Who's the riser and faller of Class of 2020? Who's the Big Ten's dark horse? (2024)

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Today, we’re re-ranking the highest-rated classes of the 2020 recruiting cycle and previewing a Big Ten crowded with new faces.

Re-ranking Class of 2020

Biggest riser and faller

The Athletic’s Max Olson re-ranked the highest-rated recruiting classes in the Class of 2020. According to the 247Sports Composite, here’s what the initial rankings looked like:

Georgia
Alabama
Clemson
LSU
Ohio State

In Max’s revisited rankings, 11 classes that did not finish in the initial top 25 jumped into the picture. That means 11 classes that were ranked fell out of the revised list. Georgia stayed on top, and three of the top five actually stayed put. Here’s a look at the biggest risers and fallers.

📈 Biggest riser, Western Kentucky: The Hilltoppers finished with the 84th-ranked class in 2020 and jumped to a top 15 evaluation in Max’s re-rank. Loaded with gems, including WR Malachi Corley (who just became a third-round draft pick) and All-Conference USA performers LB JaQues Evans and WR Mitchell Tinsley, this class helped WKU play for a conference title in 2021. Honorable mentions in this category include Missouri (No. 51 to No. 5), Tulane (No. 70 to No. 11), Duke (No.63 to No. 19) and Kansas (No. 56 to No. 25)

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What’s New in Big Ten?

New coaches here, there, everywhere

The Big Ten will welcome six new head coaches in 2024, the highest total of any Power 4 conference. Nine new coordinators will join Big Ten staffs. Here’s a closer look at the six new bosses.

Curt Cignetti at Indiana: The Hoosiers are hungry for success after firing Tom Allen — who left with a 33-49 record (18-43 in conference play) in seven seasons. Cignetti should inspire confidence. He led James Madison to two winning seasons (8-3 in 2022, 11-1 in 2023) in the program’s first two seasons in the FBS. It seems like the 62-year-old can win anywhere. He’s about to get another chance to prove it.
Sherrone Moore at Michigan: The reigning national champion Wolverines didn’t have to look far to replace Jim Harbaugh. Moore jumps into the lead role after six seasons on the Wolverines’ staff. Of course, we already have seen a sneak peek of Moore when he took over as the acting head coach for four games in 2023 — including wins against Penn State and Maryland — in his first time taking on a head coaching role.
Jonathan Smith at Michigan State: The Spartans filled a nearly two-month head coach vacancy with Smith from Oregon State. The 45-year-old Smith finished his six seasons with the Beavers with three consecutive winning campaigns and two Top 25 finishes. Among the notable transfers Smith rallied to East Lansing is former four-star Oregon State QB Aidan Chiles.
Jedd Fisch at Washington: Fisch turned a 1-11 Arizona program into a 10-3 team in his three years with the Wildcats. His resume is scattered with assistant experience at both the NFL and college levels. He showed his program-building skills in Tucson, now he’ll have to keep the ball rolling for a program that just finished as the national runner-up.
DeShaun Foster at UCLA (yes, UCLA is in the Big Ten!): With former head coach Chip Kelly now the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, the Bruins looked inward for their replacement. Foster is a UCLA Hall of Famer for his career playing running back from 1998-2001. He spent the past seven seasons as the running backs coach with the program and will now lead his alma mater through a transition to a new conference.
David Braun at Northwestern: What a year it has been for Braun. In his first season in Evanston, Braun took over as interim head coach after Pat Fitzgerald was fired amid hazing allegations. For a program that looked like it was going to need plenty of time to recover, Braun crafted an 8-5 season and broke a 14-game road losing streak with a 24-10 win at Wisconsin. He became the first Northwestern head coach to lead a team to a bowl in his opening season.

After six seasons as a Michigan assistant coach, Sherrone Moore was promoted to head coach this offseason. (Jaime Crawford / Getty Images)

Question of the Day

A Big Ten dark horse?

At last, it’s time for another Until Saturday vote.

Which program is this year’s Big Ten dark horse? Vote here or send your answer to UntilSaturday@TheAthletic.com. Per betting odds, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State and Michigan are the favorites to win the conference in 2024, therefore those programs are excluded from the voting selection.

Other dark horse polls: ACC (newsletter, podcast), Big 12 (newsletter, podcast), SEC (newsletter, podcast).

Quick Snaps

What might TV programming look like for the first three weeks of the college football season? Stewart Mandel and Scott Dochterman predict the lineup.

Official visits are set to begin this weekend. Manny Navarro checks in with the 14 top-100 players in the state of Florida — both committed and uncommitted — to preview what kind of movement we might see on the recruiting trail this summer.

ICYMI: Last week, the NCAA, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC voted to allow schools to pay their athletes. Massive change? Definitely. But Stewart Mandel details all of the predicted ramifications that WON’T come to fruition.

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

(Top photo of Malachi Corley: Darryl Oumi / Getty Images)

Jayna Bardahl is a college football staff editor for The Athletic. She has worked as an editor and reporter covering Big Ten football and men's basketball, and was an intern at The Boston Globe, where she covered the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots. Follow Jayna on Twitter @Jaynabardahl