Twitter Tuesday: Harbaugh vs. Meyer, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Big 12

Our weekly #TwitterTuesday mailbag continues this week, where readers ask Rivals.com's National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell football questions via social media. Here are five questions we chose, including Farrell’s take on Urban Meyer versus Jim Harbaugh.

MORE FARRELL: Three-Point Stance

This is like asking someone in the 1990s whether they would have preferred to date Pamela Anderson or Carmen Electra. My apologies to the younger crowd who don’t truly appreciate the comparison, but for those as old as me this is a can’t lose choice.

I would choose Urban Meyer for a few different reasons. First off, you always lean toward a guy who has been there and done that, and Meyer has won the national title while coaching in the SEC and Big Ten. Of course, Jim Harbaugh had success at Stanford and, unlike Meyer, led a team to the Super Bowl, but in this scenario I’m an athletic director and not an NFL general manager.

I think Meyer is a slightly better recruiter and he’s proven to be a better developer of talent at the college level. To me, Meyer is the only true rival for Nick Saban in college football over the last 20 years. This is no slight toward Harbaugh. After all, being Carmen Electra isn’t so bad.

First, to clear this up at the start, Jordan meant Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan. And I will say that all three programs seem to be set up very nicely for the future, but if recruiting rankings were the only thing that mattered Mack Brown would have won three or four national championships. Recruiting rankings are important, but the gap between the No. 78 player in the country and the No. 221 player in the country is much smaller than many people think.

The good news for Jordan and other Huskers fans is that those three programs are in a different division in the Big Ten. Nebraska is recruiting at a level under Mike Riley that we haven’t seen in a long time in Lincoln, and the Huskers are adding talented depth to the roster.

Can they get deep enough to win their division and take down one of the big three in the Big Ten title game? Can they have a few of those key playmakers emerge on offense and defense and find those leaders as Clemson did over the last few seasons? That remains to be seen, but as good as the recruiting is at Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, recruiting at Nebraska isn’t as far off as it’s been. And that’s a start.

The simple answer to this question is yes, and I’m not sure if Hornibrook can do it. That’s correct, I am a big doubter after watching him quite a bit last season. I worry about his arm strength and how it can lead to some key turnovers in the Big Ten.

For a big kid, Hornibrook struggled to put zip on the ball last year in many instances. This being the case, you’d think his overall accuracy and decision making would be solid because he would know not to force the football and take what the defense gives him. But that wasn’t the case as his completion percentage was below 60 percent and he threw nearly as many interceptions (seven) as he did touchdowns (nine).

Hornibrook needs to take a huge step forward in my opinion for Wisconsin to make a similar run as last season. The good news? The Big Ten West isn’t very deep and the Badgers avoid Ohio State and Penn State in the East.

Still, I worry about quarterback play holding the Badgers back this year. Hornibrook has been working on getting the ball out earlier to make up for that lack of arm strength and time will tell whether that helps him or not.

I love this question. Sam Darnold has been anointed the top quarterback in the Pac-12 and rightly so after last season while Josh Rosen has become a bit of a forgotten man. And, of course, there are many aspects to consider including surrounding talent, strength of schedule, injuries and other factors but I think the talent difference between the two of them is minuscule. But how can you pick against Darnold after his Rose Bowl performance and tossing 31 touchdowns to only nine picks last season? Meanwhile, Rosen is coming off an injury-shortened season and never took that step forward that many expected.

When it comes down to comparing the two, throw to throw, I think it’s even. I’ll go with Darnold because he’s playing with much more confidence and has many more weapons to help him out, but don’t be stunned if Rosen finally takes that next step as a junior and wows the country.

I don’t rustle on purpose, although many think I do. Here’s how I see the Big 12 recruiting race at the top shaking out:

1.) Texas - The Longhorns will finish with a top 10 class, perhaps even in the top five.

2.) Oklahoma - Lincoln Riley and the Sooners should finish with a class ranked around the 10-15 range.

3.) TCU - I expect the Horned Frogs to finish with a top 30 class, with a chance of hitting the top 25.

4.) Oklahoma State - The Pokes should ink a top 30-35 class.

5.) Baylor - Matt Rhule's program will sign a class ranked somewhere around 40-45th nationally.

The drop from Texas and Oklahoma, as expected, is a big one and a lot will depend on how TCU and Oklahoma State do this season as the Cowboys making a playoff run could push them to No. 3, but this is how I see it playing out. Rhule did the best recruiting job in college football last season at Baylor and many people overlook that. But we are seeing Tom Herman and Riley bring to the Big 12 what Meyer and Harbaugh brought to the Big Ten, and that will help everyone.