This Class Is Being Built in the Trenches First
Star rankings get the headlines. The current recruiting class is quietly stacking offensive and defensive linemen — and that's the tell.
If you only follow the recruiting rankings, you might think this class is a notch below last year’s. Look at the position breakdown and a different story shows up.
Line first, everything else second
Of the current commitments, a healthy share are offensive or defensive linemen. That’s a deliberate choice. You can patch a secondary through the portal in a single cycle. You cannot build an offensive line that way — it takes two or three years of high-school recruiting to get a room that can two-deep in the Big Ten.
Why the timing matters
Committing linemen early does two things:
- It locks in the developmental runway they need.
- It gives the staff a foundation to sell skill players on — nobody wants to commit as a running back to a team with no line.
The takeaway
Don’t grade this class today. Grade it in 2029, when these linemen are juniors and the team either controls the line of scrimmage or it doesn’t.