Athlon roster rankings by recruiting

[Tech Machine]

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/big-ten-football-ranking-rosters-2026

Images
’26 ’25 ’24 ’23 ’22 ’21 Five-Year
Average
1. Ohio State 4 4 5 4 4 2 4.6
2. Oregon 3 5 3 9 13 6 7.8
3. Michigan 12 6 16 17 9 13 14.6
4. USC 1 14 17 8 70 7 23.4
5. Penn State 64 15 15 14 6 21 27
6. Iowa 26 38 32 41 30 24 38.2
7. Maryland 47 25 38 36 31 18 39
8. Nebraska 100 22 18 25 41 20 45.2
9. Washington 13 23 47 26 95 30 46.8
10T. Michigan State 45 56 42 24 23 46 47.2
10T. Rutgers 38 33 36 57 33 39 47.2
12. Wisconsin 73 27 23 59 44 16 48.4
13. Minnesota 27 50 35 45 49 38 48.8
14. Illinois 23 45 49 38 46 73 54.8
15. Indiana 32 47 65 68 25 55 58.4
16. UCLA 63 46 90 37 61 33 66
17. Northwestern 51 65 80 47 48 50 68.2
18. Purdue 53 98 27 70 38 76 72.4

 

[GophersInIowa]

Why is Maryland always so bad when they have solid talent on their roster?

 

[STPGopher]

Why is Maryland always so bad when they have solid talent on their roster?

shhh! Let a sleeping dog lie.

 

[GopherGuy82]

Some can't find their way out of a wet paper bag regardless of the advantages they have be it recruits and/or money to get recruits. That's why money alone doesn't solve all.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I get that we are in the midst of filler season but is there really any point in ranking teams using a metric like this? Roster churn is so high with the transfer portal that there is a very good chance that a high percentage of the players in the various recruiting classes never actually saw game action for the team they committed to.

Just doing a really quick look at our 2021-2023 classes I count roughly 25 of the 57 commits who have seen at least some game action for us. And some of those are guys like Bucky Irving, Kaliakmanis, Daniels, Perich......guys who played for us but are no longer on the roster due to transfer. Didn't look at 24-26 because it is too early to know on those classes but there has already been some attrition from 24 and 25.

I would be willing to bet that if you did the same thing with other teams in the conference the results would be very similar and probably even more extreme for any of the teams that have had coaching changes during this window.

Very different world when it comes to roster construction in this transfer portal era. High school recruiting still important but not to the same degree that it used to be.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Why is Maryland always so bad when they have solid talent on their roster?

I've often wondered that myself. I'm not surprised by their rankings because they're located in a favorable recruiting area.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I've often wondered that myself. I'm not surprised by their rankings because they're located in a favorable recruiting area.

Nebraska under Frost would always pull really highly rated recruiting classes but it never translated to the field.

Getting highly rated athletes is great but you also have to be able to make the pieces all work together. Otherwise you just have a team that looks great getting off the bus but sucks on the field.

 

[60's Guy]

As well as we did in recruiting for us this past cycle...there are still 7 other Big Ten teams who recruited better.
Any list where we are ahead of the National Champions in recruiting probably means there is more to it than that.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

Nebraska under Frost would always pull really highly rated recruiting classes but it never translated to the field.

Getting highly rated athletes is great but you also have to be able to make the pieces all work together. Otherwise you just have a team that looks great getting off the bus but sucks on the field.

I also wondered if Maryland may have been a bit stubborn in adjusting their recruiting emphasis after they entered the Big Ten. If you don't have good lines (especially offensive) in this conference, you really struggle.

I remember perusing a Maryland game thread after a pretty bad loss to us some years ago (Fleck was coaching). Their fans were upset and discussing where the program had gone wrong. One fan who appeared to have a long history said the program started going downhill "when they joined the Big Ten." He said that they just didn't face the same level of competition game after game in the ACC that they faced being a member of the Big Ten East. There are things I like about the new league but we no longer have the level of safety we had in the Big Ten West.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

Why is Maryland always so bad when they have solid talent on their roster?

Maryland seems to support the theory that there isn't a great deal of difference between a 25th ranked class and the 50th ranked class in terms of talent. The bigger difference is in coaching and development.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

I get that we are in the midst of filler season but is there really any point in ranking teams using a metric like this? Roster churn is so high with the transfer portal that there is a very good chance that a high percentage of the players in the various recruiting classes never actually saw game action for the team they committed to.

Just doing a really quick look at our 2021-2023 classes I count roughly 25 of the 57 commits who have seen at least some game action for us. And some of those are guys like Bucky Irving, Kaliakmanis, Daniels, Perich......guys who played for us but are no longer on the roster due to transfer. Didn't look at 24-26 because it is too early to know on those classes but there has already been some attrition from 24 and 25.

I would be willing to bet that if you did the same thing with other teams in the conference the results would be very similar and probably even more extreme for any of the teams that have had coaching changes during this window.

Very different world when it comes to roster construction in this transfer portal era. High school recruiting still important but not to the same degree that it used to be.

I feel like you complain about everything you don’t like. lol. No offense

Talent rankings don’t lie.

PJ outperforms his talent level. So does BB. Who cares.

 

[Lifeleadership]

I get that we are in the midst of filler season but is there really any point in ranking teams using a metric like this? Roster churn is so high with the transfer portal that there is a very good chance that a high percentage of the players in the various recruiting classes never actually saw game action for the team they committed to.

Just doing a really quick look at our 2021-2023 classes I count roughly 25 of the 57 commits who have seen at least some game action for us. And some of those are guys like Bucky Irving, Kaliakmanis, Daniels, Perich......guys who played for us but are no longer on the roster due to transfer. Didn't look at 24-26 because it is too early to know on those classes but there has already been some attrition from 24 and 25.

I would be willing to bet that if you did the same thing with other teams in the conference the results would be very similar and probably even more extreme for any of the teams that have had coaching changes during this window.

Very different world when it comes to roster construction in this transfer portal era. High school recruiting still important but not to the same degree that it used to be.

Totally agree. The world of College Football has changed with NIL and the Portal. Some programs will rely heavily on the Portal to build a Championship Team. For those type of teams, they have the money to attract the best Portal guys and they have the money to maintain great coaches. We all know that Minnesota and Coach Fleck does not have that luxury. Minnesota will have to rely more on the development of HS kids and fill in the gaps with the Portal. I totally get what Fleck is doing. I totally support it and believe that even without the high level of financial support he needs, he is making the most out of what he has to work with. Any success at Minnesota is due to development and the "RTB" culture. I really like the roster for 2026. Go Gophers!