At the start of October, Penn State continues to own the nation’s top recruiting class in the nation for the Class of 2022. With the early signing period now just two months away, the pressure is on for James Franklin to find a way to finish this recruiting cycle on a strong footing.
Penn State’s pursuit for the No. 1 class is going to receive some heavy competition in the coming months with Alabama closing in, with Notre Dame still sitting at No. 2 overall. But with no five-star commitments, Penn State’s hold on the top spot is unlikely to hold in the national picture, but the Nittany Lions are still on track to secure the top-ranked class in the Big Ten.
Not a whole lot has changed in the top half of the Big Ten recruiting rankings. Penn State continues to be followed by Ohio State and Michigan, respectively.
Michigan State moved up one spot among Big Ten teams by slipping ahead of Rutgers since the start of September. For the second straight month, Rutgers fell back a few spots in the national rankings as other teams continue putting their recruiting classes together.
There was also a slight reshuffling among Big Ten West rivals Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Badgers actually fell in the updated recruiting rankings form a month ago despite no changes in commitments for the Badgers or Gophers. Still, Minnesota moved up one spot ahead of Wisconsin in the updated rankings, both nationally and within the Big Ten.
Iowa also added a recruit to their Class of 2022, which was enough to help move the Hawkeyes one spot up among Big Ten rankings and two spots nationally. Iowa moved just ahead of Maryland, with the Terrapins taking a slight step down in the national rankings for a second consecutive month.
But the biggest drop by a Big Ten team came from Nebraska. The Cornhuskers have had their shortcomings on the field this season and in the past month the program has had a decommitment to drop Nebraska’s Class of 2022 to just eight players. The updated recruiting rankings have dropped Nebraska 10 spots nationally down to No. 75 overall. Fortunately, it is impossible for Nebraska to drop any lower in the Big Ten rankings, so they have nowhere to go but up!
As a reminder, these rankings are according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. Rankings and commitment counts are accurate as of October 1, 2022.