There has been some movement in the recruiting rankings since we last checked in on the Big Ten. It's been awhile since a Recruiting Ranking update has been provided and over the past four months the conference added 101 new commitments.
The B1G East now owns five of the top six spots and it looks like that division's dominance is primed to continue.
A reminder that kickers, punters and long snappers are not included in the rankings.
Without further adieu, the 2017 Recruiting Rankings, Vol. 3.
NO. 14 MINNESOTA • 11 COMMITMENTS • 92.24 POWER RANKING
Tracy Claeys and the Gophers have plummeted in the 2017 recruiting rankings. Minnesota dropped from 11th to last in the conference and are now looking up at hapless Purdue.
The Gophers received nine commitments since the last update in May. The highest ranked player to join the class during that time was DT Joshua Croslen with an .839 composite rating.
Minnesota added two safeties to go along with Croslen on the defensive side of the ball. Jaquarius Landers (.832) of Mississippi and Claudin Cherelus (.800) of Florida are have decent height and size for the safety position. Both players are 6-2 and close to 200 pounds.
The offense added a WR Javan Hawes (.822), C Brett Kitrell (.806) and OG Corey Gaynor (.802). The nine new players had an average comp. rating of .823 and that low number contributed to the Gophers fall in the rankings.
Trending: Down. Claeys has work to do to surpass Purdue, that is all that needs to be said about Minnesota's current recruiting efforts.
| MINNESOTA'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| OT Blaise Andries ★★★ // OT Eric Abojei ★★★ // OLB Kyrei Fisher ★★★ |
NO. 13 PURDUE • 13 COMMITMENTS • 92.89 POWER RANKING
Griffin Alstott went from being the only commit in Purdue's 2017 class to being one of 13 planning to play in West Lafayette.
Darrell Hazell brought 12 new players giving his program the most commits in the Big Ten since May. The surge boosted the Boilermakers out of the basement, but barely being above Minnesota for last place is not reason to throw a celebration.
Trending: Stuck on the tracks. Purdue does not have the worst power ranking, but it does have the lowest average rating per player in the Big Ten (.822). Once Minnesota gets the same number of commits as the Boilermaker expect Purdue to be back where it belongs, last.
| PURDUE'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| QB Nick Sipe ★★★ // CB Dedrick Mackey ★★★ // RB Antwuan Branch ★★★ |
NO. 12 ILLINOIS • 11 COMMITMENTS • 94.13 POWER RANKING
Lovie Smith and Illinois picked up eight commits, but every player was a three-star recruit and WR Carmoni Green was the highest rated player with a .885 composite average. The Illini currently have four receivers in the 2017 class and it will be interesting to see if they are able to retain each player.
Eight of Smith's 11 commits are offensive players. The three defensive additions are SDE Olarere Oladipo (.850), CB Antwan Collier (.837) and OLB Marc Mondesir (.820). With holes to fill, expect for the Illini to push for more defensive players as the pages on the calendar push toward February.
Trending: Steady. Illinois remains in 12th place, but are nipping at Indiana which has one more player in the 2017 recruiting class.
| ILLINOIS' TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| WR Carmoni Green ★★★ // WR Ricky Smalling ★★★ // OG Larry Boyd ★★★ |
NO. 11 INDIANA • 14 COMMITMENTS • 94.85 POWER RANKING
Kevin Wilson and his staff were busy the past four months. The Hoosiers had 11 players commit to the program and IU climbed two spots in the B1G Recruiting Rankings.
The loss of four-star athlete Lynn Bowden hurt in late April, but the Hoosiers rebounded with verbals from seven players on defense and four on offense. Defensive tackles Derrius Mullins of DeSales (Columbus) and Juan Harris of Parker High School in Wisconsin add some needed beef to Indiana's defensive line. Mullins checks in at 354 pounds and Harris weighs 368.
Trending: Up. Indiana added 11 players and climbed two spots in the power rankings. Wilson and his staff will need a strong finish to stay ahead of Illinois.
| INDIANA'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| DT Derrius Mullins ★★★ // ATH Bryant Fitzgerald ★★★ // DT Juan Harris ★★★ |
NO. 10 WISCONSIN • 11 COMMITMENTS • 95.57 POWER RANKING
It appears Paul Chryst focused the majority of his attention to the football field as the Badgers had a quiet period on the recruiting trail. CB Ke'shan Pennamon (.840) was the only player to commit to Wisconsin since May.
It will be interesting to see if the early success on the field paves th way for higher ranked players to sign on with Bucky. Currently Wisconsin only has one four-star player in the 2017 class.While many teams in the B1G focused on offense the Badgers picked up two defensive players.
Trending: Down. The Badgers fell two spots to 10th. Chryst needs wins on the field to parlay into wins on the recruiting trail.
| WISCONSIN'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| DT Kayden Lyles ★★★★ // OT Tyler Beach ★★★ // TE Jake Ferguson ★★★ |
Don't look now, but Purdue is not in last place.
NO. 9 NORTHWESTERN • 17 COMMITMENTS • 99.45 POWER RANKING
The Wildcats added four offensive players between June 13th and July 27th. WR Jace James (.844), WR Berkeley Holman (.844), OT Ethan Wiederkehr (.841) and RB Kyric McGowan (.837) pledged to be apart of Pat Fitzgerald's 2017 class.
Trending: Down. Northwestern fell two spots to No. 9. In April the Wildcats were No. 4 in the Big Ten, but have been on a free-fall since.
| NORTHWESTERN'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| WR Sam Miller ★★★ // SDE Trevor Kent ★★★ // SDE Earnest Brown ★★★ |
NO. 8 MICHIGAN STATE • 16 COMMITMENTS • 99.53 POWER RANKING
The Spartans added eight commitments, but Mark Dantonio's program could not gain ground in the Big Ten power rankings. OG Matt Dotson (.899) of Cincinnati Moeller was the highest rated player to sign during this cycle. Two other Ohioans also decided to spend their college days in East Lansing. Safety Dominque Long (.857) of Westerville South and CB Josiah Scott (.840) of Fairfield will be Spartans.
Trending: Steady. The Spartans climbed a spot, but need to some big recruits to climb out of the middle of the pack.
| MICHIGAN STATE'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| OG Kevin Jarvis ★★★★ // TE Matt Dotson ★★★★ // WR Hunter Rison ★★★★ |
NO. 7 NEBRASKA • 15 COMMITMENTS • 99.71 POWER RANKING
The momentum Mike Riley had in May is trailing off like the summer heat entering October. DT Deiontae Watts (.885) was the highest rated player to commit to Nebraska over the past four months.
The Cornhuskers only have four players rated with four-stars and are still in need of a running back for this class.
Trending: Down. Riley is not recruiting on a level equal to the past expectations of a blue-blood program. Then again, the ghost of the past may never live again.
| NEBRASKA'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| ILB Avery Roberts ★★★★ // QB Tristan Gebbia ★★★★ // WR Jaevon McQuitty ★★★★ |
NO. 6 PENN STATE • 15 COMMITMENTS • 100.62 POWER RANKING
James Franklin added seven players to his 2017 class, including safety Jonathan Sutherland (.899). The safety from Episcopal High School in Virginia was the top player to commit over the summer.
The Nittany Lions lost 8 points to their average comp. average and fell out of the top five of the Big Ten Power Rankings.
Trending: Down. Like Nebraska, Penn State is not getting enough of the higher echelon players. With the team not picking up big wins it might be tough for Franklin to sway top talent to Happy Valley.
| PENN STATE'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| QB Sean Clifford ★★★★ // OG CJ Thorpe ★★★★ // SDE Yetur Matos ★★★★ |
NO. 5 MARYLAND • 15 COMMITMENTS • 100.85 POWER RANKING
DJ Durkin continues to keep his Terrapins in the Top 5 of the Power Rankings. Getting two four-star players from the state of Maryland to verbal certainly helped the cause. Over the summer, CB Deon Jones (.942) of Potamac High School and OG Marcus Minor (.912) of DeMatha Catholic elected to play for their home school.
Trending: Up. Although the comp. average dropped, Maryland has more five-star (1) players and four-star players (6) than Nebraska, Michigan State and Penn State. Only Ohio State and Michigan have more.
| MARYLAND'S TOP PROSPECTS |
|---|
| SDE Joshua Kaindoh ★★★★ // CB Deon Jones ★★★★ // OG Marcus Minor ★★★★ |
NO. 4 IOWA • 17 COMMITMENTS • 100.86 POWER RANKING
Kirk Ferentz picked up seven verbals and a nice contract extension this summer. CB Chevin Calloway (.948) of Texas became the second four-star player in the '17 class.
Four of the seven new commits hail from Texas which brings the 2017 total to five. 11 of Iowa's 17 verbals are from either Iowa or Texas.
Trending: Down. Even with the addition of a four-star player, Ferentz's seven other players still brought the class' comp. average down 14 points and the Hawkeyes dropped a spot in the Power Rankings.
| IOWA'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| SDE AJ Epenesa ★★★★★ // CB Chevin Calloway ★★★★ // RB Eno Benjamin ★★★★ |
NO. 3 RUTGERS • 20 COMMITMENTS • 101.40 POWER RANKING
Chris Ash has been busy stockpiling players for the future. The first-year head coach was able to gather 11 commits and jumped the Scarlet Knights an impressive seven spots up the Power Rankings.
OLB Tyshon Fogg (.909) was the only four-star recruit, but the 10 other recruits were enough to put Rutgers in the No. 3 spot. However, the stay might be short-lived as other programs get their numbers up.
Trending: Up. Rutgers climbed from 10th to 3rd in the Power Rankings and improved its composite average rating by 9 points. However, expect Ash's class to finish out of the Top 5 once other teams catch up with commits. His average recruit has a comp. average of .845 and the Scarlet Knights will not be able to hold this spot.
| RUTGERS' TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| OT Micah Clark ★★★★ // OLB Tyshon Fogg ★★★★ // WR Bo Melton ★★★ |
NO. 2 MICHIGAN • 17 COMMITMENTS • 104.23 POWER RANKING
On June 12th four-star WDE Luiji Vilain (.950) of Virginia joined Michigan's 2017 class. 10 days prior to Vilain's announcement WDE Corey Malone-Hatcher (.897) pledged his services to the Wolverines.
Two Ohio players decided to head north for their college football. SDE James Hudson (.892) of Toledo Central Catholic and OT Joel Honigford (.872) of Garaway High School pledged allegiance to the dark side.
Harbaugh and his staff lead the B1G in offers. Michigan has extended offers to 300 different players and continue to pound the pavement looking for players all over the nation. To put that 300 number in perspective, Ohio State only has 130 offers.
Trending: Up. The Wolverines have a firm grip on second in the Power Rankings and improved its comp. average by 14 points.
| MICHIGAN'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| QB Dylan McCaffrey ★★★★ // WDE Luiji Vilain ★★★★ // OT Kai-Leon Herbert ★★★★ |
NO. 1 OHIO STATE • 16 COMMITMENTS • 111.82 POWER RANKING
Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes had a five-star summer. June brought the commitment of five-star OG Wyatt Davis (.990), July had five-star WDE Chase Young verbal on the 22nd and highly coveted CB Amir Riep (.941) follow suit on the 23rd. Not to be outdone, August brought us 10-star Monday with WR Trevon Grimes (.990) and Tyjon Lindsey (.986)
The summer did end with a small storm cloud as Danny Clark opened his recruitment after he decommitted from Ohio State on the 27th of September.
Trending: Up. The Buckeyes are the best in the Big Ten and the best in the country in both Power Rankings and composite average. As their numbers get sorted out, expect another push to get them to 17-19 commitments for this cycle.
| OHIO STATE'S TOP COMMITS |
|---|
| OT Josh Meyers ★★★★★ // OG Wyatt Davis ★★★★★ // WR Trevon Grimes ★★★★★ |
| SEP. RANK | MAY RANK | TEAM | AVG. COMP. RATING | CHANGE | COMMITS | NEW COMMITS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (1) | OHIO STATE | .964 | +.016 | 16* | 5 |
| 2 | (5) | MICHIGAN | .891 | +.014 | 17 | 5 |
| 3 | (3) | MARYLAND | .877 | -.005 | 15* | 6 |
| 4 | (2) | PENN STATE | .875 | -.008 | 15 | 7 |
| 5 | (4) | NEBRASKA | .867 | -.011 | 15 | 3 |
| 6 | (6) | IOWA | .862 | -.014 | 17 | 7 |
| 7 | (9) | WISCONSIN | .861 | +.004 | 11 | 1 |
| 8 | (8) | MICHIGAN STATE | .858 | 16 | 8 | |
| 9 | (11) | NORTHWESTERN | .850 | +.004 | 17 | 5 |
| 10 | (10) | ILLINOIS | .848 | -.002 | 11 | 8 |
| 11 | (12) | RUTGERS | .845 | +.009 | 20 | 11 |
| 12 | (13) | INDIANA | .832 | -.002 | 14 | 11 |
| 13 | (7) | MINNESOTA | .831 | -.035 | 11 | 9 |
| 14 | (14) | PURDUE | .822 | +.023 | 13 | 12 |
| B1G AVERAGE | .863 | 208 | 101 |
