Matt Rhule finished up a frustrating 1-11 first year at Baylor, after a very successful run leading the Temple program.
Anyone that has hit the recruiting trail after a disappointing season can attest to how hard it can be to sell faith in the future of the program while other programs are able to sell success like conference titles, top 25 rankings, and bowl trips to those same kids.
With that said, the recruiting class that Rhule and his staff have put together is really impressive. In fact, as this tweet shows, it’s uncharted recruiting territory among nine other fellow teams that finished a season 1-11.
Nine Power Five teams in the last decade have finished 1-11.
Here are their subsequent recruiting rankings:
2008 Washington: 75
2009 Wazzu: 65
2011 Indiana: 57
2012 Kansas: 49
2013 Purdue: 70
2015 Kansas: 70
2017 Kansas: 73
2017 Oregon State: 87
2017 Baylor: 21— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) December 19, 2017
Granted, of those other nine teams, no other one was from even close of a fertile recruiting ground as Texas, but with Kansas’ 2012 recruiting ranking coming in at 49, Baylor finishing #21 is really impressive.
Credit to coach Rhule and his staff for their hard work and recruiting haul after a trying season. Yesterday, while updating the Signing Day Scoreboard, I remember entering Baylor a few times and had to reflect on how impressive that is after a 1-11 season.
The future of the program in Waco is clearly significantly brighter than it was just a short time ago. Keep up the great work fellas.
