It is worse than the unreliability of the star rankings, the issue is they only use the score derived from averaging other entities assessment, That is all well and good, except the other entities don’t rank that many athletes , so their team ranking methodology ignores them.
For example Montana State has 23 commits, 14 three star, but none of them have a composite ranking, so Montana State gets zero points and ranks 202. Absurd.
https://247sports.com/college/montana-state/season/2025-football/commits/

Perfect for Sac, a QB who changed teams every year. He and the coach can be a package deal.

That would take more expertise than i have.
But you can’t rate teams based on a metric that has so few qualifying players. For example they give Montana no points, although they have 17 commits and a player 247 rates at 87. Montana State also has 0 points with 23 commits. I don’t believe Montana State or Montana had bad recruiting years
Sticking with the Big Sky, Sacramento is clearly the best recruits, Davis is probably second, better than NAU because of the higher ratings of players by 247sports themselves that don’t have composite scores, and Davis’ much more numerous and better transfers.

The recruit class rankings were a puzzle to me, and I have figured why they are so nonsensical.
247 sports has two rankings for players, their own, and something they call composite. The 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.This may work at the top level, but most of the players recruited at the FCS level do not have a composite rating,
So that is why Davis, which is credited with 16 three star HS recruits, is said to have only three in the team rankings.
The only HS recruits contributing to the score are: Drew Cofield, Tyler Parker, Christian Knoos
Ridiculous.

That is a big piece of news regarding retaining Nava and Simonson, they aren’t listed on the roster.

The last couple of years we’ve had late transfers,
I think the defensive line is going to be fine . We have both heavy nose guard types and some rush guys. Won’t be as big as Toki and Maae, but some big mobile guys. We return some of our better pass rushers.

I think offensive line is the biggest void in the recruit class
They lose both starting tackles, a sometimes starter at guard, have another guard with a knee injuy, and bring in one guy.

The 247sports rankings make no sense.
According to them on HS commitments we have 17 3 star commits , with one 3 star being a walkon; Davis then add nine transfers, including two FBS DBs, one FCS DB from a playoff team, and a D3 all american DB, two all Ivy DT, a linebacker from Cal.

NAU has ten 3 stars, none of which are ranked better than Davis’ top recruits, and NAU is credited with one two star IOL transfer,

What are you looking at in regards to NAU?
247 seems pretty average.

https://247sports.com/college/northern-arizona/season/2025-football/commits/

Even sweeter that JJ Craven backed out of a commitment to Idaho, where he js still listed on 247. He was one of their top recruits, but de-committed at end of December. 247 still lists him with the Vandals, so our class ranking by them underrates our class.

Class good for the reasons of number of recruits, recruit ratings, other schools competing for these players, and needs addressed.
It is about twice the size of a typical class here.
It has somewhere around 16 three star recruits, most had other D1 offers some including FBS offers
Transfers address a need, because we only had 2 starters returning on defense. Now we have two All Ivy defensive linemen, along with a JC player, a transfer linebacker from Cal who saw action there, and a selection of DBs with experience at various levels from FBS major conference to FCS playoff teams, to Div 3.

I believe Chaparral High in Temecula. Attended by OL Souriolle, DL Jake Williams, and attended for a few years by WR Dobbins.

Where did soccer land? The WCC would be an option.

If they wait until they have built the following that Montana and North Dakota State have they will wait forever. FCS foootball is the biggest thing in those states, no major college football or NFL.
Hypothetical scenario is Sac moves up and plays a weak FBS conference with no shot at a bowl game anyone has heard of, would they get more coverage than a top 10 FCS UC Davis? Unfortunately I suspect they would.
Last year Sagarin rankings had UC Davis ranked 91, better than any team continuing in that conference other than UNLV. They’ll move up if the money makes sense.

Four West Coast teams join a conference with 14 teams in another time zone, and they complain about travel?
But as far as east and west of the Mississippi is concerned Iowa and Nebraska are west of the Mississippi. Minnesota is on the west bank of the Mississippi, so there are 11 campuses east of the Mississippi and 7 west.

Looks like this is the best recruiting class ever, based on quantity, ratings and competitive offers. Anyone have an opinion that it is not? The only apparent need that isn’t addressed is offensive line.

Nava is one of the players who played at a non NCAA program (JC) and there is a recent rule granting all players in that category a fifth year if their eligibility otherwise expired in 2024 season. He played four years straight.

Judging from the Spring roster, Eli Simonson has found something else to do after starting every game for Davis at left tackle for the last two years.
Only four guys have played significantly, Rodriguez, Souriolle, Collier, Main, both tackles no longer here. Main will be coming off an knee injury.
The rest are mostly underclassmen who have made few short appearances.
Only one OL recruit, the Cleeland brother who had walked on at Washington but hasn’t seen action.

Impressive that they could fill needs so well. In his interview Plough explained they realized they needed to get Defensive Linemen and DBs and they did. Their approach seems to be as Plough described to put the main recruiting effort on high school, but fill out the roster with transfers, so they aren’t dependent on freshmen.

3 ?
Maybe but depends who you count. Last year we had a linebacker and DB from Cal, and OL from San Diego State, a punter from Cincinnati, a DB from Iowa,, a wide receiver from Boise.