So much has changed in the college football recruiting realm over the past few years. First, there was name, image and likeness. Then the transfer portal became prominent. Then came revenue sharing. Now, classes are mostly built in June and July, and the early signing period lacks its typical drama.
One thing has held true over the years: Uncertainty kills on the recruiting trail. It’s always been difficult to convince enough talented players to sign with a program when there’s doubt about a head coach’s long-term future.
Plenty of coaches face this dilemma during the 2027 recruiting cycle, which has hit full speed as official visits are conducted throughout June. With that in mind, let’s examine where these programs and coaches stand in the recruiting landscape. Hint: They’re not really bucking the trend.
Note: All rankings/commitments are from the 247Sports Composite as of 7 p.m. ET on June 10. The programs are listed in alphabetical order.
Baylor
Ranking: 62nd nationally
Commitments: Eight
Dave Aranda was pretty fortunate to survive the hot seat chatter after a 5-7 campaign in 2025. Aranda will always have the 2021 Big 12 championship and Sugar Bowl victory on his resume, but he’s posted four losing records in six seasons as the Bears’ head coach. So there’s a ton of pressure on Aranda to produce a solid season this year.
When Aranda was on stable footing, Baylor’s recruiting classes hovered around the mid-30s to low-40s in the team rankings. The last three recruiting cycles have produced the 63rd (2024), the 37th (2025) and 57th (2026) ranked classes in the country.
This year’s class seems like it’ll fall in line with those 2024 and 2026 groups. The Bears have picked up two commitments since official visits started during the last weekend of May. Both players sit outside the top 1,000 of the overall player rankings.
Baylor did land some intriguing additions through the transfer portal, like quarterback DJ Lagway (Florida) and defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler (Indiana), but it’s tough to build a solid foundation when the recruiting classes hover around the 60s. The lack of talent is apparent on defense, where the Bears haven’t finished better than 54th in yards per play allowed since winning the league in 2021. They’ve finished no better than 67th in scoring defense in that span, too.
The Bears are fortunate to have six Big 12 programs directly behind them in the team rankings, but most of those schools have a better chance of generating on-field momentum to provide a spark. None has a coach under as much scrutiny as Aranda, either.
Florida State
Ranking: 51st
Commitments: Nine
The Seminoles’ 2027 class checks in at 50th nationally, and that’s coming off the addition of three blue-chip prospects during the last week. They received commitments from four-star Effingham County (Springfield, Ga.) linebacker Jernard Albright, four-star Camden County (Kingsland, Ga.) receiver Sean Green and four-star Baton Rouge Catholic (La.) running back Jayden Miles this week.
Albright is the highest-rated player in Florida State’s class. He’s the No. 172 player in the country. Albright and Green are the only two players in the class who rank among the top-300 prospects nationally.
Mike Norvell has never been an elite recruiter, but he’s always produced top-25 classes. That’s going to be practically impossible when the prevailing thought is that Norvell is in the final stages of his tenure.
Florida State has gone 7-17 over the last two years, and, like Aranda at Baylor, Norvell has finished with a losing record in four of his six seasons in Tallahassee. So we all know what the score is entering this season.
Mike Norvell has finished with a losing record in four of his six seasons at Florida State. (David Jensen / Getty Images)
Bad evaluations, a lack of development and not being good enough on the trail have led Norvell to this position. His best work — 23 combined wins over the 2022 and 2023 seasons — came as a result of really good transfer portal work, but that’s proven to be unsustainable for the Seminoles. That only placed a bigger microscope on the recruiting issues.
It doesn’t help to see Miami and Florida sitting at third and fourth, respectively, in the team rankings either. The Gators have the new-coach smell with Jon Sumrall, the Hurricanes just played for the national championship and both programs are recruiting at a very high level.
With high-end talent constantly hesitant to jump on board — two blue-chip prospects have decommitted since the end of May, and Florida State’s class ranks 14th in the ACC — Norvell’s fate already seems sealed.
Maryland
Ranking: 58th
Commitments: 11
Mike Locksley has never provided a true on-field breakthrough at Maryland, but he’s scored impressive recruiting wins for in-state players recently, like five-star edge rusher Zion Elee in the 2026 cycle and quarterback Malik Washington, who was a four-star, top-100 prospect in the 2025 cycle and was impressive as the Terrapins’ starter this past fall.
That’s provided optimism, but on the field, things have turned pretty sour. Maryland has won just two Big Ten games during the last two seasons. And West Virginia has received more commitments from the state of Maryland (one) this cycle than the Terrapins have (zero).
Maryland has been pretty active since the start of official visits two weeks ago. The Terrapins have added eight commitments to their class, but none of those players rank inside the top-600 nationally. Maryland’s average player rating sits at 86.54, which is more than a full point below its 2026 mark (87.94).
The Terrapins return a lot from last year’s team, but if Locksley isn’t winning and isn’t recruiting at the level he was expected to, it’s difficult to picture his tenure lasting much longer.
South Carolina
Ranking: 57th
Commits: Eight
Locksley and Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer have beefed with each other about recruiting a few times over the past several years, but they find themselves in the same predicament — in desperate need of a winning season to stabilize things. As pressure mounts, they’re near each other in the recruiting rankings, too.
The Gamecocks are last in the SEC recruiting standings entering the weekend, and their eight commitments are tied for last in the league with LSU, whose average player rating is 92.68 compared to South Carolina’s 88.40. That’s almost two points lower than the Gamecocks’ 2026 class, which had a 90.27 average player rating and ranked 19th nationally.
South Carolina signed 10 blue-chip prospects in its 19-member class last cycle, including four top-100 prospects. The Gamecocks hold commitments from just three blue-chip prospects in this class, led by four-star Seventy-First (Fayetteville, N.C.) defensive lineman John Archer.
Archer is the No. 164 overall player nationally and is the only commit who is ranked within the top-300 prospects nationally in the Gamecocks’ class. South Carolina also hasn’t landed a commitment since official visits opened at the end of May.
So Beamer faces an uphill climb on the recruiting trail and on the field.
Wisconsin
Ranking: 21st
Commitments: 22
Luke Fickell’s tenure in Madison has not played out the way anyone expected when he was hired after the 2022 regular season. Through three full seasons, Fickell is 17-21 with the Badgers. The program veered away from its smash-mouth identity, has been plagued by injuries at quarterback and just had to watch Indiana make a national championship leap that’s eluded Wisconsin since the program rose to prominence in the 1990s.
Fickell survived last year’s 4-8 campaign, and there was the promise of additional resources to help him build a better roster. But the athletic director who hired Fickell and decided to retain him last year, Chris McIntosh, left the school for a job in the Big Ten in April.
Fickell is in real need of positive momentum. He’s trying to build some on the recruiting trail where the Badgers have been active over the last few weeks. Wisconsin has added nine commitments to its class since official visits began. The highest-rated commit in that span is four-star corner Mekhi Williams, who plays for Lennard in Ruskin, Fla., and was a good recruiting victory for the Badgers.
This class is certainly a step in the right direction from Wisconsin’s 2026 group, which was ranked 78th nationally and featured only one blue-chip prospect. The Badgers are up to seven four-star commitments in their 2027 class, but their class is mostly made up of three-star prospects. That works for some programs, and Fickell did a great job of evaluating and developing under-the-radar talent at Cincinnati, but clearly hasn’t found a successful formula for that at Wisconsin.
The height of Fickell’s recruiting at Wisconsin came during his first full cycle when the Badgers signed 11 blue-chip players and finished with the No. 23 class in the country. There was optimism at the time, and that’s been squandered through poor on-field play.
Though this class may be propped up by the number of commitments, it’s providing a glimpse of hope for Fickell and a staff that needs wins in the worst way if they desire to coach these recruits next fall.
