The college football season ended on Monday night, which means recruiting takes center stage. With that in mind, it is a good time to look at what has gone right and wrong on the recruiting front for each Big Ten team, who is each team's top commitment and who is its top remaining target. The number next to the school is the number of commitments that school currently has.
Illinois (26)
What has gone right: Since I last ran this feature Ron Zook has landed defensive back
Dondi Kirby (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), a big get. Kirby is coming off knee surgery, but when healthy is a great prospect.
What has gone wrong: Zook has landed nine prospects from his home-state, but none of the very top level prospects from Illinois.
Top commitment: DB Dondi Kirby (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway)
Top remaining target: DB
Raymon Taylor (Highland Park, Mich./Highland Park)
Indiana (18)
What has gone right: Former Hoosier coach Bill Lynch landed a large group of early commitments, 21 to be exact. It was a solid group, arguably the best group of prospects headed to Indiana in the past few years.
What has gone wrong: With the firing of Lynch the Hoosiers are now down to 18 commitments and that includes DB Ramon Taylor (Highland Park, Mich./Highland Park) who is visiting other schools, but at least for now says he is still committed to the Hoosiers.
Top commitment: Defensive back/wide receiver Raymon Taylor (Highland Park, Mich./Highland Park)
Top remaining target: Keeping Taylor from defecting.
Iowa (20)
What has gone right: Kirk Ferentz landed the prospects in-state he wanted with the exception of DE
Christian French (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy). Ferentz has also gone to Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio to land some outstanding talent including RB/LB
Rodney Coe (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville).
What has gone wrong: RB
Melvin Gordon (Kenosha, Wis./Bradford) changed his commitment from Iowa to Wisconsin and top in-state talent, DE Christian French (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy), picked Oregon over scholarship offers from Iowa and Notre Dame.
Top commitment: OL
Austin Blythe (Williamsburg, Iowa/Williamsburg)
Top remaining target: LB
Ejuan Price (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills)
Michigan (12)
W
hat has gone right: Rich Rodriguez had landed a solid group of prospects including one of the top running back prospects in the South in
Demetrius Hart (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips) the No. 118 prospect on the ESPNU 150, and defensive back
Dallas Crawford (Fort Myers, Fla./South Fort Myers) who is No. 142 in the ESPNU 150.
What has gone wrong: The firing of Rodriguez has caused Hart to defect to Alabama and Crawford is visiting other schools. Over the weekend at the Army All-American Bowl, in addition to Hart announcing he had changed his commitment from Michigan to Alabama, two other UM targets went elsewhere. ATH
Kris Frost (Matthews, N.C./Butler) announced he had picked Auburn over Michigan and DB
Wayne Lyons (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Dillard) picked Stanford over the Wolverines. DE
Anthony Zettel (West Branch, Mich./Ogemaw Heights), who grew up a Michigan fan, committed to Penn State in late December.
Top commitment: DE Brennan Beyer (Canton, Mich./Plymouth)
Top remaining target: Keeping the Wolverines' 12 current commitments in the fold.
Michigan State (17)
What has gone right: Mark Dantonio has landed ESPNU 150 linebacker and Under Armour All-American
Lawrence Thomas (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance). Dantonio has done pretty well overall in the state of Michigan and has also landed several talented prospects from the state of Ohio.
What has gone wrong: Dantonio missed out on ESPNU 150 wide receiver
DeAnthony Arnett (Saginaw, Mich./Saginaw), and then saw ESPNU 150 defensive back and Under Armour All-American defensive back
Doran Grant (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) pick Ohio State over the Spartans.
Top commitment: Linebacker Lawrence Thomas (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance)
Top remaining target: OL Aundre Walker (Cleveland, Ohio/Glenville)
Minnesota (21)
What has gone right: The Gophers made it through the coaching change, going from Tim Brewster to new coach Jerry Kill, without much disruption to the class Brewster had rounded up.
What has gone wrong: The Gophers have done well in their home-state, but other than in Minnesota have not done well overall in the Midwest.
Top commitment: OL
Tommy Olson (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi)
Top remaining target: DB/WR
Giles Chapman (Fremont, Calif./Washington)
Nebraska (16)
What has gone right: An outstanding group of five offensive linemen are headed to Nebraska as well as a great back to run behind them in
Aaron Green (San Antonio, Texas/James Madison, who is the No. 10 prospect in the ESPNU 150. Coach Bo Pelini has also landed three other ESPNU 150 prospects including Under Armour All-American wide receiver
Jamal Turner (Arlington, Texas/
Sam Houston).
What has gone wrong: Pelini has just one defensive lineman in the class to this point, and TE/LB
Darien Bryant (Pickerington, Ohio/North) decommitted shortly after committing to the Cornhuskers.
Top commitment: RB Aaron Green (San Antonio, Texas/James Madison)
Top remaining target: WR
Patrick Onwuasor (Inglewood, Calif./Inglewood)
Northwestern (14)
What has gone right: Coach Pat Fitzgerald has convinced some solid prospects to stay in-state and play for Northwestern and has landed some solid prospects from the South.
What has gone wrong: Fitzgerald has not landed any of the top prospects in the state of Illinois
Top commitment: WR
Christian Jones (Spring, Texas/Westfield), who is the No. 106 prospect in the ESPNU 150
Top remaining target: DE
Deonte Gibson (Lakewood, Ohio/St. Edward)
Ohio State (20)
What has gone right: Almost everything has gone right this recruiting season for the Buckeyes. Jim Tressel has cleaned up in the state of Ohio, landing everyone in-state he offered that has made their decision with the exception of LB
Trey DePriest (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield). Tressel has also gone out-of-state to land some super talent including Under Armour All-American linebacker
Ryan Shazier (Plantation, Fla./Plantation) as well as ESPNU 150 wide receiver
Evan Spencer (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills).
What has gone wrong: Very little has gone wrong, but the Buckeyes did miss on Under Armour All-American DB
Jabari Gorman (Miami, Fla./Pace) who announced a commitment to Florida over Ohio State at the Under Armour All-America Game.
Top commitment: Under Armour All-American quarterback
Braxton Miller (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne), who is the No. 25 prospect in the ESPNU 150
Top remaining target: LB
Curtis Grant (Richmond, Va./Hermitage)
Penn State (13)
What has gone right: Joe Paterno has landed several highly-regarded prospects including Under Armour All-American offensive lineman
Angelo Mangiro (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury), who is the No. 52 prospect in the ESPNU 150, defensive end
Shawn Oakman (Lansdowne, Pa./Penn Wood) and defensive end Anthony Zettel (West Branch/Ogemaw Heights).
What has gone wrong: Other than Oakman and linebacker
Ben Kline (Dallastown, Pa./Dallastown), Paterno has had virtually no success in-state this year.
Top commitment: Angelo Mangiro (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury)
Top remaining target: Deion Barnes (Philadelphia, Pa./Northeast)
Purdue (14)
What has gone right: Landing linebacker
Armstead Williams (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) over the weekend was huge. Williams was my top remaining target for the Boilers when I last did this feature in November.
What has gone wrong: Coach Danny Hope has just two commitments from in-state prospects and neither is among the top 10 prospects in the Hoosier State.
Top commitment: LB Armstead Williams (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway)
Top remaining target: LB
Armonze Daniel (Avon, Ind./Avon)
Wisconsin (19)
What has gone right: RB Melvin Gordon (Kenosha, Wis./Bradford) switched his commitment from Iowa to Wisconsin in early December meaning the Badgers cleaned up in-state this year. Coach Bret Bielema has also landed talented prospects from Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio.
What has gone wrong: It looks like QB
Jacoby Brissett (West Palm Beach, Fla./Dwyer) and his teammate, TE
Nick O'Leary, are going elsewhere with Florida State being the likely choice.
Top commitment: RB Melvin Gordon (Kenosha, Wis./Bradford)
Top remaining target: OL
Spencer Region (Cullman, Ala./Cullman)