Rankings Spotlight: Ohio State, Oregon on track for historic classes

In a weekend full of massive matchups, the biggest of the bunch is No. 3 Oregon hosting No. 2 Ohio State. Coincidentally (or not), these programs hold more five-star commitments than any other program in the 2025 recruiting class.

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Verbal commitments from Tavien St. Clair, Devin Sanchez, Carter Lowe, Na’eem Offord and Riley Pettijohn give the Buckeyes five five-star commitments, just one more than Oregon’s four – Dakorien Moore, Trey McNutt, Douglas Utu and Jordon Davison.

Ryan Day and his staff have assembled the top-ranked recruiting class in the country with a total of 26 commitments and an average star rating per commitment of 4.12. Ohio State, however, does trail Oregon (No. 12 in the team rankings) in average stars per commit (4.13).

In one of the most impressive recruiting efforts in this cycle, the Ducks and head coach Dan Lanning currently hold 15 commitments and nearly one-third of them are from five-star prospects.

That astounding statistic puts Oregon in rare company. A team has only signed a recruiting class with at least four five-star prospects and no more than 20 players nine times since 2001.

What other teams have signed recruiting classes with 20 or fewer prospects and at least four five-stars?

Ohio State did it once with its historic 2008 recruiting class that featured five-stars Terrelle Pryor, Mike Adams, DeVier Posey and Michael Brewster.

In 2015, Florida State’s recruiting class had 20 signees and five five-stars (Derwin James, Josh Sweat, Tarvarus McFadden, George Campbell and Jacques Patrick).

Clemson’s 2018 class was one for the record books. It featured a total of six five-stars including Trevor Lawrence, Justyn Ross, Derion Kendrick, Xavier Thomas, K.J. Henry and Jackson Carman.

Historically, USC is in a class of its own. The Trojans have put together six recruiting classes with 20 or fewer prospects and at least four five-stars. Their 2009 and 2010 classes each featured 18 signees with four five-star prospects. In 2009 it was T.J. McDonald, Matt Barkley, Patrick Hall and Devon Kinnard. Robert Woods, Kyle Prater, Markeith Ambles and Dillon Baxter signed in the 2010 class.

In the 2018 class the Trojans signed 19 players and five five-star prospects – JT Daniels, Palaie Gaoteote, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Isaac Taylor-Stuart and Olaijah Griffin.

USC set a record for average stars per commit (4.42) with its 2013 recruiting class that will probably never be broken. Because of recruiting sanctions, the Trojans only signed 12 players that year. Incredibly, almost half of them were five-star prospects – Max Browne, Ty Isaac, Su’a Cravens, Leon McQuay III and Kenny Bigelow.

One-third of USC’s 18 signees in the 2007 class were five-star prospects – Joe McKnight, Chris Galippo, Marc Tyler, Kristofer O’Dowd, Everson Griffin and Ronald Johnson.

Finally, the 2004 USC recruiting class had a total of 19 signees with eight five-star signees, a record that is shared with Georgia’s 26-member 2018 recruiting class. The Trojans signed Keith Rivers, Fred Davis, Thomas Herring, Jeff Schweiger Jr., Jeff Byers, Taitusi Lutui, Ryan Powdrell and Scott Ware that year.

MOST FIVE-STAR SIGNEES IN ONE CLASS

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Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Rivals.com, the leader in college football and basketball recruiting coverage. Be the first to know and follow your teams by signing up here.