The numbers on this year's class aren't completely in yet, but the total number of FBS scholarships handed out to incoming freshman this season will be down by over 1000 from pre Covid classes. The additional years upperclassmen are staying in college, coupled with transfer up from lower divisions has depleted the number of available spots for incoming freshman by over 25%.
Here's the totals for the past few years. I pulled these from the Rivals database using either signed or committed recruits for each season.
2022 -2415(This number will go up some, but there's only 269 recruits in Rivals database with offers who haven't committed or signed somewhere)
2021-3214
2020-3881
2019-4057
2018-3904
2017-3776
This trend helped Vanderbilt's class rise up in the rankings since it's full class and that's well outside the norm. A couple of year's ago, the same class would have been around 40th. But who's to say all the players VU got would have been available if other programs had more room? I'm not trying to take away from the recruiting efforts of Lea and Company. Just pointing out times are a little different.
Rosters are going to he top loaded with upperclassmen. What happens when the Covid exemptions expire? Will Vanderbilt be in a better position when all these programs that have gone heavy into the portal find that well has dried up when all the Covid exemptions run out and they are forced back to the high school ranks to fill their rosters?
Here's the totals for the past few years. I pulled these from the Rivals database using either signed or committed recruits for each season.
2022 -2415(This number will go up some, but there's only 269 recruits in Rivals database with offers who haven't committed or signed somewhere)
2021-3214
2020-3881
2019-4057
2018-3904
2017-3776
This trend helped Vanderbilt's class rise up in the rankings since it's full class and that's well outside the norm. A couple of year's ago, the same class would have been around 40th. But who's to say all the players VU got would have been available if other programs had more room? I'm not trying to take away from the recruiting efforts of Lea and Company. Just pointing out times are a little different.
Rosters are going to he top loaded with upperclassmen. What happens when the Covid exemptions expire? Will Vanderbilt be in a better position when all these programs that have gone heavy into the portal find that well has dried up when all the Covid exemptions run out and they are forced back to the high school ranks to fill their rosters?
