Big 10 Recruiting Standings 2013 (Updated 8/16/12 10:00pm)

[ForkEmBucky]

So 247 sports claims that Chikwe Obasih gave Wisconsin a verbal... I'm not seeing this anywhere else, though.

 

[JMlion71]

So 247 sports claims that Chikwe Obasih gave Wisconsin a verbal... I'm not seeing this anywhere else, though.

Yes, it's official - and I just checked a couple of hours ago. Nice Dig, Bucks - will rep when reloaded.

Wisconsin has a commitment from Chikwe Obasih, 4-star, 6'3", 240 lb. DE from Brookfield, WS. He had > 10 offers, including ones from Illinois, Iowa, and Purdue.

Badgers now have 5 commits:
Rob Wheelwright, WR, OH
Garret Dooley LB, IL
Austin Ramesh LB, WI
T.J. Watt DE, WI
Chikwe Obasih, WI

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Yes, it's official - and I just checked a couple of hours ago. Nice Dig, Bucks - will rep when reloaded.

Wisconsin has a commitment from Chikwe Obasih, 4-star, 6'3", 240 lb. DE from Brookfield, WS. He had > 10 offers, including ones from Illinois, Iowa, and Purdue.

Badgers now have 5 commits:
Rob Wheelwright, WR, OH
Garret Dooley LB, IL
Austin Ramesh LB, WI
T.J. Watt DE, WI
Chikwe Obasih, WI

Thanks for the confirmation JM!

 

[Smart]

Two huge gets for the Badgers.

Getting a tall receiver was arguably this team's biggest offseason need, as we have not won a recruiting battle for a polished receiver over six feet in awhile. We have taken on a couple of project guys with Wheelwright's height (Hammond and Love), and we got a fairly tall walk-on who you may have heard has been quite the player (Abbredaris), but none of those guys had good offers. For Wheelwright to take us over Michigan and Nebraska sends the message that it is OK for big receivers to pick Wisconsin over other major suitors. It also says good things about the recruiting ability of Zach Azzanni, our new WR coach.

Obasih is a huge get as well. We already lost the #1 ranked WI recruit. Obasih is probably #2, so losing him would have been a bad omen for our in-state recruiting dominance. We also could really use good players at DE and OLB, and it sounds like he is more than capable at both.

We now have filled 5 of our 9-10 scholarship spots, so if anything this team needs to slow down recruiting now. We don't want to have to rescind offers from top recruits who may attend because we used them all up by June.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Two huge gets for the Badgers.

Getting a tall receiver was arguably this team's biggest offseason need, as we have not won a recruiting battle for a polished receiver over six feet in awhile. We have taken on a couple of project guys with Wheelwright's height (Hammond and Love), and we got a fairly tall walk-on who you may have heard has been quite the player (Abbredaris), but none of those guys had good offers. For Wheelwright to take us over Michigan and Nebraska sends the message that it is OK for big receivers to pick Wisconsin over other major suitors. It also says good things about the recruiting ability of Zach Azzanni, our new WR coach.

Obasih is a huge get as well. We already lost the #1 ranked WI recruit. Obasih is probably #2, so losing him would have been a bad omen for our in-state recruiting dominance. We also could really use good players at DE and OLB, and it sounds like he is more than capable at both.

We now have filled 5 of our 9-10 scholarship spots, so if anything this team needs to slow down recruiting now. We don't want to have to rescind offers from top recruits who may attend because we used them all up by June.

Debatable. Rivals has Obasih rated higher than Natter. Actually, they have Alec James rated over Natter, too. I think part of that could be that they've seen a little bit tougher competition. James has offers from Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Notre Dame. I think Wisconsin is actually winning that battle, but I'm not sure. Michigan State seems to be raiding Wisconsin prep this season....hasn't been a priority for them in the past to my knowledge, but they went after AJ Shelton already and got him. I could see Alec James outsourcing himself, with two DE commits at Wisconsin in his class already. Who knows?

 

[JMlion71]

It appears that Lewis Neal, 3-star DE, has decommitted from Ohio St. The Buckeyes are back down to 12 recruits:
JT Barrett, QB, Ohio St.
Marcus Baugh, TE, CA
Ezekiel Elliott RB, MO
Evan Lisle OL, OH
Jalin Marshall ATH, OH
Billy Price DT, OH
Joey Bosa DE, FL
Tracy Sprinkle, DE, OH
Alex Anzalone, LB, PA
Jayme Thompson DB, OH
Eli Woodard DB, NJ
Cameron Burrows DB, OH

 

[JMlion71]

Illinois picked up a commitment yesterday from Merrick Jackson, 3-star, 6'2", 320 lb. DT from Belleville, IL. Jackson also had offers from Indiana and Iowa. Illini have 6 commits:
Aaron Bailey, QB, IL
Jesse Chadwell, OL, MI
Kendrick Foster, RB, IL
Chrisitan DiLauro, TE, OH
Merrick Jackson, DT, IL
Dillan Cazley, DB, IL

 

[JMlion71]

Northwestern has received a commitment from Blake King, a 3-star, 6'5", 270 pound OL from Minooka, IL. King also had offers from Toledo and Western Michigan. He is the Wildcats second commit:
Matt Alviti, QB, IL
Blake King, OT, IL

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Imagine if Illinois could fence off the state and force Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa to hunt elsewhere.

But it'll never happen.

 

[Smart]

Imagine if Illinois could fence off the state and force Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa to hunt elsewhere.

But it'll never happen.

Have you been to Champaign (in general or for a football game)? There's a reason top recruits don't want to go there.

Unless your dream is to play across the street from a cemetery in an aging, half-empty stadium with cornfields everywhere, there isn't much to do in Champaign.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Have you been to Champaign (in general or for a football game)? There's a reason top recruits don't want to go there.

Unless your dream is to play across the street from a cemetery in an aging, half-empty stadium with cornfields everywhere, there isn't much to do in Champaign.

I wasn't even impressed by what I saw when I drove through.

 

[JMlion71]

Imagine if Illinois could fence off the state and force Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa to hunt elsewhere.

But it'll never happen.

Well, that was pretty much right on time. Wisconsin has received a commitment from Jack Keeler, from Barrington, Illinois. The 3-star OL is 6'7", 285 and had > 10 offers, including ones from Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, and, yes, Illinois. Badgers now have 6 commits:
Jack Keeler, OL, IL
Rob Wheelwright, WR, OH
Garret Dooley LB, IL
Austin Ramesh LB, WI
T.J. Watt DE, WI
Chikwe Obasih DE, WI

The Illini responded by going to Ohio to sign 3-star DE Jarrod Clements, 6'2", 275. Clements had 6 offers, no others from B1G schools. Illinois has 7 commits:
Aaron Bailey, QB, IL
Jesse Chadwell, OL, MI
Kendrick Foster, RB, IL
Chrisitan DiLauro, TE, OH
Merrick Jackson, DT, IL
Jarrod Clements, DE, OH
Dillan Cazley, DB, IL

 

[Smart]

It's nice to see another recruit from Barrington. That area (Barrington, Fremd, and Lake Zurich High Schools in particular) has been turning into an offensive line factory the last few years. Fremd has sent guys to OSU and ND recently, we've gotten Voltz and Keeler from Barrington, and LZ produced Anthony Costanzo among others. If we can make in-roads and establish ourselves as the destination school for that area, it could pay off for years.

 

[JMlion71]

Imagine if Illinois could fence off the state and force Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa to hunt elsewhere.

But it'll never happen.

Let's look at that. Illinois prep signings B1G/ND:
Michigan 2 4*'s,
N Dame 1 3*,
Iowa 2 3*'s,
Wisky 2 3*'s,

Northwestern 2 - a 3*, a 4*
Illinois 4 - 1 4*, 3 3*'s.

So yes, 7 quality recruits going out-of-state.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

It's nice to see another recruit from Barrington. That area (Barrington, Fremd, and Lake Zurich High Schools in particular) has been turning into an offensive line factory the last few years. Fremd has sent guys to OSU and ND recently, we've gotten Voltz and Keeler from Barrington, and LZ produced Anthony Costanzo among others. If we can make in-roads and establish ourselves as the destination school for that area, it could pay off for years.

A lot of people aren't aware that UW has a pretty big alumni base in Illinois. It isn't even Ex-Sconnies who moved to Illinois. A lot of people from Northern Illinois have gone to Wisconsin over the years. It isn't too much different from California families who have a tradition of going to Colorado or Washington. I mean besides the fact that California is like 4 times as populous as Illinois.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Let's look at that. Illinois prep signings B1G/ND:
Michigan 2 4*'s,
N Dame 1 3*,
Iowa 2 3*'s,
Wisky 2 3*'s,

Northwestern 2 - a 3*, a 4*
Illinois 4 - 1 4*, 3 3*'s.

So yes, 7 quality recruits going out-of-state.

Thanks for the stats JM.

Barry used to raid New Jersey quite a bit. New Jersey is another state that's kind of like that. They have enough talent for Rutgers to stick their heads in the top 5 once in a while, but Rutgers just doesn't draw them in. Penn State gets a lot of them, don't they?

 

[JMlion71]

Thanks for the stats JM.

Barry used to raid New Jersey quite a bit. New Jersey is another state that's kind of like that. They have enough talent for Rutgers to stick their heads in the top 5 once in a while, but Rutgers just doesn't draw them in. Penn State gets a lot of them, don't they?

NJ has a lot of talent. PSU has 3 recruits from there comitted, and some offers outstanding that we feel good about as well.
Breakdown of commits for B1G/ND from Ohio (and most of these are >= 3*):
Mich 8,
OSU 6,
PSU 1,
MSU 2,
Illin 2,
Iowa 1,
Neb 2
Wisky 1
ND 2

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Wow. Michigan winning that battle. They don't normally win that one do they? I can imagine them pulling a lot of the guys from Toledo, but beating OSU in commits? Tressel had it roped off, maybe Meyer lost it. It's early, though. I have to believe tOSU will take over. Unless Meyer is attacking Florida this year?

 

[Smart]

Ohio State lost a recruit today for a particularly bizarre reason.

 

[JMlion71]

Ohio State lost a recruit today for a particularly bizarre reason.

Alex Anzalone has decommitted from Ohio St. for nefarious reasons. Buckeyes have their second decommit of the week, and are down to 11:
J.T. Barrett, QB, TX
Marcus Baugh, TE, CA
Ezekiel Elliott RB, MO
Evan Lisle OL, OH
Jalin Marshall ATH, OH
Billy Price DT, OH
Joey Bosa DE, FL
Tracy Sprinkle, DE, OH
Jayme Thompson DB, OH
Eli Woodard DB, NJ
Cameron Burrows DB, OH