When evaluating recruiting classes, it’s impossible to give a proper evaluation until after the class has completed its collegiate career. Not only are the top classes determined by what they looked like on paper, but on-field contributions also play a big part.

SDS takes a look at the each SEC team’s best recruiting class of the last decade based off of the recruiting rankings as well as how effective the class was on the field.

NOTE: Recruiting rankings taken from 247sports

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

Mississippi State is not known throughout the SEC for its recruiting prowess, which is why it’s interesting that the Bulldogs only top 20 recruiting class in the last decade came during a transitional period for the program.

Former MSU head coach Sylvester Croom was fired following the 2008 season, and current head coach Dan Mullen was hired shortly thereafter. Both coaches played a major role in forming the Bulldogs’ 2009 recruiting class, and that class lived up to its top 20 ranking when all was said and done.

The Bulldogs claimed six four-star recruits and 21 three-star prospects as part of the enormous 32-player class, and a handful of those prospects are now starring in the NFL. The 2009 class never elevated Mississippi State to the level of a title contender, but the class certainly sparked a turnaround that led in part to this year’s 10-win season.

2009 RECRUITING CLASS

Record: 36-28

SEC Championships: N/A

Class ranking: 20th overall; 8th in SEC

Cream of the crop: The 2009 class was loaded with players currently starring in the NFL, including defensive ends Fletcher Cox and Pernell McPhee, defensive tackle Josh Boyd, offensive guard and Conerly Trophy winner Gabe Jackson, linebackers Cameron Lawrence and Deontae Skinner and cornerbacks Johnthan Banks and Darius Slay. That list doesn’t even include former All-SEC safety Nickoe Whitley.

All the aforementioned players could be considered the “cream of the crop” from the 2009 class for various reasons, but Jackson, Banks and Slay are likely the best of the bunch. Jackson was an All-America selection his senior year, while both Banks and Slay finished in the top 3 in the SEC in interception total in 2012.

Cox was the highest draft pick among the 2009 signees when the Philadelphia Eagles took him 12th overall in the 2012 draft, and he remains Mississippi State’s highest-drafted player in the last 30 years.

Bust of the class: Four-star tailback Montrell Conner was expected to fall in line with the great 1,000-yard rushers in Mississippi State’s recent history, but that was never the case in his brief stint with the Bulldogs.

Conner redshirted as a freshman in 2009, then left the team before the start of the 2010 season for what he explained as “personal reasons.” He played at the junior college level in 2010 and then transferred to Troy, but he never logged a carry at the FBS level.

The Bulldogs overcame the loss of Conner with 1,000-yard rushers in Vick Ballard and LaDarius Perkins, but in the context of MSU’s 2009 recruiting class there wasn’t another player who fell as far below his hype as Conner.

Biggest surprise: Among the many future NFL stars loaded within Mississippi State’s 2009 class, Slay is far and away the biggest surprise of the bunch. The former three-star recruit was regarded as the 171st-best cornerback in the nation just in the class of 2009 alone, giving him slim odds at best to even emerge as a productive member of the Mississippi State secondary.

However, Slay overcame those odds and broke into the Bulldogs lineup in 2011. He recorded six interceptions and 10 pass breakups in two seasons from 2011-12, and along with Banks helped form the SEC’s most formidable cornerback tandem before departing Starkville for the professional ranks.

The once unheralded prospect was taken by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft (36th overall), and in 2014 (his first injury-free season as a professional) he recorded 61 tackles and two interceptions to help lead Detroit back to the playoffs.