Big Ten Recruiting Class Rankings 7-31-11

Submitted by Tim on

Michigan has picked up more commits, so that means we hit the front page. (Tons of) action since last rankings:

7-21-11 Iowa gais commitment from Ryan Ward.

7-24-11 Illinois gains commitment from Joey Warburg.

7-25-11 Iowa gains commitment from Michael Malloy.

7-26-11 Michigan gains commitment from Sione Houma.Penn State gains commitment from Jake Kiley.

7-27-11 Indiana(!) gains commitment from Gunner Kiel.

7-28-11 Michigan State gains commitments from Aaron Burbridge and Jermaine Edmondson. Indiana gains commitment from Jason Spriggs.

7-29-11 Purdue gains commitment from Andy Garcia.

7-30-11 Minnesota gains commitment from Jonah Pirsig.

7-31-11 Michigan gains commitment from Chris Wormley.

PLUS, Scout updated their rankings, so there's a little bit of movement there.

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
Rank School # Commits Rivals Avg Scout Avg ESPN Avg 24/7 Avg
1 Michigan 21 3.38 3.57 3.43 3.48
2 Notre Dame 12 3.25 3.67 3.33 3.25
3 Ohio State 11 3.27 3.36 3.18 3.36
4 Michigan State 13 3.15 3.15 3.08 3.15
5 Penn State 13 3.00 2.85 3.00 2.77
6 Wisconsin 8 3.13 3.25 2.75 2.88
7 Indiana 15 2.27 2.60 2.71 2.40
8 Northwestern 13 2.62 2.38 2.38 1.85
9 Minnesota 17 2.47 2.24 2.38* 1.94
10 Nebraska 5 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.80
11 Iowa 8 3.13 2.63 3.00 2.63
12 Purdue 9 2.33 2.11 2.38 2.00
13 Illinois 6 2.17 2.67 2.17 2.33

*ESPN doesn't rate JUCOs, so Isaac Fruechte is not included in Minnesota's average, Darius Stroud doesn't count against Indiana's average, and Steffon Martin is excluded from Purdue's.

On to the full data, after the jump.

#1 Michigan - 21 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Kyle Kalis OL OH 4 5 4 4
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
Jarrod Wilson S OH 4 4 4 4
Tom Strobel DE OH 4 4 3 4
Pharaoh Brown DE OH 4 3 3 4
Blake Bars OL TN 4 3 3 3
Devin Funchess TE MI 3 4 4 4
Chris Wormley DE OH 3 4 4 4
Mario Ojemudia DE MI 3 4 4 3
Kaleb Ringer LB OH 3 4 3 3
Matt Godin DE MI 3 3 3 4
Ben Braden OL MI 3 3 3 3
Anthony Standifer CB IL 3 3 3 3
Caleb Stacey OL OH 3 3 3 3
Allen Gant S OH 3 3 3 3
AJ Williams TE OH 3 3 3 3
Sione Houma FB UT NR 2 2 NR

Wolverines get their fullback in Sione Houma, and Chris Wormley goes blue after a long flirtation with committing. No rating changes for the Wolverines.

#2 Notre Dame - 12 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Ronald Darby CB MD 4 5 4 4
Tee Shepard CB CA 4 5 4 4
Deontay Greenberry WR CA 4 4 4 4
Taylor Decker OL OH 4 4 3 4
David Perkins LB IN 3 4 4 4
Nick Baratti S TX 3 4 3 3
CJ Prosise S VA 3 4 3 3
Justin Ferguson WR FL 3 3 4 3
Mark Harrell OL NC 3 3 4 3
Romeo Okwara DE NC 3 3 3 4
John Turner S IN 3 3 3 3
Scott Daly LS IL 2 2 2 NR

Scout (as it so often does) overrates the Irish in comparison to the other services. CJ Prosise is up to four stars, and Romeo Okwara is now rated as a 3-star to Scout, giving the Irish the best average on the table.

#3 Ohio State - 11 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Bri'onte Dunn RB OH 4 5 4 4
Joshua Perry LB OH 4 4 4 4
Warren Ball RB OH 4 4 3 4
De'Van Bogard S OH 4 4 3 4
Pat Elflein OL OH 3 3 4 3
Jacoby Boren OL OH 3 3 3 4
Frank Epitropoulos WR OH 3 3 3 3
Blake Thomas TE OH 3 3 3 3
Tyvis Powell S OH 3 3 2 3
Luke Roberts LB OH 3 2 3 2
Najee Murray CB OH 2 3 3 3

No change for the Bucks.

#4 Michigan State - 13 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Se'Von Pittman DE OH 4 4 4 4
Aaron Burbridge WR MI 4 4 4 4
Benny McGowan OL OH 3 3 4 3
Tyler O'Connor QB OH 3 3 3 4
Riley Bullough LB MI 3 3 3 3
Zach Higgins OL OH 3 3 3 3
Jamal Lyles LB MI 3 3 3 3
Josiah Price TE IN 3 3 3 3
Nick Tompkins RB GA 3 3 3 3
Kyle Kerrick WR PA 3 3 3 3
MacGarrett Kings WR FL 3 3 3 3
Jermaine Edmondson S OH 3 3 3 2
Evan Jones TE OH 3 3 NR 3

The Spartans get a big pull in in-state wideout Aaron Burbridge, and DB Jermaine Edmondson also picks MSU. They fly past Penn State.

#5 Penn State - 13 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Camren Williams LB MA 4 4 4 4
JJ Denman OL PA 4 4 4 4
Joey O'Connor OL CO 4 4 4 3
Brent Wilkerson DE MD 4 3 3 4
Brian Gaia OL MD 3 3 4 3
Skyler Mornhinweg QB PA 3 3 4 3
Anthony Stanko OL OH 3 3 3 3
Nyeem Wartman LB PA 3 3 3 3
Jesse James TE PA 3 2 3 3
Austin Johnson OL NJ 3 2 NR NR
Derek Dowrey DT VA 2 2 3 NR
Jake Kiley CB NH 2 NR 2 NR
JP Holtz TE PA NR 3 NR 3

A few Nittany Lions get ratings by various services, and PSU picks up Jake Kiley. They have some of the lesser-rated commits in the top half of the Big Ten.

#6 Wisconsin - 8 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
Kyle Dodson OL OH 4 4 3 4
Vonte Jackson RB WI 4 4 3 4
Bart Houston QB CA 3 4 4 4
Hugs Etienne CB CA 3 2 NR NR
Reggie Mitchell CB PA 2 2 NR NR
Arthur Goldberg DT PA NR 2 2 NR

Badgers Reggie Mitchell and Arthur Goldberg get 2 stars from Scout.

#7 Northwestern - 13 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Adam DePietro OL PA 3 3 3 3
Dean Lowry DE IL 3 3 3 3
Kenton Playko OL OH 3 3 3 3
Jack Schwaba TE PA 3 3 3 2
Ian Park OL PA 3 3 3 NR
Malin Jones RB IL 3 3 2 3
Eric Olson OL MA 3 2 3 3
Mike McHugh WR PA 3 NR 2 NR
Dwight White CB TX 3 NR 2 NR
Connor Mahoney OL PA 2 3 3 NR
Dan Vitale S IL 2 2 2 NR
Joseph Jones S PA 2 2 NR NR
Chris Fitzpatrick OL KY NR 2 NR NR

Longsnapper Fitzpatrick gets 2 stars from Scout.

#8 Indiana - 15 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Gunner Kiel QB IN 4 5 4 5
Nick Mangieri DE IL 3 3 3 3
Dan Feeney OL IL 3 3 3 3
Jordan Wallace LB IN 3 3 3 3
Kevin Davis WR IN 3 3 3 3
Adam Kranda TE IN 3 3 3 3
Wes Rogers OL IN 3 3 3 3
Mike Cotton LB IL 3 3 3 NR
Jason Spriggs TE IN 2 3 3 3
Jacob Bailey OL IN 2 2 3 3
Tanner Kearns TE OH NR 3 2 NR
Alex Todd OL OH NR 2 2 NR
Caleb Cornett WR IN NR NR 2 2
Dawson Fletcher S OH NR NR NR NR
Darius Stroud LB KS NR NR JC NR

Indiana gets the top QB in the midwest in homegrown Gunner Kiel (they also grab tight end Jason Spriggs). That combined with a couple newly-rated guys, bumps the Hoosiers up in the rankings.

#9 Minnesota - 17 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Andre McDonald WR MN 4 3 4 3
Jonah Pirsig OL MN 3 4 3 4
Isaac Hayes OL MN 3 3 4 3
Philip Nelson QB MN 3 3 2 3
Dinero Moss S FL 3 2 3 3
Dominic Twitty DT NJ 3 2 3 3
Jack Lynn LB IL 3 2 2 3
Brian Nicholson LB FL 3 2 2 NR
Jordan Hinojosa DT FL 3 2 NR NR
Drew Davis LB NC 2 2 3 NR
Josh Ballesteros LB FL 2 2 2 2
Samad Hinds TE FL 2 NR 3 NR
Mitch Leidner QB MN 2 2 2 NR
Eric Murray CB WI 2 NR NR NR
Scott Ekpe DT TX 2 2 NR NR
Maxx Williams TE MN NR 3 NR NR
Isaac Fruechte WR MN NR 2 JC NR

Scout doles out ratings to a few future Gophers. Minnesota also gets a nice piece in in-state lineman Jonah Pirsig.

#10 Nebraska - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Paul Thurston OL CO 4 4 4 4
Greg McMullen DE OH 4 4 3 4
Michael Rose LB MO 3 3 4 4
Jordan Westerkamp WR IL 3 4 3 4
Sam Cotton TE NE 3 2 3 3

Scout downgrades Michael Rose to a 3-star. No further changes for Nebraska.

#11 Iowa - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Jaleel Johnson DT IL 4 4 4 4
Ryan Ward OL IL 4 3 4 3
Maurice Fleming CB IL 3 3 4 3
Cameron Wilson WR OH 3 3 3 3
Drew Ott DE NE 3 2 3 3
Mitch Keppy OL IL 3 2 2 NR
Michael Malloy RB IA 3 NR 2 3
Connor Kornbrath K WV 2 3 2 NR

Scout now considers Connor Kornbrath a 3-star, and Malloy is up to 2 stars on ESPN.

#12 Purdue - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Jordan Shine S IN 3 3 3 3
Ryan Morris TE NJ 3 3 3 3
Austin Appleby QB OH 3 3 3 3
Andy Garcia QB OH 3 2 2 2
BJ Knauf WR FL 3 NR 2 NR
Paul Griggs K NC 2 3 3 NR
Thomas Meadows K VA 2 NR NR NR
Jimmy Herman S IN NR 2 2 3
Steffon Martin LB AZ NR NR JC NR

Paul Griggs gets 3 stars from Scout. Andy Garcia (not the actor) also picks the Boilers.

#13 Illinois - 6 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Tajarvis Fuller LB FL 3 3 3 3
Elliot Faerber WR KS 3 3 2 NR
Cody Quinn CB OH 3 3 NR 3
Jason Robertson WR IL 2 3 3 3
Joey Warburg OL KY NR 2 3 NR
Joseph Spencer OL OH NR 2 NR 3

No change for the Illini.

Comments

In reply to by MichiganMan2424

Tim

August 1st, 2011 at 7:48 AM ^

Scout and ESPN recently released new rankings, so theirs are probably locked in until after the season, with some minor adjustments. I imagine Rivals and 247 will have an update in the next couple weeks.

As for after the season, check out Friday's FNL primer, where I talk about likely movement in commit rankings.

Irish

July 31st, 2011 at 8:36 PM ^

You can expect Prosise, Greenberry and Darby to all likely move up after the opening and grid iron kings events.  Services seemed to all have been quite impressed with their performances, not sure that equates to more stars but that Scout gap will probably diminish a bit.  

blue note

August 1st, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^

Remember when everyone used to talk about how great a recruiter Zook was and how it was amazing that he was stealing all these 4 and 5 star players from the big programs?

Ah, the olden days.

Look Up_See Blue

August 1st, 2011 at 1:35 AM ^

I can't wait for these guys to suit up for Michigan for the first time against Bama next year.  Obviously, I'm looking forward to this year too.  Hopefully the product on the field this year will help secure all of these fine young men in their commitments and continue to build for the 2013 class.

Maize and Blue…

August 1st, 2011 at 8:12 AM ^

very few of them are actually suited up for Bama next year.  That would mean that our roster is young and talented allowing these recruits to mature and get acquainted to college life before being thrown into the fire like what has happened the last three years.