Washington Husky Recruiting Distinguishes Good Class From Good Show
By Bret Stuter
Recruiting Class Correlations Are Exaggerated
After flirting with a top 20 nationally ranked recruiting class, the University of Washington Huskies recruiting class landed in the top 25 nationally. But before we wrangle over the placement of the 2017 recruiting class (we’ll have plenty of articles honing in on this group of young men, and why the sum of the whole is far greater than the sum of the pieces), let’s focus on the true trajectory.
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The 2017 Washington Husky recruiting class is the highest ranked class for head coach Chris Petersen since his arrival. Keep in mind that the 2014 recruiting class was ranked 37th while USC was ranked 10th. The 2015 recruiting was ranked 27th while USC was ranked second. In 2016, the UW recruiting class was ranked 29th while USC once more was ranked 10th. Finally, in 2017, the Washington Huskies recruiting class lands at 22nd while USC lands at four. So what has that meant to the PAC-12 standings?
In the 2014-2015 football season? UW was 8-5 to USC 9-4. The following year, the Huskies were 7-6 and USC was 8-6. Last season the Huskies landed at 12-2 to USC’s 10-3. In the end, one would assume that the USC team would naturally deliver 3-4 more wins per season than that of a UW Husky team. It doesn’t work that way.