Where Every Former Pac-12 Team Ranks In Recruiting In Their New Conference

It still feels like a fever dream that somehow the Pac-12 had a year or so to expand and put together a media rights deal in whatever order they pleased, and accomplished neither. 

If someone was new to college football and saw how strong of a conference the Pac-12 was this year, they'd have no choice but to be in awe at the fact that the conference lost 10 programs. USC and UCLA got the ball rolling with their jump to the Big Ten. The remaining programs stuck around until Pac-12 media day, but ultimately were failed by George Kliavkoff who was unable to make enough moves to at least instill confidence that the league had a future.

So, after what was the conference's best season possibly ever, it will see four programs join the Big Ten, four join the Big 12, and two join the ACC. It is left with just Washington State and Oregon State, who have now been forced to partner with the Mountain West or the West Coast Conference. 

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With all of the programs moving on, here is how their 2024 recruiting classes rank in their new conference according to 247Sports' composite rankings.

Colorado (Big 12)

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Big 12 Rank: #16 

Pac-12 Rank: #12

National Rank: #101

Deion Sanders again is relying on the transfer portal to rebuild his program, but his six-man class does hold the highest average recruit ranking in the Big 12. The class is headlined by five-star tackle Jordan Seaton and four-star receiver Drelon Miller.

Oregon State (Pac-12)

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Pac-12 Rank: #11

National Rank: #86

Oregon State ended up losing head coach Johnathan Smith to Michigan State, and lost a handful of commits to East Lansing as well. They did land four-star receiver Jordan Anderson, who is the lone four-star in their class and ranks as the No. 9 highest-ranked player in program history. 

UCLA (Big Ten)

Ivan Pierre Aguirre-USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten Rank: #17

Pac-12 Rank: #10

National Rank: #71

Chip Kelly only added 11 high school commits, and has been called out for his efforts. However, with a week left in the season, it was reported that he was set to be fired so it's not too shocking that recruits weren't keen on becoming a Bruin. 

Utah (Big 12)

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Big 12 Rank: #13

Pac-12 Rank: #9

National Rank: #63

A year after a historically high class for Utah, the Utes appear to be focusing on the transfer portal this season. They did have a couple of huge victories like landing Isaiah Garcia despite Stanford being the favorite, and also fended off a late Georgia push for quarterback Isaac Wilson. 

Washington State (Pac-12)

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Pac-12 Rank: #8

National Rank: #62

On one hand, the Cougars did get left out of conference realignment, but on the other, they now hold sole possession of the No. 1 recruiting spot in the Pac-12. They brought in 25 recruits and are looking to rebuild after a disappointing year.

Cal (ACC)

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

ACC Rank: #14

Pac-12 Rank: #7

National Rank: #60

Cal has brought in 17 high school recruits, headlined by three-star quarterback EJ Caminong. Their transfer portal class is quite impressive as well as it ranks as the No. 25 transfer class. 

Arizona State (Big 12)

Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Big 12 Rank: #8

Pac-12 Rank: #6

National Rank: #52

Another program that is very transfer portal heavy, as they have the No. 9 portal class in the country with 14 transfers already. However, their high school class is headlined by a pair of four-stars at running back and tight end, as they look to turn things around under Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona (Big 12)

Zachary BonDurant-USA TODAY Sports

Big 12 Rank: #6

Pac-12 Rank: #6

National Rank: #56

Arizona's class at one point was headlined by the program's first-ever five-star recruit, but Elijah Rushing ended up flipping to Oregon. It is now headlined by four-star running back Jordan Washington as they look to make a run for the Big 12 title.

Washington (Big Ten)

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten Rank: #10

Pac-12 Rank: #4

National Rank: #36

The face of their class is top-100 recruit and four-star EDGE, Noah Carter. It's not as strong a recruiting class as some expected they'd get with a playoff run but they have complimented it with a very selective portal class.

Stanford (ACC)

Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

ACC Rank: #6

Pac-12 Rank: #3

National Rank: #30

Stanford was able to land their quarterback of the future in Elijah Brown and also got some very nice offensive weapons and defensive linemen. Troy Taylor putting together a near top-25 class despite having a 3-9 record shows just how appealing playing at Stanford still is.

USC (Big Ten)

jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten Rank: #5

Pac-12 Rank: #2

National Rank: #18

While they did bring in a top-25 class, people still aren't thrilled with Lincoln Riley's recruiting. The expectation was that he'd bring in top classes every year, but it's safe to say nothing has really gone to plan in Los Angeles for Riley in his brief stint. They did however land four top-100 recruits, and have the No. 11 transfer class to go with their high school class.

Oregon (Big Ten)

Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

Big Ten Rank: #2

Pac-12 Rank: #1

National Rank: #6

Dan Lanning is recruiting at an insanely high level at Oregon with two five-star defensive linemen as the faces of his class. He also has a total of six top-100 recruits, as well as the No. 11 transfer portal class in the country.