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
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.
Just would like to thank God for taking me along this journey! Proud to say that I've committed to THE Ohio State University #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Qka5ZjbmKn
— Taron Vincent (@t_lova23) April 2, 2017
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.
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?
I'm staying home.#Committed#WeWillWin#PeoriaPipeline pic.twitter.com/GJfzqiYRz8
— Coran A. Taylor (@coran_taylor) April 3, 2017
Top B1G committed players by position and Ohio State's top offers
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.
RANK | TEAM | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | OHIO STATE | .978 | .979 | .981 | |||
2 | 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 | ||||
9 | 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.
Charting Ohio State's committed 2018 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.
SCHOOL | NAME | POS | RANK | RATING | +/- | COMMIT DATE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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 | |||
|
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 | |||
|
DURELL NCHAMI | WDE | 57 | 818 | 3/13/2017 | |
AVG | 57.0 | 818 | ||||
|
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 | |||
|
XAVIER HENDERSON TRENTON GILLISON THEO DAY CHRISTIAN JACKSON |
ATH TE PRO CB |
13 11 20 80 |
915 917 862 840 |
+2 |
9/9/2106 1/29/2017 2/26/2017 3/1/2017 |
AVG | 31.0 | 884 | +1 | |||
|
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 | |||
|
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:
3 OT Jalen Mayfield decommits from Minnesota pic.twitter.com/dJ1EQ9Mg1o
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) March 27, 2017
SCHOOL | NAME | POS | RANK | RATING | +/- | COMMIT DATE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
CORAN TAYLOR | DUAL | 37 | 822 | 4/3/2017 | |
AVG | 37.0 | 822 | ||||
|
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 | |||
|
BENJAMIN SAPP III BRENNAN ARMSTRONG ELIJAH TEAGUE TERELL SMITH NOLAN EDMONDS ABI OKONJI LOGAN RICHTER AUSTIN BEIER |
CB DUAL DT CB RB SDE DT OG |
72 24 35 62 37 37 62 42 |
844 846 864 852 856 842 839 839 |
2/11/2017 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 | |||
|
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 | ||||
|
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 | |||
|
ZERO COMMITS | |||||
AVG | 0.0 | 0 | ||||
|
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 |
SCHOOL | NAME | POS | RANK | RATING | COMMIT DATE | DECOMMIT DATE | NEW SCHOOL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
JOSEPH SCATES | WR | 65 | 933 | 1/18/2017 | 2/18/2017 | ALABAMA (LEADER) |
AVG | 37.0 | 822 | |||||
|
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.