Big Ten Recruiting Rankings: 8-5-12

Submitted by Ace on

Little of note in this week's rankings, though once again Penn State loses a commitment, this time to Notre Dame. As a result, PSU continues to drop down the board. Changes since the last rankings:

8-1-12: Purdue picks up Austin Logan.

8-3-12: Illinois picks up Darwyn Kelly.

8-4-12: Northwestern picks up Keith Watkins.

8-5-12: William Fuller decommits from Penn State. Notre Dame picks up William Fuller.

Chart? Chart:

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
Rank School # Commits Rivals Avg Scout Avg 24/7 Avg ESPN Avg Avg Avg^
1 Michigan 23 3.57 3.82 3.78 3.70 3.72
2 Notre Dame 19 3.53 3.89 3.74 3.79 3.74
3 Ohio State 16 3.69 3.63 3.63 3.81 3.69
4 Iowa 16 2.88 2.75 3.06 2.94 2.91
5 Illinois 16 2.94 2.75 2.63 3.13 2.86
6 Northwestern 16 2.69 2.63 2.81 2.88 2.75
7 Nebraska 12 3.17 3.17 3.42 3.25 3.25
8 Penn State 11 3.45 3.45 3.55 3.55 3.50
9 Wisconsin 12 3.17 3.08 3.08 3.08 3.10
10 Michigan State 11 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.27 3.07
11 Purdue 10 2.60 2.50 2.50 2.60 2.55
12 Indiana 5 2.80 2.20 2.60 2.40 2.53
13 Minnesota 5 2.20 2.40 2.60 2.80 2.50

^The average of the average rankings of the four recruiting services (the previous four columns). The figure is calculated based on the raw numbers and then rounded, so the numbers above may not average out exactly.

NOTE: Unranked recruits are counted as two-star players.

To eliminate any confusion about how the rankings are determined (to be honest, they used to be arbitrary), team order is determined by multiplying the number of commits by star average.

On to the full data after the jump.

 

#1 Michigan - 23 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Shane Morris QB MI 4 5 5 4
Patrick Kugler OL PA 4 5 4 4
Dymonte Thomas S OH 4 5 4 4
Kyle Bosch OL IL 4 4 4 4
Jake Butt TE OH 4 4 4 4
Taco Charlton DE OH 4 4 4 4
David Dawson OL MI 4 4 4 4
Chris Fox OL CO 4 4 4 4
Ben Gedeon LB OH 4 4 4 4
Jourdan Lewis CB MI 4 4 4 4
Mike McCray LB OH 4 4 4 4
Henry Poggi DT MD 4 4 4 4
Logan Tuley-Tillman OL IL 4 4 4 4
Wyatt Shallman ATH MI 4 4 4 3
Ross Douglas CB OH 4 3 4 4
Gareon Conley CB OH 3 4 4 4
DeVeon Smith RB OH 3 4 4 4
Maurice Hurst Jr. DT MA 3 4 4 3
Jaron Dukes WR OH 3 4 3 4
Khalid Hill TE MI 3 3 3 3
Csont'e York WR MI 3 3 3 3
Channing Stribling CB NC 2 2 3 3
Scott Sypniewski LS IL 2 2 2 2

Scott Sypniewski gets two stars from ESPN.

#2 Notre Dame - 19 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Jaylon Smith LB IN 5 5 5 4
Alex Anzalone LB PA 4 4 4 4
Hunter Bivin OL KY 4 4 4 4
Steven Elmer OL MI 4 4 4 4
Mike Heuerman TE FL 4 4 4 4
Mike McGlinchey OL PA 4 4 4 4
Isaac Rochell DE GA 4 4 4 4
Malik Zaire QB OH 4 4 4 4
John Montelus OL MA 4 4 3 4
Jamel James RB TX 3 4 4 4
Colin McGovern OL IL 3 4 4 4
Jacob Matuska DE OH 3 4 4 3
James Onwualu WR MN 3 4 3 4
William Fuller WR PA 3 4 3 3
Danny Mattingly TE WA 3 4 3 3
Corey Robinson WR TX 3 4 3 3
Rashad Kinlaw ATH NJ 3 3 4 4
Devin Butler CB DC 3 3 4 4
Michael Deeb LB FL 3 3 3 4

The Irish flip PA WR William Fuller from his previous commitment to Penn State.

#3 Ohio State - 16 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Cameron Burrows CB OH 5 4 4 4
Jalin Marshall ATH OH 4 5 4 4
Joey Bosa DE FL 4 5 4 4
Eli Woodard CB NJ 4 4 4 5
J.T. Barrett QB TX 4 4 4 4
Marcus Baugh TE CA 4 4 4 4
Michael Hill DT SC 4 4 4 4
Evan Lisle OL OH 4 4 4 4
Billy Price DT OH 4 4 4 4
Ezekiel Elliott RB MO 4 4 4 4
Jayme Thompson S OH 4 3 4 4
Darron Lee ATH OH 3 3 3 3
Tracy Sprinkle DE OH 3 3 3 3
Taivon Jacobs WR MD 3 2 3 4
Tim Gardner OL IN 3 2 3 3
Johnny Townsend P FL NR 3 2 3

Johnny Townsend gets three stars from ESPN.

#4 Iowa - 16 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
David Kenney DE IN 4 4 3 4
Delano Hill S MI 3 3 4 3
Jon Wisnieski TE IA 3 3 3 4
Colin Goebel OL IL 3 3 3 3
Brant Gressel DT OH 3 3 3 3
John Kenny LB IN 3 3 3 3
Derrick Mitchell Jr. S MO 3 3 3 3
Malik Rucker S MN 3 3 3 3
Solomon Warfield S OH 3 3 3 3
Sean Welsh OL OH 3 3 3 3
Derrick Willies WR IL 3 3 3 3
Nathan Bazata DT NE 3 2 3 3
Nic Shimonek QB TX 3 2 3 3
Trevon Young LB IA NR 2 4 NR
Ike Boettger TE IA NR 2 3 2
Andre Harris ATH MO NR 2 NR NR

No change for the Hawkeyes.

#5 Illinois - 16 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Aaron Bailey QB IL 4 4 4 4
Caleb Day CB OH 4 3 3 3
Darius Mosely CB IL 3 3 3 4
Jarrod Clements DE OH 3 3 3 3
Reon Dawson CB OH 3 3 3 3
Christian DiLauro TE OH 3 3 3 3
Kenton Gibbs DT MI 3 3 3 3
Merrick Jackson DT IL 3 3 3 3
Dillan Cazley CB IL 3 3 2 3
Joshua Jones S MI 3 3 2 3
Kendrick Foster RB IL 3 2 2 3
Darwyn Kelly S DC 3 2 NR 3
Dawuane Smoot DE OH 3 2 NR 3
Jesse Chadwell OL MI 2 3 3 3
Austin Schmidt OL OH 2 2 2 3
Bryce Douglas DT IL NR 2 NR 3

The Illini add DC S Darwyn Kelly. Joshua Jones picks up three stars from ESPN.

#6 Northwestern - 16 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Matt Alviti QB IL 4 4 4 4
Sam Coverdale OL OH 3 3 3 3
Blake King OL IL 3 3 3 3
Brad North OL TX 3 3 3 3
Kyle Queiro ATH NJ 3 3 3 3
Anthony Walker Jr. LB FL 3 3 3 3
Keith Watkins RB OH 3 3 3 3
Eric Joraskie DE PA 3 3 2 3
Warren Miles-Long RB CA 3 3 2 3
Macan Wilson WR TX 3 2 2 3
Jayme Taylor TE TX 2 2 3 3
Xavier Menifield RB CA 2 2 3 3
Matt Harris WR IL NR 2 3 NR
Tyler Lancaster OL IL NR 2 3 NR
Brett Walsh LB CA NR 2 3 3
Hunter Miswander K OH NR 2 2 2

The Wildcats gain a commitment from OH RB Keith Watkins. Xavier Menefield picks up three stars from 247, while Hunter Niswander gets two stars each from 247 and ESPN. Northwestern jumps a plummeting Penn State class in the rankings.

#7 Nebraska - 12 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Marcus McWilson S OH 4 4 4 3
Josh Banderas LB NE 4 3 4 4
Marcus Newby LB MD 4 3 4 4
Christian Lacouture DE TX 3 4 4 3
A.J. Natter DE WI 3 4 3 3
Courtney Love LB OH 3 3 4 4
Johnny Stanton QB CA 3 3 4 4
Nathan Gerry S SD 3 3 3 3
Kevin Gladney WR OH 3 3 3 3
Greg Hart TE OH 3 3 3 3
Dan Samuelson OL IN 3 3 3 3
Gabriel Miller LS IN 2 2 2 2

Gabriel Miller gets two stars from ESPN. Nebraska barely edges past Penn State on the big board.

#8 Penn State - 11 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Adam Breneman TE PA 4 5 4 4
Dorian Johnson OL PA 4 4 5 4
Christian Hackenberg QB VA 4 4 5 4
Garrett Sickels DE NJ 4 4 4 4
Brendan Mahon OL NJ 4 3 3 4
Zayd Issah LB PA 3 4 3 3
Andrew Nelson OL PA 3 3 3 4
Brandon Bell LB NJ 3 3 3 3
Zach Bradshaw WR MD 3 3 3 3
Curtis Cothran DE NJ 3 3 3 3
Neiko Robinson S FL 3 2 3 3

The Nittany Lions suffer another decommit as in-state WR William Fuller changes his commitment to Notre Dame. Christian Hackenberg is upgraded to five stars on 247.

#9 Wisconsin - 12 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Darius Latham DT IN 4 4 4 4
Chikwe Obasih DE WI 4 3 4 3
Rob Wheelwright WR OH 3 4 3 3
Austin Ramesh ATH WI 3 3 4 3
Garret Dooley LB IL 3 3 3 4
Jack Keeler OL IL 3 3 3 4
Hayden Biegel OL WI 3 3 3 3
Keelon Brookins CB MN 3 3 3 3
Matt Miller OL OH 3 3 3 3
T.J. Watt ATH WI 3 3 3 NR
Sam Raridon DT IA 3 3 NR 3
Jazz Peavy WR WI 3 2 2 NR

No change for the Badgers.

#10 Michigan State - 11 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Jon Reschke LB MI 4 4 4 4
Shane Jones LB OH 4 3 3 4
Damion Terry QB PA 3 4 3 4
Darian Hicks CB OH 3 3 4 3
Jalyn Powell S OH 3 3 3 4
Gerald Holmes RB MI 3 3 3 3
R.J. Shelton RB WI 3 3 3 3
Trey Kilgore WR OH 3 3 3 3
Devyn Salmon DT FL 3 2 2 3
Jay Harris WR PA 2 3 3 3
Dylan Chmura TE WI NR 2 2 NR

No change for the Spartans.

#11 Purdue - 10 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Danny Etling QB IN 4 3 3 3
Keyante Green RB GA 3 3 3 4
Randy Gregory DE AZ 3 3 3 JC
Austin Logan S FL 3 3 2 3
David Yancey RB IN 3 2 3 3
Myles Norwood WR TX 2 NR 3 NR
Johnny Thompson DE GA NR 3 NR NR
Jake Replogle DE OH NR 2 2 3
Parker Cothren DE AL NR 2 2 2
John Strauser DE IL NR 2 NR NR

The Boilermakers add FL S Austin Logan. Parker Cothren gets two stars from ESPN.

#12 Indiana - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Danny Friend TE IL 3 3 3 3
Isaac Griffith WR IN 3 2 3 3
Evan Jansen TE OH 3 2 3 NR
Demetrius Hill DT KS 3 NR NR JC
Patrick Dougherty DE OH NR 2 2 2

No change for the Hoosiers.

#13 Minnesota - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Alex Mayes OL TX 3 3 3 3
Owen Salzwedel DE WI NR 3 3 3
Chris Wipson LB MN 2 2 NR 3
Chris Streveler QB IL NR 2 3 3
Jordan Hinojosa DT KS NR 2 NR JC

Chris Wipson picks up three stars from ESPN.

Comments

turtleboy

August 5th, 2012 at 3:11 PM ^

I knew Dantonio was cleaning up in Michigan some while RR recruited out of state and (mostly) Florida, and that when Hoke took over we'd win the home state handily, but I'm surprised to see Illinois has more Michigan commits than Sparty at this point.

bronxblue

August 5th, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^

I think the bigger issue is that the couple of feeder schools MSU was feasting on while RR was in town dried up a bit, plus Hoke is a much better in-state recruiter.  That said, if Illinois is poaching talent from Michigan and not their own backyard, that would trouble me as an Illini fan.

MichiganMan2424

August 5th, 2012 at 7:07 PM ^

That probably has more to do with sheer numbers than anything.

MSU only has 10 commits at this point vs 16 for Illinois, and Illinois only has 1 more player from Michigan. I would be very surprised if by the time MSU had 16 players, they didn't gain at least 1 more from Michigan.

graybeaver

August 5th, 2012 at 3:48 PM ^

Will ND move ahead of Michigan if they end up with same number of recruits in the class and a slightly higher star average? I wasn't for sure if position of need or depth building is considered.

Ace

August 5th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^

Yes:

To eliminate any confusion about how the rankings are determined (to be honest, they used to be arbitrary), team order is determined by multiplying the number of commits by star average.

 

turd ferguson

August 5th, 2012 at 6:10 PM ^

FWIW, I actually prefer the more subjective way of ranking these classes.  You could argue that what you're doing now is equally arbitrary - just arbitrary in the sense that there's no obvious reason why the total number of stars should be the only ranking criterion.

Obviously not a big deal either way.

Ace

August 5th, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^

I made the switch to a strict formula because there were a fair amount of questions about team placement and "that's where I thought they should go" didn't feel like a suitable explanation. There are certainly flaws with this method—I think Penn State should be a spot higher, for example—but there's a reason all the individual data is included: you can draw your own conclusions from the data provided. There's never going to be a perfect solution, but with recruiting, it's such an imperfect science anyway that there's no point in getting too caught up in the numbers.

Ace

August 5th, 2012 at 7:00 PM ^

I'm flattered. I could honestly go either way with the rankings; with recruiting, I'm more concerned about giving a good overview of who's in each class than trying to nail the exact order of classes when we won't really know how good they are for another five years. Like you said, it's just not a big deal.

Mr.Mario86

August 5th, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^

Class alittle low. I get that they have lost a lot of solid players, but they still have a total of three 5* star players from combined sites.

grumbler

August 5th, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^

The rankings are strictly mathematical, as Ace has explained.  In order for you to persuade Ace that he has Penn State ranked incorrectly, you have to address either a math error or a specific data error. 

You may not like strictly mathematical rankings because you have a different "gut feeling" than the math delivers, but the proper response is to make your own list and explain your own rankings, not just tell someone that they are wrong.

turd ferguson

August 5th, 2012 at 6:26 PM ^

Sorry, but you hit on a pet peeve.  Just because there are numbers attached to something, that doesn't make it objective truth.  There are many debatable assumptions and decisions that go into setting a ranking algorithm.  There are a lot of reasons to object other than just "math errors" or "specific data errors."

I don't think this is a battle worth fighting, but this isn't the way I would rank classes.  For example, I'd much rather have a class of 21 consensus four-star recruits than 28 consensus three-star recruits, but this ranking system calls them equal.  My two cents are that the best way to do this actually involves looking over the classes, thinking about them, and then coming up with a defensible rationale for why they should be ranked in a certain way.  (As a side note, I say this as a math guy who does math things in his working life.)

Newk

August 5th, 2012 at 6:41 PM ^

I belive some of the national services only rank a school's top 20 (or 22 or 24) players. That makes a lot of sense to me, even if it's still only a rough indication. But capping it that way doesn't "reward" a school for racking up 3 stars (after a certain point, more is not necessarily better); or, to look at it another way, if you stop at 22 you don't "penalize" for adding depth (or kickers) to an already strong group - say, if Michigan adds a 2-star sleeper on signing day, does that make their class worse?

turd ferguson

August 5th, 2012 at 7:02 PM ^

I agree that it's an interesting way to rank classes, but I don't love that one either.  It fails to account for the opportunity cost associated with every scholarship used.  For example, Michigan is better off signing the class it has now than signing that class plus my grandfather and my arthritic Uncle James.  Although they would be hilarious in Michigan uniforms, scholarships are four year commitments these days (at Michigan at least), so signing them would mean two fewer places for slightly more talented 2014 recruits.

Still, I'm sympathetic to the needs of the recruiting sites to use some kind of formula, since it's too hard to look across dozens of classes and reasonably rank them.  I think that's more feasible with just the Big Ten.

jdon

August 5th, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^

you do realize that if you stopped at 19 players, or say 18 players, Notre Dame could be considered to have a better class than us?

How would you feel about that?

Stopping at one number or another is arbitrary in and of itself...  I like what Ace does but I also think that Penn State's class should be 4th or 5th (personally I would just count four star recruits and above, but that is a whole nother ball of wax) at this point.

love,

jdon

 

massblue

August 5th, 2012 at 6:25 PM ^

There is big drop off after UM, ND and OSU, but Iowa's class is pretty good.  This might be one of their better ranked teams.  I wonder if the new blood in terms of new OC and DC is partially responsible for this?