Big Ten spotlight: Hot and cold teams
There is a large disparity between the haves and the have-nots in the Big Ten when it comes to 2018 recruiting. There are programs with double-digit commitments, and others with zero or one commitment. Here is a look at three programs recruiting well, and three off to a slow start in the 2018 class.
THREE HOT TEAMS
The Buckeyes started their 2018 class strong with commitments from five-star quarterback Emory Jones and Rivals100 running back Brian Snead last summer. Urban Meyer then finished off arguably his most impressive recruiting class during his Ohio State tenure in early February, and immediately went back to adding top talent for 2018. The Buckeyes have picked up the pace in the month of April, though, landing three prospects ranked among the top 182 in the nation, headlined by five-star defensive tackle Taron Vincent from IMG Academy in Florida. Penn State’s quick start gave it the early lead in the Big Ten recruiting rankings race, but Ohio State is making up ground in pursuit of its eighth-straight Big Ten recruiting title.
P.J. Fleck’s move from Western Michigan to Minnesota in January shook things up in the 2017 class, and that momentum has carried over into the 2018 class. The Gophers are rolling right now with a dozen total commitments, including four this month. They do not yet have that headliner four-star in this 2018 class, but all 12 of their commitments are rated three-stars and they are beating out a lot of Power Five programs to get those players. Most recently they battled Iowa down the stretch to secure the commitment of high three-star cornerback Tyrik Henderson from Chicago. The Gophers are securing their state borders with two in-state commits, they are hitting other fertile Midwest recruiting territories such as Detroit, Chicago and Ohio, and also have four commitments already from the state of Georgia.
It was a close call between Nebraska and Northwestern for this third spot, while Penn State also made noise with a pair of four-star offensive line commitments this past weekend. Penn State lost a pair of commitments in the last week as well, though, including five-star Micah Parsons. The Cornhuskers edge the other two, though, by virtue of a monster month of April that saw four more prospects pledge their services, including four-stars Brendan Radley-Hiles, Chase Williams and Manuel Allen, who rank among the top 150 prospects in the 2018 class. The Huskers built the base of this class with the top two prospects in their own state borders, and now are executing their West Coast strategy. Allen and Williams are from Corona, Calif., Radley-Hiles is originally from Las Vegas, and four-star athlete Eric Fuller, who committed in January, is from Los Angeles.
THREE COLD TEAMS
This is technically Lovie Smith’s first full class with the Fighting Illini and currently they have just two commitments with both added this month. The good news is that the program's first commitment was from a quarterback, Peoria three-star Coran Taylor, and getting your quarterback position secured early is always a bonus. The bad news is 11 of the top 12 prospects in the state of Illinois are already off the board and the Illini do not have any of them, after landing nine from within the state borders in 2017, including Smith’s first five commits of his tenure.
Like Illinois, Rutgers did not add its first 2018 commitments until this month, and it came from defensive backs Jarrett Paul and Rachad Wildgoose. Unlike Illinois, Rutgers still has some room to operate in-state, with half of the top 12 prospects within its home borders still uncommitted and 11 of the top 20 still on the board. Still, similar to Lovie Smith over in Champaign, Chris Ash has had more than a year to lay the groundwork for this 2018 class and just two commitments halfway through April is a little discouraging. On a positive note, Rutgers is in the top five for several prospects who plan to decide early in May, including three-star California quarterback Re-Al Mitchell and three-star Ohio lineman Blaine Scott.
Purdue makes this list by virtue of being the only team in the Big Ten without a commitment yet, but all is not as bad as it may seem in Boilermaker country. Darrell Hazell left little to build on from a recruiting standpoint and first-year head coach Jeff Brohm is having to start from scratch. That means building brand new relationships with programs that should never have been ignored – particularly programs in-state. As I wrote in last week’s recruiting streaks article, Purdue has dwelled in the cellar of the Big Ten rankings for the last four years. This may not be the year it emerges, but becoming a recruiting player again is a multi-year task.
