In USA TODAY’s ranking of the top Power Five schools in college football recruiting budgets, the Aggies finished among the top spenders over the last six years.
In the landscape of college football, you’ll only be as good as the talent on the field. The most innovative coaches and high-end facilities will only take you so far, as it’s the players on the field that truly move the needle. If you want the best recruits, you better be prepared to invest, or so the saying goes.
USA TODAY Sports recently put that belief to the test, as they ranked each Power Five school by the amount of money they’ve invested in their recruiting efforts since 2017. While this list excluded some private schools in their data, you don’t need to be an expert to properly guess who rounds out at the top.
Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee ranked as the top three schools in recruiting spending and were the only three programs to allocate over $10 million in total to their efforts. Not far below was Texas A&M, who ranked fifth with roughly $9.4 million total dedicated to recruiting spending in the last six years.
That gives the SEC a total of four schools in the top 10 in recruiting spending in the last few years, and once Texas joins the conference in 2024, it will equate to half of those programs hailing from one conference alone. Interestingly enough, Ohio State did not crack the top 10 despite all their success in recruiting. The Buckeyes spent less than the likes of Florida, Oregon, LSU, Auburn, and even Rutgers.
Truth be told, it’s not a shock that the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide are among the Power Five’s leaders in spending. After all, these are two programs that are regularly in the College Football Playoff conversation and are seemingly annual contenders for the national championship.
The school that will continue to draw conversation among this list, of course, is the Maroon and White.
The 2021 recruiting cycle played a major factor in A&M’s ranking in the top five schools in spending after the Aggies dedicated $691,591 to help land the best recruiting class. Of course, like in any business decision, you need to see the return on that investment and last year’s 5-7 regular season campaign was underwhelming nonetheless.
Couple last year’s performance with the amount of money being paid to Jimbo Fisher, and you get an equal amount of media coverage focused on the Aggies’ financials as their play on the gridiron.
But last year’s struggles could prove to be this year’s triumphs, as another year of experience for that top recruiting class should amount to a promising 2023 season for the Aggies. It pays to have the best talent on the field, and the truth of the matter is that this A&M roster is much too talented to put together back-to-back disappointing seasons.
As the saying goes, you need to spend money to make money. Or in the case of these Power Five schools, you need to spend money to get wins. This list only shows that the Aggies are committed to recruiting top talent in order to translate to success on the field.
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