College football is certainly changing with the transfer portal among the elements that have led to dynamic change in the sports landscape. The Big Ten football teams appear to have experienced the importance of the transfer portal firsthand following Michigan State’s rise last year.
The 2022 Spartans completed a program overhaul in their sophomore year under Mel Tucker by going 11-2 and winning the Peach Bowl. In 2021, Michigan State was only 2-5.
The transfer portal, fueled by the addition of Wake Forest’s Kenneth Walker II, propelled Michigan State into one of the top programs in the Big Ten last year.
Therefore, the profit of the recruitment battles in the program transfer portal is huge, especially for reconstruction.
According to 247Sports, transfer portal Nebraska won in the Big Ten this year. The site used a formula based on players’ average stars and the size of their inbound transfer portal class.
As such, Nebraska tops the 247Sports list due to their 16 commits from the transfer portal (most in the Big Ten).
If the ranking were purely based on the average stars of transfer players, then the transfer portal’s top 5 recruitment classes in the Big Ten would be:
5. Rutgers (87.00 average, six commits) 4. State of Michigan (89.00 average, 10 commits) 3. Pennsylvania (90.00 average, three commits) 2. Michigan (90.50 average, three commits) 1. Ohio Statee(91.00 average, three commits
This is perhaps the most accurate way to look at new talent coming in, but in terms of needs and talent additions, it certainly looks like Nebraska and Michigan State have had a big impact on their football teams on the transfer portal this offseason.
Scroll down to see how the Big Ten fare in the transfer portal rankings according to 247Sports!
No. 1 Nebraska (59.42 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 12
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 2
Three stars: 10
Top player: Ochaun Mathis
2. Michigan State (50.2 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 10
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 2
Three stars: 6
Top player: Daniel Baerker
3. Indiana (37.9 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 13
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 2
Three stars: 8th
Top player: Shaun Schauer
4. Rutgers (33.65 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 6
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 2
Three stars: 4
Top Player: Taj Harris
5. Wisconsin (31.77 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 6
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 1
Three stars: 4
Top Player: Jay Shaw
6. Minnesota (30.44 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 8
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 0
Three stars: 6
Top player: Chuck Filiaga
7. Penn State (26.16 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 3
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 1
Three stars: 2
Top Player: Demeion Robinson
8. Purdué (25.04 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 8
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 0
Three stars: 5
Top Player: Marvin Grant
9. Ohio State (20.01 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 3
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 1
Three stars: 1
Top player: Tanner McCallister
10. Michigan (19.28 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 3
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 1
Three stars: 1
Top player: Victor Oluwatimi
No. 11 Northwest (15.22 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 5
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 0
Three stars: 5
Top Player: Luke Akers
No. 12 Maryland (12.70 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 4
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 1
Three stars: 1
Top Player: Chad Ryland
No. 13 Illinois
Number of transfer portal commits: 6
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 0
Three stars: 3
Top Player: Jonah Morris
No. 14 Iowa (6.76 points)
Number of transfer portal commits: 6
Five stars: 0
Four stars: 0
Three stars: 3
Top player: Steven Stilianos
