National Signing Day 2017 Wrap: Big Ten

By many measures, including the fact that the conference inked 11 five-star prospects, 2017 was the best recruiting effort by the Big Ten collectively in the last decade. We look back at the good, the great and the not-so-great from the Big Ten after last week’s Signing Day.

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Talking about the No. 10 class in the Big Ten and the 48 class overall here may seem odd, but what Lovie Smith did with the hand he was dealt at Illinois was ultra-impressive. The administration in Champaign made two head coach changes at times that were extremely detrimental to recruiting during the course of this 2017 class, and Smith had to find a way to pick up the pieces in March when most schools were already well into their 2017 recruiting game plan. He started by establishing a presence in the Illini’s home state, which will pay dividends down the road. He was also able to go into Florida and land four-stars Carmoni Green and Owen Carney against heavy competition.

D.J. Durkin’s first season at Maryland ended on the losing side of the ledger, but his first full recruiting class is certainly one he should write home about. The Terrapins finished No. 17 overall despite losing five-star Josh Kaindoh to Florida State six weeks before National Signing Day. Durkin is bringing seven four-stars to College Park among his 28 total signees, including four-star athlete Tahj Capehart, who flipped from Virginia Tech on National Signing Day. The quarterback position was certainly strengthened with Rivals100 passer Kasim Hill headlining the class to go along with a transfer they got from former Air Force quarterback Ryan Brand.

I’m a little angry with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Last year around this time I predicted Kirk Ferentz and staff would sign a top 25 class for the first time since 2005. They were well on their way until the infamous “no-visit policy” reared its ugly head and Rivals100 prospects like Eno Benjamin and Chevin Calloway walked away from Iowa pledges. At year’s end Iowa does crack the top 40 for the first time in six classes and ranks No. 8 in the Big Ten, but there was potential for much more, and they failed to deliver on my projection.

1. OHIO STATE

The Good: By points, this was one of the 10 best classes ever assembled in the Rivals.com era. Plus, its six five-stars ties the most ever signed by the entire Big Ten in one class. Now that’s impressive.

The Bad: The class got off to a big start with 10 commits before the 2015 season, but it slowed down near the finish, missing out on No. 2 overall Marvin Wilson and failing to overtake Alabama for the team rankings title.

2. MICHIGAN

The Good: After signing just three in-state prospects and none from Ohio in the 2016 class, Michigan signed a combined 10 prospects from those states in 2017 and re-established itself as the program to beat for Detroit talent.

The Bad: Michigan has now set itself up as dependent on late recruiting to bring in top classes, a la Florida State of years past. It’s fine if you can pull it off year after year, but it puts a lot of pressure on the staff to deliver in December and January.

3. PENN STATE

The Good: Five-star Lamont Wade out of Pittsburgh was courted by nearly every top program in the country, but the Nittany Lions were able to outlast them all. Wade headlines a very impressive defensive back group.

The Bad: Philadelphia four-star wide receiver Mark Webb will be the one that got away for Penn State in 2017. PSU made another hard push late, but the No. 101 player in the class stuck with his earlier commitment to Georgia.

4. MARYLAND

The Good: D.J. Durkin built a strong base to this class last spring, then was able to put an exclamation point on it late with two four-star pickups in the final week leading up to National Signing Day, including Rivals250 running back Anthony McFarland.

The Bad: The jewel of this class for several months was five-star defensive end Josh Kaindoh, but the Terrapins could not finish the deal and lost the No. 5 player in the 2017 class to Florida State just before Christmas.

5. NEBRASKA

The Good: The offense in Lincoln is evolving under Mike Riley, and now he is starting to bring in the weapons to maximize its potential, highlighted by three four-star wide receivers in this 2017 class.

The Bad: For all the talk about the “Calibraska” pipeline, the Cornhuskers ended up signing just three prospects from the Golden State. All three are four-stars, but Nebraska fans expected there to be more Californians in this class.

6. MICHIGAN STATE

The Good: The Spartans have done a consistently good job recruiting the quarterback position, and gave those guys more weapons to throw at with four-stars Matt Dotson and Hunter Rison.

The Bad: After signing a top-20 class in 2016 that featured several instant impact freshmen, the Spartans got off to a late start in 2017, which was compounded by a poor performance during the 2016 season.

7. WISCONSIN

The Good: Offensive line was a priority in this class, and Paul Chryst and staff addressed it early with four in-state commits. Getting Rivals100 wide receiver Danny Davis on National Signing Day was the cherry on the sundae.

The Bad: The issue with the 2017 class was low scholarship availability, and the Badgers did end up with the fewest number of signees in the Big Ten.

8. IOWA

The Good: Defensive end A.J. Epenesa is the first five-star Iowa has signed since the 2005 class, and he has the talent to come in and impact immediately for the Hawkeyes.

The Bad: As noted above, Iowa was rolling toward its best class in a decade until a couple of its highest-rated commits started visiting elsewhere and were dropped. That episode also killed a lot of Iowa's momentum on the recruiting trail.

9. RUTGERS

The Good: Chris Ash made New Jersey a priority in 2017, and it paid off with the Scarlett Knights landing 11 of the top 35 players in-state, including No. 3 overall Micah Clark.

The Bad: This class had the potential to be much more, but Rutgers went on a commitment drought from July to January. Plus, outside of wide receiver Eddie Lewis, the last eight commits it picked up in this class are borderline Power Five types.

10. ILLINOIS

The Good: Coach Lovie Smith’s first seven commitments in this class were from the state of Illinois or nearby St. Louis, which built up a lot of goodwill with local high school coaches and will help with future recruiting.

The Bad: After impressing with his spring and summer recruiting, Smith limped to the finish line. Eight of the last 10 commitments for the Fighting Illini were two-star prospects.

11. NORTHWESTERN

The Good: Coach Pat Fitzgerald has done an excellent job of accelerating Northwestern’s recruiting plan to keep up with its Power Five brethren while still limiting how much the Wildcats gamble with early offers.

The Bad: There is no Clayton Thorson or Justin Jackson in this class – guys that are true four-star talents for whom the Wildcats beat out big-time programs, though defensive end Trevor Kent comes closest.

12. MINNESOTA

The Good: Coach P.J. Fleck was maligned for flipping prospects that committed to him at Western Michigan after he took the Minnesota job, but we already had most of those prospects rated as Power Five-caliber talents.

The Bad: The lack of a true headliner in the class could be considered a negative, but even though this is only the Big Ten’s 12th-ranked class Fleck used his one month of recruiting time to address a lot of needs.

13. INDIANA

The Good: While Indiana’s offense has taken off in recent years, its defense has struggled. That was addressed in this class, particularly up front where linemen such as Juan Harris and Britt Beery have high upside.

The Bad: This class started off strong and the early recruiting success Kevin Wilson had appeared to be back, but the Hoosiers changed coaches following the regular season and lost the momentum, stumbling to the Big Ten’s 13th-ranked class.

14. PURDUE

The Good: The first challenge for a head coach when he takes over a program is addressing the roster needs to fit his system, and 19 of Purdue’s 24 signees in this class were brought in after Jeff Brohm was hired.

The Bad: This is the Big Ten’s lowest-ranked class, but most concerning is the complete lack of Midwest prospects signed. Brohm is going to have to find a way to successfully recruit Indiana, Ohio, Chicago and other Midwest territories if he is going to have recruiting success at Purdue.

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