2021 Recruiting

Note: Updated after National Signing Day

The Group of Five continued to make progress in building their respective programs with a number of stellar 2021 recruiting classes. Not surprising, the consensus top 5 recruiting classes were all in the American Athletic Conference, led by Cincinnati. Memphis, SMU, Central Florida and South Florida completed the top 5.

The second 5 contained a mix of G5 conferences, with San Diego State (MWC), Toledo (MAC), UNLV (MWC), Appalachian State (SBC), and BYU (Independent) filling these spots respectively.

Looking at the 2021 class by conference, as expected, the AAC led the way with the Mountain West finishing a distant second in the ratings. The MAC and Independents followed closely behind, with the Sunbelt edging out Conference USA for the next slot.

247 Sports Recruiting Rankings (Click to scroll, click headers to sort)
G5 Rank	Team	Conf	# Commits	Score	FBS Rank
1	Cincinnati	AAC	24	190.66	42
2	Memphis	AAC	25	187.31	46
3	SMU	AAC	17	181.61	52
4	Central Florida	AAC	21	177.69	55
5	San Diego State	MWC	25	170.75	62
6	South Florida	AAC	21	167.63	63
7	Toledo	MAC	24	163.18	66
8	UNLV	MWC	20	162.91	67
9	App State	SBC	23	161.14	69
10	Boise State	MWC	16	161.13	70
11	Texas-San Antonio	CUSA	21	159.86	71
12	BYU	INDG5	17	159.77	72
13	Fresno State	MWC	18	159.11	75
14	Louisiana	SBC	18	158.63	76
15	Tulane	AAC	17	156.56	79
16	North Texas	CUSA	18	153.89	80
17	Houston	AAC	14	153.47	81
18	Florida Atlantic	CUSA	20	151.63	82
19	Coastal Carolina	SBC	17	150.67	83
20	Florida International	CUSA	17	149.35	84
21	Nevada	MWC	21	148.66	85
22	Central Michigan	MAC	24	146.12	87
23	Miami OH	MAC	22	146.03	88
24	Colorado State	MWC	21	144.67	89
25	Air Force	MWC	69	144.16	90
26	Northern Illinois	MAC	26	142.59	91
27	Georgia Southern	SBC	22	142.54	92
28	Rice	CUSA	19	141.39	93
29	New Mexico	MWC	23	140.75	94
30	Ball State	MAC	23	140.07	95
31	East Carolina	AAC	14	139.28	96
32	Western Michigan	MAC	19	139.11	97
33	Buffalo	MAC	17	137.78	98
34	Ohio	MAC	19	137.6	99
35	Old Dominion	CUSA	18	135.74	100
36	Charlotte	CUSA	20	134.83	101
37	Georgia State	SBC	15	134.55	102
38	Bowling Green	MAC	20	133.73	103
39	Troy	SBC	15	133.65	104
40	Temple	AAC	14	132.83	105
41	Ark State	SBC	16	132.61	106
42	Eastern Michigan	MAC	16	132.15	107
43	Navy	AAC	29	131.51	108
44	Army	INDG5	50	131.27	109
45	Wyoming	MWC	18	130.41	110
46	Liberty	INDG5	14	129.14	111
47	Louisiana-Monroe	SBC	16	127.64	112
48	New Mexico State	INDG5	18	126.9	113
49	Connecticut	INDG5	16	125.11	114
50	Alabama Birmingham	CUSA	16	123.44	115
51	Massachusetts	INDG5	18	121.74	116
52	Kent State	MAC	15	119.36	117
53	Akron	MAC	17	113.25	118
54	San Jose State	MWC	12	112.81	119
55	Louisiana Tech	CUSA	10	108.45	120
56	South Alabama	SBC	11	107.68	121
57	Middle Tennessee State	CUSA	12	107.22	122
58	Southern Miss	CUSA	9	104.36	123
59	Hawaii	MWC	11	101.62	124
60	Marshall	CUSA	10	101.55	125
61	Tulsa	AAC	9	97.89	126
62	Texas El-Paso	CUSA	9	60.62	127
63	Utah State	MWC	5	55.32	128
64	Western Kentucky	CUSA	4	49.62	129
65	Texas State	SBC	1	9.46	130

Rivals Recruiting Rankings (Click to scroll, click headers to sort)
G5 Rank	Team	Conf	# Commits	Score	FBS Rank
1	Cincinnati	AAC	25	1410	36
2	Memphis	AAC	23	1320	46
3	Central Florida	AAC	21	1215	51
4	South Florida	AAC	21	1155	55
5	San Diego State	MWC	24	1140	58
6	SMU	AAC	17	1137	59
7	Navy	AAC	78	1065	64
8	Texas-San Antonio	CUSA	21	1035	67
9	Toledo	MAC	24	1020	68
9	Air Force	MWC	67	1020	68
9	UNLV	MWC	20	1020	68
12	BYU	INDG5	18	975	71
13	Miami OH	MAC	24	945	73
14	Army	INDG5	102	930	75
14	Fresno State	MWC	18	930	75
16	App State	SBC	24	915	78
17	Ball State	MAC	23	900	82
18	Tulane	AAC	17	885	83
18	Houston	AAC	15	885	83
20	Boise State	MWC	16	870	85
21	North Texas	CUSA	18	855	86
22	Central Michigan	MAC	23	840	87
22	Northern Illinois	MAC	28	840	87
24	Florida Atlantic	CUSA	22	825	89
24	Western Michigan	MAC	19	825	89
26	Liberty	INDG5	19	810	91
27	Coastal Carolina	SBC	19	795	92
27	Nevada	MWC	21	795	92
29	New Mexico	MWC	23	765	94
29	Colorado State	MWC	22	765	94
29	Rice	CUSA	18	765	94
32	New Mexico State	INDG5	19	735	95
33	Connecticut	INDG5	15	720	97
33	Florida International	CUSA	17	720	97
35	East Carolina	AAC	16	705	99
35	Ohio	MAC	18	705	99
37	Wyoming	MWC	19	690	100
38	Troy	SBC	16	675	102
39	Bowling Green	MAC	20	675	103
39	Buffalo	MAC	16	675	104
41	Temple	AAC	12	660	105
42	Charlotte	CUSA	21	645	106
42	Akron	MAC	21	645	107
44	Ark State	SBC	15	615	108
44	Georgia Southern	SBC	21	615	109
44	Louisiana-Monroe	SBC	13	615	110
47	Old Dominion	CUSA	19	600	111
48	South Alabama	SBC	16	585	112
48	Eastern Michigan	MAC	19	585	113
50	Hawaii	MWC	12	540	114
51	Alabama Birmingham	CUSA	16	525	115
51	Massachusetts	INDG5	19	525	116
53	Louisiana	SBC	13	510	117
54	Georgia State	SBC	15	495	118
54	Southern Miss	CUSA	10	495	119
56	Louisiana Tech	CUSA	10	480	120
57	San Jose State	MWC	12	450	121
58	Kent State	MAC	13	435	122
59	Marshall	CUSA	10	405	123
60	Middle Tennessee State	CUSA	10	390	124
61	Tulsa	AAC	7	375	125
62	Western Kentucky	CUSA	3	210	126
63	Texas El-Paso	CUSA	9	180	127
64	Utah State	MWC	5	135	128
65	Texas State	SBC	1	30	129

ESPN Recruiting Rankings (Top 75 FBS Only)
G5 Rank	Team	Conf	FBS Rank
1	SMU	AAC	46
2	Cincinnati	AAC	48
3	Memphis	AAC	52
4	Central Florida	AAC	58
5	South Florida	AAC	62
6	App State	SBC	63
7	San Diego State	MWC	64
8	Boise State	MWC	65
9	Toledo	MAC	66
10	BYU	INDG5	71
11	UNLV	MWC	73
12	Houston	AAC	74
13	Tulane	AAC	75

Consensus Recruiting Rankings (Click to scroll, click headers to sort)
Consensus Rank	Team	Conf	High Rank	Low Rank
1	Cincinnati	AAC	1	2
2	Memphis	AAC	2	3
3	SMU	AAC	1	55
4	Central Florida	AAC	4	5
5	South Florida	AAC	5	46
6	San Diego State	MWC	5	10
7	Toledo	MAC	7	8
8	UNLV	MWC	8	11
9	App State	SBC	6	17
10	BYU	INDG5	10	12
11	Texas-San Antonio	CUSA	11	65
12	Boise State	MWC	8	13
13	Fresno State	MWC	13	20
14	Tulane	AAC	13	19
15	Air Force	MWC	10	36
16	Houston	AAC	12	36
17	Miami OH	MAC	15	23
18	North Texas	CUSA	16	21
19	Florida Atlantic	CUSA	14	18
20	Navy	AAC	8	43
21	Central Michigan	MAC	18	22
22	Coastal Carolina	SBC	19	24
23	Ball State	MAC	24	34
24	Nevada	MWC	21	34
25	Northern Illinois	MAC	26	27
26	Florida International	CUSA	20	44
27	Colorado State	MWC	24	30
28	Army	INDG5	16	44
29	Western Michigan	MAC	22	32
30	Rice	CUSA	28	31
31	New Mexico	MWC	26	29
32	Louisiana	SBC	14	57
33	East Carolina	AAC	29	31
34	Ohio	MAC	34	49
35	Georgia Southern	SBC	27	48
36	Buffalo	MAC	33	38
37	Liberty	INDG5	25	46
38	Bowling Green	MAC	38	39
39	Troy	SBC	32	39
40	Charlotte	CUSA	36	42
41	New Mexico State	INDG5	33	48
42	Temple	AAC	28	40
43	Wyoming	MWC	41	47
44	Connecticut	INDG5	35	49
45	Old Dominion	CUSA	35	50
46	Ark State	SBC	41	53
47	Eastern Michigan	MAC	42	49
48	Georgia State	SBC	37	56
49	Louisiana-Monroe	SBC	37	47
50	Akron	MAC	42	62
51	Alabama Birmingham	CUSA	50	54
52	Massachusetts	INDG5	47	51
53	South Alabama	SBC	4	56
54	Hawaii	MWC	59	59
55	Kent State	MAC	50	52
56	Louisiana Tech	CUSA	52	55
57	San Jose State	MWC	53	54
58	Southern Miss	CUSA	3	58
59	Middle Tennessee State	CUSA	57	61
60	Marshall	CUSA	58	60
61	Tulsa	AAC	60	61
62	Texas El-Paso	CUSA	62	64
63	Western Kentucky	CUSA	62	64
64	Utah State	MWC	63	63
65	Texas State	SBC	65	65