2010 Big Ten Football Recruiting Roundup

The Big Ten roared back in 2009 in a major manner, sweeping their bowl matchups with Top 25 opponents, including two BCS bowl victories over the champions of the ACC and Pac Ten. After a few years of unfair abuse, the league has begun to regain a level of respect around the country. However, there is still a gap between the respect for the conference on the field and the consideration of their recruiting efforts off of it.

The Big Ten has put together the 5th highest average star rating, as their 244 commitments average out to a 2.879 star rating. That means that only the Big East has been more lowly considered this recruiting cycle. There is a particularly large gap between the top teams and the rest of the league, fueling critics’ fire that the league is top heavy. Here is the final ranking of the Big Ten teams according to their Average Star Rating (ASR).

• Penn State Nittany Lions, 20 commitments, Average Star Rating: 3.60

Penn State jumped out to a great early start with the Class of 2010 and managed to bring home the 5 th best ASR in the entire country! Their excellent haul is highlighted by Consensus 150 Linebacker Khari Fortt and he is one of ten players to have been chosen by one of the major services among their Top 150 recruits. This class has a particularly strong emphasis along the line of scrimmage as nine signees will go to war in the trenches. This is the kind of class that continues to make everyone forget about Joe Paterno’s age.

• Ohio State Buckeyes, 18 commitments, Average Star Rating: 3.444

For the first time in three years, the Buckeyes have been beaten out atop the Big Ten’s recruiting rankings. However, that does not mean that this class is remotely devoid of talent as the Buckeyes earned the 10 th highest ASR in the country. Tailback Rod Smith is a Consensus 150 prospect and is one of seven Top 150 recruits in this group. The only drawback to this class is that it is light along the offensive line, having only acquired one player. Luckily, tackle Andrew Norwell is one of the top players in the country but OSU will have to focus on the OL for the Class of 2011.

• Michigan Wolverines, 27 commitments, Average Star Rating: 3.234

Rich Rodriguez’s second full class in Ann Arbor is a strong group, featuring a conference-high 27 commitments. The Wolverines finished 15 th in the country in ASR and put a lot of emphasis on improving their porous secondary. However, much like archrival Ohio State, Michigan only managed one recruit on the offensive line and that is borderline treasonous in a 27 member class. Still, a class like this (featuring four Top 150 commits) should extend Rodriguez’s shelf life in the Big House and is the clear #3 class in the conference.

• Michigan State Spartans, 21 commitments, Average Star Rating: 3.023

After a top 25 recruiting class last season, it would have been difficult to imagine the Spartans putting together a 2 nd consecutive top tier class. However, it appears that Coach Mark Dantonio has done so, bringing in a class with an ASR ranked among the top 30 in the country. The unquestioned gem of this class is Consensus 150 lineman William Gholston, who was recruited by every single school in America. He is one of three Top 150 players and should be the backbone of a group that should continue Michigan State’s push towards the top of the league. For the second consecutive year, there is a very strong crop of recruits headed to East Lansing.

• Iowa Hawkeyes, 21 commitments, Average Star Rating: 2.865

They say that teams don’t really reap the rewards of an excellent season in recruiting until the year after successes like Iowa’s Orange Bowl victory. However, their 2010 Class is certainly one of the more highly touted classes that Kirk Ferentz has brought in during the last five years and there will certainly be some stars that emerge from this group. At Iowa, there are simply always gems hiding behind two and three star ratings. Top 150 Tight End C.J. Fiedorowicz is considered to be the top player in America at his position and he will headline what appears to be another strong Hawkeye haul.

• Wisconsin Badgers, 24 commitments, Average Star Rating: 2.812

Much like Iowa, Wisconsin’s recruiting classes are rarely ranked among the top 25 in the country yet they manage to wildly exceed expectations on a yearly basis. That’s likely to be the case once more with the Class of 2010, which is considered to be a solid but unspectacular group. Defensive tackle Beau Allen is considered to be the top catch of the group and we all know how well the Badgers churn out elite defensive linemen so remember his name. I suspect that this group contains a lot of players like him.

• Northwestern Wildcats, 17 commitments, Average Star Rating: 2.745

Northwestern finishes a trifecta of teams that fall in the middle of the Big Ten standings that always seems to pry excellence out of underrated classes. This year’s group of new Wildcats is the smallest in the conference and not one of them has a composite star rating above 3 stars. However, Rivals ranked all but one of the new Wildcats as 3 star prospects, so there are a lot of solid football players headed to Evanston to continue the Purple renaissance under Pat Fitzgerald.

• Minnesota Golden Gophers, 26 commitments, Average Star Rating: 2.626

When Tim Brewster took the Gopher job he talked about upgrading recruiting and competing for Big Ten titles. Well, three years later his team is nowhere near competing for anything more than a 3 rd consecutive Insight Bowl berth and his recruiting is ranked in the bottom half of the conference. That’s not good for his job security, especially in Minnesota’s gorgeous new stadium. Brewster has to be especially disappointed to lose star lineman Seantrel Henderson out of his backyard because five star linemen are a very rare commodity in the Twin Cities. However, he did manage to reel in the 2 nd best tackle in the state, Jimmy Gjere, so the cupboard isn’t quite bare. Still, Brewster needs to prove he’s more than bluster and this class has been unanimously evaluated as average by all three services.

• Purdue Boilermakers , 25 commitments, Average Star Rating: 2.620

Purdue was one of the surprising of the season in the Big Ten. After an abysmal start, the Boilermakers really hit their stride in the second half and might have finished the season as the best team in the country that failed to earn a bowl berth. 2 nd year coach Danny Hope has recruited Florida heavily while touting the premise this his team is on the rise and this group has received a lot of praise despite a low ASR rating. Highlighted by wide receiver O.J. Ross, there should be lots of useful parts among this 25 man group as Hope rebuilds the Purdue program.

• Illinois Fightin’ Illini, 20 commitments, Average Star Rating: 2.475

Ron Zook has had exactly one winning season in his six years at Illinois. However, he had gained renown as an excellent recruiter while at Florida and has rode that (along with administrative turmoil and a general institutional apathy towards football success in Champaign) until it is the only reason that he still is employed. So when your coach who has held onto his job largely due to his recruiting acumen puts together a class that boasts the 6 th lowest ASR among BCS conference teams, it really is not a good sign. Were it not for the late commitment of WR Darius Millines, this might have been the lowest ASR in the conference! As I can’t imagine the Zooker holding onto his job at this point next year, perhaps this will be the final blow in what will go down as a majorly disappointing tenure.

• Indiana Hoosiers , 25 commitments , Average Star Rating: 2.40

The Hoosiers have put together a large class this year and head coach Bill Lynch hopes that there are a few hidden gems among a group that many observers have called the best at IU in a the last five years. While it is difficult to call a class that boasts the league’s lowest ASR a success, this is still a solid effort by the perennial basement-dwelling Hoosiers. Another interesting fact is that many of these players were indentified early by the staff and committed quickly, which can sometimes lead to recruiting services only giving certain prospect a cursory look before assigning their star rating. That would lead me to believe that this group might be better than their numbers indicate. Perhaps the school’s recent outwards commitment towards fielding a winning team is starting to bear fruit.

The Big Ten is clearly divided into four groups: The Elite pairing of Ohio State and Penn State, who have possession of the last five conference championships, clearly represent the class of the conference, boasting top ten national ASR finishes and a combined total of 17 Top 150 recruits.

The next tier belongs to the state of Michigan. The Wolverines’ massive class definitely deserves its spot among the top 15 in the country and MSU’s solid group is also a triumph. Both teams, while not quite touted on the same level as the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions, have put together very strong groups that should contribute heavily towards future success.

The next group is what I’m going to call the ‘Historically Likely to Massively Overachieve’ section. The classes put together by Iowa, Wisconsin and Northwestern are given respectful but average ratings and we all know that all three teams have a recent track record that indicates that these teams will exceed their recruiting rankings.

Finally, the bottom of the Big Ten features four schools that can be easily separated. Three of those schools (Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue) have displayed a commitment to excellence on the football field and are at least putting in an honest effort to bring their schools to prominence. The fourth is Illinois, whose ‘coach’ is actually incapable of performing his title and whose administration is happy to see 80% of the seats full. Any questions why Illinois finds itself in a position of shame?

SUPERLATIVES

Most Surprising (Best): Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State has reeled off back to back successes thanks to Dantonio’s stated goal of dominating in-state recruiting in Michigan. The Spartans did a great job locking down multiple Top 150 players in state and with two strong classes in a row, last year’s disappointing 6-7 season seems more likely to be an aberration than the norm. The Spartans are the conference’s most pleasant surprise of 2010.

Most Surprising (Worst): Illinois Fightin’ Illini

After putting together a few top 25 classes during his tenure in Champaign, Ron Zook’s recruiting magic appears to have departed him. To be fair, it is difficult to attract highly-touted recruits when many opposing coaches are telling players that he’s on the verge of being fired while Zook is simultaneously selling those same players on his previously unseen ability to actually develop talent. This class is nothing short of an utter disappointment and only a few late pickups saved it from being perhaps the worst among all BCS conference teams.

Worst Class Overall: Illinois Fightin’ Illini

In that vein, Illinois fans have to eat a double stinkburger as this class is the league’s least thought-of group. While Indiana has a lower ASR, they have a bigger class and a group that has largely been committed for a very long time, which would indicate that the players have already bought in to the Hoosier way. Illinois class seemed almost thrown together late out of desperation and suffered from a myriad of decommitments and I have very low expectations for this group.

Best Class Overall: Penn State Nittany Lions

I remember looking at this class months ago after a large group of players flocked early to the Nittany Lion banner and thinking that it had the potential to be special. While PSU missed out on a three super elite prospects from the Northeast that ended up at Florida (three players which would have vaulted this group towards the top of the entire country), this is still a top five class nationally. Penn State has addressed every major need and even boasts two elite quarterbacks, both of whose composite star ratings are a solid 4.0. For the first time in three years, the Buckeyes have been dethroned in the February wars.

Penn State is the winner of Collegesports-fans.com’s 2010 Big Ten Class Of The Year!

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s football writer. If you want to get in touch with him, email him at Matt.Baxendell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @MattBaxendell