20 years of VT recruiting

The class of 2024 marks 20 years of 'good' (aka mostly complete) recruiting rankings from 247. It's also Pry's second complete class, coming after Tech's first winning season in 4 years, so I thought it would be fun to do take a look at how VT has been trending lately. Last time I did one of these was a year and a half ago (I think?). Also did one a couple years prior to that.

ANYWAYS, one tool I really like to help visual recruiting year over year is a box plot:

But it's also interesting to visualize as a 'heat map' (for lack of a better term):

My big takeaway is that Pry is undoubtedly improving recruiting:

• Pry is really raising the recruiting floor - the worst recruit in Pry's 2024 class is better than the median recruit in two-thirds of Fuente's 6 classes.
• The 2024 class has the highest rated median and average player in VT history
• Thankfully, Pry's classes include zero unranked players
• Pry still yet to get a player above the .95 threshold (a 'high 4-star) - We need these players to win the ACC. They can come from the portal or high school, but we need to start landing those guys.

Other notes, thoughts, and callouts:

• Damn, Fuente's last few classes really were bleak.
• Beamer's classes had high highs and low lows - I attribute this mostly to (a) the lack of accuracy in recruiting services (relative to today) and (b) that staff's ability to scout and identify talent.
• Transfers are included in these numbers, but I used their transfer rating (not their high school rating)
• Unrated players could be guys from COVID who didn't get ranking because they couldn't camp, or special teams players, or PWOs. Regardless, it's preferable not to have those in your class. Unrated players are excluded from the minimums, but none of the other calculations.

Enjoy, and discuss!