Class of 2016 storylines: Midwest
Advertisement
The acceleration of the recruiting process has been well-documented, and the Midwest is usually flush with early commitments. In the 2015 class, only one prospect higher than a 5.6 Rivals Rating had not made a commitment heading into National Signing Day, and the 2016 class is headed down the same path.
To date, 24 prospects in the region have already issued verbal commitments. 14 of those commitments, not surprisingly, are to Big Ten schools, but each Power Five conference plus Notre Dame have commitments from the Midwest, as does the Mid-American Conference. In fact, the MAC has the second most Midwest commitments of any conference. Evanston (Ill.) three-star quarterback Matt Little is committed to Western Michigan, Columbus (Ohio) Upper Arlington three-star safety Tyrece Speaight is committed to Kent State and two-star Dayton (Ohio) Chaminade-Julienne quarterback Jacob Harrison is committed to Akron.
Among the Big Ten's early Midwest recruiting haul, Ohio State has been the most successful. Four of their six early commitments in the 2016 class are from the state of Ohio and all are rated four-stars, led by the nation's No. 1 tight end, Jake Hausmann of Cincinnati Moeller. A fifth commitment, four-star offensive guard Tyler Gerald, was at Portsmouth (Ohio) Sciotoville East when he committed to the Buckeyes, but recently transferred to IMG Academy in Florida.
3. Early offers show region's strength
The Midwest is fly-over territory for much of the country, but that does not include college coaches. After what was certainly a down year for talent across the region in 2015, the 2016 class is showing better depth and has a better representation in the Rivals100 and Rivals250 than its predecessor.
At the time of this writing, nearly 130 class of 2016 prospects in the 12 Midwest states were listing offers from Power Five schools with a full year to go before they are allowed to sign Letters of Intent. Those numbers are certainly up from where the 2015 class was a year ago, and there are already 30 prospects from the region ranked in the Rivals250, whereas just 24 finished in that range from the 2015 class.
The 2015 class has been cited as a developing trend of permanent talent decline throughout the region based on population shifts to the South, East and West Coasts. However, with the 2013 and 2014 classes being solid, and strong early returns from the class of 2016, the 2015 class appears to be more of an anomaly than a predictor of future results.
4. Linemen lead the way
Tommy Kraemer
The Midwest has always been known for producing big boys to battle in the trenches and that holds true in the class of 2016. Of the 30 prospects in the region ranked in the Rivals250, 14 are either offensive line or defensive line prospects.
The highest ranked offensive linemen is Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder tackle Tommy Kraemer. The 6-foot-5, 310-pound Kraemer is a Notre Dame commit and checks in as the No. 31 ranked prospect in the Rivals100. On the defensive side of the football, Darien (Ill.) Hinsdale South's Josh King is the highest ranked defensive line commit. He is the No. 57 ranked prospect in the 2016 class.
The remaining Rivals250 representatives are pretty well split among the skill positions. Quarterback, athlete, linebacker and wide receiver account for three spots each, while running back and tight end each have two. The only position that looks to be down across the region is defensive back, where Penn State commit Lavert Hill of Detroit King is the only player at the position representing in the Rivals250.
5. Tight race for top quarterback
It is not a particularly deep year at the quarterback position in the Midwest, but the top three prospects currently rated are all within 40 spots of one another in the Rivals250. Avon, Ind., four-star Brandon Peters is currently the highest-ranked of the group, checking in at No. 198 in the Rivals250. Close behind is Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne's Messiah deWeaver at No. 219 and Woodbury (Minn.) East Ridge's Seth Green, an Oregon commit, at No. 237.
No other quarterback in the region is rated higher than 5.6, so the trio at the top certainly has some cushion on the rest of the field. Who emerges as the top signal caller in the class, though, should be a closely watched battle throughout the next year. Both Peters and deWeaver rank in the top seven of the pro-style quarterback rankings. Peters could emerge as a dual-threat, though, because he certainly brings a running element to the field in high school. Green, meanwhile, is ranked 10th in the dual-threat quarterback rankings.
A head-to-head battle could emerge at the Cincinnati Rivals Camp Series Quarterback Challenge stop. DeWeaver and Peters are both expected to be in attendance, while Green could compete in Cincinnati or Dallas. This battle is close enough that even handicapping the field for a match-up like that would be difficult. Although Green is now off the board, the recruiting battles for Peters and deWeaver should be hotly contested.
Josh Helmholdt
Midwest Recruiting Analyst
Click Here to view this Link.