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2018 B1G Recruiting: April's Rankings, Commitment Board and More 4/5/17

Matt Gutridge's picture
April 5, 2017 at 6:49am
139 Comments
 
Feb. 2018

Volume 3 brings changes to the rankings and 22 new players to the B1G. Pat Fitzgerald and P.J. Fleck hit the trail hard as they combined for 12 of the conference's commits this cycle. Taron Vincent's pledge gave Ohio State the highest rated player to verbal since the last update. It appears Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska are on a hiatus as Purdue and Rutgers have yet to start.

This piece has information on:

  • 247's B1G Rankings
  • Comprehensive Stars Chart
  • Top B1G committed players by position and Ohio State's top offers
  • Charting the B1G's 2018 average player ratings
  • Charting Ohio State's committed players
  • Committed players by school
  • Open commit/decommit board in the comment section

Since 3/1, the B1G added 22 players, with just under 41 percent of the commits coming within the last week.

Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern brought in the biggest haul with eight commits. SDE Devin O'Rourke (.921) was the highest rated of the eight players to pledge to his home-state school. O'Rourke is the only 4★ member of the Wildcats' '18 class.

P.J. Fleck picked up the most players in the last update and was second this cycle. RB Nolan Edmonds was the highest rated of the five new Gopher verbals.

The rich keep getting richer. Penn State and Ohio State added one player each. James Franklin went deep in the heart of Texas to get 3★ CB Trent Gordon. 

Buckeye coaches and fans finally got their 5★ DT when Taron Vincent committed to Ohio State on April 2. The defensive lineman from Florida adds depth and talent to the interior of Larry Johnson's squad.

The 2018 Composite Team Rankings as of 4/4/2017 according to 247

247 B1G RANKINGS
B1G RANK TEAM COMP. RATING change
1 PENN STATE 226.7 + 8.51
2 OHIO STATE 135.56 + 53.18
3 (+4) NORTHWESTERN 132.5 + 105.61
4 (+2) WISCONSIN 109.46 + 26.74
5 (+2) MINNESOTA 107.18 + 48.73
  B1G AVERAGE 72.68  
6 (-3) MICHIGAN STATE 72.02 + 13.23
7 (-2) MICHIGAN 70.36 + 0.64
8 (-4) NEBRASKA 62.9 - 0.37
9 (-1) IOWA 40.39 + 14.68
10 (-1) INDIANA 36.49 + 26.5
11 (-1) ILLINOIS 12.21 + 12.21
12 (-2) MARYLAND 11.77 + 11.77
13 (-3) PURDUE 0.00  
13 (-3) RUTGERS 0.00  
  AVERAGES 72.68 38.1

Penn State remains the top team in the Big Ten, but Miami took over as the team with the highest comp. average score in the nation. Sunday's addition of Taron Vincent gave Ohio State enough points to hold off Northwestern and stay at No. 2 in the Big Ten.

As Meyer continues to add highly talented and rated players, the Buckeyes will close the gap and take over the top spot before signing day.

Northwestern made a huge jump this cycle by adding eight new players and earning a combined 105.61 composite rating points. It appears that Fitzgerald's "home grown" campaign is working as six of the Wildcats' new players are from the Land of Lincoln. 

The separation from the top of the league to the bottom continues to grow. Last month seven teams were below the conference average, this month, nine teams are below the cut-off line. Look for that to number to dwindle when Michigan, Nebraska and Michigan State get their players.

B1G Stars Breakdown

Although Penn State has seven more players than Ohio State, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are the only teams in the B1G with 5★ commits. Below, the teams are broken down by the stars in the '18 class.

No. of Recruits and Stars for B1G Teams
RANK TEAM 5★ 4★ 3★ 2★ NR TOTAL
1 PENN STATE 1 9 2     12
2 NORTHWESTERN   1 9     10
3 WISCONSIN   1 7     8
4 MINNESOTA     8     8
5 OHIO STATE 1 4       5
  BIG AVERAGE 0.1 1.6 2.6     4.3
6 MICHIGAN STATE   2 2     4
7 MICHIGAN   3       3
8 NEBRASKA   2 1     3
9 IOWA     3     3
9 INDIANA     3     3
11 ILLINOIS     1     1
11 MARYLAND     1     1
11 PURDUE            
11 RUTGERS            
  B1G TOTAL 2 22 37     61

Monday, Lovie Smith and Illinois landed 3★ QB Coran Taylor. That leaves Purdue and Rutgers as the only Big Ten teams without a commit. Will Chris Ash or Brian Brohm be the last coach in the conference to get his first '18 player?

Top B1G committed players by position and Ohio State's top offers

TOP 2018 B1G COMMITTED OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
POS. PLAYER 247 COMP. POS RK SCHOOL OSU'S TOP OFFERs
DUAL EMORY JONES 983 2 OHIO STATE CASEY THOMPSON (932 / 7)
PRO JASON WHITTAKER 867 18 NORTHWESTERN ARTUR SITKOWSKI (962 / 4) committed to Miami 2/27
APB RICKY SLADE 983 1 PENN STATE TJ PLEDGER (981 / 2)
RB BRIAN SNEAD 965 4 OHIO STATE ZAMIR WHITE (998 / 1)
FB          
WR JUSTIN SHORTER 958 16 PENN STATE JALEN HALL (994 / 1)
TE ZACK KUNTZ 967 1 PENN STATE JEREMY RUCKERT (964 / 2)
C          
OG EMIL EKIYOR 952 5 MICHIGAN JAMAREE SALYER (996 / 1)
OT CHRIS BLEICH 896 24 PENN STATE JACKSON CARMAN (995 / 1)
DEFENSE          
SDE AIDAN HUTCHINSON 930 7 MICHIGAN XAVIER THOMAS (999 / 1)
WDE MICAH PARSONS 999 1 PENN STATE KJ HENRY (987 / 2)
DT TARON VINCENT 993 1 OHIO STATE GREG EMERSON (981 / 2)
ILB NICK TARBURTON 897 11 PENN STATE TERDJA MITCHELL (987 / 2)
OLB  OTIS REESE 929 7 MICHIGAN PAYTON WILSON (955 / 3)
CB ERIC FULLER 943 21 NEBRASKA PATRICK SURTAIN JR (998 / 1)
SAF JAIDEN WOODBEY 982 3 OHIO STATE BJ FOSTER (993 / 1)
ATH XAVIER HENDERSON 915 13 MICHIGAN STATE BLUE SMITH (950 / 2)

New player.


Charting the B1G's Average Player Ratings
CHARTING 2018'S AVG PLAYER RATINGS*
RANK TEAM FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL
OHIO STATE .978 .979 .981      
MICHIGAN .941 .935 .937      
3 PENN STATE .931 .934 .929      
4 NEBRASKA .913 .913 .911      
5 MICHIGAN STATE .923 .883 .883      
  BIG AVERAGE .890 .880 .874      
6 (+2) NORTHWESTERN .835 .835 .853      
7 WISCONSIN .857 .845 .850      
8 (-2) MINNESOTA   .849 .848      
IOWA .829 .829 .836      
10 INDIANA .800 .800 .823      
11 ILLINOIS     .822      
12 (-1) MARYLAND     .818      
13 (-1) PURDUE            
13 (-1) RUTGERS            

*Kickers, punters and long snappers are not included in player averages.

Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes maintained their lead on the second place Wolverines. Ohio State remains 44 points ahead of Michigan and is now 52 points in front of Penn State. With more 5★ and 4★ players on the horizon, the 2018 class is going to have a stellar player average. 

Northwestern's 18-point jump is the largest of this cycle. Penn State, Nebraska and Minnesota are the only teams to have their player average drop over the last month.

Which teams do you think will rise and fall over the next month? One thing is almost certain and that is Meyer and Ohio State will finish the 2018 race at the top.

Meyer
Will Urban Meyer have the top class in the B1G in February?

Charting Ohio State's committed 2018 players

CHARTING OHIO STATE'S 2018 COMMITTED PLAYERS
RANK PLAYER FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP
1 TARON VINCENT     993          
2 EMORY JONES 984 984 983          
3 JAIDEN WOODBEY 984 982 982          
4 JAELEN GILL   982 981          
5 BRIAN SNEAD 967 966 965          

2018 B1G Commitments as of 4/4/17

Below you will find every team in the Big Ten and the players in the 2018 class who have committed to play at each university.

  • Players in bold are new commits since 3/1/2017.
  • The +/- represents the movement in a player's rating since 3/1.
  • Kickers/punters/long snappers are not included in the team average. 
     
2018 BIG TEN EAST COMMITS (23)
SCHOOL NAME POS RANK RATING +/- COMMIT DATE
OHIO STATE
BRIAN SNEAD


EMORY JONES


JAIDEN WOODBEY


JAELEN GILL


TARON VINCENT
RB


DUAL


SAF


APB


DT
4


1


3


3


1
965


983


982


981


993
-1


-1





-1


 
7/22/2016


7/29/2016


2/7/2017


3/1/2017


4/2/2017
    AVG 2.4 981 +2  
             
INDIANA
JORDAN JUSEVITCH


ELIJAH RODGERS


CAM JONES
SAF


CB


ATH
96


97


71
800


827


842
  1/21/2017


4/1/2017


4/2/2017
    AVG 88.0 823 +23  
             
MARYLAND
DURELL NCHAMI WDE 57 818   3/13/2017
    AVG 57.0 818    
             
MICHIGAN
OTIS REESE


EMIL EKIYOR


AIDAN HUTCHINSON
OLB


OG


SDE
7


5


7
929


952


930






+5
6/18/2016


10/2/2016


2/21/2017
    AVG 6.3 937 +2  
             
MICHIGAN STATE
XAVIER HENDERSON


JOSEPH SCATES


TRENTON GILLISON


THEO DAY


CHRISTIAN JACKSON
ATH


WR


TE


PRO


CB
13


23


11


20


80
915


940


917


862


840




+2



 
9/9/2106


1/18/2017


1/29/2017


2/26/2017


3/1/2017
    AVG 31.0 884 +1  
             
PENN STATE

 

MICAH PARSONS


CHRIS BLEICH


JUSTIN SHORTER


PAT FREIERMUTH


ZACK KUNTZ


JUSTIN FIELDS


ISAIAH HUMPHRIES


CHARLIE KATSHIR


JESSE LUKETA


RICKY SLADE


NICK TARBURTON


TRENT GORDON
WDE


OT


WR


SAF


TE


DUAL


SAF


OLB


OLB


APB


ILB


CB
1


23


16


6


1


1


25


40


24


1


11


38
999


896


958


936


967


986


896


860


895


983


897


871






-1


+1





+6





-3








 
2/27/2016


4/7/2016


8/6/2016


8/16/2016


11/26/2016


12/1/2016


12/31/2016


2/2/2017


2/3/2017


2/3/2017


2/9/2017


3/29/2017
    AVG 15.6 929 -5  
             
RUTGERS
ZERO COMMITS          
    AVG 0.0 0    

OT Jalen Mayfield received an offer from Michigan on March 24. Two days later, he became the second player to decommit from a Big Ten School:

 

BIG TEN WEST COMMITS (17)
SCHOOL NAME POS RANK RATING +/- COMMIT DATE
ILLINOIS
CORAN TAYLOR DUAL 37 822   4/3/2017
    AVG 37.0 822    
             
IOWA
MIKE BRUNER


JEFFREY JENKINS


DILLON DOYLE
OLB


OG


OLB
69


44


50
826


832


850
  10/23/2016


1/22/2017


3/20/2017
    AVG 54.3 836 +7  
             
MINNESOTA
BENJAMIN SAPP III


JALEN MAYFIELD


BRENNAN ARMSTRONG


ELIJAH TEAGUE


TERELL SMITH


NOLAN EDMONDS


ABI OKONJI


LOGAN RICHTER


AUSTIN BEIER
CB


OT


DUAL


DT


CB


RB


SDE


DT


OG
72


59


24


35


62


37


37


62


42
844


842


846


864


852


856


842


839


839
  2/11/2017


2/18/2017


2/19/2017


2/25/2017


3/10/2017


3/15/2017


3/25/2017


3/25/2017


3/30/2017
    AVG 46.6 848 -1  
             
NEBRASKA
CAMERON JURGENS


MASRY MAPIEU


ERIC FULLER
TE


DT


CB
5


53


21
947


845


943
-1





-1
8/6/2015


6/17/2016


1/18/2017
    AVG 26.3 912    
NORTHWESTERN
JASON WHITTAKER


PAYNE HE'BERT


CHARLES SCHMIDT


CHARLIE MANGIEIRI


DEVIN O'ROURKE


BRIAN KAISER


WYATT BLAKE


ANDREW LEOTA


JACOB JEFFERSON


GREG NEWSOME
PRO


OT


OG


ATH


SDE


TE


OG


WDE


WR


CB
19


76


45


76


8


36


26


32


165


47
867


803


832


839


921


864


865


852


829


864
  12/10/2016


1/13/2017


3/5/2017


3/8/2017


3/10/2017


3/10/2017


3/17/2017


3/31/2017


4/1/2017


4/3/2017
    AVG 53.0 856 +21  
PURDUE
ZERO COMMITS          
    AVG 0.0 0    
             
WISCONSIN
BEN BRYANT


REGGIE PEARSON


TRENT INGALLS


BOYD DIETZEN


CJ GOETZ


MASON PLATTER


MICHAEL FURTNEY


JACK SANBORN
PRO


SAF


SAF


SDE


ILB


OLB


OT


ILB
26


49


57


26


45


74


52


14
853


857


850


853


826


822


850


891
-10




















 
12/7/2016


8/27/2016


10/29/2016


2/20/2017


2/20/2017


2/20/2017


3/14/2017


3/22/2017
    AVG 42.9 850 +5  

 

 

BIG TEN DECOMMITS (2)
SCHOOL NAME POS RANK RATING COMMIT DATE DECOMMIT DATE NEW SCHOOL
MSU
JOSEPH SCATES WR 65 933 1/18/2017 2/18/2017 ALABAMA (LEADER)
    AVG 37.0 822      
               
IOWA
JALEN MAYFIELD OT 59 842 2/18/2017 3/26/2017 MICHIGAN (LEADER)
               

 

If you receive news of  a player committing to a B1G school during the month of April post it in the comment section.

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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