Tag: recruiting snapshots

Recruiting Snapshot: Illinois

Oak Lawn (IL) Brother Rice WR Ricky Smalling

Team Ranking for 2017: #45. Illinois signed 25 three-stars.

Cream of the Crop for 2017: Illinois’ top-ranked player is Oak Lawn (IL) Brother Rice linebacker Ricky Smalling, a 3-star, the #52 wide receiver, and #357 overall. He picked the Fighting Illini over offers from Minnesota and Wisconsin. They also signed 6’1″, 215 lb. Delshawn Phillips, the #31 overall JUCO player from Garden City (KS) Garden City Community College. Phillips played his high school ball at Detroit (MI) Cass Tech. The one player Michigan offered in the Illini’s class is 6’0″, 185 lb. running back Mike Epstein, a 3-star, the #59 running back, and #1051 overall.

Team Ranking for 2018: N/A. Illinois has zero commits.

Cream of the Crop for 2018: N/A. See above.

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Recruiting Snapshot: Wisconsin

Kayden Lyles (image via Twitter)

2017 Team Ranking: #41 nationally. #8 in Big Ten. Wisconsin has one 4-star, fourteen 3-stars, and one 2-star.

Cream of the 2017 Crop: Middleton (WI) Middleton offensive guard Kayden Lyles is a 4-star, the #12 offensive guard, and #206 overall. He’s a 6’3″, 323-pounder who turned down offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC, among others, and moved from Scottsdale, AZ to complete high school after committing to the Badgers. They’re also bringing in Iowa Western Community College weakside end Andrew Van Ginkel, who’s a 3-star, the #2 weakside end, and #24 overall in the JUCO rankings.

Commitments Offered by Michigan: OT Tyler Beach, OT Logan Bruss, TE Alex Fenton, OG Kayden Lyles, S Scott Nelson (see below)

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Recruiting Snapshot: 2016 Big Ten rankings

Rashan Gary is the top recruit in the Big Ten (image via MGoFish)

With National Signing Day having come and gone, here’s a look at the classes put together by the fourteen teams in the Big Ten. Michigan finished #2 in the conference by just one spot on the national spectrum. All numbers/rankings are using the 247 Composite rankings.

1. Ohio State
National ranking: #4
Total recruits: 25
Prospect average: 91.57
Top three prospects: DE Nick Bosa (5-star, #1 SDE, #8 overall), DE Jonathon Cooper (4-star, #3 WDE, #32 overall), RB Demario McCall (4-star, #2 APB, #44 overall)

2. Michigan
National ranking: #5
Total recruits: 29
Prospect average: 89.96
Top three prospects: DT Rashan Gary (5-star, #1 DT, #1 overall), OT Ben Bredeson (4-star, #5 OT, #39 overall), QB Brandon Peters (4-star, #6 PRO, #61 overall)

Hit the jump for the rest of the team rankings.

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Recruiting Snapshot: Rutgers

Alexandria (VA) Episcopal CB Patrice Rene

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2016 Team Ranking: #63. Rutgers has thirteen 3-stars committed.

Cream of the 2016 Crop: The top-ranked recruit in the Rutgers class is Alexandria (VA) Episcopal CB Patrice Rene (3-star, #39 CB, #415 overall), a transfer from Canada who fielded some interest in Michigan, though the Wolverines never offered. RB Trey Sneed (highlights below; 3-star, #30 RB, #534 overall) is from Orange Park (FL) Fleming Island and spurned offers from the non-powerhouse Florida schools in order to head to Rutgers. Sneed isn’t very speedy or quick, but he does have good balance and decent power at 5’10”, 205 lbs. The Scarlet Knights quarterback in the class is 6’4″, 221 lb. Anthony Russo. EDIT: As I was writing this on Monday, Russo decommitted; his other FBS offers are Buffalo, Temple, and UConn. Rutgers now has no quarterback in the class.

2017 Team Ranking: #61. Rutgers has one 2-star committed.

Cream of the 2017 Crop: Sicklerville (NJ) Timber Creek CB Naijee Jones (2-star, #81 CB, #895 overall) is the lone commitment.

Recruiting Snapshot: Purdue

Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy RB Jack Wegher

2016 Team Ranking: #73. Purdue has eleven 3-stars and four 2-stars committed.

Cream of 2016 Crop: Purdue has taken the route of signing three JUCO players to prop up their recruiting efforts, so arguably the best two players in the class are San Francisco (CA) City College DE Austin Larkin (3-star, #8 WDE, #114 JUCO) and Rochester (NY) Monroe Community College CB Kamal Hardy (3-star, #12 CB, #117 JUCO). The highest-rated high school player is Lewis Center (OH) Olentangy OT Luke Campbell (3-star, #106 OT), so you can see why they have to raid junior colleges. A couple other notable players are Houston (TX) St. Thomas DT Lorenzo Neal, the son of the former NFL fullback with the same name, and Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy RB Jack Wegher (see below), the brother of former Iowa running back Brandon Wegher.

2017 Team Ranking: Unranked. Purdue has zero commits for 2017.