Recruiting class rankings have an expiration date for certain applications. Some hit theirs sooner than others.
On occasion, classes can get big retrospective upgrades. Florida’s 2016 class immediately comes to mind, as it was No. 12 nationally but had 11 of 25 players drafted (all but one out of Florida) with its lowest-rated player a Heisman finalist in 2020.
More often, classes get downgraded over time as some members of them simply don’t pan out or otherwise run into issues. A still somewhat under-the-radar example is UF’s 2019 class, which saw four of its 25 players fail to qualify or otherwise get into school right off the bat.