College Football Recruiting: The 10 Best Recruiters over the Last Five Years

We've seen some of the best recruiting years of all-time just within these past five cycles. College football recruiting grows more and more important each and every year. It's the lifeblood of a program and one slip up in one cycle can cost you a season.

For this read, I'm going to give you the top 10 recruiters over the past five years. These coaches can flat out lure some top and elite talent to a school. You're going to be surprised how this this list shakes out.

Here we go!

Honorable Mention Names

Billy Gonzales - LSU/Florida

Aubrey Hill - Miami/Florida

Larry Porter - Memphis

Les Miles - LSU

Randy Shannon - Miami

Mike Bobo - Georgia

Frank Wilson - LSU

G.A. Mangus - South Carolina

Tony Alford - Notre Dame

Don Pellum - Oregon

10. Larry Johnson Sr.: Penn State

Penn State quietly lands good talent each and every year. No, they're not a recruiting juggernaut, but everytime I read a top tier player is considering Penn State, they mention LJ Sr.

Even this year, 5-star DE Noah Spence has PSU in his top five and a good portion of his reasoning is likely thanks to Johnson. A DL coach by trade and title, Johnson has been Joe Paterno's ace recruiter for quite some time.

It would be an extremely wise move by the next head coach in Happy Valley to keep Johnson on the staff.

9. Charlie Weis

Weis is the new head coach at Kansas, but he proved at Notre Dame he could recruit with the best of them and then did it again in his short stay at Florida.

Weis really, really knows how to evaluate and his NFL pedigree and success really shines in living rooms. The only knock I have on Weis is he seems more bent, albeit naturally, on recruiting and developing offensive players.

At Notre Dame, Weis hauled in some of the nation's best classes year in and year out.

8. Jim Tressel / Luke Fickell: Ohio State

No, the slash is not because Fickell was the interim head coach this year. It's because Fickell was one of Tressel's main ace recruiters during The Vest's tenure in Columbus.

Tressel really cleaned up around the Midwest. Every time it came down to landing an elite national prospect, usually it was Fickell whom Tressel asked to recruit the player.

Now you see why it was such an easy move for Urban Meyer to keep Fickell on the Buckeye staff?

7. Gene Chizik / Trooper Taylor / Tommy Thigpen: Auburn

This trio has gotten it done two years in a row, as Auburn has landed two top 10 classes since Chizik has arrived.

Taylor landed Quan Bray and Greg Robinson last year alone and is viewed as one of the best in the nation.

Thigpen really works hard on brokering relationships with players and really builds a foundation with parents, families and friends of the recruit. Many Auburn commits regularly say he becomes like a big brother or father figure to you during the process.

6. Jimbo Fisher / Odell Haggins: Florida State

I'm sure it's not just these two at all in Tallahassee that are the prime reasons for FSU return to recruiting prominence but these two get a ton of the credit. Also, Lawrence Dawsey is a big recruiter for FSU.

Fisher is the head coach and what makes him good at recruiting is the fact that he uses many methods he learned from Nick Saban: evaluate players well, be thorough, be persistent, be prepared, evaluate them again and investigate their backgrounds.

Haggins is a lot like Thigpen, in that he really gets to know players personally. Last year, he was responsible for Karlos Williams and Timmy Jernigan and almost landed Tony Steward.

5. Lane Kiffin / Ed Orgeron: USC

Even when this tandem formed at Tennessee, they were dangerous. These two absolutely love to recruit and they actually compete with each other on who can land the most commitments.

Orgeron learned from his days as DL coach for Miami, while Kiffin was trained by Pete Carroll. They met at USC and were two of Pistol Pete's biggest recruiters during the Trojan glory years over the last decade.

Now they're in charge at SC and have done quite well under the NCAA sanctions and scholarship reductions. USC will continue to sign talent each first Wednesday of February as long as these two are around. Honorable mention to Joe Barry.

4. Mack Brown: Texas

I list Brown solely because there are just so many different people involved with Texas' recruiting. Even Mack Brown's wife gets involved.

Brown could run for governor of Texas and would probably win. He's that beloved around the state and has amazing people skills.

He really knows how to handle himself with anyone and makes everyone around him feel comfortable. Even his assistants have said he is the perfect boss to work for. He does well in the recruiting area of the program by using his people skills, calmness and laid-back demeanor to make players feel comfortable with him.

He dazzles at in-home visits, always knows what to say and has a "cool grandpa" type of feel to his personality. This is evidenced by the Longhorns signing top five classes year in and year out during his tenure in Austin.

3. Nick Saban / Sal Sunseri / Jim McElwain: Alabama

I struggled between the 'Bama trio and my next slide, so if you disagree then you have merit to do so, as both could easily be flip-flopped. The Tide have been a juggernaut under Saban in recruiting and on the field.

That's thanks to Sunseri and McElwain, as the two follow Saban's lead and get after it on the trail. This trio has signed players like Mark Ingram, Marcell Dareus, Jesse Williams, Julio Jones, Dont'a Hightower, Mark Barron, HaSean Clinton-Dix and Dre Kirkpatrick.

They're at at it again this year with commitments from Reggie Ragland, Eddie Williams and Dillon Lee among others.

2. Urban Meyer / Charlie Strong / Stan Drayton: Florida

I also should probably list Steve Addazio and Dan Mullen too but the title of the slide is only so big. Meyer's staff at UF really was chalked full of future rock stars and the recruiting classes prove it.

Florida was a juggernaut during Meyer's tenure, on the recruiting trail and the Gators expanded their national reach. Meyer really got UF's brand out to California and that paid off when Ronald Powell and Josh Shaw chose to play in Gainesville.

Some of the best recruiting classes of all time came from this staff and it all happened within the past five years.

1. Pete Carroll: USC

Carroll was one of the best recruiting head coaches of all time. It's one thing for a head coach to just sign off on who his assistants tell him to offer scholarships to but when the head coach is out on the trail himself, then that's big time.

USC was 6-6 in 2001, then took off in 2002, thanks to Carroll's enthusiasm, energy, passion and just downright terrific recruiting. Names ranging from Reggie Bush to Mike Williams, from Shaun Cody to Matt Leinart, Lawrence Jackson to Taylor Mays to Steve Smith.

From Kenechi Udeze to Matt Barkley to Matt Kalil to Mark Sanchez to Rey Maualuga to LenDale White, you see why Carroll is the top recruiter over the past five years and one of the best ever.