Three-point stance: Best of Big Ten, Lone Star State, Cal's new QB

Today’s edition talks about 2017 early returns in the Big Ten, who recruits Texas the best from out of state and Cal landing an interesting QB prospect.

Now that I’ve gone through the SEC and ACC, let’s head to the Big Ten for a quick synopsis of 2017 recruiting by looking at a few categories.

Biggest get: OT Josh Myers fills a big need for the Buckeyes, who took five offensive linemen last year but none the caliber of Myers, a potential franchise left tackle. As an in-state prospect, he is crucial to this class in that respect as well.

Biggest surprise: Maryland landed the No. 4 player in the country in defensive end Josh Kaindoh. On the one hand, it’s not a surprise because Kaindoh hails from Maryland and knows plenty of players on the current team or heading there. But on the other hand, this is a team coming off a 3-9 season (1-7 in conference) and Kaindoh had offers from everyone. So don’t be insulted Terps fans, but this one is a surprise.

Great start: The Buckeyes have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country and it’s not really that close right now. With five-stars like Myers and Shaun Wade, and four-stars from all over the place, Urban Meyer continues to recruit nationally.

Surprising start: Nebraska is killing it on the recruiting trail, especially with its #Calibraska movement and the 3.44 average star ranking is behind only Ohio State in the conference. Iowa, with a top 15 recruiting class, deserves a mention here as well. But with fewer commitments and a higher-rated class, the Huskers get the nod.

Rough start: Purdue is off to a rough start although having your lone commitment with the last name Alstott – Griffin Alstott, son of former NFL All-Pro Mike Alstott – isn’t such a bad thing. But this is not the start the Boilmakers needed.

Recruiting battle to watch: This is an obvious one as we will all be watching Ohio State vs. Michigan in some epic regional and national battles. What’s better than Meyer vs. Jim Harbaugh in any conference? Nothing, that’s what.

Must keep: With Rutgers and Maryland now in the Big Ten, the state of New York is Big Ten country even more. A state that has sent numerous big-time prospects to Penn State and Ohio State as well as Michigan over the years now has the nation’s No. 1 offensive tackle in Isaiah Wilson, who is being recruited by everyone. Michigan has been linked with Wilson since the beginning. He has also mentioned Rutgers recently and he’s the kind of rare prospect that the Big Ten can’t lose to the SEC.

Do or die: The hottest seat in the Big Ten belongs to Darrell Hazell, who is 6-30 overall and 2-22 in conference since taking over at Purdue. Based on the way recruiting is going so far, it’s clear many prospects are waiting to see if he survives the season.

LSU just landed a big-time offensive tackle from the state of Texas in Austin Deculus, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look, as I’ve done with Florida and California, to see which schools recruit the state of Texas from outside the border the best.

From 2012-2016, these programs have landed the most four-stars or better ...

Oklahoma: This is expected, as the Sooners are in the Big 12 and the neighboring state of Texas is one of their geographical targets each year. What’s been a bit disturbing is that only a handlful of the big names have had a huge impact like Samaje Perine and quite a few have been flops. In fact, California has been kinder to the Sooners than Texas.

Alabama: A'Shawn Robinson has obviously been the biggest steal from Texas for ‘Bama, but what’s surprising, other than the fact that Bama has had more highly ranked prospects sign than LSU, is that five players ranked four-stars or higher have signed in the last two years.

LSU: The Tigers have done some damage and much of it has been in the last three classes, led by Jamal Adams in 2014. If you include Deculus and the 2017 class, they have more than Alabama, but we all know verbal commitments are as good as the paper they are written on, so we shall see after National Signing Day.

Ole Miss: Last year was very good to Ole Miss, led by five-star Gregory Little and three other four-stars in the class, so the Rebels are becoming more of a threat each recruiting year.

UCLA: Caleb Benenoch has already come and gone and Soso Jamabo was a five-star stolen from all the Texas schools. The efforts of Adrian Klemm, who coached and recruited the state while at SMU, have been credited here by many.

Former Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb snubbed Colorado for Cal and he could end up putting up massive numbers for the Bears. When he signed with the Red Raiders, I expected him to be the next Texas Tech quarterback to put up pinball numbers in the system Mike Leach built. But now he is landing with Sonny Dykes and former A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who both come from the “Air Raid” coaching tree of Leach.

And perhaps next season with Jared Goff gone could be his breakout year. Like Goff, Webb was a skinny quarterback with a frame not made for holding a ton of weight out of high school. But he had that air of confidence about him and a maturity beyond his years.

Can Dykes turn him into yet another Cal quarterback with first-round aspirations?