In modern college football recruiting, there are typically around 30 players per class who receive a five‑star rating, with recent years ranging from the mid‑20s to the mid‑30s.
What “star recruits” means
Recruiting services (like 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN, On3) give prospects star ratings from 2‑star up to 5‑star, with 5‑star being the most elite and 4‑star also considered “blue‑chip” recruits. Five‑star recruits make up roughly 1% of all new FBS scholarship players each year, which shows how rare they are.
How many five‑stars in a class
Analyses of recent recruiting cycles show:
- Each FBS recruiting class has about 2,500 new scholarship players, but only around 30 are rated as five‑stars.
- Over the last decade or so, the annual number of five‑star recruits has generally fallen between about 26 and 37 per class.
Interpreting the numbers
If “star football recruits” is meant more broadly (including both five‑ and four‑star players), there are roughly 30 five‑stars and about 300 four‑stars in a typical class, or around 330 total “blue‑chip” prospects each year. Over a standard four‑year window, that adds up to roughly 1,300 blue‑chip recruits in college football at any given time.
