Big Ten Recruiting Class Rankings 7-3-11

Submitted by Tim on

With more new Michigan commits, we're hitting the front page after a hiatus of a couple weeks. Action since last rankings:

6-24-11 Minnesota gains commitment from Eric Murray.

6-26-11 Notre Dame gains commitment from John Turner. Michigan State gains commitment from Nick Tompkins. Michigan gains commitment from Blake Bars.

6-27-11 Purdue gains commitment from Ryan Morris.

6-28-11 Indiana gains commitment from Adam Kranda.

6-29-11 Penn State gains commitment from Joey O'Connor. Purdue gains commitment from Austin Appleby. Minnesota gains commitment from Mitch Leidner.

7-1-11 Indiana gains commitment from Jacob Bailey. Purdue gains commitment from Steffon Martin.

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
Rank School # Commits Rivals Avg Scout Avg ESPN Avg 24/7 Avg
1 Michigan 17 3.47 3.53 3.29 3.53
2 Notre Dame 11 3.27 3.45 3.27 3.27
3 Penn State 11 3.18 2.90 3.27 3.18
4 Ohio State 9 3.22 3.56 3.11 3.56
5 Wisconsin 8 3.13 3.00 2.75 2.88
6 Michigan State 10 3.10 3.10 3.00 3.20
7 Northwestern 12 2.25 2.42 2.33 1.92
8 Nebraska 5 3.40 3.60 3.20 3.80
9 Indiana 11 2.09 2.45 2.45 2.18
10 Minnesota 10 1.80 1.90 2.11* 1.70
11 Illinois 4 2.50 3.00 2.25 2.50
12 Purdue 7 2.43 1.86 2.29 1.86
13 Iowa 5 2.20 2.20 2.00 2.20

*ESPN doesn't rate JUCOs, so Isaac Fruechte is not included in Minnesota's average.

On to the full data, after the jump.

#1 Michigan - 17 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
Blake Bars OL TN 4 3 3 3
Devin Funchess TE MI 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 NR 3

Michigan picks up Blake Bars. This Friday, they'll either add OH S Jarrod Wilson, or move KY S Jeremy Clark into the 2012 class.

#2 Notre Dame - 11 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 3 4 4 4
Nick Baratti S TX 3 4 3 3
Justin Ferguson WR FL 3 3 4 3
Mark Harrell OL NC 3 3 4 3
CJ Prosise S VA 3 3 3 3
John Turner S IN 3 3 3 3
Scott Daly LS IL 2 NR NR NR

Still no change for Notre Dame.

#3 Penn State - 11 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
Joey O'Connor OL CO 4 3 4 3
Brent Wilkerson DE MD 4 3 3 4
Jamil Pollard DT NJ 4 3 3 4
Brian Gaia OL MD 3 3 4 3
Anthony Stanko OL OH 3 3 3 3
Jesse James TE PA 3 2 3 3
Derek Dowrey DT VA NR NR 3 NR
Austin Johnson OL NJ NR NR NR NR

Joey O'Connor picks Penn State. Dowrey finally picks up a ranking from one of the services (ESPN). The top three teams in these rankings are vying for Jarrod Wilson on Friday.

#4 Ohio State - 9 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
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
Najee Murray CB OH NR 3 3 3

No change for the Bucks.

#5 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 NR NR NR
Arthur Goldberg DT PA NR NR 2 NR

No change for Wisconsin. They're waiting on rankings for a couple of their guys.

#6 Michigan State - 10 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Se'Von Pittman DE OH 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
Evan Jones TE OH 3 3 NR 3

Kerrick gets three stars from ESPN, bumping the Spartans slightly. Nick Tompkins also picks MSU.

#7 Northwestern - 12 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
Connor Mahoney OL PA 2 3 3 NR
Dan Vitale S IL NR 2 2 NR
Joseph Jones S PA NR 2 NR NR
Mike McHugh WR PA NR NR NR NR
Chris Fitzpatrick OL KY NR NR NR NR

No change for Northwestern. In 4 years of these rankings, I've never seen a site be so inaccurate on a commitment list than 24/7's is for the Nittany Lions, for what it's worth.

#8 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 4 4 4
Jordan Westerkamp WR IL 3 4 3 4
Sam Cotton TE NE 3 2 3 3

Cotton now has rankings from all three services.

#9 Indiana - 11 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
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
Mike Cotton LB IL 3 3 3 NR
Adam Kranda TE IN 3 3 3 3
Tanner Kearns TE OH NR 3 2 NR
Jacob Bailey OL IN NR 2 3 3
Alex Todd OL OH NR 2 2 NR
Caleb Cornett WR IN NR NR NR 2
Dawson Fletcher S OH NR NR NR NR

Indiana slowly picking up commitments. IN QB Gunner Kiel could be the (surprising) headliner of the class down the road.

#10 Minnesota - 10 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Andre McDonald WR MN 4 3 4 3
Dinero Moss S FL 3 2 3 3
Philip Nelson QB MN 3 3 3 3
Drew Davis LB NC 2 2 3 NR
Maxx Williams TE MN NR 3 NR NR
Josh Ballesteros LB FL NR 2 2 2
Scott Ekpe DT TX NR NR NR NR
Isaac Fruechte WR MN NR NR JC NR
Eric Murray CB WI NR NR NR NR
Mitch Leidner QB MN NR NR NR NR

McDonald is still listed by the sites as a commit (albeit soft), so I've re-added him to the list. Gophers also pick up a couple prospects. Nick Rallis isn't included on Rivals's list yet, but I believe he's a future Gopher.

#11 Illinois - 4 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 NR 3 3 3

No change for Illinois.

#12 Purdue - 7 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
BJ Knauf WR FL 3 NR 2 NR
Paul Griggs K NC 2 NR 3 NR
Thomas Meadows K VA 2 NR NR NR
Steffon Martin LB AZ NR NR NR NR

Purdue has by far the most national recruiting effort in the league (sorry, Mark Dantonio), with seven commitments from seven different states.

#13 Iowa - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Cameron Wilson WR OH 3 3 3 3
Maurice Fleming CB IL 3 3 3 3
Mitch Keppy OL IL 3 2 NR NR
Drew Ott DE NE NR 2 NR 3
Connor Kornbrath K WV NR NR 2 NR

Iowa is lagging behind in quality and number of commits. I'm sure Hawkeye partisans trust their staff's evaluating skills.

Comments

raleighwood

July 3rd, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^

Is looks like Sparty is quietly putting together a pretty good class.  How is MSU ranked behind Wisconsin when their average is higher for three of the four recruiting sites (and they have more recruits in the class)?

Haxel Rose

July 3rd, 2011 at 2:30 PM ^

Not saying you're wrong, but to play devil's advocate, count the total number of fours: Wisconsin has 17 and MSU has 6. Wisconsin has 5 commits that are consensus 4 stars and MSU only has 1.

So Wisconsin gets a bump because they have 5 players considered top-end talent and 3 currently-unranked guys bring down their average. Meanwhile, MSU has one top-end player and 9 good (but not great) commits. Again, not saying you're wrong but I think the answer lies in whether you prefer a few really good players or a few more good players.

Picktown GoBlue

July 3rd, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^

already has someone committed from Ohio.  And OSU is the only school that has not picked up an out of state commit yet (and has been losing the ones they've had).  Wonder if there's some reason for all these Ohio folks going elsewhere?

/s

I know the state is a decent state in normal years for recruits going to non-OSU schools, but I would assume this year is different, both quantitatively and qualitatively; has anyone analyzed this?

go16blue

July 3rd, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^

Was I the only one shocked to see us leading the averages (for the first time this year, I think)? I guess it makes sense, and will probably continue. As more classes fill up, the amount of 4 and 5 stars decreases. A school like OSU that will fill up their class late will probably have to settle for a lot more 3 stars than us.

TrppWlbrnID

July 3rd, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^

"last rankings" and you will see that UM has been number 1 on this for a while, more than a month at least.
<br>
<br>Keep in mind we are still closer to 2011's signing day than 2012's, lots of time left during which games are actually played, osu ncaa situation becomes less murky, kids play senior year of hs ball, injuries, redshirts and early departures happen,

psychomatt

July 3rd, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^

Not sure if you are being serious or sarcastic. My understanding is OSU was slow playing Pittman because he is borderline academically and they did not offer McGowan early because they had Kalis and expected to land a couple of elite level out-of-state OL. OSU now appears to have lost Kalis and, with sanctions looming, the out-of-state prospects are looking far less likely so I think OSU eventually circles back and offers McGowan. Likewise, if Pittman qualifies, OSU is going to want/need him and will make another run at him. Even with sanctions, OSU is in another league than MSU and I think OSU ultimately wins that battle for two kids from Ohio who grew up Buckeye fans.