Big Ten football recruiting scoreboard: Nebraska’s big April

That’d be USC, which has zoomed up the league and national recruiting rankings when one of nation’s top recruits, Carrollton (Georgia) quarterback Julian Lewis, reclassified from the 2026 class to the 2025 class — putting one five-star guy in the Trojans’ basket for this cycle — before three blue-chip defenders each committed to the school March 24.

USC landed that trio from Georgia, Georgia and Florida. The other two commits in the Trojans’ 2025 class hail from Texas, a state coach Lincoln Riley once recruited quite well when he worked at Oklahoma.

The defensive haul is auspicious and appears attached to new line coach Eric Henderson, who’d previously coached the position for the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. Two of the three March 24 commits were defensive linemen from Georgia; one, five-star Justus Terry, flipped from UGA to USC.

The Trojans’ big move still has not displaced Ohio State, annually the league’s top recruiting program, from its perch. The Buckeyes have landed some of the nation’s top corners, plus five-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair, a 6-foot-4, 210-pounder out of rural Bellefontaine (Ohio) who has completed better than 70% of his passes in each of the last two seasons.

Both schools are well ahead of Nebraska, which finished last season with a top 25 class but currently rank in the 40s and 50s according to 247Sports Composite service, On3 and Rivals.

The full Big Ten rankings:

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 2/1

The big names: CB Devin Sanchez, QB Tavien St. Clair, CB Na’eem Offord

Skinny: The rich stay rich in recruiting, with OSU landing some of the nation’s top corners — four in the class already — after getting many of the nation’s top 2024 receivers.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 10/3

The big names: DL Justus Terry, QB Julian Lewis

Skinny: The Trojans are doing work nationwide, with both Terry and Lewis coming from the state of Georgia. No commits from California – yet.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 5/2

The big names: LBs Dayshaun Burnett and DJ McClary

Skinny: The Nittany Lions recruit the eastern seaboard better than any major college football program, and typically get the best out of Pennsylvania, too. Coach James Franklin understands his geographic footprint better than most coaches.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 25/6

The big names: QB Akili Smith, Jr, DE Matthew Johnson

Skinny: A familiar name at QB. If he’s as good in Eugene as his dad was in 1998, the Ducks will be in good shape for years to come.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 13/4

The big names: CB Jaimier Scott and OT Michael Roseke

Skinny: Recruiting is not an issue under new coach Luke Fickell the way it was under Paul Chryst. The Badgers have recruited length and speed on defense — eventually, they’ll switch to a different scheme other than the 2-4-5 — and appear to have a solid QB in Landyn Locke.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 26/7

The big names: CB Tarrion Grant and QB Sawyer Anderson

Skinny: Anderson is a Drew Brees/David Blough Texas intrigue, throwing for 9,580 yards and 109 touchdowns in three years at a small Christian school in Dallas. Great skillset. He’s also 5-11.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 23/5

The big names: TEs Thomas Meyer and Eli Johnson

Skinny: It’s a little slower year in Iowa than previous cycles — which were off-the-charts good — so the Hawkeyes may venture more into Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan for their recruits. Iowa has a couple big tight ends and big linebackers in the class already.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 40/12

The big names: QB Carter Smith and DL Bobby Kanka

Skinny: High value, low number — for now. The Wolverines will be able to recruit off of their national title and three straight College Football Playoff appearances, but they will do so without Jim Harbaugh, who moved on to the NFL. Smith, the QB, gives off some JJ McCarthy vibes.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 35/9

The big names: CB Jett White and OL Kahlil Stewart

Skinny: On3 has 32 prospects in Maryland with a three-star grade, and 25 such players in Virginia. In case you’re wondering how the Terrapins slowly improved in a tough Big Ten East.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 33/8

The big names: TE Zach Giuliano and DE Caden O’Rourke

Skinny: Northwestern historically recruits well early in a cycle because the school already knows which prospects will or won’t qualify for admission. So the Wildcats will hit double digits by June.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 39/11

The big names: QB Carson Boyd and ATH Andre Lovett

Skinny: Boyd is a dual-threat superstar out of St. Louis who has passed for 3,557 yards and rushed for 1,182. If, at 5-11, he’s too short for QB, he can move to receiver, the way Isaiah Williams did to the tune of 214 career catches.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 36/10

The big names: LB Talibi Kaba and OT Jayden Elijah

Skinny: Rutgers has stabilized, to some degree, under coach Greg Schiano, whose program will need more offense to take the next step.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 45/13

The big names: QB Dash Beierly and OL Jake Flores

Skinny: UW just cycled through all of the superstar players recruited under Chris Petersen and Jimmy Lake, and it’s possible Kalen DeBoer knew that as he left for Alabama. The climb back to the national title game may take some time.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 52/15

The big names: DL Tyson Terry and RB Conor Booth

Skinny: Terry, the Omaha North standout, is underrated, and perhaps a D1 wrestler one day, as well. The Huskers plan a big April, and may come out of the month with 3-5 more commits.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 46/14

The big names: QB Jackson Kollock and DE Torin Pettaway

Skinny: The Gophers swiped Pettaway from Wisconsin in the last few months. The state of Minnesota isn’t turning out as many blue chip football players as it did 15/20 years ago, and it may affect recruiting.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 56/17

The big names: S Garrett Reese and OT Matt Marek

Skinny: Total reboot coming at IU, which sold out for Tom Allen — a defensive coordinator who was poorly-suited to the top job — and now must give new coach Curt Cignetti, from James Madison, some time.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: 54/17

The big names: LB Weston Port and CB Kuron Jabari

Skinny: Chip Kelly didn’t do new coach DeShaun Foster a ton of favors in the recruiting pipeline department. Kelly’s coaching acumen covered over some of the key recruiting misses over the last five or six years. Foster needs to win — often — in LA.

247Sports composite national/Big Ten: NA

Skinny: Rough start for new coach Jonathan Smith, who has zero commits in his “regime change” recruiting cycle. MSU may well start North Dakota quarterback Tommy Schuster this year, incidentally.