In 2010, Texas A&M gathered a recruiting class that the 247Sports composite rankings considered the 19th best class in the FBS. Five years later, every member of that class has since moved on from College Station, allowing us to look back at the class to determine whether or not it lived up to its billing.

In short, it more than lived up to its No. 19 ranking that year. After this year’s NFL draft, the Aggies’ 2010 class included not one, not two but a whopping four offensive linemen now playing in the NFL, three of which were first-round picks. Much of that success can be credited to player development on Texas A&M’s staff, but considering there was a coaching change and a conference change in that five-year span, there’s clearly more to it than that.

With all this in mind, here are five reasons that 2010 recruiting class is so fascinating:

1. The Aggies signed more future NFL tackles than they could put on the field at one time. Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews, both top 10 picks in the 2013 and 2014 drafts, respectively, entered the program as four-star prospects touted as bookends at the college level. But Cedric Ogbuehi, this year’s first-round tackle, was also a four-star from that class. All in all, those three players marked the three highest-rated signees in the class regardless of position. The fact that none of the three were inspired to transfer and that all three saw a healthy amount of playing time during their careers — enough to prove their worth to NFL scouts at least — is nothing short of remarkable.

2. Those offensive line signees all signed to play in the Big 12, not the SEC. As of National Signing Day 2010, the Aggies were still two years away from making the move from the Big 12 to the SEC. In the Big 12, at least at that time and still today to some extent, spread offenses ruled the league’s culture. Schools like Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Missouri (also in the Big 12 at the time) and A&M all ranked in the top 20 in the FBS in pass attempts, and as a result teams were drawn toward recruiting touted pass-blocking prospects as opposed to road-grading run blockers. So when A&M transitioned to the SEC, a conference known for its historic tailbacks and overpowering linemen, it seemed unlikely A&M’s 2010 o-line signees could thrive as much as they thought they would in the spread-happy Big 12. That intuition couldn’t have been further off-base, as evidenced by A&M’s immediate success in the SEC and by the four offensive line draftees. Johnny Manziel played a large role in the Aggies’ successful transition, but the line did too.

3. Those signees also signed to play for Mike Sherman, not Kevin Sumlin. It’s funny to consider that while Sumlin is one of the trendiest and most well-compensated coaches in the SEC, many of his players the last three years (and especially in 2012-13) were former Sherman signees. The 2010 offensive line signees are no exception. Sherman was 25-25 in four seasons from 2008-11, only finishing one of those four seasons with a winning record. But the dude could recruit, and his recruiting actually did him in due to a last of correspondence between recruiting talent and victories on the field. So Sumlin may have taken those offensive line signees over the top, but they signed to play for a coach who was only 10-15 to that point in his A&M tenure.

4. Jarvis Harrison was not the best guard in the class, but he’s the one who was drafted. Harrison was a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, joining first-round tackles Joeckel, Matthews and Ogbuehi in the NFL as the only interior lineman of the bunch. However, interestingly enough, it was Shep Klinke who headlined the Aggies’ interior line signees in 2010. The four-star guard was thought to be a future menace along the offensive line, but he ended up only starting three games for his A&M career. Harrison was obviously the more accomplished of the two when all was said and done, but he had to leap Klinke and a number of other talents to reach the starting lineup as a former unheralded two-star guard considered the 133rd best player in his class just at the guard position alone. That class may boast three first-rounders, but you could argue Harrison is the best story of them all.

5. All five starters along the Aggies’ 2012 offensive line are now in the NFL. In 2012, A&M’s first year in the SEC and Manziel’s Heisman year, the Aggies’ star quarterback had the benefit of playing behind five offensive linemen all playing in the NFL. Matthews and Joeckel were the tackles, Ogbuehi and Harrison the guards, and line captain Patrick Lewis, now with the Seattle Seahawks, started at center. So for as much is made of Manziel’s incredible season in 2012, for A&M’s rapid transition into the SEC and for its upset win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the offensive line, and namely the 2010 offensive line recruiting haul, had as much to do with it all as anyone on the team.