Sure, there’s plenty of Early Signing Day intrigue at places like Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, and Ohio State. But outside of the power schools who routinely recruit at an elite level, Boise State is quietly putting together a very good recruiting class.
Boise State is working on one of the best non-power recruiting classes EVER
It might actually be the best!
Brian Losness-USA TODAY Sports
The Broncos don’t have a huge class, but it has top-end talent and depth that’s highly unusual for a non-power conference team.
Right now, Boise State has just 15 players committed in their 2019 class. That isn’t very big, which is why you aren’t seeing Boise State crack the top 40 in the national rankings yet (they’re currently 53rd). But the Broncos have three blue-chip (four or five star) recruits committed via the 247Sports Composite rankings, and another, running back George Holani, who has a four-star rating from at least one recruiting service.
Their top commit, quarterback Hank Bachmeier, has a .9116 composite ranking, and had offers from a slew of power programs, like Cal, Colorado, Boston College, Washington State, and Ole Miss.
No other school outside of the Power 5 has three blue chip commits. The entire American Athletic Conference doesn’t have one at the moment. In fact, the only other school outside the P5 with a single four-star commit is BYU.
Getting one four-star is a pretty big accomplishment for a non-power school. Getting three or more? That’s only happened twice since 2005 (or around the time when national recruiting rankings became pretty stable), with 2010 BYU and 2016 Houston, who had four.
By some measures, this might actually be the best non-power recruiting class ever.
In terms of pure Composite score, the top class ever was 2010 BYU, with a 211.56 rating. That class was headlined by quarterback Jake Heaps (a high-four star), wideout Ross Apo, and defensive end Bronson Kaufusi. That class was also the highest ranked among any non-power ever, finishing 33rd in the in the 247Sports Composite. But it was also a pretty large class.
2016 Houston finished 36th in the country, with a total composite ranking of 201.5. Its top player, five-star defensive tackle Ed Oliver, dwarfs the best signing for any other recent non-power school. Houston also added four-star wideouts Courtney Lark and Tre’Davian Dickson, and a slew of other high three-star kids.
Boise won’t sniff those total Composite ratings, due to its smaller class size, and probably won’t finish with a class ranked higher than 40. But its average rating per recruit, currently at 85.78, is better than 2016 Houston (which included Oliver!) or 2010 BYU. That’s a better rating than plenty of Power 5 classes currently ranked in the 40s, like North Carolina, Pitt, Oklahoma State, or Wake Forest.
Signing top prospects is no guarantee of success anywhere, but Boise State is well stocked for the future,
Houston’s 2016 class worked out great for them. Oliver was one of the best players in college football, and the Cougars won a New Year’s Six bowl.
However, BYU’s 2010 headliners mostly failed to live up to their lofty billing. Other non-power schools who have signed blue-chippers in recent memory have struggled to keep those players enrolled or realized they were mis-evaluated.
But even if not every four-star pans out, Boise State has a significant recruiting edge over its Mountain West rivals, and should be set up to keep competing for MWC titles and New Year’s bowls in the near future.
