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Earlier this month, college football coaches and fans around the country anxiously awaited for the nation’s top recruits to announce their commitments. While Boston College failed to pull in any big names on National Signing Day, they were pleased to have all of their verbal commitments sign letters of intent. With that in mind, we can now take a step back and see where BC’s recruiting class stands in relation to others.
On three of the major recruiting sites, the Eagles’ class rank dropped from last year. They fell three spots on Rivals, moving from 42 to 45; five spots on ESPN, from 42 to 47; and eight spots on 247Sports, from 52 to 60. Given those rankings, this year’s recruiting class appears weaker than last year’s; however, the Eagles took three less players this year than in the previous class. Therefore, BC’s average ranking per player increased from a year ago.
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After comparing this year’s recruiting class to last year’s, let us now see how the Eagles stand in relation to other programs around the country. We’ll start with the ACC. In 2014, the Eagles only managed to beat out one other ACC program, North Carolina State, in terms of head-to-head recruiting battles. This means that out of the recruits who received offers from both schools, the Eagles received more commitments. In 2015, BC managed to beat out three ACC programs (Louisville, Syracuse, and Virginia), finishing +1 in the aggregate against all three. While that is an improvement from last year, the Eagles still managed to lose recruiting battles with schools like Wake Forest and Pittsburgh, both of which are going through coaching changes.
In addition to struggling against their conference foes, BC also struggled in head-to-head recruiting battles with programs from the Big Ten. The Eagles slightly edged out Iowa, claiming the only player who received offers from both schools. Unfortunately, the Eagles failed to beat out anyone else in the conference. Ohio State, the defending national champions, swept BC, signing all seven of the schools’ mutual targets. In addition, following a heart-breaking loss to Penn State in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, the agony continued for Boston College as they saw the Nittany Lions claim all sixteen recruits who received offers from both schools. On a brighter note, the Eagles did well against programs from outside the Power 5 conferences, beating out sixteen of eighteen from the AAC and MAC combined.
Another high point of the Eagles’ recruiting class is that, despite not signing any four or five star recruits, they managed to fill some of their needs and picked up solid three stars in the process. BC signed a couple of quarterbacks, a handful of wide receivers and cornerbacks, and more importantly, filled some gaps on both sides of the line.
At the end of the day, success on the field is about more than a team’s recruiting rank. Although a highly ranked recruiting class definitely has a positive correlation with a team’s success, there are many more aspects to take into account, including coaching and overall fit. With that being said, it will be interesting to see how Steve Addazio and his staff coach up this year’s batch of recruits; hopefully, the Eagles can continue to improve in the years to come.
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