2022 Football Scholarship Offers

I recently stumbled upon this school rankings of the football scholarship offers for the 2022 recruiting class. The 2021 (late) National Signing Day recently passed. So this is a ranking of the scholarships offered so far in the next recruiting cycle. Due to a 2020 college football season seriously altered by a global pandemic many student-athletes were granted extra years of eligibility. That will make for some tricky recruiting decisions over the next couple years. That’s not seen in these scholarship numbers. Many schools are still offering without restraint. 

2022 Scholarship Offers

Rank	Team	2022 Offers
1	Arizona State	357
2	Kansas	346
3	Penn State	324
4	Nebraska	322
5	Tennessee	317
6	Arkansas	314
7	West Virginia	301
8	Michigan State	289
9	Florida State	279
10	Virginia Tech	276
11	Mississippi	266
12	Kentucky	259
13	Georgia Tech	256
14	Pittsburgh	253
14	Michigan	217
16	Miami	215
17	Florida	207
18	Colorado	206
19	Boston College	201
20	Indiana	199
21	Oregon	192
22	Auburn	191
23	Iowa State	189
24	Maryland	188
25	South Carolina	185
26	USC	184
27	LSU	180
28	Mississippi State	175
29	Georgia	169
30	Alabama	165
31	Minnesota	159
31	Texas A&M	159
32	Louisville	157
32	Syracuse	157
35	Virginia	156
36	Baylor	153
37	Arizona	152
38	Notre Dame	150
39	Rutgers	137
40	Oklahoma	133
40	Missouri	133
42	Utah	130
43	Texas	129
44	Duke	126
45	Vanderbilt	122
46	Kansas State	114
47	Oregon State	107
48	Oklahoma State	104
49	Washington State	100
50	Ohio State	93
51	Purdue	89
52	California	86
53	TCU	85
54	North Carolina State	83
55	Texas Tech	82
56	Wake Forest	79
57	North Carolina	75
58	Iowa	67
59	Illinois	65
60	Washington	62
61	Wisconsin	60
62	Stanford	57
63	Clemson	50
64	Northwestern	48
65	UCLA	44

The number of scholarships that some schools offer never ceases to amaze me. Perhaps it’s the idealist in me. I’ve always thought of a young person’s choice of college a very personal decision. Seeing some of these offer numbers, it doesn’t feel like a very personal decision for the school’s coaches. It’s very much a business decision for coaches so the recruits become numbers to them. College football is big business so I suppose the number thing tracks. I get that the schools have to offer more than they need. I just don’t like the idea of the #6 receiver accepting an offer early only to have that offer yanked when the #2 receiver accepts late. So much for that expressed loyalty throughout the decision-making process.

As for this Cal grad, I prefer the modest offer numbers of Justin Wilcox to the ridiculous numbers of Herm Edwards. 

Maybe I just don’t get the realities of the recruiting game. If I was a high school football player being courted by some of these schools, I wouldn’t even consider the top half of the list. I’d like to be considered more than a number on a chart.