Many times we have heard people ask “I wonder how many players stay at a program for four years?” Of course there is no easy answer as every program, coach and player is different. But we were curious as to what the average was and we wonder if there is a significant variance between programs. As you can imagine we could not look at all the programs so we sampled 15 of the more prominent programs right now. These numbers are based on players on roster. Transfers in were not accounted for etc… Simply how many were freshman in year one and how many returned. We looked at the 2014, 2013 and 2012 recruiting classes. So for example let’s look at the 2012 class. Based on our 15 teams 83 players were on the rosters as freshman. Currently 60 players remain on the same team for the 2016 season (roster). That means for that class there was a 27.71% attrition rate. For the 2013 class 73 players were on the roster as freshman and 51 of those remain on the teams rosters leaving an attrition rate of 30.14%. Finally the 2014 class had 91 freshman on the rosters with 73 remaining for a rate of 19.78%.
This is not meant to be an opinion or to provide reasons why, it is just the simple numbers. The average came out to 25.51%. So for the past three classes about 25% of the players do not remain at the school they were recruited to. Also keep in mind this is a small sample size and data is based on published rosters. If a player is missed or may still be at a program please let us know.
Schools used: Florida, Michigan, Auburn, Alabama, Oregon, James Madison, FSU, LLU, Oklahoma, Washington, Arizona, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, and UCLA.
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Michigan | 6 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2013 | Michigan | 4 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2012 | Michigan | 7 | 1 | 14.29% |
| Total | Michigan | 17 | 1 | 5.88% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Alabama | 5 | 1 | 20.00% |
| 2013 | Alabama | 4 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2012 | Alabama | 4 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Total | Alabama | 13 | 1 | 7.69% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | LSU | 6 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2013 | LSU | 6 | 1 | 16.67% |
| 2012 | LSU | 5 | 1 | 20.00% |
| Total | LSU | 17 | 2 | 11.76% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | UCLA | 6 | 1 | 16.67% |
| 2013 | UCLA | 4 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2012 | UCLA | 6 | 1 | 16.67% |
| Total | UCLA | 16 | 2 | 12.50% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Auburn | 6 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2013 | Auburn | 6 | 1 | 16.67% |
| 2012 | Auburn | 9 | 2 | 22.22% |
| Total | Auburn | 21 | 3 | 14.29% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | LLU | 9 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2013 | LLU | 8 | 2 | 25.00% |
| 2012 | LLU | 8 | 2 | 25.00% |
| Total | LLU | 25 | 4 | 16.00% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Florida | 6 | 2 | 33.33% |
| 2013 | Florida | 4 | 1 | 25.00% |
| 2012 | Florida | 6 | 1 | 16.67% |
| Total | Florida | 16 | 4 | 25.00% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Arizona | 2 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2013 | Arizona | 4 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2012 | Arizona | 6 | 3 | 50.00% |
| Total | Arizona | 12 | 3 | 25.00% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Washington | 7 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2013 | Washington | 2 | 1 | 50.00% |
| 2012 | Washington | 5 | 3 | 60.00% |
| Total | Washington | 14 | 4 | 28.57% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Florida State | 9 | 2 | 22.22% |
| 2013 | Florida State | 7 | 3 | 42.86% |
| 2012 | Florida State | 0 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Total | Florida State | 16 | 5 | 31.25% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Oklahoma | 5 | 1 | 20.00% |
| 2013 | Oklahoma | 1 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2012 | Oklahoma | 6 | 3 | 50.00% |
| Total | Oklahoma | 12 | 4 | 33.33% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Oregon | 4 | 1 | 25.00% |
| 2013 | Oregon | 4 | 2 | 50.00% |
| 2012 | Oregon | 3 | 1 | 33.33% |
| Total | Oregon | 11 | 4 | 36.36% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | James Madison | 9 | 2 | 22.22% |
| 2013 | James Madison | 11 | 7 | 63.64% |
| 2012 | James Madison | 3 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Total | James Madison | 23 | 9 | 39.13% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Georgia | 7 | 5 | 71.43% |
| 2013 | Georgia | 3 | 1 | 33.33% |
| 2012 | Georgia | 7 | 2 | 28.57% |
| Total | Georgia | 17 | 8 | 47.06% |
| Class | School | Freshman | Players who Left | Attrition Rate |
| 2014 | Tennessee | 6 | 3 | 50.00% |
| 2013 | Tennessee | 5 | 3 | 60.00% |
| 2012 | Tennessee | 6 | 3 | 50.00% |
| Total | Tennessee | 17 | 9 | 52.94% |
