I've tried spacing out classes this way, and the pros are obvious, it gives you a good 2-3 years of top knotch guys that have had a lot of playing time.
The negative side of it - and the reason I stopped doing it - is being stuck with those big classes (especially when going big-small-big-small like you mentioned) it sets you up in a position during recruiting to HAVE to sign 4-5 OL for example. If you happen to be in that particular year and it's a bad OL class, or for whatever reason you can't pull off that many people in one position (which is VERY possible) you're screwed, because you don't have that next season to fill in those gaps. You have to wait TWO years and hope the same thing doesnt happen again.
Just my two cents from taking over a team in that type of situation. Not fun. Just my personal opinion, but anytime you stick yourself in a position to have to recruit out of desperation instead of looking for the best available players for the best price, you're gonna be in bad shape.