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Comparing the Pac-12 Signing Classes of 2017 & 2018

USC held on to the No. 1 class in the Pac-12, how did the other schools fare?

Pac-12 Championship - Stanford v USC Photo by David Madison/Getty Images

It’s hard to beat the prestige, facilities, and weather USC boasts compared to the eleven other schools in the Pac-12. While the No. 1 class in the conference has stayed the same there has been a shake up in rankings for the rest of the west coast schools.

Pac-12 2018 Signing Classes:

  1. USC
  2. Washington
  3. Oregon
  4. UCLA
  5. Utah
  6. ASU
  7. Stanford
  8. Cal
  9. WSU
  10. Colorado
  11. Arizona
  12. Oregon State

Pac-12 2017 Signing Classes:

  1. USC
  2. Stanford
  3. Oregon
  4. UCLA
  5. Washington
  6. ASU
  7. Utah
  8. Colorado
  9. WSU
  10. Arizona
  11. Oregon State
  12. Cal

The Biggest Drop

It’s hard to argue that Stanford is not the school that fell the most in Pac-12 class rankings. In 2017 the Cardinal had the No. 2 ranked signing class in the Pac-12, fast forward to 2018, and they fell out of the top five to No. 7.

Head coach David Shaw has been on the “hot seat” for a season or two now, last year failing to reach the conference title game, and the loss to USC this year combined with an unusual 9-5 season, recruits looking to play in the Pac-12 North took their talents to Washington and Oregon instead.

Perhaps the biggest shock in Stanford’s loss of footing, is Herm Edwards’ uncertain ASU team topping the usual Pac-12 powerhouse.

The Biggest Jump

Heading into his second year as Cal’s head coach, Justin Wilcox was able to pull of his first victory of the 2018 season by not finishing at the bottom of the Pac for signing day.

With a No. 12 ranked 2017 signing class, Cal rose to No. 8 this year, leaping past Oregon State, Arizona, Colorado, and surprisingly WSU. Going 2-7 in conference play and 5-7 overall, the Golden Bears will need their four and three-star signees to boost their team play.

The Blue Chips

In typical Trojan fashion, USC finished with the most five and four-star recruits this signing day and was the only school to sign any five-star players, signing four.

In 2017 USC signed two five-stars, Stanford signed three, and UCLA signed two. This year showed zeros across the board for the rest of the Pac-12.

While not able to hook any five-star players this year, Washington and Oregon both signed 11 four-stars, while UCLA signed 10. USC topped the board with the four-stars as well with 13.

In a poor showing for the Pac-12 this past season with no team making the College Football Playoff, not many of the nations top recruits chose the west coast as their landing spot.

USC was the only Pac-12 team with a Top 10 FBS recruiting class, finishing at No. 4 nationally.

While it was the same for the Pac-12 last year, the conference did not do itself any favors with such poor play this past season.