The early signing period is inching closer and closer. It’s been moved up this year — from the third Wednesday in December to the first — so there are only six weeks between now and when your favorite college program will officially add most of its 2025 recruiting class.
Let’s evaluate where things stand in the Big Ten.
Note: All rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.
1. Alabama has made a strong push, but Ohio State continues to hold the top spot in the national recruiting rankings.
It’s been a little slow as of late for the Buckeyes, who have picked up just two commitments over the past two months. One of those came from four-star receiver Phillip Bell of Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School. Ohio State beat USC to garner the commitment from Bell, who ranks No. 198 overall in the class.
The Buckeyes’ class includes 10 top-100 players and has solid balance throughout, except at the offensive line. Ohio State holds commitments from just two blue-chip O-linemen, and one of them (Jayvon McFadden, No. 407) is on the low end of four-star status.
The Buckeyes need more from offensive line coach Justin Frye and the entire staff at this critical position.
2. Oregon has the No. 2 class in the Big Ten and sits ninth nationally. Its most significant recruiting win recently occurred when it flipped top-100 offensive lineman Douglas Utu, who plays for national power Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, from Tennessee.
Utu is the No. 4 offensive tackle in the 2025 cycle and the No. 78 overall player. His teammate, Alai Kalaniuvalu, is also a four-star prospect who is committed to the Ducks.
Oregon is recruiting at a much higher level than any other program on the West Coast. The Ducks hold the highest average player rating in the country at 94.59 but have at least seven fewer commits than the schools ranked right behind them in that category (Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State).
Dan Lanning tends to close strong, though, so the fact Oregon has only 16 commitments suggests the Ducks will go on a run once the early signing period approaches.
3. USC has picked up six commitments over the last two months, which has vaulted the Trojans back into the top 10 of the national rankings. The headliner of that group is four-star receiver Jerome Myles of Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah. Myles, who committed in September, has been one of the big risers in the class, jumping from the 300s in the spring to No. 33 in the current rankings.
Fight on ✌🏻✌🏻 @LincolnRiley @CoachSimmonsSC @USC_Athletics @BlairAngulo @BrandonHuffman @AABonNBC @KjarEric pic.twitter.com/hke9yyWQRO
— Jerome myles (@jerome_myles6) September 18, 2024
USC is in desperate need of help along the line of scrimmage. So though Myles is a great get, the more impactful recruiting win might be flipping four-star offensive lineman Aaron Dunn from Utah. Dunn, ranked No. 186 nationally, plays at Spanish Fork (Utah) High School.
USC has a top-10 class, but it’s not necessarily elite where it needs to be — in the trenches. Adding Dunn, who is the Trojans’ second blue-chip offensive line commit in this class, helps.
Only four of USC’s 23 commitments are from Southern California. That’s fine, but when a program is having a tough season on the field like the Trojans are right now, it opens the door for schools closer to home to make a run for those out-of-state prospects.
4. Michigan scored its biggest win of the 2025 cycle Monday when it received a commitment from offensive lineman Andrew Babalola, a five-star prospect who plays at Blue Valley Northwest in Overland Park, Kan. Babalola is ranked No. 21 overall and was one of the last remaining uncommitted five stars.
The Wolverines’ class ranks fourth in the Big Ten and 14th nationally. Sherrone Moore has maintained the program’s recruiting relative to what it was under Jim Harbaugh. Now he has to do a better job of coaching on the field and figure out a solution at quarterback.
5. It’s been an ugly season for Purdue, which is 1-6 overall and 0-4 in conference play. The Boilermakers rank 116th in scoring offense and 130th in scoring defense. It’s just bad.
Coach Ryan Walters signed the No. 27 class in the 2024 cycle so there was bound to be some regression with this class for a program that has signed just three other top-40 classes in the last 10 years.
But the ugly losses have taken a toll on recruiting. There have been four decommitments since the season started, most notably from four-star corner Dawayne Galloway, who was the highest-rated player in the class.
The Boilermakers’ class ranks 85th nationally and last in the Big Ten. Not much is going well for Walters right now.
6. Indiana has been the surprise of the Big Ten with its 7-0 record and top-15 ranking. Up to this point, it hasn’t led to any sort of recruiting breakthrough. In fact, the Hoosiers’ highest-rated prospect, four-star safety Byron Baldwin, decommitted earlier this month. Colorado is trying to make a push, but Baldwin did visit Bloomington for Indiana’s dominating victory against Nebraska last weekend.
The Hoosiers, who don’t have a quarterback among their 20 commitments, are still trying to make a push for USC commit Julian “Juju” Lewis, a five-star prospect from Georgia.
It’s been difficult to get top-end talent to Indiana, but if the Hoosiers continue to impress, it’ll be interesting to see what sort of boost this will lead to for Curt Cignetti’s program during the 2026 cycle.
7. Penn State and Nebraska have added at least two blue-chip prospects to their classes over the past two months.
The Nittany Lions, who rank 15th nationally, have added four-star offensive lineman Malachi Goodman, a top-150 national prospect from New Jersey, and four-star receiver Matthew Outten, a Virginia native who flipped from Virginia Tech.
Nebraska landed the top-ranked in-state player in four-star linebacker Christian Jones of Omaha Westside, who is ranked No. 176 overall. The Huskers also added four-star defensive lineman JuJu Marks, who flipped from his home-state Kansas Jayhawks.
8. Several programs — Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers — have not landed a commitment since late July or earlier.
The Scarlet Knights made quite a splash in June and had a top-15 class at one point, a ranking that was boosted by the high volume of commitments (30). Rutgers has lost three commits since mid-August, including two over the past two weeks, and has fallen to 26th nationally.
It’s also been a relatively quiet couple of months for Illinois, Maryland, UCLA, Washington and Wisconsin. Each program has added one commitment but none is a blue-chip prospect.
Meanwhile, Iowa landed four-star receiver Terrence Smith, an Illinois native, at the beginning of September. The Hawkeyes can always stand to add more talent at the skill spots, especially those who can help the passing game. Iowa also lost a commitment, from four-star offensive line prospect Cameron Herron, an Indiana native who flipped to Notre Dame a week and a half ago.
(Photo of Ryan Day and Ohio State: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
