It's over recruit most position groups and let the cream rise to the top. You bring in 18 players for 14 spots. The last 2-3 are walkons the coaches like and could have justified scholarships in some years. Attrition and competition then knocks out the bottom 4 and a scholarship frees up for the stud walk on who is a player worthy of a scholarship.

A lot of recruiting is a guessing game. Which players will project to the next level? You don't really know who will stay healthy and who has the work ethic to develop. You also don't know which players have the frame to get into their ideal position. Then there are some that are complete recruiting whiffs with talent, grades, or honor code.

The actual point of my post was to show that the recruiting class averages aren't necessarily indicative of how talented the roster actually is. Sometime the walk ons and "under the radar" are way better than the rankings and then you have transfers who often become difference makers. A lot of the best talents on the roster came via transfers or post-mission sways.