The Top 10 Teams That Will Suffer From Bad Recruiting Classes

Recruiting isn't everything in college football, player development plays just as big a role, but good recruiting classes generally produce better teams. There are exceptions to this, but for the most part a school can literally recruit their way out of the national spotlight.

Look at the Miami Hurricanes as an example. After Butch Davis left the program to become the coach of the Cleveland Browns, the school's recruiting suffered. Once the last of Davis's guys were gone, the team dropped to a low point with a 5-7 season in 2007. In 2009, they had one of the best recruiting classes in the country, and now with all those guys entering their third seasons, the U is back.

That's a classic tale of a recruiting revival, but the opposite can be true for those whose recruiting takes a plunge. Penn State for example, had a top 10 recruiting class last season, but questions about Joe Paterno's health and future have really crippled them in 2010.

If they begin to free fall down the standings in a few seasons, you'll be able to trace it back to this.

A couple of bad recruiting years in row can have a very damaging effect on a program.

So who's in the danger zone right now? Which programs are teetering on the edge in 2011 or snowballing after a bad year in 2010? Losing a big-name head coach is the surest way to failure and recruiting reflects that.

Only historically prominent schools or those with winning records in 2009 have been included on the list.

10. Arizona

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 47
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 39
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 42

Arizona has struggled to put up solid recruiting classes for years, which makes their 8-5 record each of the last two seasons all the more impressive. This team just can't seem to beat out the powerhouses of the Pac-10 for the top recruits.

They've also been losing a lot of their best in-state prospects to vultures from the Big 12 like Texas and Oklahoma. It seems more and more schools are raiding the desert and running off with the top prizes.

Arizona can't seem to get over the hump and legitimately contend for the Pac-10 and the reality is that it's never going to happen with the way they're recruiting.

They're winning games, but not enough of them. And at least four or five schools are beating them every single year on the recruiting trail. Without the elite talent, this team isn't built to be elite.

9. Boston College

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 81
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 43
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 44

Boston College is a school that's proven they don't need top recruiting classes to be successful, as they very rarely rank inside the top 25 and normally are able to develop mediocre talent better than most programs are able to.

Since they've been in the ACC though, the going has gotten tougher and the recruiting classes are going to have to pick up at some point if they want to compete with the big dogs in the conference for a chance of a BCS bowl.

BC has done well over the last few years since their move to the ACC in 2005, but each of the past two seasons have seen their win total decrease.

It's become evident that the school lacks playmakers on both sides of the ball and while they've always been strong at linebacker, the rest of the roster is starting to show a lot of weakness.

8. Cincinnati

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 53
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 61
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 45

Cincinnati is a team that will be looking for a new identity in 2010 after the departure of coach Brian Kelly, who's now with Notre Dame. They've never been a strong recruiting team, but have always managed to get a couple higher-rated prospects and long lists of developmental players.

Under Kelly, the team would bring in big recruiting classes each year with a lot of talented, under-the-radar prospects that could be developed into stars.

This year they haven't been as lucky. They have only eight players committed, and while there's plenty of time for that number to grow, most prospects have brushed the program off without Kelly and his staff.

The 2011 class is technically a step ahead of where they've been the last couple years, but this is a revamped program under Butch Jones and what they really needed was a big splash recruiting.

7. Wisconsin

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 51
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 33
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 66

Wisconsin falls into the same category that Boston College does, they don't rely on big-time talent so much as they do on their ability to develop the talent they're able to get their hands on.

Nothing against the state of Wisconsin, but its quite difficult to get out of state talent to commit. Based on the way they played last season and their stronger than usual 2010 recruiting class, it appeared that the Badgers might soon become a legitimate threat to win the Big Ten.

But so far, their 2011 class is barren, with three 3-star prospects and three 2-star prospects, none of which inspire too much confidence.

If Wisconsin suffers a drop-off in the win column next season, they'll surely see the results get worse on the recruiting front. They might be able to win games without getting the blue chip recruits, but they won't surpass Ohio State that way and it looks like they're taking a step back in 2011.

6. UCLA

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 5
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 8
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 43

UCLA had great recruiting classes in 2009 and 2010, so they may still pick it up this year. But if you're a Bruins fan you must be disappointed by the lack of success they're having.

With USC's hands tied due to sanctions for the next two seasons, UCLA was supposed to take over the Southern California scene and make a push up the standings while the kings of L.A. are under house arrest.

Instead, UCLA is watching Stanford kill it, with USC and Oregon not too far behind. Even Washington State and Arizona are doing a better job than the Bruins for 2011.

Yes, its only one year, but just take into consideration that this team hasn't been too successful with top 10 classes every year since 2007. So what effect will a class outside of the top 30-40 do?

5. Georgia Tech

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 32
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 41
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 41

Georgia Tech went 11-3 last season and won the ACC championship against Clemson in thrilling fashion. They might have gone on to get beat pretty good by Iowa, but there's no denying that this team has a bright outlook.

At least for the short term. Based on the numbers above, you can probably tell the Yellow Jackets don't normally recruit well and have struggled mightily the last three years. You might also have been surprised by how well this team played in 2009.

If you follow recruiting though, you can trace their success back to their 2007 recruiting class, which was 15th in the country and included many of their top players from last season.

That included Josh Nesbitt, Jonathan Dwyer, and Derrick Morgan.

4. West Virginia

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 22
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 30
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 68

The recruiting trail has been rougher and rougher for West Virginia each of the last three years. Ever since the end of the Rich Rodriguez era, the program has struggled to recruit and the play on the field is beginning to show it.

This is a team that lost five contests in three years between 2005 and 2007 and has gone 9-4 each of the last two seasons since. Up until this year the school has managed to get their hands on one or two highly-valued recruit each season, which helped a lot to keep the team afloat.

West Virginia's 2011 class doesn't look like it's going to be able to continue that trend as it currently consists of three 3-star prospects, two 2-star prospects and an unranked tight end.

It takes a few years after losing a head coach to really feel the effect and the Mountaineers are just about there.

3. South Carolina

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 13
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 34
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 55

South Carolina is really struggling to bring in the talent right now and in the SEC that's a critical failure. This conference brings in so much talent from around the country that it's impossible to compete if you aren't.

After a strong recruiting class in 2009, they've struggled more and more the last couple seasons and right now have only five 3-star recruits and a couple of pretty much unknowns to work with in their 2011 class.

Steve Spurrier hasn't delivered the talent after hitting big with Stephon Gilmore in 2009 and Marcus Lattimore in 2010. He's got his program in the running for the No. 1 overall prospect Jadeveon Clowney, but it wouldn't be surprising if they miss out.

If South Carolina doesn't land Clowney, they're at risk of striking out big-time in 2011.

2. Tennessee

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 8
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 16
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 53

Tennessee is at risk of dropping to the bottom half of SEC competition and staying there. Ever since Lane Kiffin bolted for the head coaching job at USC and left the Volunteers hanging, they've seen a major drop-off in recruiting.

Their 2010 class was still very good, but that's because Kiffin recruited most of those guys and a lot of them stayed on after he left. That class was even better than 16th though; they lost some quality players once Derek Dooley was the head coach.

So far, Dooley and his staff haven't been able to get anything going for their 2011 recruiting class and if you're a Volunteers fan its time to panic.

They're putting together a class that could end up being outside the top 50 and if the program gets embarrassed on the field next season it will be difficult to do much better than that in 2012.

1. Penn State

2009 Recruiting Class Rank: 11
2010 Recruiting Class Rank: 10
Current 2011 Recruiting Class Rank: 64

It's a shame to say, but we're likely nearing the end of Joe Paterno's historic 44 year run as the head coach of Penn State. No one will ever match that, not in today's game.

He'll be 84 this year and many wonder how much he really has left in the tank. He know longer makes house calls to visit recruits; the last time he did so was to see Terrelle Pryor back in 2009.

That has prospects questioning whether he'll be around long enough to see them graduate. The truth is it's highly unlikely and that's the main reason the school has struggled so badly to bring get commitments for 2011.

They have only three players committed so far, but up until July only 2-star tight end Kyle Carter was on the books.