Big Ten Recruiting Class Rankings 6-12-11

Submitted by Tim on

A pair of new Wolverines and we're back on the front page. Action since last rankings:

6-6-11 Minnesota gains commitment from Josh Ballesteros. Michigan State gains commitment from Tyler O'Connor.

6-7-11 Northwestern gains commitment from Dean Lowry. Notre Dame gains commitment from David Perkins.

6-9-11 Minnesota gains commitment from Isaac Fruechte.

6-10-11 Michigan gains commitments from Tom Strobel and Erik Magnuson. Northwestern gains commitment from Dan Vitale.

6-11-11 Minnesota gains commitment from Dinero Moss.

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
Rank School # Commits Rivals Avg Scout Avg ESPN Avg 24/7 Avg
1 Michigan 16 2.31 3.56 3.38 3.56
2 Ohio State 8 2.50 3.50 3.25 3.63
3 Penn State 8 2.88 3.25 3.50 3.25
4 Notre Dame 10 2.20 3.50 3.30 3.30
5 Wisconsin 4 3.75 3.75 3.75 4.00
6 Minnesota 6 1.50 2.00 2.60* 2.17
7 Northwestern 6 1.33 2.33 2.33 2.00
8 Michigan State 5 1.00 2.60 2.80 3.20
9 Nebraska 2 1.00 3.00 3.50 2.50
10 Illinois 2 1.00 3.00 2.50 2.00
11 Purdue 1 1.00 1.00 3.00 3.00
12 Iowa 1 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
13 Indiana 0 - - - -

ESPN's initial rankings are finally out, so their numbers in the table above have switched to star averages, rather than 150 Watchlist prospects.

Full data after the jump.

#1 Michigan - 16 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Royce Jenkins-Stone LB MI 4 4 4 4
James Ross LB MI 4 4 4 4
Joe Bolden LB OH 4 4 4 4
Terry Richardson CB MI 4 4 4 4
Erik Magnuson OL CA 4 4 4 4
Tom Strobel DE OH 4 4 3 4
Pharaoh Brown DE OH 4 3 3 4
Devin Funchess TE MI NR 4 4 4
Mario Ojemudia DE MI NR 4 4 3
Kaleb Ringer LB OH NR 4 3 3
Matt Godin DE MI NR 3 3 4
Ben Braden OL MI NR 3 3 3
Anthony Standifer CB IL NR 3 3 3
Caleb Stacey OL OH NR 3 3 3
Allen Gant S OH NR 3 3 3
AJ Williams TE OH NR 3 NR 3

Two bigtime pickups in consensus 4-stars Erik Magnuson and Tom Strobel.

#2 Ohio State - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Bri'onte Dunn RB OH 4 5 4 4
Kyle Kalis OL OH 4 5 4 4
Joshua Perry LB OH 4 4 4 4
Warren Ball RB OH 4 4 3 4
Jacoby Boren OL OH NR 3 3 4
Tyvis Powell S OH NR 3 2 3
Frank Epitropoulos WR OH NR 3 3 3
Blake Thomas TE OH NR NR 3 3

No change for Ohio State.

#3 Penn State - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Jarron Jones DT NY 4 5 4 5
Camren Williams LB MA 4 4 4 4
JJ Denman OL PA 4 4 4 4
Brent Wilkerson DE MD 4 3 3 4
Jamil Pollard DT NJ 4 3 3 4
Brian Gaia OL MD NR 3 4 3
Anthony Stanko OL OH NR 3 3 NR
Jesse James TE PA NR NR 3 NR

No change for Penn State.

#4 Notre Dame - 10 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Ronald Darby CB MD 4 5 4 4
Tee Shepard CB CA 4 4 4 4
Deontay Greenberry WR CA 4 4 3 4
Taylor Decker OL OH 4 4 3 4
David Perkins LB IN NR 4 4 4
Nick Baratti S TX NR 4 3 3
Justin Ferguson WR FL NR 3 4 3
Mark Harrell OL NC NR 3 4 3
CJ Prosise S VA NR 3 3 3
Scott Daly LS IL NR NR NR NR

Irish pick up local product David Perkins.

#5 Wisconsin - 4 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Dan Voltz OL IL 4 4 4 4
Vince Biegel LB WI 4 4 4 4
Vonte Jackson RB WI 4 3 3 4
Bart Houston QB CA 3 4 4 4

No change for Wisconsin.

#6 Minnesota - 6 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Andre McDonald WR MN 4 3 4 3
Philip Nelson QB MN NR 3 3 3
Maxx Williams TE MN NR 3 NR NR
Dinero Moss S FL NR NR 3 3
Josh Ballesteros LB FL NR NR 2 2
Isaac Fruechte WR MN NR NR JC NR

Gophers grab a couple more commits. Since ESPN doesn't evaluate JuCos, Fruechte des not figure into their average score for the Gophers.

#7 Northwestern - 6 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Malin Jones RB IL 3 3 2 3
Dean Lowry DE IL NR 3 3 3
Kenton Playko OL OH NR 3 3 3
Ian Park OL PA NR 3 3 NR
Dan Vitale S IL NR NR 2 NR
Joseph Jones S PA NR NR NR NR

Northwestern picks up a couple unranked dudes. The Wildcats stay ahead of Michigan State by sheer volume.

#8 Michigan State - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Benny McGowan OL OH NR 3 4 3
Tyler O'Connor QB OH NR 3 3 4
Riley Bullough LB MI NR 3 3 3
Zach Higgins OL OH NR 3 3 3
Evan Jones TE OH NR 3 NR 3

Spartans pick up Ohio signal-caller Tyler O'Connor.

#9 Nebraska - 2 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Michael Rose LB MO NR 3 4 NR
Jordan Westerkamp WR IL NR 3 3 4

No change.

#10 Illinois - 2 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Elliot Faerber WR KS NR 3 2 NR
Jason Robertson WR IL NR 3 3 3

Nothing new for Illini.

#11 Purdue - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Jordan Shine S IN NR NR 3 3

No change for the Boilers.

#12 Iowa - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Mitch Keppy OL IL NR NR NR NR

No change for Iowa.

Indiana. :(

Comments

Ether Stench

June 12th, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^

The top feels so wonderful. Granted this is recruiting, hopefully in a couple of years we get back on top in terms of wins!

Stephen Y

June 12th, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^

I have a feeling Nebraska is going to suffer the same fate Penn State did when they joined the Big Ten... Storied program moving to a new conference and expected to dominate, but will ultimately struggle at first.  At this point, their start in recruiting makes it tough to believe otherwise.

bronxblue

June 12th, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^

It's funny to see PSU ranked so highly this year after last year they seemingly didn't get anybody.

Love the class so far, but hopefully the staff can still pick up at least one DT and a WR/RB/QB.

LandryHD

June 12th, 2011 at 11:48 AM ^

I'd like that too. We are really basing it on how many players we have. I think our average is kind of low to be honest. But, I do certainly like the guys we are getting and a few of them deserve better recognition.

OverTheTop

June 12th, 2011 at 11:29 AM ^

may suffer very much in 2-3 as a result of the conference re-allignements affect upon their crucial Texas pipeline. It will be interesting to see if that dries up at all now that they no longer play any teasm from that area.

MGoShoe

June 12th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^

...Sunday, 13 June.

From The Hoosier Scoop:

Alex Todd, a lineman from Streetsboro, Ohio, committed to Indiana today, Rivals.com is reporting (subscription required).

Todd, who is 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds, had offers from Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State. Boston College and Connecticut were among the schools also recruiting Todd.

rockydude

June 12th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^

After all, there are going to be good players in Michigan left over that we don't go after, like Norfleet and Thompson. Also, Ohio has so many DEs that it isn't funny, and we can't take them all. No reason Sparty can't sneak in and get some players that are more than good enough to be a thorn in our side.

Just not as good as the guys we are taking.  :-)

M-jed

June 12th, 2011 at 4:03 PM ^

With so many recruits verbally committed, how does the staff keep them engaged? Is it more of the same in terms of recruiting? Honest question. I hear some recruits become dis-satisfied because a school stops "showing them love" and curious if we'll see much movement in the next 8 months.

WolvinLA2

June 12th, 2011 at 6:44 PM ^

Keeping guys happy isn't all that difficult.  We'll have somewhere less than 25 guys to keep happy, many of which are very close to Ann Arbor.  The ones who enroll early you only need to keep happy through the football season, and they'll likely come to a few games.  If the class is full, your staff can spend their time on the elite 2013 guys and keeping any potentially-wavering 2012 guys happy. 

MichiganWolf

June 12th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^

I hate to say it but i think Notre Dame might end up with a similiar ranked class to ours or even better because of the highley rated commits they have now and the top rated guys that they are in the running for. I hope this doesn't happen but you never know what might happened.P.S. I hate Notre Dame so don't think i like them..just stating some info.

Deep Under Cover

June 13th, 2011 at 1:58 AM ^

I am not saying we won't, but since we haven't played a game yet I am not ready to start running my mouth.  That said, I have a few family members who I would love to rub their "national recruiting prowess" in their face.  Then I would love to beat them mercilessly on the field.

JohnnyV123

June 13th, 2011 at 4:29 AM ^

....but I want to see the whole conference be recruiting well just with us at the top. Only looks better when they are great against most of the others yet lose to us.

I like what Penn State has done this year (unless they lose Jarron Jones to us *hopes* er...*Hokes*?) but what about the job Minnesota has done so far? I mean it isn't anything leaps and bounds fantastic but when you consider how awful Minnesota has been lately the fact that people are choosing to go there at all is impressive.

You might expect them to be in the same league with Indiana but good for them for doing a little better.

ryebadger

June 14th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^

Wisconsin picked up its 5th commitment yesterday in Kyle Dodson, a 4* offensive lineman out of Ohio.  24/7 has him as the #9 ranked prospect in the state and he had an OSU offer. I understand he was also considering Michigan and had an offer there as well.

I don't know if this is proof of the scandal having a negative impact on recruiting but it is certainly interesting that a lifelong OSU fan who was said to be waiting for an OSU offer finally got it, and then promptly committed to UW.  While I happen to think Wisconsin can recruit offensive linemen with anyone and our most talented recruiter covers Ohio, pulling a kid like this out from under OSU can't be a great sign for them.

On the other hand, I think it's wise to wait until signing day to see what happens with kids like this. He verballed during the height of the scandal. Things may settle down and stabilize for OSU, in which case I wouldn't be surprised to see some Ohio prospects change their minds and turn back to the Buckeyes (assuming they have spots left). Either way, UW is off to a very nice start.      

WolvinLA2

June 13th, 2011 at 1:33 PM ^

Ohio State picked up another commitment today - Najee Murray.  Honest to God his next best offer was Indiana.  After that it's literally all MAC, didn't even get the Cinci offer.

Fickell can't recruit in the Big Ten!  But seriously, OSU wasn't offering kids like this the last couple years, especially when they were anticipating a smaller class.

JohnnyV123

June 13th, 2011 at 1:49 PM ^

Not to defend an OSU guy, but saying Fickell can't recruit in the Big Ten is a bit much when everyone knows OSU is going to get hit with a bowl ban and loss of scholarships. Not exactly making OSU the most attractive looking option.