Big Ten Recruiting Rankings 4-30-13

Submitted by Ace on

At long last, ESPN released their 2014 rankings, which means I no longer have an excuse to not put this together. With a new recruiting cycle comes some changes to the rankings:

  • Between the addition of two teams (Rutgers and Maryland) to these rankings in the past year, the Irish falling off the schedule after 2014, and reading the same damn comment every week, it's settled... to hell with Notre Dame.
  • Gone is the rudimentary points system. In its place, I'm using the 247 Composite Rankings, which combines data from all four recruiting services into, well, composite rankings. This not only gives an unbiased and comprehensive overview of each team's standing in the conference, but by adding the national ranking we get an idea of where the teams stand in the bigger picture and where the largest gaps are between teams in the conference.
  • Using the 247 Composite Rankings again, I've added columns in the top table for the number of five-, four-, and three-star prospects in each team's class.

If you've got any suggestions, please leave a comment or send me an email. Without further ado...

Chart? Chart:

Big Ten+ Recruiting Class Rankings
247 Comp. Rank (Ovr) School # Commits 5* 4* 3* Rivals Avg Scout Avg 24/7 Avg ESPN Avg Avg Avg^
1 (6) Michigan 8 0 6 2 3.50 3.50 3.75 3.75 3.63
2 (9) Ohio State 7 0 5 2 3.43 3.71 3.86 3.43 3.61
3 (18) Rutgers 8 0 0 7 2.63 2.63 2.88 2.50 2.66
4 (19) Penn State 6 0 2 4 3.17 3.33 3.33 3.33 3.29
5 (20) Michigan State 6 0 0 6 3.17 3.33 3.50 3.00 3.25
6 (25) Wisconsin 4 0 4 0 3.50 4.00 3.75 3.50 3.69
7 (30) Northwestern 5 0 1 4 3.00 2.80 3.40 2.60 2.95
8 (39) Iowa 3 0 1 2 3.33 3.00 3.67 3.33 3.33
9 (46) Minnesota 3 0 1 2 3.00 3.00 3.33 2.33 2.92
10 (48) Illinois 3 0 0 3 3.00 3.00 3.00 2.67 2.92
11 (62) Maryland 2 0 1 0 3.50 3.00 3.00 2.50 3.00
12 (72) Nebraska 1 0 0 1 3.00 3.00 3.00 2.00 2.75
13 (74) Purdue 1 0 0 1 2.00 2.00 3.00 3.00 2.50
14 (NR) Indiana 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --

^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.

On to the full data after the jump.

 

#1 Michigan - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Mason Cole OL FL 4 4 4 4
Michael Ferns LB OH 4 4 4 4
Drake Harris WR MI 4 4 4 4
Bryan Mone DT UT 4 4 4 4
Ian Bunting TE IL 3 3 4 4
Juwann Bushell-Beatty OT NJ 3 3 4 4
Wilton Speight QB VA 3 3 3 4
Maurice Ways WR MI 3 3 3 NR

Michigan debuts at the top after picking up three commits in the span of a week. With Drake Harris on the verge of five-star status on a couple of the sites and guys like Bunting, Bushell-Beatty, and Ways expected to get a bump in future rankings, their already-impressive star average (3.63) may go up soon.

#2 Ohio State - 7 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Kyle Berger LB OH 4 4 4 4
Damon Webb CB MI 4 4 4 4
Kyle Trout OL OH 4 4 4 3
Parris Campbell RB OH 3 4 4 3
Sam Hubbard LB OH 3 4 4 3
Marcelys Jones OL OH 3 3 4 3
Dylan Thompson DE IL 3 3 3 4

Interesting to note, considering the conversation surrounding both programs' recruiting strategy in the last year, that five of OSU's seven commits come from Ohio, while Michigan's eight commits hail from seven different states.

#3 Rutgers - 8 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Joshua Hicks RB FL 3 3 3 3
Justin Nelson LB NJ 3 3 3 3
Sidney Gopre LB NJ 3 3 3 NR
David Njoku WR NJ 3 3 3 NR
Tyler Wiegers QB MI 3 3 3 NR
Zack Heeman OL NJ NR NR 3 3
Jacquis Webb OL NY NR NR 3 NR
Saquan Hampton S NJ NR NR 2 3

As usual, Rutgers is building a solid but unspectacular class around local talent. Detroit Country Day QB Tyler Wiegers (you may know him as "hey, who's that guy throwing to Moe Ways?") could be an early sleeper pickup for them.

#4 Penn State - 6 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Chris Godwin WR DE 4 4 4 4
Troy Apke WR PA 3 4 3 NR
De'Andre Thompkins WR NC 3 3 4 4
Troy Reeder LB DE 3 3 3 4
Mark Allen RB MD 3 3 3 3
Nick Scott WR VA 3 3 3 3

Ditto for Penn State, though they should be able pack a little more quality into a smaller class.

#5 Michigan State - 6 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Deon Drake LB MI 4 3 4 3
Chris Durkin QB OH 3 4 4 3
Byron Bullough LB MI 3 4 3 4
Enoch Smith Jr. DT IL 3 3 4 3
Chase Gianacakos OL IL 3 3 3 3
Brian Allen OL IL 3 3 3 NR

MSU is quietly setting the foundation for a decent class, and could get a boost from four-star Southfield DE Lawrence Marshall, who may decide soon and appears ticketed for East Lansing if he does.

#6 Wisconsin - 4 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Craig Evans DT WI 4 4 4 4
Jaden Gault OL WI 4 4 4 4
George Panos OL WI 3 4 4 3
Conor Sheehy DE WI 3 4 3 3

Clearly, Gary Anderson's staff has focused first and foremost on locking up top in-state talent, and in that regard they've done quite well.

#7 Northwestern - 5 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Clayton Thorson QB IL 4 3 4 4
Jordan Thomas S TX 3 3 4 3
Cameron Queiro LB NJ 3 3 3 NR
Solomon Vault RB MD 3 NR 3 NR
Ben Oxley OL OH NR 3 3 NR

After getting four-star QB Matt Alviti in the 2013 class, Northwestern already has a four-star signal-caller in place for 2014 in Clayton Thorson.

#8 Iowa - 3 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Ross Pierschbacher OL IA 4 4 4 4
Jay Scheel WR IA 4 3 4 4
Lucas LeGrand OL IA NR NR 3 NR

Like Wisconsin, except not as good.

#9 Minnesota - 3 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Jeff Jones RB MN 4 4 4 3
Dimonic McKinzy QB KS 3 3 3 NR
Steven Richardson DT IL NR NR 3 NR

Dimonic McKinzy is your early frontrunner for Big Ten Recruit Name of the Year.

#10 Illinois - 3 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Nick Allegretti OL IL 3 3 3 3
Tito Odenigbo DE OH 3 3 3 3
Mike Dudek WR IL 3 3 3 NR

Not a particularly strong start for Illinois, perhaps because there were legitimate calls for Tim Beckman's job after his disastrous 2-10 first season in Champaign.

#11 Maryland - 2 Commits
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
William Ulmer QB DC 4 3 4 2
Jared Cohen OL MD 3 3 2 3

Slow start, but there's plenty of talent in the surrounding area to fill out a class.

#12 Nebraska - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Luke Gifford S NE 3 3 3 NR

Nebraska tends to make a late push in recruiting, and they'll undoubtedly move up from here over time.

#13 Purdue - 1 Commit
Name Position State Rivals Scout 24/7 ESPN
Brandon Garner LB TX 2 NR 3 3

Not a surprise that Purdue has a lone commit considering (1) they have a new coach and (2) it's Purdue.

#14 Indiana - 0 Commits

:-(

Comments

M-Dog

April 30th, 2013 at 7:58 PM ^

I'm telling you, everyone pisses all over Rutgers but they could be a sleeping giant.  Look for them to start a decent interesting rivalry with Penn State.  And if I'm Sparty, I would be as worried about them as I would be with Michigan/OSU/PSU.

 

funkywolve

April 30th, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^

How do you calculate how many 3, 4, and 5 star recruits a school has in the composite box up top?

Up top in the composite box with all the schools, it indicates that MSU has no 4 star recruits but then when MSU's recruits are listed individually 4 of their players have a 4th star from at least one service.

With OSU, in the composite box up top they are listed as having five 4 star recruits but then down below all 7 of their recruits have at least one 4th star from one of the servces.

RadioMuse

April 30th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^

I suspect that since Michigan's recruiting class is going to be smaller this year (out of necessity) that it might slip in the national and conference rankings if we fail to pull in both Da'Shawn Hand and Jabrill Peppers. Now if everything goes right with those guys we could still be looking at a top 5 class even with only 15-16 members.



It is interesting to see how well Michigan is recruiting across such a wide area while Ohio has been focusing at home. I'm not sure that it really speaks to the school's recruiting strategies as much as it speaks to the level of talent Michigan high school football produces on a year-by-year basis when compared with Ohio. Michigan has the additional thorn of another Big Ten school only a few dozen miles up I-96...  Not that State has managed to pull in very many contested recruits, but I wouldn't discount them as a reason for Michigan's national focus.

As for the recruiting class itself, I really like how there's definite pursuit of potential rather than "sure things".  Ian Bunting and Juwann Bushell-Beatty are those kinds of developmental risks that have all the tools to be All-Americans, but need time and coaching to really shine. I love that Michigan is finally deep enough at some positions (like TE and OL) to grab some of these guys. The payoff down the road could be huge.

bronxblue

April 30th, 2013 at 4:46 PM ^

It blows my mind that Rutgers is a pretty mediocre outfit that could very well end up with the 4th or 5th-best recruiting class this year.  I'm happy I root for one of the top programs in this conference, because by gawd I'd be annoyed by the ineptitude of my staff if I was Wisconsin, Illinois, or Iowa.

Blarvey

April 30th, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^

I don't really follow recruiting and was wondering what the pace of commits is this year vs. in years past  - and if there is any difference year to year.

Put differently, I am curious if more or less of the top talent is commited at this point in the recruiting cycle than in previous years.

MichFan1997

April 30th, 2013 at 6:01 PM ^

so here are the memes this year

1. Why no Notre Dame?

2. Why no Brady Pallante?

3. Ace didn't make these rankings! They are 247 composite!!

4. Indiana= :(

Everyone got it? Good

Farstate

April 30th, 2013 at 7:21 PM ^

Rutgers had 7 NFL draft choices and seems to generally get 3 star players. Does this mean that MSU has been replaced as the ultimate power in talent development? Do the weeds in New Jersey have enough room for Dantonio to lay in them for an opportune moment or are they too full of mafia related corpses? Would corpses stop Dantonio from said laying?

Der Alte

April 30th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^

for eliminating the Fighting Irish from your Big Ten rankings. They now reside in another conference (sort of) with their own schedule, which soon will not include the Wolverines. Notre Dame is totally irrelevant to any conference rankings you'd want to post.

Michigan Irish

May 2nd, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^

Sorry you have yielded to the persistent carping about ND being included in the recruiting rankings. As an Irish alum, I regularly visit your board as it is consistently updated with insightful writing. No matter our personal feelings, UM & ND are comparable in many ways (admit it, both sets of fans regularly check out each other's teams as a yardstick for performance?). We face each other in football for two more years, recruit the same players (mostly), and have heightened passions whenever we meet in ANY sport. Why then for at least as long as we meet in football, ignore the Irish in recruiting rankings? Just asking. 

MichFan1997

May 21st, 2013 at 6:19 PM ^

the kids in this years class are going to have a minimal impact at best in the ND-M series. They will appear in one game and most of them will be redshirting. Also, it's an early season game, so even the kids who don't redshirt are barely going to play much in that game. As of this cycle, I'm past the point of caring about who Notre Dame lands other than in head-to-head battles. A shame though. I enjoyed the Notre Dame rivalry much more than MSU.