Less than a week before signing day, recruiting has consumed conversation around college football. So in the spirit of the season, a recruiting-themed version of the links seems well advised.
Basically, at this time of year, you've got a choice:
Buy into the hype and live large next Wednesday, convinced that your team just signed the class that will vault it past Ohio State. (If you support the Buckeyes, well, plenty of reason also exists for optimism.)
Or you can play the role of realist, bursting bubbles everywhere with stories of five-star mistakes and walk-on success stories. As Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register illustrates well, if you buy into enough recruiting hype, you'll get burned.
The latter option makes sense. But at this time of year, who wants to make sense when you can picture every prospect as a star?
Big Ten coaches are a bit divided, as I wrote Wednesday, on the league-wide recruiting impact of good publicity in the wake of Ohio State’s national championship and the Michigan hiring of Jim Harbaugh.
For some Big Ten programs, it helps to sell the success of rival institutions. To some prospects, it matters to play at the Horseshoe or in the Big House – even as a visitor.
And for other programs, this signifies no change. Michigan State is the best example. As the Spartans build another class like those that have produced four 11-win seasons in the past five years, coach Mark Dantonio cares little about recruiting momentum generated by Ohio State or Michigan.
It’s bad enough for Michigan State coaches, players and fans that at every turn, they’re inundated with talk of Michigan’s new coach; the last thing you’ll hear from Dantonio is an acknowledgement that another team in the league might help the Spartans recruit.
“We’re selling results," he said. "When we first came here, we were selling hope.”
At the same time, Dantonio, entering his ninth year in East Lansing, told me this week he recognizes the tenuous nature of the Spartans’ spot near the top of the league.
“I think we’re here to stay,” he said, “but it’s a quick drop back to mediocrity. It’s always, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ I understand that.”
As long as Michigan State pays attention to next week and continues to restock its program -- with or without the help of other Big Ten powers -- it’s not likely to fall far from its current perch.
What about the impact of Ohio State’s national title on its own recruiting class?
Apparently, it will be felt more in 2016 and 2017. The Buckeyes, No. 7 in the ESPN class rankings, completed the bulk of their recruiting for 2015 before the College Football Playoff wins over Alabama and Oregon.
But Urban Meyer has remained busy on the recruiting trail since mid-January, scooping up elite high school sophomores and juniors at a rate that ought to alarm other Big Ten coaches.
Their commitments, of course, are non-binding, but the Buckeyes figure to compete well with programs like Alabama and Florida State in the near future for the best prospects nationally.
Recruiting, by nature, is unpredictable. Meyer, though, in building on the Buckeyes’ success, is working to remove that element of unpredictability from the game.
Around the league we go:
What’s left to accomplish for Michigan in the next week?
Michigan State is pursuing twins from Ohio.
A sneak peek at signing day for Rutgers.
Looking back at a recruit who lived up to the hype for Nebraska.
Maryland keeps working to lock down its home territory.
Speaking of Maryland, here’s an introduction to an Indiana pledge, Tyler Green -- a safety from Maryland who was previously committed to Ohio State.
Meanwhile, Penn State is thinking about 2016.
Texas prep teammates decommit from Wisconsin. Yes, decommitment season is in full swing.
Offensive lineman Gabe Megginson chose Illinois over a reported 27 other scholarship offers.
Profiling a homegrown offensive tackle set to sign with Purdue.
And finally, East Lansing and Minneapolis made this list of the 10 best American cities for football.