Have transfers obliterated our recruiting classes?

So I was wondering if the number of outgoing transfers have dramatically dropped the talent level of this team and how much the shortcomings can be blamed on the recruiting gaffes. Here is what I found using this [247 tool](https://247sports.com/college/nebraska/Season/2021-Football/Commits/Preview/). I removed every recruit that either transferred out or completely quit football. I didn’t include any players that left by entering the draft. I included the last 5 years including Riley’s last class. I used that resulting score and compared it to how they would rank in those same classes compared to the rest of the country. Some things to consider is recruiting scores and rankings only include true freshmen and Juco transfers. Incoming D1 transfers aren’t included. So a guy like Connor Kulp who came in and instantly guaranteed the team a couple more severely needed points a game isn’t even part of the calculations. Also, this doesn’t include what other team’s recruiting classes have remaining and most teams probably look significantly more different the deeper you go back.

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|Year|Score|Rank|Current Score|Current Rank|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|’21|216.5|21|216.5|21|
|’20|242.99|20|221.89|26|
|’19|245.1|17|228.88|24|
|’18|227.95|23|169.01|72|
|’17|224.33|23|104.83|120|

​

Looking at the results obviously 2021 is the same because the recruiting year still isn’t finalized. Surprisingly there wasn’t much drop off in the last two years even considering the four 4 star Florida guys that barely even got to taste the dining hall food last year. 20th to 26th in 2020 and 17th to 24th in 2019. Riley’s final year is mostly gone and over half of Frost’s first class is gone which translates to a huge drop off. What I’m taking away from this is you could make the excuse for Frost that his crew had a very late start on recruiting his first year and didn’t get the time to find the long term quality guys they were looking for. A big year coaches get judged on is year 3 and this will be Frost’s 3rd mostly normal playing year and 3rd full term recruiting class. And even though it’s not a good sign when recruits are dropping like flies before they even see the field, where they currently stand on the last 3 classes they should still be flirting with the top 25 if their player development was on par with the rest of Power 5 teams. Basically what I’m getting at is recruiting gaffes are no longer an excuse for being a bottom of the barrel team and this year we should be flirting with the top 25 and if we’re not then the blame goes squarely on coaching and development and not on lack of talent.

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