The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/641955
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Michigan's No. 4 overall team ranking for the 2016 recruiting class is the best mark ever for the Maize and Blue. It rep‑ resents the sixth time in the Rivals.com era (2002‑present) that the Wolverines inked a top‑10 overall class and the sec‑ ond time they pulled in a top‑five class (No. 5 in 2013). Only Ohio State, which has eight top‑10 classes and seven top‑five fin‑ ishes, has been more productive among Big Ten teams during the last 15 years. Nationally, Southern Cal has had the most top‑10 classes in the history of Ri‑ vals.com (12) and Alabama has had the most top‑five classes (nine). The Trojans have boasted the most consistently strong classes overall in a formula that analyzed the past 15 classes (except for 2004, which offered unreli‑ able data when looking back at the Ri‑ vals' rankings), using a school's rank as its point value. For instance, if USC landed the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 classes, it had a total three‑year value of six points. The teams with the lowest points are ranked the highest, providing an indica‑ tion of how schools have fared over the past 15 years (again, it's really 14 classes taken into account with 2004 withheld Michigan Recruiting Ranks 15th In The Rivals.com Era Top-10 Top-5 Rk. School Points Avg. Classes Classes 1. Southern Cal 73 5.2 12 8 2. Florida State 100 7.1 11 6 3. Georgia 112 8.0 11 3 4. LSU 114 8.1 10 4 5. Florida 124 8.9 9 8 6. Alabama 132 9.4 10 9 7. Auburn 141 10.1 10 1 8. Oklahoma 145 19.4 7 2 9. Ohio State 149 10.6 8 7 10. Texas 153 10.9 6 6 11. Tennessee 180 12.9 7 5 12. Notre Dame 196 14.0 4 2 13. Texas A&M 210 15.0 5 1 14. Miami 216 15.4 5 2 15. Michigan 220 15.7 6 2 16. South Carolina 244 17.4 2 0 17. Clemson 264 18.9 3 2 18. UCLA 271 19.4 3 0 19. Ole Miss 321 22.9 2 0 20. Oregon 345 24.6 1 0