Breaking down College Football’s top 10 recruiting classes in 2022
Now that National Signing Day has come and gone, we analyze the top 10 college football recruiting classes of the 2022 cycle.
In a short time, college football recruiting has drastically changed. NIL is part of the conversation in nearly all major recruiting battles and also looming is the transfer portal, which is college football’s version of free agency.
Both of those things have impacted college football recruiting in their own way. NIL has given certain teams an advantage, even if what those schools are doing is totally above board. Players have always been paid to go places, now it’s just legal.
The transfer portal has changed college football recruiting too as some programs are focusing as much on transfers as incoming freshmen. USC and Nebraska are examples of schools that didn’t sign huge classes but have added guys from the portal.
Recruiting, despite the changes, is the lifeblood of college football and while there is still one five-star on the market in 2022 in Josh Conerly Jr., the other top recruits have all signed and it’s the perfect time to break down college football’s top 10 recruiting classes by looking at gems, sleepers and blue-chip ratios of all the top recruiting classes.
(All rankings via the On3.com consensus rankings for 2022)
10. North Carolina — Signees: 17; Blue-Chip ratio: 70%
The Skinny: The 2022 season didn’t go as well as expected for North Carolina but the Tar Heels had a great recruiting class, signing the top-ranked class in the ACC, as well as one with a really solid blue-chip ratio.
North Carolina isn’t a program you expect to land a top-10 college football recruiting class and you have to give Mack Brown the credit he’s due. The man can recruit.
The Tar Heels landed nine recruits ranked in the top 200 overall and two of those were running backs, as well as a wide receiver, an offensive tackle, and a defensive lineman, plus a cornerback and a linebacker.
You need elite players at key positions and North Carolina added them in 2022.
Gems: OT Zach Rice (5-star, No. 19); DL Travis Shaw (4-star, No. 53)
Zach Rice has NFL potential written all over him and so does Shaw, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound monster who is rated as a five-star recruit and top-5 D-lineman by 247 sports.
Sleepers: EDGE Beau Atkinson (4-star, No. 348); QB Conner Harrel (3-star, No. 535)
Atkinson is a guy that Michigan really wanted. It thought the 6-foot-6 edge rusher reminded them of Aidan Hutchinson. But Mack was able to keep him home and Harrell is a dual-threat quarterback to keep an eye on.