Big Ten Recruiting Class Rankings 8-14-11

Submitted by Tim on

Another big commit for Michigan, and we're back on the front page. A couple services should be revamping their rankings in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for that as well. Action since last rankings:

8-7-1 Illinois gains commitment from Taylor Barton.

8-8-11 Michigan gains commitment from Ondre Pipkins. Indiana gains commitment from Shawn Heffern. Michigan State gains commitment from Kodi Kieler.

8-9-11 Indiana gains commitment from Sebastian Smith. Ohio State gains commitment from Roger Lewis. Minnesota "gains" commitment from Nick Rallis.

8-10-11 Nebraska gains commitment from Deion Jones. Penn State gains commitments from Eugene Lewis and Tommy Schutt.

8-12-11 Penn State gains commitment from Armani Reeves. Wisconsin gains commitment from Walker Williams.

Chart? Chart:

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
Rank School # Commits Rivals Avg Scout Avg ESPN Avg 24/7 Avg
1 Michigan 22 3.45 3.64 3.41 3.50
2 Notre Dame 13 3.31 3.77 3.46 3.46
3 Penn State 16 3.19 3.38 3.31 3.00
4 Ohio State 12 3.25 3.42 3.17 3.33
5 Michigan State 14 3.00 3.14 2.93 3.00
6 Wisconsin 9 3.11 3.33 3.11 2.89
7 Indiana 17 2.24 2.76 2.63 2.71
8 Northwestern 13 2.62 2.69 2.38 1.92
9 Minnesota 18 2.22 2.38 2.12* 1.88
10 Nebraska 6 3.17 3.33 3.00 3.33
11 Iowa 9 3.00 3.00 3.00 2.89
12 Purdue 11 2.45 2.27 2.40 2.00
13 Illinois 8 2.13 2.63 2.50 2.00

*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 - 22 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
Ondre Pipkins DT MO 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 2 3 2 NR

Wolverines solidify their spot at the top by picking up MO DT Ondre Pipkins. Sione Houma picks up two stars from Rivals.

#2 Notre Dame - 13 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
Sheldon Day DT IN 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 2

No change for the Irish. Penn State is suddenly hot on their heels though.

#3 Penn State - 16 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Tommy Schutt DT IL 4 5 4 4
Camren Williams LB MA 4 4 4 4
JJ Denman OL PA 4 4 4 4
Eugene Lewis WR PA 4 4 4 4
Armani Reeves CB MA 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 3 3 3
Austin Johnson OL NJ 3 3 NR NR
Jake Kiley CB NH 2 3 2 NR
Derek Dowrey DT VA 2 2 3 NR
JP Holtz TE PA NR 3 3 3

Nitanny Lions have a big Wednesday, grabbing highly rated DT Tommy Schutt and WR Eugene Lewis. They continued the good recruiting mojo on Friday with CB Armani Reeves. JP Holtz picks up a 3-star rating from ESPN. All of that action vaults PSU into a slot baaaarely behind Notre Dame (and in second place in the conference proper).

#4 Ohio State - 12 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
Roger Lewis WR OH 3 3 3 3
Luke Roberts LB OH 3 3 3 2
Tyvis Powell S OH 3 3 2 3
Najee Murray CB OH 2 3 3 3

Ohio State picks up wideout Roger Lewis.

#5 Michigan State - 14 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
Kodi Kieler OL MI NR 3 NR NR

Spartans pick up relatively unknown in-stater Kodi Kieler. Though their averages drop a bit, the "don't punish them for picking up another commitment" principle applies.

#6 Wisconsin - 9 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
Walker Williams OL WA 3 3 3 3
Hugs Etienne CB CA 3 2 3 NR
Reggie Mitchell CB PA 2 2 2 NR
Arthur Goldberg DT PA NR 3 2 NR

Badgers pick up Walker Williams. Reggie Mitchell earns two stars from ESPN.

#7 Indiana - 17 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 3
Sebastian Smith S OH 3 2 NR 3
Jason Spriggs TE IN 2 3 3 3
Jacob Bailey OL IN 2 2 3 3
Shawn Heffern DE IN NR 3 3 3
Tanner Kearns TE OH NR 3 2 3
Caleb Cornett WR IN NR 3 2 2
Alex Todd OL OH NR 2 2 NR
Dawson Fletcher S OH NR 2 NR NR
Darius Stroud LB KS NR NR JC NR

Hoosiers pick up Sebastian Smith. Tanner Kearns gets 3 stars from 24/7.

#8 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
Eric Olson OL MA 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
Mike McHugh WR PA 3 2 2 NR
Dwight White CB TX 3 2 2 NR
Connor Mahoney OL PA 2 3 3 NR
Dan Vitale S IL 2 2 2 2
Joseph Jones S PA 2 2 NR NR
Chris Fitzpatrick OL KY NR 2 NR NR

No change in the rankings, but 24/7 Sports has finally gotten around to, you know, adding the Wildcats' commits to their commitment list.

#9 Minnesota - 18 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Jonah Pirsig OL MN 3 4 3 4
Isaac Hayes OL MN 3 3 4 3
Philip Nelson QB MN 3 3 2 3
Jack Lynn LB IL 3 3 2 3
Dinero Moss S FL 3 2 3 3
Dominic Twitty DT NJ 3 2 3 3
Brian Nicholson LB FL 3 2 2 NR
Jordan Hinojosa DT FL 3 2 NR NR
Mitch Leidner QB MN 2 3 2 NR
Drew Davis LB NC 2 2 3 NR
Samad Hinds TE FL 2 2 3 NR
Josh Ballesteros LB FL 2 2 2 2
Eric Murray CB WI 2 2 NR NR
Scott Ekpe DT TX 2 2 NR NR
Nick Rallis S MN NR 3 2 3
Maxx Williams TE MN NR 3 NR NR
Isaac Fruechte WR MN NR 2 JC NR
Rodrick Williams RB TX NR NR NR NR

Like with Northwestern, 24/7 Sports has finally inconvenienced themselves enough to add Minnesota's commits to their commitment list (novel idea!). On a similar note, Rivals added Nick Rallis to the Gophers' commit list, so he's now on the chart.

#10 Nebraska - 6 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
Deion Jones LB LA 2 3 NR NR

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

#11 Iowa - 9 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
Mitch Keppy OL IL 3 3 2 3
Michael Malloy RB IA 3 3 2 3
Drew Ott DE NE 3 2 3 3
Laron Taylor LB MI 2 3 3 3
Connor Kornbrath K WV 2 3 2 NR

No change.

#12 Purdue - 11 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
Jonathan Curry TE AL 3 3 2 3
Andy Garcia LB FL 3 2 2 2
BJ Knauf WR FL 3 NR 2 NR
Anthony Brown CB FL 3 NR NR NR
Paul Griggs K NC 2 3 3 NR
Thomas Meadows K VA 2 NR 2 NR
Jimmy Herman S IN NR 3 2 3
Steffon Martin LB AZ NR 2 JC NR

24/7 Sports has wised up to Purdue's commit list as well, leaving Scout the odd service out as far as "having a clue who's committed." They did upgrade Steffon Martin (who they don't include on Purdue's commit list) to two stars.

#13 Illinois - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Tajarvis Fuller LB FL 3 3 3 3
Cody Quinn CB OH 3 3 3 3
Elliot Faerber WR KS 3 3 2 NR
Tyler Barton S FL 3 NR 2 NR
Jason Robertson WR IL 2 3 3 3
Zach Jackson S FL NR 3 3 NR
Joseph Spencer OL OH NR 3 NR 3
Joey Warburg OL KY NR 2 3 NR

Illini pick up Zach Jackson. Spencer gets a third star on Scout and Quinn gets three stars from ESPN. As with several other schools, 24/7 Sports has wised up to the Illinois commit list.

Comments

jshclhn

August 14th, 2011 at 11:20 AM ^

Penn State's class is shaping up nicely.  Very different from last year where they had all of four commits for what seemed like forever.  If you take out their three lowest commits (to ND's level of 13 commits) - their averages would be very similar to Notre Dame.  I wonder how solid Schutt is for them after the charades of the past few weeks in his recruitment.

Big pickup for us with Pipkins - very curious to see how the classes closes out.  Hopefully another DT, 2 WRs, and either an OL or a CB in there.

FreddieMercuryHayes

August 14th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^

And yet, they convince themselves that they are keeping up with the Joneses.  Seriously, from what I have been able to gleen from my schadenfreude induced forays into their territory, they only think they need like 5 4 stars to keep up with UM.  And by their measures, they already have 4.  Those silly little buggers...

MGOUSMC

August 14th, 2011 at 12:43 PM ^

The fact that our class is almost filled out gives the coaching staff a "leg up" on the 2013 class. I'm so glad that Coach Hoke and staff are a bunch of hard workers.

Vacuous Truth

August 14th, 2011 at 4:06 PM ^

Reminds me of penn st last year. It seems like they had about a half dozen commits until very late in the process. They ended up only signing 16 total and finished 35th nationally according to rivals. That put them 6th in the B1G, 7th including ND. I'm guessing the low number was due to just not having many scholarships to give, and it's possible nebraska is in the same boat this year.

a2husker

August 14th, 2011 at 6:00 PM ^

As far as I can tell, NU has about 16 scholarships to give this year. I suspect that the staff is being cautious, just giving offers to mid-ranked kids that they're really high on, and waiting on decisions from some upper-tier recruits before filling out the class. That said, I kind of hoped there would be a couple of more names on that list by now.

turtleboy

August 14th, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^

taking another top CB, yet we already had Wayne Morgan as a silent commit and lost him. Everybody says we need another DT in this class, and Tommy Schutt tries to set up a visit and the coaches pass. It's just a few weeks before the season begins and rating services all decide that Michigans recruits are slightly less wonderful than they previously thought based on absolutely nothing happening. With 22 commits on board I thought things would be stablized but now I'm so confused I feel like I'm dating again.

brandanomano

August 14th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^

As of right now, there is nothing to worry about with this class. Wayne Morgan has slipped extremely far in the rankings so that may have been a blessing in disguise. We still have a very good chance with Yuri Wright. At DT, things are looking good for O'brien and Pipkins was apparently a silent commit when Schutt tried to visit. I wouldn't rule out Shittu yet either.

Blue in Yarmouth

August 15th, 2011 at 8:03 AM ^

seeing Reeves and Schutt on PSU after what had transpired over the past couple weeks is a little disappointing. Oh well, we still have a great class so good luck to both when not playing UM.