VB Recruiting Complete: Incoming Boilers #8
Yep, you read that correctly. If you follow Dave Shondell on Twitter, you’ve seen that he’s pretty excited about the incoming class, and he’s not the only one. prepvolleyball.com released their Top 30 recruiting classes ($) this week; here’s how the Big Tenteen shakes out.
2. Nebraska (5 players)
5. Ohio State (5 players)
8. Purdue (6 players)
14. Penn State (7 players)
15. Illinois (6 players)
17. Wisconsin (5 players)
18. Minnesota (3 players)
22. Michigan (4 players)
24. Iowa (7 players)
26. Northwestern (4 players)
High Honorable Mention: Indiana (3 players), Maryland (3 players), Michigan State (2 players)
Tough conference.
Yep. Ten schools in the top 30, and it’s fair to suggest that the three that didn’t make the cut were largely teams that simply didn’t have scholarships to fill. (Rutgers had no commits listed for 2019, so wasn’t rated.) That says something about Minnesota’s class, which cracked the top 20 despite having half the commits Purdue had. (Also credit to Northwestern, for landing at #26 with just 4 recruits while Iowa was only two spots better with nearly double the commits.)
Third-best class in the conference?
Also yep. That’s quite an accomplishment. OSU deserves credit for pulling in a class that may well be its best ever (I don’t know much about OSU volleyball, so if I’m wrong I’m happy to learn), but look at who’s behind the Boilers: Penn State (with a larger class, no less), Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota … if the Good Gals are going to make a move in 2019 and 2020, this is the right direction to be moving in.
What does it mean for next year?
Ask me again in August, when rosters are finalized and we’ll know for sure who’s on the team. Right now, expect Nebraska to be early favorites for a conference title and a Final Four berth (although last year’s champions, Stanford, also landed the #1 overall class, so stopping them from repeating will be a real challenge), but if this year’s class has an impact similar to last year’s, Holloway will be one heck of a place to be for three months.
Oh come on, give me something …
OK. One of the incoming Boilers just ran a (possible school-record) :26.47 200.
Feature image courtesy of @PurdueVB
