How are college football’s hottest hot-seat coaches doing on the recruiting trail?

So much has changed in the college football recruiting realm over the past few years. First, there was name, image and likeness. Then the transfer portal became prominent. Then came revenue sharing. Now, classes are mostly built in June and July, and the early signing period lacks its typical drama.One thing has held true over the years: Uncertainty kills on the recruiting trail. It’s always been difficult to convince enough talented players to sign with a program when there’s doubt about a head coach’s long-term future.Plenty of coaches face this dilemma during the 2027 recruiting cycle, which has hit full speed as official visits are conducted throughout June. With that in mind, let’s examine where these programs and coaches stand in the recruiting landscape. Hint: They’re not really bucking the trend.Note: All rankings/commitments are from the 247Sports Composite as of 7 p.m. ET on June 10. The programs are listed in alphabetical order.BaylorRanking: 62nd nationally

Commitments: EightDave Aranda was pretty fortunate to survive the hot seat chatter after a 5-7 campaign in 2025. Aranda will always have the 2021 Big 12 championship and Sugar Bowl victory on his resume, but he’s posted four losing records in six seasons as the Bears’ head coach. So there’s a ton of pressure on Aranda to produce a solid season this year.When Aranda was on stable footing, Baylor’s recruiting classes hovered around the mid-30s to low-40s in the team rankings. The last three recruiting cycles have produced the 63rd (2024), the 37th (2025) and 57th (2026) ranked classes in the country.This year’s class seems like it’ll fall in line with those 2024 and 2026 groups. The Bears have picked up two commitments since official visits started during the last weekend of May. Both players sit outside the top 1,000 of the overall player rankings.Baylor did land some intriguing additions through the transfer portal, like quarterback DJ Lagway (Florida) and defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler (Indiana), but it’s tough to build a solid foundation when the recruiting classes hover around the 60s. The lack of talent is apparent on defense, where the Bears haven’t finished better than 54th in yards per play allowed since winning the league in 2021. They’ve finished no better than 67th in scoring defense in that span, too.The Bears are fortunate to have six Big 12 programs directly behind them in the team rankings, but most of those schools have a better chance of generating on-field momentum to provide a spark. None has a coach under as much scrutiny as Aranda, either.Florida StateRanking: 51st