After most schools around the country locked in their recruiting classes for 2024 back in the early signing period in December 2023, a few things happened in college football and in the Big Ten. Michigan won the national championship against incoming Big Ten member Washington and both programs lost their head coaches to other coaching opportunities. Jim Harbaugh left Michigan for a return to the NFL and Kalen DeBoer left the Huskies to become the next head coach at Alabama, succeeding the retired Nick Saban. Both developments threw a few wrinkles in the recruiting process as we approached the traditional signing day on Wednesday.
And, as a result, there were some minor changes in the latest national and Big Ten recruiting rankings for both programs. But they were not the only Big Ten school seeing some changes in the recruiting rankings. Incoming Big Ten member Oregon will come into the conference with the top recruiting class for 2024, knocking off perennial Big Ten recruiting champion Ohio State from the top spot. Of course, the Buckeyes still have a strong showing with a top-five recruiting class according to the updated recruiting rankings.
Penn State held firm to its top 15 signing class with no additional drama going into the traditional signing period. But while Oregon will be coming into the Big Ten riding high, UCLA will be doing the polar opposite after dropping to the last spot in the updated Big Ten recruiting rankings.
With all of that said, let us take an updated look at the Big Ten football recruiting rankings for the Class of 2024 following the traditional national signing day.
All recruiting ranking information is based on the 247Sports composite rankings as of Thursday, Feb. 8. The change in the rankings is based on our last look at the recruiting class rankings compiled after the early signing period. These rankings include the four incoming Big Ten members — Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington — as they will be in the conference in 2024.