Big Ten Winners and Losers of the Early Signing Period
The Early Signing Period, in which a vast majority of players signed, is now behind us. Today we continue a five-day series looking at the winners and losers of each power conference and up next is the Big Ten.
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MORE NSD: Pac-12 Winners and Losers | Highest-ranked defensive prospects still available | How new Power Five coaches fared | Top Group of Five signees | Ten biggest recruiting stings of the 2024 cycle | Gorney Awards | How each Power Program announced its signees | Five teams with work left to do | Latest on the top unsigned offensive players | All the news, analysis and interviews | Winners and losers | Who's still left? | UGA leads the race for No. 1 | National Signing Day Studio Show
NSD INTERVIEWS: Florida signee Gregory Smith | South Carolina coach Shane Beamer | Georgia Tech signee Anthony Carrie | Rutgers coach Greg Schiano | NC State coach Dave Doeren | Oregon State coach Trent Bray | TCU coach Sonny Dykes | Florida State coach Mike Norvell | Stanford coach Troy Taylor | Arizona coach Jedd Fisch | Illinois coach Bret Bielema | Washington State coach Jake Dickert | Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith | Auburn signee Amaris Williams | Syracuse coach Fran Brown | Georgia Tech coach Brent Key | No. 1 prospect Jeremiah Smith | West Virginia coach Neal Brown | Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry | Auburn coach Hugh Freeze | Amaris Williams announces live on Rivals | Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham | Clemson coach Dabo Swinney | Nebraska coach Matt Rhule | Purdue coach Ryan Walters | Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire | Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea | Larry Tarver discusses flip to Nebraska | Legendary coach Lou Holtz | CFB analyst Yogi Roth | Fitz and Gorney preview the big day | John Garcia Jr. previews signing day in the Southeast
TEAM RECRUITING RANKINGS: ACC | BIG TEN | BIG 12 | PAC-12 | SEC | OVERALL
CLASS OF 2024 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
TRANSFER PORTAL: Latest news | Transfer search | Transfer tracker/player ranking (football) | Transfer team ranking (football) | Transfer tracker/player ranking (basketball) | Transfer team ranking (basketball) | Rivals Portal Twitter
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WINNERS
Ryan Day’s ability to hang on
The biggest drama in the country on signing day might have been the decision of Jeremiah Smith, the No. 1 prospect in the 2024 Rivals250. The Florida native had everyone on pins and needles. Would he stick with his year-long commitment to Ohio State or flip to a program in Florida? He ultimately stuck with the Buckeyes after a little drama surrounding his paperwork.
We knew about the Smith drama all cycle long. But no one saw five-star defensive end Eddrick Houston’s recruitment being a nail-biter at the end. A late trip to Alabama almost got him to flip. He stuck with the Buckeyes. That is a huge win for defensive line coach Larry Johnson who fended off more retirement rumors.
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Drama-free Michigan
Each year we see the top programs in the country gaining and losing commits at the end of the cycle. There was no December flurry in Ann Arbor. All but two of Michigan's 27 signees were verbally committed before December. Everyone on the commitment list signed their paperwork without drama.
There is a lot of size and skill heading to Ann Arbor to play for coach Jim Harbaugh. After the season the Wolverines had and all the headlines about the program a drama-free day was just what the doctor ordered.
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Nebraska fans
Nebraska fans will tell you that they’ve been waiting 20 years for the Huskers to return to relevance. That quest got a huge boost last week when Matt Rhule and his staff flipped five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola from Georgia.
The Rhule rebuild has just had gasoline poured on it thanks to Raiola. The ceiling has been raised in Lincoln but so has the floor for expectations. The buzz in Lincoln is real right now after the program signed the highest-rated high school player of the internet era.
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Curt Cignetti’s persona
It was hard to ignore the rise of James Madison football this season under Curt Cignetti. Now he’s the head man in Bloomington as the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. He’s done a good job of reeling potential defections back to the team but, if his early press conferences are any indication, he’s going to be fun to follow during his time at Indiana.
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LOSERS
Big Ten's ability to keep five-stars home
There are three five-star prospects from the Midwest in the 2024 recruiting class - defensive end Williams Nwaneri (Missouri), Justin Scott (Illinois) and Ryan Wingo (Texas) - and none signed with programs in the Big Ten.
Ohio State is bringing in three five-stars but none are from the region. Nebraska is bringing Dylan Raiola in but he’s from Georgia. We’ll see if the conference can keep its top talent home in the 2025 cycle.
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Minnesota not taking the next step
PJ Fleck has Minnesota in an interesting position. Not counting the COVID year the Gophers have gone 11-2, 9-4, 9-4 and then 5-7 this season. Yet the program’s recruiting profile has not changed at all. Their classes have consistently ranked from Nos. 30-50 every cycle it seems.
That was fine when the Gophers could count on playing a Big Ten West schedule every year. It won’t cut it as the Big Ten moves forward without divisions and adds USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA. Minnesota missed a golden opportunity to raise the talent level in the program under Fleck. It is likely too late now.