I think most reasonable fans would be good with top 10 classes, but that is looking very unlikely this season unless we go on some kinda tare and close out on a bunch of highly rated guys, which appear to be trending away.I'm not going to put all the weight in the world on one recruiting class, when this is a multi year rebuild trying to erase 20 years of being bad.
I think of rebuilds as 1) Lose big but reset the foundation 2) Lose Close setting the culture up long-term 3) Win Close 4) Win Big.
And that's not just W/L that I'd be looking at. I'm talking how we win or lose. It's possible we only win 8 but look good doing it (blowing out lesser teams, and maybe loosing close to good teams).. And if we win 10, maybe we don't look as good, and shouldn't expect a linearly increasing W/L% the following year....
I think we will be good this season. I'm very confident in the direction this program is heading. But will 8 wins or 9 or even 10 make recruits completely forget about 20 years and us suddenly be in top 3 recruiting class territory? Not imo. I think the two year average of how last years OLine+POrtal class and this years class is shaping out is NET GREAT, and right where we should expect/want to be. I think for the next year or two stacking 5 star after 5 star at the same position, is an overexpectation, particularly when they are players that should be 2-3 year starters. We just aren't at that Bama/UGA/ or even tOSU level of success yet. Its just the reality. I expect us to win and lose recruiting battles against top programs. But overall I think there is a CLEAR upwards trajectory, that will see us going from a fringe top 20-25 program over the last 2 decades to a clear top 15 program, and then from there we move our way into clear stable top 10-5 range by 2026.
The only thing I am concerened about and the aspect that I believe can turn this rebuild into a quick or long one is what happens at QB. Is Jacurri going to become decently accurate? Is Emory the guy? Are we going to land an elite transfer next year to give those guys another year?... If we land an elite long-term QB I think we will be able in CFP sooner than later.
However I still don't think we're going to consistently be a top 3 Recruiting program. We're going to get a lot of 3 star developmental guys along the way. I think most years will be 7-10, with a couple sprinklings of top 5 and maybe just top 13 if the class is smaller...
If we are going to continue signing classes in the 20s, we’ll be in same spot we are now in another 20 years.