The Pate State / Recruiting
The Next Wave
Recruiting and the portal without the message-board panic. The Pate Index below will average the 247Sports Composite and On3 Industry rankings, pulled nightly once the season engine is live.
The Pate Recruiting Index — Class of 2026 (Final)
The National Class Rankings
The final board from the last complete cycle — how every class actually finished. The 2027 board takes this spot the day the services publish it.
The Full Top 25
| RK | TEAM | CONFERENCE | 247 PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | USC | Big Ten | 310.67 |
| 02 | Alabama | SEC | 303.79 |
| 03 | Oregon | Big Ten | 303.22 |
| 04 | Ohio State | Big Ten | 301.23 |
| 05 | Notre Dame | FBS Independents | 299.28 |
| 06 |  Georgia | SEC | 291.98 |
| 07 |  Texas | SEC | 291.18 |
| 08 |  Tennessee | SEC | 290.71 |
| 09 |  Miami | ACC | 284.61 |
| 10 |  Texas A&M | SEC | 283.13 |
| 11 |  LSU | SEC | 272.69 |
| 12 |  Michigan | Big Ten | 270.12 |
| 13 |  Washington | Big Ten | 262.32 |
| 14 |  South Carolina | SEC | 256.43 |
| 15 |  Oklahoma | SEC | 252.55 |
| 16 |  Florida State | ACC | 251.54 |
| 17 |  Florida | SEC | 250.98 |
| 18 |  Texas Tech | Big 12 | 250.26 |
| 19 |  North Carolina | ACC | 247.70 |
| 20 |  Clemson | ACC | 243.28 |
| 21 |  BYU | Big 12 | 237.33 |
| 22 |  Ole Miss | SEC | 236.72 |
| 23 |  Mississippi State | SEC | 230.56 |
| 24 |  Illinois | Big Ten | 230.18 |
| 25 |  West Virginia | Big 12 | 229.51 |
Source: 247Sports Composite team rankings via the live data feed · On3/Rivals merge into the index with the 2027 cycle.
The Pate Player Index — Class of 2027
The Top Players in America
Preseason preview — live data arrives with the seasonThe nation's best, per 247Sports' Top247 — will be pulled nightly once the season engine is live. On production, On3/Rivals industry player ranks merge in nightly to complete the index.
| RK | PLAYER | POS | HT/WT | HOMETOWN | COMMITTED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Five-Star EDGE | EDGE | 6-5 / 240 | Southeast | Committed — Big Ten |
| 02 | Five-Star IOL | IOL | 6-5 / 300 | Northeast | Committed — SEC |
| 03 | Five-Star OT | OT | 6-5.5 / 300 | Southeast | Committed — SEC |
| 04 | Four-Star DL | DL | 6-3 / 302 | Texas | Committed — Big 12 |
| 05 | Five-Star EDGE | EDGE | 6-4 / 230 | Southeast | Committed — SEC |
| 06 | Four-Star CB | CB | 6-1 / 170 | West Coast | Committed — ACC |
| 07 | Four-Star QB | QB | 6-3 / 203 | Midwest | Committed — Big Ten |
| 08 | Four-Star QB | QB | 6-4 / 187 | Midwest | Committed — ACC |
| 09 | Five-Star QB | QB | 6-5 / 235 | Southeast | Committed — SEC |
| 10 | Four-Star RB | RB | 5-9 / 205 | Northeast | Committed — SEC |
| 11 | Four-Star RB | RB | 6-0 / 210 | Southeast | Committed — SEC |
| 12 | Four-Star WR | WR | 6-5 / 195 | Midwest | Committed — Big Ten |
More From the Next Wave
Recruiting & Portal Coverage
Preseason preview — live data arrives with the season
Why the Aggies' Class Is Built to Last, Not Just Rank High
The December Surge Nobody's Pricing In
Indiana's Recruiting Class Is Starting to Look Like Its Roster
The Portal's August Ripple, Explained
Five-Star QBs Are Landing in Different Places Than Usual
247 vs. On3: Where the Two Big Boards Actually Disagree
The Wire — What Just Happened
Recruiting News
The final two uncommitted five-stars made their calls: a five-star WR chose Indiana and a five-star RB stayed home with Tennessee — pivotal in-state wins that moved both classes up the rankings.
Texas A&M sits No. 1 on both major services with 26 commits — six five-stars and 19 blue-chips — putting the coaching staff in position for a second top-five class in three cycles.
Georgia (13th on the Pate Index), Alabama (outside the top 30 on both services), and Texas (6th) are unusually quiet this cycle — which historically means a December surge is coming.
The Pate Read
What It Means, Not Just Who Signed
Every class graded not by stars alone but by roster fit: what the team needed, what they got, and the one signing nobody's talking about that matters most. Weekly portal tracker in season, with Josh's "keep an eye on this" flags.
Watch the Recruiting Breakdown
Who's In? See the Playoff Picture.
THE BRACKET, THE RANKINGS, JOSH'S PICKS — AND AN AI TO RUN YOUR OWN