoff Collins and his staff. Barring a complete collapse between now and the Early Signing Period & National Signing Day, Collins is expected to bring in Georgia Tech's first top 25 recruiting class since 2007. Not only that, but it will also be the first top 40 class since then as well. The success he is having in this recruiting cycle proves that from here on out, Georgia Tech is inevitably bound to have success at some point in the future while under Collins.

Why is that? Well, directly and indirectly Collins has done it before.

As previously stated, the last time that the Yellow Jackets landed a top 25 recruiting class was the Class of 2007. The director of player personnel/recruiting coordinator for Georgia Tech that year was none other than Geoff Collins. Some of the highlights from that class were:

- Derrick Morgan (All-American & 1st round NFL Draft pick)

- Morgan Burnett (All-American & 3rd round NFL Draft pick)

- Joshua Nesbitt (6,082 rushing & passing yards)

- Jonathan Dwyer (6th in rushing yards in GT history with 3,226)

In the three years following the signing of the Class of 2007, the Yellow Jackets went 27-13 including winning the ACC Championship in 2009. 

Collins held this position at Tech for just one year, departing to be the director of player personnel at Alabama. Georgia Tech immediately resumed recruiting mediocrity and the lack of consistent recruiting was partly responsible for Tech's 6-7 season after their ACC Championship season. Meanwhile in his lone year in Tuscaloosa, Collins played a roll in helping sign the #1 recruiting class in the nation (Rivals), including landing:

- Mark Ingram (Alabama's first ever Heisman Trophy winner) 

- Julio Jones (3rd highest rated recruit in Alabama history - 24/7 Sports)

- Dont'a Hightower (All-American & 1st round NFL Draft pick)

- Marcell Dareus (2010 Championship MVP & 3rd overall pick in 2011)

6 of the top 15 & 8 of the top 25 GT recruits ever signed were either in the Class of 2007 or 2020. Outside of those years, Georgia Tech has not had much recruiting success since the inception of scouting services such as Rivals and 24/7 in 2002. Since then, Georgia Tech has routinely finished with recruiting classes around the 40's, dipping as low as 84th in 2013 (Rivals). 

Below is a chart that tracks where Georgia Tech's recruiting classes have finished in the national team rankings since 2002. Take a look to get a better idea of the recruiting impact that Collins has had on the Yellow Jackets:

Recruiting is but a single facet in the complex system that makes up a college football team. However excelling at it is something that all successful programs have in common. Now that the Yellow Jackets have seemingly put themselves in a position where they can consistently recruit at a high level, championship aspirations could be a reality sooner rather than later.

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