There have been different measuring sticks used throughout the years in judging college football signing classes.
Four-year productivity is certainly one that has been employed.
Notre Dame’s 1946 class under first-year Irish coach Frank Leahy wound up going 36-0-2, with eventual three-time All-American and 1949 Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart leading that surge. Yet it can be argued that Georgia’s 1980 class headed by running back Herschel Walker and containing tight end Clarence Kay, defensive end Freddie Gilbert and defensive back Terry Hoage had an even larger impact, given that the Bulldogs were a more modest 20-13-1 in the three seasons before its arrival.
Georgia’s 1980 class wound up going 43-4-1 with three Sugar Bowl appearances and one Cotton Bowl trip, winning three Southeastern Conference titles and the 1980 national crown along the way.
Winning multiple national championships is another gauge, with Florida’s 2006 class topped by quarterback Tim Tebow, receiver Percy Harvin and linebacker Brandon Spikes winning two BCS titles in a three-year stretch, and with Alabama’s 2008 class that had running back Mark Ingram, receiver Julio Jones, defensive lineman Marcell Dareus and linebacker Dont’a Hightower providing the foundation for the Nick Saban era that includes BCS titles in 2009, 2011 and 2012, as well as College Football Playoff titles in 2015 and 2017.