By: Ryan Moreland (@ryanmoreland)
The offseason is quickly coming to a close and it is time to look at which teams had the best offseasons. To do this, I use a formula (like always). However, this season I changed to formula just a bit after noticing a bias toward teams that needed more. Let’s take a quick look at how it looks.
How It Works
The formula isn’t super complicated, so this should be pretty easy to follow. First, every team’s offseason additions are averaged to a single-star rating. For example, if you brought in four five-stars and one four-star, your average star rating would be 4.8. That number is then multiplied by the median number of recruits (12.5).
Teams are then given points for each recruit that landed in the top 75 or transfer that landed in the top 25. Lastly, teams lose points based on how many open scholarships they still have. Then that number is scaled to 100 to be represented as a grade.
This way new teams (who have many holes to fill) are not given ridiculously high scores compared to teams that have fewer needs.
Now, let’s get into the Top 10.
| Rank | Team | Grade |
| 1 | Kentucky | 92.67 |
| 2 | Auburn | 90.29 |
| 3 | Texas | 87.78 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | 83.22 |
| 5 | Florida State | 77.33 |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 76.67 |
| 7 | Michigan State | 74.00 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 73.89 |
| 9 | Illinois | 73.67 |
| 10 | Alabama | 72.44 |
There are a few things worth noting on this list. The reigning champs stay at the top according to this metric, while newcomers Texas A&M and Michigan State both find themselves on the list. Also, Florida State is the only ACC team to make the top 10. In comparison, the other conferences are represented three times each on this list.
Congrats to all who made the Top 10 offseasons and best of luck to all 26 teams heading into Season 20!
