Big Ten Football: Weekly 2013 Recruiting Roundup

Every Wednesday here at The Big Ten Blog, we will update you on the latest commits, decommits and rumors in the recruiting world.

Commits

Ohio State got a two-fer over the weekend, landing verbals from Toledo, Ohio safety Jayme Thompson and St. Louis, Mo. tailback Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott runs a fake 4.40 flat, which means he's probably closer to 4.50 or 4.55, which is still plenty good enough to play tailback. Elliott had a host of offers from other Big Ten teams, and he's a borderline top-10 running back nationwide. Big get for OSU. Let's watch him wreck the world, shall we?

T.J. Watt, the younger brother of former Wisconsin All-American DE J.J. Watt and current Badger LB Derek Watt, committed to Wisconsin earlier this week. Watt's best other offer was Minnesota, making his commitment an easy decision even without considering his legacy status with the Badgers. Watt is a 6'5", 225-pound TE. 

Decommits

Nobody really, unless you feel like counting Ohio State stealing Thompson from West Virginia, where he had verballed already.

News and Rumors

The biggest news is Devin Butler escaping the clutches of the Big Ten to go to Notre Dame; Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin were other finalists. Butler's likely a cornerback at the next level, but he could also find himself at wideout. He was a target for a lot of Big Ten schools, and losing him is a tough break for those teams' recruiting classes.

Ohio State has offered '14 lineman Andy Bauer, who's good friends with Elliott. Bauer's already 6'5", 290, and while his picture doesn't make it look like every one of those 290 pounds is "good weight," c'mon; the kid's 16.

Michigan DE commit Taco Charlton is tearing up the camp circuit, looking "unblockable" at times at a Nike camp in California last weekend. Charlton is still raw—he didn't even start on his own high school team last year—but physically, he's going to pass the test at Michigan.

PennLive.com caught up with PSU TE commit Adam Breneman, who said he tries to model his game after Rob Gronkowski. The fact that Penn State coach Bill O'Brien just so happened to be Gronk's offensive coordinator is, I'm sure, not lost on Breneman or O'Brien.