Recruiting Snapshot: 2016 Big Ten rankings

Tag: Big Ten recruiting


17Feb 2016
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Recruiting Snapshot: 2016 Big Ten rankings

Rashan Gary 694x

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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25Feb 2015
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Illinois Recruiting Snapshot: February 2015

Ke’Shawn Vaughn

In something that I hope to make a semi-regular feature, I’m going to take occasional looks at recruiting around the Big Ten. Not only will this help keep an eye on what’s going on around the Big Ten, but it might introduce some of tomorrow’s Big Ten stars. Going in alphabetical order, we’ll start with the Illinois Fighting Illini. The next time the Wolverines play Illinois will be for Michigan’s homecoming in October 2016.

2015 Team Ranking: #45

Cream of the 2015 Crop: Illinois offensive tackle Gabe Megginson (#193) and Tennessee running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn (#314) were the Illini’s only 247 Composite 4-stars in the class. Illinois running back Dre Brown (#452) is also a solid player. Out of 24 signees, seven are junior college transfers. Head coach Tim Beckman seems to be taking the Bill Snyder approach of trying to make a quick turnaround with JUCO guys.


2016 Team Ranking:
 #60, one spot ahead of Eastern Michigan

Cream of the 2016 Crop: The only commit so far for the Illini is Illinois safety Juwuane Parchman (#931).

4Sep 2014
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Illinois Recruiting Snapshot: September 2014

Gabe Megginson is Illinois’ top-rated recruit for 2014

Team: Illinois
Commits: 13
Star breakdown (according to 247 Composite): 4-stars (1), 3-stars (10), 2-stars (2)
Team recruiting ranking (according to 247 Composite): #50 as of September 3, 2014

Cream of the crop: Jacksonville (IL) Jacksonville offensive tackle Gabe Megginson is the Illini’s lone 4-star, and Illinois defeated teams like Arkansas, Miami, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, and Wisconsin for his verbal. He plays high at times, but he’s a nasty blocker who drives his feet relentlessly. DeKalb (IL) DeKalb running back Dre Brown is a solidly built downhill back with good speed, and I like how he fits with the current Illinois offense.

Needs: Defense. Chicago (IL) Hales Franciscan strong safety Patrick Nelson is the only current commit on the defensive side of the ball.

Overall: Illinois is taking the mid-major approach of pulling in a lot of players who played in junior colleges, community colleges, prep schools, etc. In theory, this will temporarily prop them up with physically – and perhaps mentally – mature players, allowing them to win and then improve their high school recruiting. This has worked well for teams like Kansas State and Cal, plus some schools in the SEC. It is not a common practice in the Big Ten. They have a couple solid players in the class, but overall, it does not seem like a group that will help launch this team into the top third of the conference.

2Apr 2012
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Recruiting Update: April 2, 2012

Logan Tuley-Tillman and his mohawk
might be moving to Michigan.

OFF THE BOARDRancho Cucamonga (CA) Rancho Cucamonga cornerback Chris Hawkins committed to USC.  At one time Hawkins showed interested in Michigan, but then he set an announcement date, and all signs pointed toward Stanford.  Then the Trojans flew in with an offer, and he put off his announcement for several weeks . . . until yesterday.

Not much else happened in the past week regarding Michigan’s recruiting.  No new offers, no new commitments, and only one Michigan offeree went off the board.  So here’s a look at where the Big Ten teams’ recruiting classes stand:

Illinois: CB Dillon Cazley, OT Jesse Chadwell

Indiana: None

Iowa: None

Michigan:  OT Kyle Bosch, TE Jake Butt, DE Taco Charlton, CB Gareon Conley, OT David Dawson, WR Jaron Dukes, OT Chris Fox, TE Khalid Hill, OG Patrick Kugler, CB Jourdan Lewis, LB Mike McCray, QB Shane Morris, RB Wyatt Shallman, RB Deveon Smith, S Dymonte Thomas, OT Logan Tuley-Tillman

Michigan State: OG Caleb Benehoch, RB Gerald Holmes, S Jalyn Powell, LB John Reschke, RB R.J. Shelton

Minnesota: CB Keelon Brookins

Nebraska: CB Tre’vell Dixon, S Marcus McWilson

Northwestern: None

Ohio State: CB Cameron Burrows, RB Ezekiel Elliott, OT Evan Lisle, WR Jalin Marshall, DT Billy Price, S Jayme Thompson, CB Eli Woodard

Penn State: TE Adam Breneman, DE Curtis Cothran, CB Ross Douglas, QB Christian Hackenberg, OG Brendan Mahon, DE Garrett Sickels

Wisconsin: LB Garrett Dooley, LB Austin Ramesh, TE T.J. Watt

The biggest surprise in the above list is that Michigan has 16 recruits by the end of March.  This is the earliest Michigan has reached that level since the  modern era of recruiting began in 2002, which is when online sources started tracking such info.  We’re all probably aware of that fact, though.

The second biggest surprise, though, is the fact that Wisconsin only has three commits, and none of them is particularly outstanding.  The Badgers have done a great job of producing talented college and NFL players in recent years, but with their track record of beating up on teams and challenging for Big Ten titles, you have to wonder if they’ll ever consistently compete for big-time prospects.  Madison isn’t the most exciting place in the world to play football, but if running backs and offensive linemen are looking to get to the next level, they ought to be pounding down the doors to wear a Badgers uniform.

Ohio State has a good class going and picked up a couple commitments this weekend, in the form of Ezekiel Elliott and Jayme Thompson.  Thompson was “offered” by Michigan but most analysts think it was the non-committable form, which is why he committed to West Virginia in the first place.  While Michigan has been concentrating on building up depth and talent in the trenches, so far Ohio State seems most interested in getting skill players in this class.

Penn State isn’t taking the world by storm, but they’re doing a pretty good job so far, all things considered.  Breneman is the class’s #1 tight end, and Hackenberg is a pretty solid quarterback to get him the ball.  I guess you can’t knock out the Nittany Lions with one punch, even though it was a huge punch; regardless of how things went down in Happy Valley, a bunch of these 17-year-old kids grew up wanting to wear the blue-and-white.  If I were a parent, though, I don’t know if I would let my kid commit to Penn State right now.  On the one hand, you know that the coaches and administration at PSU are going to be walking on eggshells to avoid any further controversy.  But there’s so much turmoil and the administration has proved so ineffective recently that if my kid had any other options, I would probably be urging him in another direction.

The other seven recruiting classes aren’t anything too interesting for Michigan fans.  No team besides OSU and PSU has grabbed a Michigan offeree, and Michigan State’s best recruit is an in-state kid (Reschke) who was never offered by Michigan.

MISCELLANEOUS
Washington (DC) Gonzaga cornerback Devin Butler has bumped up his decision date from May 12 to this coming Wednesday.  The most recent feeling is that he’s going to pick Notre Dame, and the previous favorite seemed to be Penn State.  Michigan appears to be on the outside looking in, despite his recent visit to Ann Arbor.

Peoria (IL) Manual offensive tackle Logan Tuley-Tillman is planning to move to Michigan over the summer and play his senior season a little closer to college.  If you remember, class of 2010 tight end Ricardo Miller did a similar thing when he moved from Orlando (FL) Dr. Phillips and then played his senior year at Ann Arbor (MI) Pioneer.  Tuley-Tillman’s goal is to get out of Peoria, which can be a rough town.  I would have to think an Ann Arbor school or one nearby (Chelsea, Saline, etc.) would be a likely destination here, but nothing is set in stone yet.

23Feb 2012
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Where are the 2012 Big Ten recruits from?

WTF happened to Canada?
Beenplumb linked a map over on the MgoBoard the other day that details where teams’ 2012 commits are from. The map combines software technology with a good idea to produce an interesting visualization. Unfortunately, the map doesn’t include every Big Ten team and has several significant inaccuracies/omissions. So after spending some time at the website (which is still worth the click through), I decided it would be interesting to produce an up-to-date list of where each Big Ten team is getting their talent (top two states). Schools are listed in order of their 2012 Big Ten class rankings, according to Rivals.
Ohio State: Ohio (15), Massachusetts and Virginia (2), *Michigan (0)*
Michigan: Michigan (9) and Ohio (9)
Nebraska: California (3), Arizona, Texas, Ohio and Illinois (2)
Purdue: Florida (5), Texas and Indiana (4)
Michigan State: Ohio (7), Michigan (4)
Iowa: Illinois (6), Michigan and Iowa (3)
Penn State: Pennsylvania (4) and Maryland (4)
Wisconsin: Wisconsin (3), Florida and Pennsylvania (2)
Northwestern: Pennsylvania (5), Illinois and Ohio (4)
Illinois: Ohio (6), Florida (5)
Indiana: Indiana (8), Ohio and Illinois (3)
Minnesota: Minnesota (10), Texas (5) (No one defends their own backyard like Minnesota.)
For additional information on the 2012 Big Ten recruiting class, including the ever-valuable “average average” metric, take a look at Ace’s final charts.