The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's 15-member recruiting class has been picked tops in the Southern Conference and top 10 in the nation by various online publications.
SouthernPigskin.com had the Mocs' 2016 haul as the best in the league. HeroSports.com agreed with that assessment and put the Chattanooga at No. 7 overall in the FCS.
"The Chattanooga Mocs topped our Southern Pigskin SoCon Recruiting rankings … largely on the legs of a major haul along the defensive front," wrote Jim Johnson on SouthernPigskin.com.
"Coach Huesman and company have obviously been putting in major work in a concerted effort to improve arguably their thinnest position group from 2015."
This is the third year in a row UTC has had the top class in the league. It is also the seventh time in eight classes Russ Huesman and his staff have brought in a top-10 class.
"Quality, quality, quality. That's the key word here," wrote Brian McLaughlin on HeroSports.com. While other schools have more recruits on board, the 9-win Mocs packed the quality into this class."
Previous Classes at UTC
2009 – No. 9 – Rivals.com
2010 - No. 8 – Rivals.com
2011 – No. 10 – Rivals.com
2012 – NR
2013 – No. 5 – 247Sports.com
2014 – No. 1 – 247Sports.com
2015 – No. 2 – 247Sports.com
2016 – No. 7 – HeroSports.com