College Football Recruiting's 10 Worst Letdowns of the Last Five Years

You ever see when one year a program brings in a great recruiting class, has a high ranking and things are great in February? Then only a year later you're looking puzzled because that school just couldn't get basically anybody?

Yeah, it's called the "Recruiting Letdown" and that's what we're going to review for this read. The past five years have been especially conspicuous. 

Here are the 10 worst recruiting letdowns over the last five years. 

10. Texas Tech: '06-'07

The Red Raiders hauled in a top 25 class in 2006, and things looked great. Texas Tech is not a recruiting juggernaut, so anytime they get inside the top 25, that is seen as a coup in Lubbock.

But the next year, they fell back as low as 44th by some publications. Usually the Red Raiders are a middle-of-the-pack team at best, so for them to peak, then drop so low is a big deal.

9. North Carolina: '09-'10

Butch Davis signed 10 4-star recruits in 2009, and people were viewing UNC as a growing force on the recruiting trail. Davis was back to his old Miami ways, and rival coaches were gearing up.

Yet 2010 came and Davis and the Tar Heel staff fell back to outside the top 25, according to most rankings. They did get James Hurst, but the 2010 class was a letdown in comparison to the 2009.

8. Florida State: '06-07

Florida State was in the midst of somewhat a "down" era on the field, but on the trail, they still were Florida State. They got Myron Rolle committed early, and some services ranked him as the top prospect in the country for 2006.

The Noles cracked the top 10 according to some observers, and people were looking around thinking "next year FSU may do it big like they did in the '90s and early 2000s."

Nope, the following year in 2007 the Seminoles failed to land a top 25 class.

7. Ohio State: '09-'10

For some reason, I almost missed this one when I was doing my research. I think maybe because I don't remember people giving OSU too much grief about it since their letdown still landed them inside the top 25.

In 2009, Ohio State had what some called the No.1 overall recruiting class as they signed 16 players who were rated 4-stars or higher. 

2010 saw that number drop down to 10 with the depth of talent that also was not as good as the past class.

6. Clemson: '08-'09

Clemson had a great year last year on the recruiting trail, and 2012 seems to be looking solid as well. But in 2008, the Tigers signed a top-10-type of class that infused their roster with great talent, including a whopping 15 players rated 4-stars or higher.

They dropped down to in the 40s in most rankings in 2009, that had many people around Clemson hanging their heads and asking what happened.

5. Tennessee: '07-'08

Tennessee really has a two-pronged attack to recruiting: pick up the couple good prospects in-state then reach out around the South. They do a solid job year in and year out, and 2007 and got as a high as third in the final recruiting class rankings from various publications.

I don't know what happened the next year, but the Vols plummeted down to outside not just the top 25, but the top 30. 

That's a huge letdown.

4. South Carolina: '07-'08

I have this letdown over Tennessee's because the Gamecocks aren't as big on the trail cleaning up as Tennessee is. So when they signed a top 10 class in 2007, that was a pretty big deal around Columbia.

You're South Carolina, you finish in the top 10 overall in recruiting and you figure that the following year should be another stellar class, right?

Wrong, 2008 saw the Gamecocks sign basically a class that was ranked in the high 30s and low 40s per most lists.

3. Miami: '08-'09

Remember when Miami used to just dominate the recruiting trail? Well they took a dip, but in 2008 it seemed Randy Shannon had found Butch Davis', Larry Coker's, Dennis Erickson's and Jimmy Johnson's recruiting secrets book and was cleaning up.

I was thinking to myself, "Wow, Shannon is going to rule Florida for now on and Miami is on their way back."

Wrong. 2009 had Miami barely in the top 25 according to most observers, and that marked the peak and decline of Shannon's recruiting efforts in Coral Gables.

2. Penn State: '10-'11

You hear it. I hear it. We all hear it from recruits. The fact that other teams negatively recruit by saying Joe Pa won't be there for long.

Well, we saw the true effect of saying that to potential Nittany Lions last year as PSU had maybe their lowest ranked recruiting class in history, ranking in the 60s per most lists.

It's a huge drop-off according to everyone because the year before the Nittany Lions hauled in a top 10 class.

Wow.

1. UCLA '10-Now

UCLA brought in Rick Neuheisel, and he talked a good game. For the first two years he brought in great recruiting classes that were top-10 coups for the most part. He looked like he was walking the walk that he talked.

Since then, UCLA has been horrible on the recruiting trail. Last year was abysmal as they barely signed 10 players and were among the worst in the country.

I don't know what exactly has happened to UCLA recruiting, but the mood now is nowhere near as optimistic as it was in Neuheisel's first two cycles.