Blue White Illustrated

W hen it comes to national college football recruiting, the big pic- ture hasn't changed much over the years. For the past decade, the Southeastern Conference has been a dominant force, consistently outper- forming its power-conference brethren and then parlaying those recruiting re- sults into on-4eld success. Only once during the past 4ve re- cruiting seasons did the SEC not have at least 4ve of its members ranked by Rivals.com among the top 12 teams in the country. That was in 2012, a year in which Alabama was No. 1 but only three other SEC schools – Florida (third), Auburn (10th) and Georgia (12th) – were among the nation's top dozen 4n- ishers. The Crimson Tide have spear- headed the SEC's strong annual show- ings, 4nishing 4rst in 2014, '13 and '12. But the league's other powerhouse pro- grams – LSU, Florida, Auburn, Georgia, etc. – haven't been far behind. Meanwhile, the nation's other power conferences have been in the SEC's shadow, including the Big Ten. Only once in the past 4ve years have four Big Ten teams 4nished among Rivals' top 30 classes. That took place with the Class of 2011, when Ohio State's incoming freshmen were ranked 11th in the coun- try, followed by Nebraska (15th), Michi- gan (21st) and Iowa (30th). And even that relatively modest showing came with an asterisk, as Nebraska hadn't of- 4cially joined the conference yet. Only one Big Ten school has signed a top-20 class (as rated by Rivals) in each of the past 4ve years. That school, not surprisingly, is Ohio State, which was ninth this year, third in 2014, second in 2013, fourth in 2012 and 11th in 2011. This past February, the Big Ten 4n- ished with only three teams ranked in the Rivals.com top 30. Accompanying Ohio State were Penn State at No. 15 and Michigan State at No. 22. That was it. And as disappointing as that was, it was an improvement over the league's 2013 4nish when the Buckeyes were joined by only one other Big Ten school in the top 30. That school was Nebraska at No. 17. Given the SEC's dominance, I wasn't at all surprised when Urban Meyer made some negative comments about Big Ten recruiting three years ago a5er taking over at Ohio State. ESPN and a number of Internet recruiting services labeled the Big Ten the fourth-best of the 4ve major conferences. But as the Class of 2016 takes shape in advance of signing day (Feb. 3), there de4nitely appears to be a shi5 under way. The SEC has slipped a bit, while the Big Ten has made a strong push, with its highest-pro4le programs en- joying considerable success and even some of its second-tier programs mov- ing up in the rankings. As of mid-August, there were six SEC schools ranked among Rivals' top 15 re- Big Ten gaining ground on Southeastern powers ANALYSIS By PHIL GROSZ For daily and breaking news updates on recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com. BWI subscribers are invited to take advantage of our 30-day free trial into the Lions Den message board. say that I want to improve on pass cov- erage, especially if I play linebacker. I can move, but those receivers are fast, man. I've got to be able to keep up with them. Then, the obvious one is that I just have to improve on my overall strength. I always need to get bigger and stronger. Is there any chance you could be an early enrollee? Also, do you know what you want to major in when you get to PSU? Unfortunately, my school doesn't al- low us to leave early. I actually would be interested in doing that, but I can't. When I do get there, I'm going to do something in business administration. To switch gears, I want to ask about the town and campus at Penn State. Some guys really like the small, col- lege town feel. Others prefer more of a city feeling. Did that impact you at all? I really like the campus, actually. It's kind of like a box. It's not all spread out. It's all together, and it's really not that hard to walk all over it. It's close and compact, which is nice. For such a big school, you'd think it would be more spread out. The town is cool, too. I do like that it's a smaller town, but it's de4- nitely a college town, too. Last question: Is there anything you want to say to Penn State fans, maybe something people don't know about you or something about how you're getting ready for your college career? I would just say that I'm really looking forward to seeing how far we can go. I know how great some of the other play- ers are and I think the coaches are great. I think Penn State has a chance to be special and I'm looking forward to it. Also, thanks to all the fans for support- ing me. You guys are really passionate, so I'm going to play hard for you guys and make you proud in school and on the 4eld. I know Penn State fans want us to be good players, but good people, too. I'll do everything I can to represent that. ■

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