Big Ten Stock Report: Who has momentum on recruiting trails?

The Big Ten has concluded its conference championship game and even though bowl games are yet to be played, post-season recruiting has already commenced. This week we take a look at how the recruiting stock of each Big Ten program has evolved since the start of the season.

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MICHIGAN STATE
After a string of successful seasons and subsequent recruiting success, Michigan State suffered through a 3-9 season followed by off-season turmoil. Flipping that record to 9-3 was the perfect panacea for the Spartans' ills, and Mark Dantonio and his staff have regained that panache on the recruiting trail they missed this past off-season.

NEBRASKA
There are so many differences with this program since the beginning of the season, but the atmosphere around the Cornhuskers' program is certainly more enthusiastic today than it was in August. A 4-8 season led to the dismissal of Mike Riley, and with him likely goes the "Calibraska" pipeline. But new head coach Scott Frost brings plenty of his own momentum to Lincoln.

NORTHWESTERN
The Wildcats are not getting the attention they deserve for a 9-3 season, even though there was the expectation for a good season with former four-stars and upperclassmen Clayton Thorson and Justin Jackson leading the offense. With Pat Fitzgerald among the conference’s most stable head coaches and this win-loss record, the recruiting stock is up in Evanston.

PURDUE
After a brief flirtation with Tennessee, first-year head coach Jeff Brohm remains in West Lafayette. The questions about how long he will stay at Purdue are likely to plague him on the recruiting trail, but overall the Boilermakers are in a better situation than they were three months ago after a surprising 6-6 season.

WISCONSIN
The familiar December conversation about why Wisconsin does not get enough respect is back again after a 12-0 regular season and another Big Ten Championship game appearance from Paul Chryst’s staff. The Badgers received a lot of national attention over the last month in their race for the College Football Playoff and the respect for producing results is climbing.

IOWA
The Hawkeyes' 7-5 record was neither inspiring nor does it hurt them on the recruiting trail. Having another Thorpe finalist in Josh Jackson following Desmond King’s career is going to further Iowa’s ability to recruit defensive backs, and Kirk Ferentz's long tenure comforts recruits, but overall the stock remains pretty close to preseason levels.

MARYLAND
After a season-opening win against Texas things were definitely on the upswing for D.J. Durkin’s squad. A quick succession of season-ending injuries to its top two quarterbacks killed all that momentum, though, and the Terrapins limped home to a 4-8 record. With a young, energetic coach and some positives to take away from 2017, this team stays steady.

MICHIGAN
The Wolverines lost their four biggest games of the season, and there are some chinks developing in Jim Harbaugh’s previously seeming impenetrable armor, but after losing 11 players from the 2016 team to the NFL Draft, 8-4 was a predictable record. The Wolverines are close to being in stock-down territory, but for now the remain fairly steady.

OHIO STATE
Missing out on the College Football Playoff was a disappointment, but does not downgrade the Buckeyes' stock heading into the off-season. They won the Big Ten Championship and played in several big, national games during the year. Ohio State is one of the best brands in the sport right now, and it remains that way coming out of 2017.

PENN STATE
A case could be made that offensive coordinator Joe Moorehead and running backs coach Charles Huff moving down to Mississippi State is a negative for recruiting. But those losses are mitigated by another strong season from the Nittany Lions, bringing further stability to a program that badly needed it just a couple years ago.

RUTGERS
It was never expected to be a quick turnaround for Chris Ash in Piscataway, so 4-8 in Year Two will not be a hurdle to overcome on the recruiting trail. As alluded to throughout this column, coaching stability is a key in recruiting, and there is no concern about that at Rutgers right now. As long as there is improvement, even slow and steady improvement, it will keep Rutgers' stock steady.

ILLINOIS
The Lovie Smith era has yet to find its stride in Champaign, and an 0-9 showing in the Big Ten’s West division was particularly disappointing considering the perceived lack of depth on that side of the conference. Smith’s name is bound to be among those discussed as being on the hot seat going into the 2018 season, and uncertainty around your head coach is difficult to overcome in recruiting.

INDIANA
For the better part of the past decade, Indiana has been the it Big Ten team in the state of Indiana, but Purdue’s quick turnaround under Jeff Brohm have the Boilermakers buzzing. Indiana was known as an offensive juggernaut under Kevin Wilson, but the Hoosiers still need to find an identity to sell on the recruiting trail under Tom Allen.

MINNESOTA
There was a lot of momentum behind Minnesota’s oars when the Gophers rowed into the 2017 season, but after going 2-7 to finish out the season the current has turned, and the Gophers recently lost the top-ranked prospect in their 2018 class. P.J. Fleck went 1-11 his first year at Western Michigan, however, and he has the moxie to turn Minnesota's momentum around.