Big Ten Recruiting Rankings: 5-6-12

Not sure, though they're certainly due for an update. I would guess that both Conley and Smith have a good shot at getting bumped up.

A couple of insiders who would qualify as more trustworthy than panicky message board types. Nothing concrete, though—just speculation at this point.

I don't think they have as big of a network dedicated to recruiting as the other three sites, so they didn't evaluate as many prospects for their initial offering. They seemed to focus on recruits committed to high-profile schools, too, but they obviously didn't get to everyone. Also, I think they evaluated more guys in SEC country than in the Midwest, so the lack of coverage really shows up for the Big Ten guys.

Not sure if serious.

I think one of the more interesting things about recruiting so far is that PSU is putting together a pretty solid class

Nebraska is climbing the boards... My boss in  Nebraska grad and I was having fun with their recruiting class being at the bottom of the B1G...

Oh well, at least they passed little brother...

I still have to see it whenever I scroll down to look at the board. We need a commitment right now!

Like I said in the post, I was very close to jumping Wisconsin, but didn't for three reasons:

1. The star rating difference is very small.
2. MSU and Iowa do have one more recruit each, and when numbers are that low it makes a bigger difference.
3. MSU and Iowa both have a large number of unranked recruits almost entirely due to ESPN not having enough guys evaluated. If you chalk up most of those guys as three-stars (and that's conservative when it comes to a guy like Reschke), the star average difference is eliminated. I realize Obasih is a guy for whom this is also the case, but it's currently having a bigger impact on the Spartans and Hawkeyes.

-I was going to post that very same comment, but I was busy looking at a couple of recruiting sites to see if they were in on any recruits of note; not only do they have absolutely no 2013 verbal commitments, there really are relatively few kids with IU on their interest lists. I then looked back at their list of 2012 commitments and found that 7 of their 25 commits were 2*'s.    Nobody 4* or better was signed in '12 (although they briefly thought they had QB Gunner Kiel before he played hopscotch on them and LSU and signed with ND) ; if HC Kevin Wilson is going to somehow turn IU around, I wonder what his plan is. 

I have no love for IU, but it would be nice for the B1G to see IU be at least  competitive from time-to-time.

It's his younger brother.

If he stays in the position he's at on Rivals (#16 overall), he'll get that fifth star when they start handing out a few more—last year, the top 32 got five stars. The fact that Morris is willing to put himself out there and appear at so many camps should also help his cause, as will making the Elite 11 finals. Unless he has too many more performances like he did in Dallas, I'm guessing he'll earn that five-star honor.

A fifth star would be nice, but I think many of us would agree that the ranking is pretty much immaterial at this point in that we are getting the "right kid" on the team.  Its nice to be recognized nationally in recruiting, but if Shane wins 11 games per year as a starter, we could care less whether he was a four or five star.  Not discounting what you said, but just pointing out that Shane's talents are already recognized and he's already doing a great job getting more kids into the fold...the fifth star would just be icing on the proverbial cake. 

Edit:  And now I've read the rest of your post.  Yes, you're 100% right.  He's 100% legit.

RTFQ...my bad.

I think it's a very good thing for guys to do these camps. Not only can they get a rankings boost, but they're exposed to elite coaching that's tough to find on the high school level. Also, at a camp—where contact is minimal—there's very little (certainly not none, but not much) injury risk.

Then there's the added benefit of having commits like Morris go to these camps and recruit for his school. With so many elite guys showing up at events like last weekend's NFTC, it never hurts to have a strong contingent of commits out there making their presence known.