Big Ten Needs to Fight Back Against Recruiting Rules That Favor SEC

The backroom of college football is a game of king of the hill. The big winners get all the titles, but also all the money, the top recruits, the exposure and even control of the rules. That's why this is the big moment for the Big Ten to stand up to the SEC.

It's the first chance the Big Ten has had in years and the first time the SEC has looked vulnerable since God knows when. For so long, Big Ten football was seen as a caveman, out of touch and out of time. But now? In the past handful of weeks, it has produced the national champ (Ohio State), made the biggest coaching hire of the offseason (Jim Harbaugh) and put two starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl (Tom Brady, Michigan; Russell Wilson, Wisconsin), not to mention other big bowl wins.

Time to take the fight into the backroom.

Less than a week from one of the most popular days of the college football year—national signing day for recruits—it's clear that a weird technicality in recruiting rules is being exploited and making it nearly impossible for the Big Ten to fully close the gap on the SEC.

The Big Ten figures to have just one team, Ohio State, ranked among the top 10 recruiting classes, according to 247Sports' Composite rankings. The SEC figures to have five or six.

School	5-stars	4-stars	3-stars	Points
Alabama	6	13	4	307.95
Florida State	4	10	7	285.52
USC	2	12	6	281.53
Tennessee	1	14	13	280.30
Clemson	3	9	11	278.16
Georgia	2	10	13	272.99
Ohio State	1	12	10	270.96
LSU	2	8	8	264.23
Texas A&M	2	10	11	259.19
Notre Dame	0	12	10	257.98

Why isn't the success in other areas translating to a recruiting advantage? What does the conference need to do to make up ground?

"The Big Ten can advocate for a rule change," Gerry DiNardo, former head coach in both conferences, told Bleacher Report. "In the Big Ten, they can come together as coaches and say, 'We're under an old recruiting calendar, an old model. And it favors the SEC.'"

ED REINKE/Associated Press

There are way too many rules for anyone but the most ardent recruiting nerds to follow, but this one involves unofficial and official campus visits. Basically, schools can bring in recruits for an official campus visit when they're high school seniors, expenses paid. But recruits can make unofficial visits if they show up at campuses on their own dime.

And what has happened? The unofficial visits have become the big deciders, done before official visits. Coaches have protocols set up to make sure any unofficial visitor gets the official-visitor treatment. Then, most athletes have already made their decisions by the time they take their official visits, which become a ceremonial trip.

In other words, if you don't get an athlete on campus before his official visit, for the most part, it's already too late. So how does that favor the SEC? How is it unfair to the Big Ten?

Well, the big problem with football in the Midwest involves population shifts in the U.S. away from the Rust Belt. Simply, the kids of farmers, manufacturers, plant workers and miners who used to make up the core of Midwestern teams aren't as abundant anymore.

State	Top 50 recruits
Florida	10
Texas	10
California	7
Georgia	6
Hawaii	2
Louisiana	2
Alabama	2
New Jersey	2
Utah	2
Virginia	1
Illinois	1
Connecticut	1
Arizona	1
Kentucky	1
Ohio	1
Tennessee	1

As a result, nearly all the top high school players are from the Southeast, Texas or the West Coast, according to 247Sports' Composite player rankings.

"Before the population drain from the Big Ten footprint, there were enough (high school) players in the State of Michigan, enough in the State of Ohio for those teams," said DiNardo, the former head coach at Vanderbilt, LSU and Indiana, and current studio analyst for the Big Ten Network. "Now there are not enough. In basketball, they can look at prospects in the spring, but football is way behind the times. You can't pay for the parents' [visit], you can't [pay for a] visit with a junior.

"So you look at a kid in the South, and he's looking at LSU, Alabama, Auburn, and all he has to afford is a tank of gas to go to those places."

But how much would it cost a potential recruit to fly to Lincoln, Nebraska, where there isn't even a major airport nearby?

SEC schools not only have better access to the top players, but they also have rule advantages to keep them there.

Now comes a proposal to allow high school kids to sign in December of their senior year and not have to wait until February. An early signing day works out to two fewer months that Big Ten coaches can spend getting to know a prospect. It locks in the SEC's advantage.

Just say no, Big Ten. Fight back the way you did in the bowl season and keep that early signing date from happening, unless there are concessions regarding official and unofficial visits.

Actually, it's time to ban unofficial visits entirely and allow juniors to go on official visits. That's when non-athletes are considering which schools to go to, too.

It's already hard enough to get a top recruit from the South to come play in cold weather for a conference that wasn't winning big games. Illinois coach Tim Beckman told Bleacher Report that suddenly he's able to use the conference as part of the sales pitch. He also tells recruits that NFL teams will want players who can play in the cold, and coming to Illinois would give them a chance to adapt.

LM Otero/Associated Press

Good pitch.

Not working.

The Big Ten is suddenly flush with confidence. Not only did Ohio State beat Oregon to win the title, but Michigan State beat Baylor and Wisconsin beat Auburn in their bowl games. That's three modern offenses being shut down by cavemen. And Ohio State's semifinal win over Alabama made Nick Saban the caveman.

This spot on top of the hill is new to Big Ten football. It's going to take a lot more to stay there. It's going to take some smashed heads and bloody noses—caveman football—not only on the field, but also in the backroom.

Greg Couch covers college football for Bleacher Report.