2012 Big Ten Recruiting Class Rankings: The Inaugural Comment Count

Tim

Now that Michigan has a solid number of early commitments, this won't be a depressing exercise. Since most recruiting sites don't have full rankings out yet, this will be a bit... incomplete.

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
Rank School # Commits Rivals Avg Scout Avg ESPN Avg
1 Ohio State 5 - 4.20 -
2 Notre Dame 5 - 3.40 -
3 Penn State 6 - 3.17 -
4 Michigan 4 - 3.50 -
5 Wisconsin 2 - 3.50 -
6 Northwestern 2 - 3.00 -
7 Minnesota 4 - 1.50 -
8 Nebraska 1 - 3.00 -
t-9 Iowa 1 - 1.00 -
t-9 Illinois 1 - 1.00 -
t-9 Purdue 1 - 1.00 -
t-12 Michigan State 0 - - -
t-12 Indiana 0 - - -

As I said, it looks pretty incomplete. I'm considering switching all rankings to 5-star scale, instead of using the RR ratings for rivals, and the numeric ratings for ESPN (which I did last year). I also might add 24/7 Sports' rankings to the chart.

#1 Ohio State - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Bri'onte Dunn RB OH NR 5 NR
Kyle Kalis OL OH NR 5 NR
Warren Ball RB OH NR 4 NR
Joshua Perry LB OH NR 4 NR
Jacoby Boren OL OH NR 3 NR

The greatest number of commits, and the only team with multiple 5-stars.

#2 Notre Dame - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Ronald Darby CB MD NR 4 NR
Tee Shepard CB CA NR 4 NR
Nick Baratti S TX NR 4 NR
Taylor Decker OL OH NR 4 NR
Scott Daly LS IL NR NR NR

Irish had a pretty big weekend with a couple commits.

#3 Penn State - 6 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Jarron Jones DT NY NR 5 NR
Camren Williams LB MA NR 4 NR
Anthony Stanko OL OH NR 3 NR
Brent Wilkerson DE MD NR 3 NR
Jamil Pollard DT NJ NR 3 NR
Jesse James TE PA NR NR NR

Nittany Lions start strong after having a poor beginning to the 2011 recruiting class. Jarron Jones is listed as a soft commit.

#4 Michigan - 4 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Royce Jenkins-Stone LB MI NR 4 NR
Kaleb Ringer LB OH NR 4 NR
Caleb Stacey OL OH NR 3 NR
Ben Braden OL MI NR 3 NR

A pair of linemen and a pair of linebackers for Brady Hoke's first full class.

#5 Wisconsin - 2 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Dan Voltz OL IL NR 4 NR
Vonte Jackson RB WI NR 3 NR

Badgers have an excellent offensive lineman and a nondescript runner to start the class of 2012.

#6 Northwestern - 2 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Malin Jones RB IL NR 3 NR
Kenton Playko OL OH NR 3 NR

A couple commits for Northwestern.

#7 Minnesota - 4 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Philip Nelson QB MN NR 3 NR
Nick Rallis LB MN NR 3 NR
Andre McDonald WR MN NR NR NR
Maxx Williams TE MN NR NR NR

I'll be the first to admit I may be underrating the Gophers' class to date. We'll see what happens when some of the other sites have rated their prospects.

#8 Nebraska - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Michael Rose LB MO NR 3 NR

Ho-hum to start the class for the Huskers.

#9 Iowa - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Mitchell Keppy OL IL NR NR NR

An offensive lineman kicks off Iowa's class.

#9 Illinois - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Elliot Faerber WR KS NR NR NR

Unrated WR starts Illinois's class.

#9 Purdue - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN
Jordan Shine S IN NR NR NR

In-state commit for the Boilers.

Indiana and Michigan State are tied for last with 0 commits.

Comments

jaggs

April 17th, 2011 at 9:37 PM ^

has most commits not OSU. I like the move to the have star rankings, would it possible to have say 4+ for a guy in top 100 or so just to seperate the huge amount of players a bit? 

1974

April 17th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^

Hoke is off to a good start.

In other news, I miss the days when OSU didn't have that state locked down as much as they do now.

Anyone notice the Boren on their list?

jshclhn

April 17th, 2011 at 9:41 PM ^

Oh great - we get to hear about another Boren for the next 5 years.

(Not exactly new information, since he committed in December - it's new information to me though).

 

Bluestreak

April 17th, 2011 at 9:50 PM ^

How does ND get such talent year after year

 

.... and manage to waste it year after year.

 

They have to be the most underacheiving team of all time.

/monday morning rant

Rockne

April 17th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^

Yes, and more teams are doing this rather than look for a walkon or another scholarship player to do it.  USC took one last year and so did Ohio State (Bryce Haynes, ND recruited him as well).  Unfortunately, ND will have two long snappers on scholarship Daly's freshman year, which definitely is excessive.

Rockne

April 17th, 2011 at 10:17 PM ^

If the star avg is a factor in your rankings then it seems foolish to factor in kickers, punters, and long snappers b/c they are going to negatively skew the average downwards.  A team shouldn't be "punished" for trying to improve its special teams by taking one of these players.

wlubd

April 17th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^

I wouldn't get too worked up about it, I'm pretty sure Tim just uses star average as a baseline and considers other factors when doing his ranking. That and you know, in the grand scheme of things this ranking is completely irrelevant in determining the outcomes of games and losing sleep over it is a pointless endeavour.

bronxblue

April 17th, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^

Notre Dame has always pulled in talent, yet they fail to really utilize it consistently.  I think Kelly is a good coach, but I'll worry about ND when they consistently perform on the field.  Also, it seems like ND recruits tend to be a little overrated nationally, at least in my experience. 

Logan88

April 18th, 2011 at 8:43 AM ^

ND: Only irrelevant program in the country that can consistently recruit like a Top 10 program.

Seriously, ND hasn't mattered since Holtz left, yet they are still able to bamboozle elite kids into playing for that sh*tty program year after year. How do they do it?  Threaten them with excommunication?

Note: I think Kelly gives them the best chance since Holtz to become nationally relevant again, but it remains to be seen if 1) he can actually do it at a "big time" program (I think he can) and 2) if he can manage to avoid doing/saying something so stupid that ND has no choice but to can his ass (less likely).

BlueDragon

April 19th, 2011 at 4:19 PM ^

Collins didn't do his job, and the kid died.
"The Investigation found that Declan checked the weather before practice via weather.gov and, from that webpage, accessed the text of the wind warning. The warning indicated the possibility of gusts of up to 60 mph. Klunder, Collins, and Russ did not recall seeing the wind warning when they checked the weather before practice nor accessing the details of that warning"
His job was to ensure safety, he didn't. That's one of the big reasons ND got slapped by the limited hand of IOSHA. Collins didn't do his job...

JimTreezy

April 18th, 2011 at 10:38 AM ^

Have you seen Clemson's recruiting classes?  They're getting pretty good.  Last year on rivals they were #8.  They have talent there.

Have you seen Clemson's results?  They've win ~7-9 games a year.



Florida State's last 4 recruiting classes have been top 10.  Last 5 years they've have 3 7-6 seasons, a 9-4 and a 10-4.  With the kind of talent they have, they should have been in contention for the national title every year.

Notre Dame has the potential to be a great team as soon as next year.

Rockne

April 18th, 2011 at 7:59 PM ^

Your first point depends on your definition of relevant.

Aside from ND's tradition and history + academics and community that draws recruits, ND's recruiting track record over the last 10 years is a little more nuanced:

Davie was able to recruit because the success Holtz had was in the not too distant past.  He also had some excellent recruiters on his staff like Urban Meyer, Greg Mattison, Charlie Strong (for a couple years),  and Steve Addazio.  Davie wasn't a bad recruiter himself.

Willingham had one great class (2003) off the heals of an 8-0 start (plus the hype that came along with it, see SI cover).  His recruiting quickly fell off, the 2004 class was far and away the worst in ND's history and the 2005 class he was putting together wasn't much better before he got canned.  Willingham was an awful recruiter and didn't work very hard at it and the results bear that out.

Weis went to BCS bowls his first two years which he was able to sell,  plus he was personally a very good recruiter and had a lot of hype off his success with the Patriots.  His recruiting wasn't flawless though, in multiple classes he left major holes like the DL in 2006-07, DB in 2009-10, and not taking a QB in 2009.  These misses really hurt him (and Kelly last year).  A few guys on his staff could recruit but he also had a lot of dead weight that really hurt (see Tenuta, John).

Kelly had the hype of his previous success at Cincy, he's a very good recruiter and has a great recruiting staff, he also has a better recruiting plan than Weis ever did and understands how to manage a program, and lastly beating USC and Miami to end the year really helped.

Wolvercane

April 17th, 2011 at 10:43 PM ^

This ranking underestimates Michigans class with this new "silent" commit. I think that Tim should be a tease and add in the mystery player with just his Star rankings. 

Logan88

April 18th, 2011 at 8:49 AM ^

How did MSU get so lucky as to have their "protected rivaly" game be against the perennial bottom feeder Hoosiers? That's a guaranteed conference win every year for Sparty.

Add into that the fact that MSU hasn't played OSU the last two seasons, will be the only Big 10 team that gets to play OSU without the Tat 5 and I can only conclude that St. Mark of EL has made a Faustian deal with the Devil to ensure MSU appears to be a good program.

BlueDragon

April 20th, 2011 at 1:18 PM ^

That's what I've been hearing from local media in the greater Columbus area.  I'll let you know more on Saturday when the spring game will actually be played.

Edit:  Checked 11W, Tat 5 will indeed be held out for MSU 2011.

Nothsa

April 18th, 2011 at 9:03 AM ^

The trophy case seems so empty when the spittoon is lost.

Of course, as an Indiana alum, I know that the football trophy case is in fact largely empty. There is an old oaken bucket in it this year, though. 

vegasjeff

April 18th, 2011 at 1:43 AM ^

It will be interesting to see whether Ohio State's NCAA compliance issues start to dog them on the recruiting trail. The Buckeyes only have room for a small class this year anyway, and Ohio has tons of senior HS talent this year.

With many Ohio four stars unlikely to get OSU offers and with the NCAA sword hanging over the Buckeyes neck, possibly a few of the guys they want can find their way north -- to Maize and Blue.

Is it negative recruiting if it's true?

"You know, young man, you might not be eligible for a bowl game for half your college career."

Logan88

April 18th, 2011 at 8:54 AM ^

I keep reading comments from posters about OSU's "small class" for 2012, yet I believe that they have about the same number of available scholarships as UM will have. I have seen some OSU recruitniks project OSU will have 18-20 scholarships for 2012, which seems to be a decent number and pretty close to what UM projects to have.

Can any of our Buckeye "friends" who peruse the board offer any insight into this matter?

Tim

April 20th, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^

The Buckeyes only have 12 graduating seniors on scholarship. Per the depth chart by class, Michigan has 15 (with  scholarship currently unused, whereas OSU is at 85. I also presume, unlike Brian, that Kovacs's scholarship is year-to-year and he's OK with that, which would mean possibly 2 unused scholarships). 

Also, since OSU is going to skim the top talent and Michigan is going to get the second tier either way in this hypothetical, OSU's scholarship numbers matter to a greater degree than Michigan's (i.e. it's better for Michigan to get Ohio recruits #13-20 than #17-24, ragrdless of how many scholarships Michigan has).

Rabbit21

April 18th, 2011 at 9:18 AM ^

USC's issues didn't and while I know the two situations aren't exact parallel's. The broad brush of power program in a talent rich area where there's a ton of pressure for a top kid to go there remains. Nationally I'd say the road got harder, but OSU and USC own their backyards. Much to the chagrin of Michigan and UCLA fans.

Tim

April 20th, 2011 at 10:16 AM ^

Lane Kiffin has expertly lied to recruits, and told them all that the NCAA will overturn every penalty they've levied on the Trojans. Since the penalties don't apply until the appeals are completed, it helped him land a huge class last year.

Once the NCAA upholds the penalties (which, they'd be absolutely insane not to), USC is going to sink into a very, very deep hole.

slaunius

April 18th, 2011 at 3:28 AM ^

I would stick with the RR rating (apologies for redundancy), so long as you're then normalizing all the ratings back to some consistent baseline. If your goal is to present the most accurate set of ratings (through the collective lens of the recruiting sites), it seems wise to use as much data as possible. That is, if Rivals says Guy X is a 6.1 and Guy Y is a 5.9, that tells you something, and turning them both back into fives ignores the distinction they've provided you.

Tim

April 20th, 2011 at 10:22 AM ^

While I do agree with this sentiment to a degree (better to use as much data as possible), switching to the star system would allow for every recruiting service's ranking to be on the same 1-5 scale. That similarity of scale seems to be a big benefit to me, as you can compare much more easily across services, instead of trying to remember which RR (or numeric value for ESPN or 24/7) corresponds with which star rating.

thisisme08

April 18th, 2011 at 9:38 AM ^

No wonder J. Boren left citing "family values" OSU has given all 3 brothers scholarships (a pseudo-scholarship in the case of Justin).  I know the middle kid played last year but I believe he is a fullback and RR as you know does not believe in them. 

Tim

April 20th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^

This is not really what happened at all. Justin always wanted to go to Ohio State to be with his friends, and Lloyd used Bo to guilt him into coming to Michigan, essentially. Once Bo died and Lloyd left, he didn't feel any obligation to stay (and it didn't hurt that Lloyd told him OSU might be a better fit).

When RR wouldn't let him miss winter conditioning to go home to Columbus and drive a snowplow for his dad's company, that was the final straw. "Family values" was never an actual reason he left, for the most part, just an excuse/parting shot on the way out.

dahblue

April 18th, 2011 at 3:16 PM ^

I hope they enjoyed the three-year abberation.  Without a stud player at Renaissance or Southeastern, it looks like they'll be left chewing on scraps this year.  How sad it must be to come off your best season in years (even though luck & a soft schedule had more to do with their record than talent) and not be able to translate that "success" into a good recruiting class.  Dantonio must be very upset...either that or players from the prison leagues don't come with star rankings.