It's not only about winning. Look at schools like TAMU. They went 7-6 last year and currently got the #2 class. Or LSU. 9-4, #4 class with two 5* guys. Even Michigan: 8-5, #5 class. Look at Georgia last year, hadn't really won much but they got 7 5*. At the end of the day things like bags, loyalty to home, etc. will change any advantage winning has. We could have been in the playoffs and kids like TC would still have left. Winning isn't the answer to all our problems here.
Edit: To add to this, look at Clemson, they get lots of elite players but never rank top 5 or something. That's what we should be doing: going for elite players in positions of need and not looking at overall class rank. Once you hit a certain level of success (which we haven't hit yet since I think we need to be in the conversation consistently for a few years), it won't matter how much we win because kids will come. Winning is important, but I don't think an 11 or 12 win season means we will all of a sudden start landing the 5* kids we want.