Recruiting is the foundation for winning national championships, competing for CFB Playoff berths or performing at a high level in college football. While recruiting rankings aren’t 100 percent accurate, there is plenty of truth in the rankings and evaluations by the experts. Additionally, with advances in technology to watch more prospects, along with more offseason camps, the rankings for prospects and classes as a whole are more accurate than they were just a few years ago. Since the start of the CFB Playoff era, all five champions have come from teams ranked inside of the top eight in overall roster talent. It’s no secret what a program needs in order to win big at this level. Great coaching, support staffs, state-of-the-art training facilities and luck certainly helps, but talent on the roster (and player development) provides a significant head start in the race to win it all each season.

Just how important are recruiting rankings and the overall talent evaluation? Alabama (No. 1) has won five national championships since 2009. Additionally, the Crimson Tide, Georgia and Ohio State - the top three teams in this metric - have all played for or won a national title in the CFB Playoff era. Three teams from the SEC rank inside of the top four for 2019, with Ohio State (No. 3) and USC (No. 5) rounding out the top five.

Below are the national recruiting ranking averages for the Power 5 schools, Notre Dame and BYU over the last five classes according to 247Sports Team Composite rankings and each team's record over the last five seasons. Obviously, this doesn't take into account attrition. However, with a five-year window in place, this should be considered relatively even across the conference.

By Conference: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | Pac-12 | SEC

Ranking College Football's Rosters for 2019

Rk Team Conf 19 18 17 16 15 Avg W/L Conf. W/L 1 Alabama SEC 1 7 1 1 1 2.2 67-6 37-3 2 Georgia SEC 2 1 3 7 5 3.6 52-16 29-11 3 Ohio State Big Ten 14 2 2 4 7 5.8 62-7 39-4 4 LSU SEC 5 15 7 3 6 7.2 44-19 25-15 5 USC Pac-12 20 4 4 8 2 7.6 43-23 31-14 6 Florida State ACC 18 11 6 2 3 8 45-20 25-15 7 Auburn SEC 11 12 9 9 8 9.8 41-25 21-19 8 Clemson ACC 10 6 16 10 9 10.2 65-7 36-4 9 Texas Big 12 3 3 26 11 10 10.6 33-31 24-21 10 Oklahoma Big 12 6 9 8 20 14 11.4 54-13 38-7 11 Texas A&M SEC 4 17 12 18 11 12.4 40-25 20-20 12 Notre Dame Ind 15 10 11 15 13 12.8 44-20 13T Florida SEC 9 14 10 13 21 13.4 40-23 25-15 13T Tennessee SEC 12 20 17 14 4 13.4 34-29 14-26 13T Penn State Big Ten 13 5 15 19 15 13.4 45-21 27-16 16 Michigan Big Ten 8 21 5 5 37 15.2 43-21 29-14 17 Oregon Pac-12 7 16 19 28 16 17.2 42-24 26-19 18 Miami ACC 28 8 13 21 26 19.2 40-25 24-16 19 South Carolina SEC 17 19 21 26 19 20.4 32-32 16-24 20T Ole Miss SEC 22 31 30 6 17 21.2 35-27 17-23 20T UCLA Pac-12 44 18 20 12 12 21.2 31-32 20-25 22 Washington Pac-12 16 13 22 29 27 21.4 47-21 30-15 23 Stanford Pac-12 21 39 14 16 24 22.8 48-19 32-13 24 Nebraska Big Ten 19 22 23 24 30 23.6 32-31 20-23 25 Mississippi State SEC 24 27 24 31 18 24.8 42-23 21-19 26 Michigan State Big Ten 30 32 35 22 22 28.2 43-22 27-16 27T Virginia Tech ACC 26 24 25 41 29 29 39-27 22-18 27T North Carolina ACC 32 23 27 35 28 29 30-33 19-21 29 Arizona State Pac-12 31 37 37 27 20 30.4 35-29 23-22 30T Arkansas SEC 23 55 28 25 23 30.8 28-35 11-29 30T TCU Big 12 33 25 31 23 42 30.8 47-19 30-15 32 Baylor Big 12 35 30 39 17 36 31.4 36-28 22-23 33 Kentucky SEC 34 38 29 34 38 34.6 34-29 17-23 34T Maryland Big Ten 46 28 18 42 49 36.6 25-37 13-30 34T Wisconsin Big Ten 27 44 40 32 40 36.6 53-15 34-9 36 NC State ACC 29 26 52 49 31 37.4 40-25 20-20 37T Oklahoma State Big 12 37 33 38 44 39 38.2 44-21 27-18 37T Utah Pac-12 43 34 33 36 45 38.2 44-22 25-20 39 Louisville ACC 72 29 32 37 32 40.4 36-28 21-19 40 Missouri SEC 36 42 50 53 25 41.2 35-29 18-22 41 Pitt ACC 55 46 34 30 47 42.4 34-31 24-16 42 West Virginia Big 12 49 35 57 39 35 43 40-24 27-18 43 California Pac-12 41 43 70 38 34 45.2 30-32 16-29 44 Iowa Big Ten 40 40 41 46 60 45.4 44-22 27-16 45 Duke ACC 47 61 47 33 51 47.8 36-28 16-24 46 Arizona Pac-12 56 58 45 43 43 49 32-32 20-25 47 Minnesota Big Ten 42 36 58 48 63 49.4 35-29 17-26 48 Washington State Pac-12 64 45 44 55 41 49.8 40-24 28-17 49 Georgia Tech ACC 52 51 46 59 44 50.4 35-28 20-20 50 Indiana Big Ten 38 48 63 56 52 51.4 26-36 11-32 51T Northwestern Big Ten 51 59 48 51 54 52.6 41-24 29-14 51T Vanderbilt SEC 58 41 64 54 46 52.6 24-28 9-31 53 Virginia ACC 39 64 56 60 50 53.8 25-37 14-26 54 Texas Tech Big 12 67 74 51 45 33 54 27-35 15-30 55 Iowa State Big 12 48 53 53 52 66 54.4 24-38 15-30 56 Colorado Pac-12 45 52 36 69 71 54.6 26-37 13-32 57 Illinois Big Ten 63 54 43 71 48 55.8 20-41 9-34 58 Syracuse ACC 53 50 55 66 58 56.4 25-36 13-27 59T Purdue Big Ten 25 49 71 80 65 58 21-41 12-31 59T Wake Forest ACC 54 60 65 58 53 58 28-35 12-28 59T Rutgers Big Ten 61 57 42 74 56 58 19-42 7-36 62 Oregon State Pac-12 68 69 49 46 61 58.6 14-46 6-39 63 Kansas State Big 12 62 68 60 73 55 63.6 37-27 24-21 64 Boston College ACC 60 67 66 75 62 66 31-32 14-26 65 BYU Ind 79 78 67 50 64 67.6 37-27 66 Kansas Big 12 65 62 68 89 74 71.6 9-51 3-42

Conference Data

Conference Avg. Class Rank Teams in Top 25* 37.9 (14 teams) 3 39.8 (10 teams) 2 36.9 (14 teams) 4 34 (12 teams) 5 19.2 (14 teams) 10 * Top 25 classes also include Notre Dame

Takeaways from Roster Rankings