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When evaluating recruiting classes, it’s impossible to assess 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
Florida Gators
When Urban Meyer was the head coach at Florida, the two-time national champion reeled in some of the nation’s top classes almost every year. From 2005-2010, Meyer had two No. 1 overall recruiting classes and five-straight top-10 classes.
But it is the 2006 Gators’ recruiting class that stands along as the best of the past decade for Florida.
In terms of recruiting rankings and on-field contributions, this is a recruiting class that Florida likely won’t match for many years. With the kind of program legends that were a part of the 2006 class, it’s a group that comes around only once every few decades, if that.
2006 recruiting class
Record: 48-7 overall
SEC Championships: Won in 2006, 2008; appeared in 2009
BCS Championships: Won in 2006, 2008
Class ranking: 2nd overall; 1st in SEC
Cream of the crop: In recruiting, not every top prospect pans out. It’s just not how it works. But to have three program-defininig players in one class? That’s just unheard of. Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes were special and defied the odds. All three recruits were considered the Gators’ top prospects in 2006 and they didn’t disappoint.
Spikes is one of the best linebackers to ever play at Florida. He garnered All-American honors twice and was Chuck Bendarik finalist in 2009.
And what do you say about Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin? The two players are arguably the top players in Gators’ history, regardless of position. Tebow was a college football icon, a two-time BCS Champion and also became the first sophomore ever to win the Heisman Trophy. It’s unlikely Florida will see another leader like Tebow come through the program anytime soon.
Harvin was an all-purpose nightmare for opposing defenses. His elite speed made him a threat in the receiving game or in the backfield as a running back. Meyer’s utilization of the spread option simply made Harvin too tough to defend and he instantly became one of the most potent offensive weapons in college football.
Bust of the class: Four-star athlete Jamar Hornsby was going to be the next great safety for the Gators and was expected to fit in nicely with what became one of the top secondaries in college football. However, off-field troubles limited Hornsby’s potential with the Gators.
He never quite cracked the defensive depth chart and saw much of his action with the special teams unit. In May 2008, Hornsby was kicked off the team after turning himself into the authorities for using a deceased woman’s credit card. His two years with the program never really amounted to much.
Biggest surprise: At 5-foot-7, 167-pounds, Brandon James wasn’t expect to be a significant part of the team, but he eventually became one of the Gators’ best special team returners in program history. By the end of his career, James was a two-time All-American and the SEC career leader for kick return yardage and combined kick return yardage.
Over his four years, he had five total return touchdowns and was a key weapon for the Gators in the field position battle.
Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.
