It’s only June, so it’s not time to overreact to anything across the college football recruiting landscape. At the same time, it’s June and a lot of programs have already done the heavy lifting for their 2027 classes.Around this time of year, we tend to see some anomalies. A program will unexpectedly have a top-25 class because it’s loaded up on commitments. Another one will be ranked low because it hasn’t stretched its legs yet.So today, we’ll try to make sense of the biggest surprises of the 2027 recruiting cycle — so far.Note: All rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.Alabama’s unusually low recruiting rankingThe Crimson Tide currently rank 68th nationally. You have to look twice to make sure your eyes aren’t deceiving you.Alabama has just eight commitments, and coach Kalen DeBoer told reporters at SEC spring meetings last month that it won’t sign a large class this cycle. The Crimson Tide finished with the No. 2 class in the 2026 cycle (27 commitments) and the No. 3 class in the 2025 cycle (21 commitments).“I think it’ll be much less than what we’ve had the last two seasons,” DeBoer said, “but a lot of that is because we have retained well, brought in a group of transfers and don’t have many seniors.”So it’s somewhat understandable why the Crimson Tide’s class is ranked so low. But this is Alabama, and expectations and standards, particularly on the recruiting trail, are high. There will be fans who aren’t pleased with an 89.66 average player rating (down from 91.94 in 2026 and 93.42 in 2025) or the fact that this class consists of more three-stars than blue-chip prospects at the moment.At another media availability this week, DeBoer insinuated Alabama has some silent commitments that haven’t publicly announced their pledges yet.DeBoer has largely quieted the concerns about his ability to recruit in the SEC, but we’ll have to see what he does to add to the 2027 class over the next week and then leading up to signing day.Why Indiana is the No. 1 team headed into the 2026 seasonStewart MandelA reenergized West CoastThings are looking up out west.Entering the weekend, there are five West Coast programs ranked in the top 25. Oregon ranks seventh and is recruiting at a level consistent with how it’s always operated under Dan Lanning.Under general manager Chad Bowden, USC ratcheted up its recruiting intensity last cycle and finished with the No. 1 class in the country. The Trojans are now one of the most aggressive programs in the nation when it comes to the rev-share/NIL space, and they’ve really focused on locking down Southern California’s best prospects.Jedd Fisch has found his footing at Washington after taking the job late in the coaching carousel in January 2024. The Huskies inked a top-15 class last cycle and are ranked 23rd right now.UCLA and Cal, led by two new head coaches, have reasserted themselves after falling asleep at the recruiting wheel for basically the past decade.It’s been fair to question the commitment at both schools as the landscape has changed, but both programs are operating with urgency and acting as though football is important.Bob Chesney hasn’t coached a game for the Bruins yet, but he’s provided a jolt of energy and has generated some Pete Carroll comparisons as a result. UCLA has 22 commits, 11 from blue-chip prospects, and its class is ranked ninth nationally.The Bruins are spending more on their roster, and so is Cal, which, like UCLA, had a positive portal season and is making noise on the trail under Tosh Lupoi. The Golden Bears haven’t signed a top-25 class in 15 years, but have been one of the most active programs in the country since the end of May. Cal has picked up commitments from five blue-chip prospects in that span and is ranked 20th nationally.It’s all made the West Coast much more interesting from a recruiting perspective.Texas Tech’s next stepYes, we know: The Red Raiders spend a lot of money on their roster. From a talent acquisition standpoint, that aggressiveness has usually been reserved for the transfer portal — where the program has done a really good job elevating its talent level — and with a few select recruits.Offensive lineman Felix Ojo, a top-50 prospect, was the headliner of the Red Raiders’ 2026 class, which ranked 18th nationally (highest in program history). Texas Tech is poised to take another step this cycle.The Red Raiders hold a pledge from the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, defensive lineman Jalen Brewster. The Cedar Hill, Texas, native did take a visit to Florida this past weekend, and it will take a fight for Texas Tech to keep him in its class, but the Red Raiders have done a lot of work outside of Brewster as well.Texas Tech has commitments from seven top-100 prospects and leads the nation with an average player rating of 93.848. The Red Raiders’ class ranks sixth nationally, well on its way to blowing past last year’s No. 18 ranking.Texas Tech now has a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff appearance to tout. While some might be surprised to see this program in the top 10 of the recruiting rankings, this sort of leap always felt like the logical next step.Matt Campbell’s first recruiting impression at Penn StateJames Franklin’s time at Penn State ran its course, and he was dismissed midway through the 2025 season. Campbell was hired, in part, to help the program reach the next level.It would be understandable if there’s some angst about recruiting. Campbell was previously at Iowa State and never truly had to get involved in the cut-throat recruiting battles that programs at the top end of the Big Ten or in the SEC usually engage in.Yes, he has access to a different caliber of player at Penn State, but Campbell still has to show he can land that sort of prospect. Right now, Penn State has the 21st-ranked class in the country.The Nittany Lions’ average player rating is 89.41. Franklin typically hovered around the top 15 of the rankings during his tenure, and the average player rating of his last four classes was 90.07 (2025), 90.59 (2024), 91.14 (2023) and 91.02 (2022). So, Campbell has some catching up to do on both fronts. The Nittany Lions just lost four-star receiver commit Jamir Dean to Georgia and could be on the short end of some other recruiting fights.Franklin’s class at Virginia Tech has more blue-chip prospects (13) than Penn State does right now (seven). The Hokies are also ahead of the Nittany Lions in the team rankings at 17th.Talent was never the issue for Franklin, though. Campbell is much more of the recruit-and-develop mold. So the potential route to success might look different for Campbell than it did during the height of Franklin’s tenure.It’s easy to say Penn State needs to raise its average player rating, but Indiana just won a national championship after signing just two blue-chip prospects over a two-year span. Curt Cignetti’s program is an extreme outlier, but Campbell overachieved at Iowa State with lower-ranked classes, too.So we’ll have to see if Campbell can add more blue-chip talent to this class or if he’ll try to follow a method closer to the one he utilized at Iowa State.