So I just saw the 2026 recruiting class rankings and everyone is losing their minds over Oregon's five 5-stars and Texas stacking blue-chippers and Notre Dame sitting at #4 nationally with 18 top-300 prospects. Fine. Great for them. But here is the thing nobody at our level wants to admit: those rankings are almost meaningless for programs like Capital Crusaders because the methodology weights star ratings in a way that punishes depth and development lol. Look at the actual data. The OAC has produced multiple NFL Draft picks over the last three cycles from kids who were rated 2-star or unranked coming out of high school. Our 2022 class graded out as the 8th best in the conference by 247Sports composite and four of those guys are on NFL rosters right now. That is a higher hit rate than half the MAC schools who out-recruited us on paper. The star system does not measure coaching staff's ability to identify traits over polish or scheme fit over athletic testing numbers. What matters for Capital Crusaders this year is that we signed 22 kids and 17 of them are still committed after the early signing period. That retention rate at 77% is elite for our level of program. Meanwhile some of those top-25 classes have already seen 8-10 decommitments since December. Give me a locked-in class that fits our defensive scheme over a flashy list of names any day. The 2026 rankings will look completely different by August anyway.