BIG TEN RECRUITING BLITZ

By Jeremy Crabtree

updated 1:47 a.m. ET Feb. 17, 2007

New Minnesota coach Tim Brewster has promised to recruit his new home state harder than ever.

To truly keep that promise, he will need to do much better at Cretin Derham Hall - the state's top school for football talent. Brewster is off to a good start with athlete John Nance.

Get the inside scoop on that and much more in the Big Ten Blitz.

Illinois
Rivals.com recently named two Illini coaches to its list of top 10 recruiters in the Big Ten. Mike Locksley signed five-star receiver Arrelious Benn out of Washington, D.C., and he was also able to lock up Nathan Bussey, Anthony Morris, Ian Thomas and assisted on Craig Wilson. Also making the list was Reggie Mitchell, Illinois’ recruiting coordinator. Mitchell landed five-star defensive end Martez Wilson out of Chicago Simeon. He also went to California to sign blue-chip junior college running back Daniel Dufrene. The additions of Chicago products Darius Purcell and Marcus Thomas were also big for the Illini.

Indiana
Indiana played host to more than 20 juniors last weekend. The top prospect on campus was Indianapolis Ben Davis quarterback MarQueis Gray. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder has a shot at being one of the more heavily recruited players in the state for the class of 2008. He completed 73 of 140 passes for 1,113 yards and 12 scores as a junior. IU has already offered him a scholarship, but other teams like Louisville, Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, Cincinnati and Kentucky are showing him a lot of interest. “Indiana is definitely one of my top schools,” Gray said. “I like how they’ve been recruiting me so far.”

Iowa
Erick Johnson, Iowa’s recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach, is considered one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the Big Ten region. It was no surprise to see him land on the Rivals.com top 10 recruiters list for the Big Ten. Johnson was considered the Hawkeyes' ace recruiter. He lured quality players from Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota. Johnson was the lead recruiter in helping the Hawkeyes sign quarterback Marvin McNutt out of Missouri, tight end Christian Ballard out of Kansas and defensive end Broderick Binns out of Minnesota. Johnson averaged 3.33 stars for his three commitments, but he also played a big role as the recruiting coordinator. Iowa finished with the nation's No. 27 class.

Michigan
The Wolverines landed two coaches on the Rivals.com top 10 recruiters list in the Big Ten. Conference recruiter of the year Ron English helped pull in five-star cornerback Donovan Warren, along with other high quality players like Michael Williams, Zion Babb and Artis Chambers. English was joined on the list by Scott Loeffler. Loeffler did something few people do – pull the top player out of Texas. Loeffler lured Ryan Mallett away from Mack Brown, Bob Stoops and Dennis Franchione. Landing the rocket-armed quarterback from Texarkana, Texas, would have been enough to merit putting Loeffler on the list, but he also played a big part in landing other prospects.

Michigan State
Making a transition to a new school is never easy. Making a transition to a new school a little more than a month before Signing Day is extremely difficult. Despite the circumstances, Michigan State assistant Dan Roushar signed several quality recruits and ended up earning a spot on the Rivals.com list of top recruiters in the Big Ten. Roushar landed three-star running back Andre Anderson out of Barrington, Ill. Anderson had been previously committed to Minnesota. Roushar also was able to land fast-rising offensive lineman Arthur Ray Jr. out of Chicago. While his signees only averaged 2.67 stars, Roushar put his stamp on this Michigan State class.

Minnesota
New Minnesota coach Tim Brewster has promised to recruit his new home state harder than ever. He intends to keep the top players home. To truly keep that promise he will need to do much better at Cretin Derham Hall, the state’s top school for football talent. Brewster is off to a good start with athlete John Nance. Nance is one of four players at Cretin in the class of 2008 that hold Minnesota offers. All four of the players are close friends who have dreamed of playing at the next level together. Now, they may have that chance. "I got my first offer two weeks ago when Minnesota offered me a scholarship,” he said. “It is very exciting, they offered me and three of my best friends, Shady Salamon, Joe Schafer and Michael Floyd. We have talked about the future a lot and maybe going to the same school, but we never really thought it was going to be possible. Now that Minnesota has offered we know that we will have that option. It is really exciting."

Northwestern
The Wildcats had one coach land a spot on the Rivals.com top 10 Big Ten recruiters list. That honor went to Adam Cushing, the running backs coach for the Wildcats. He was responsible for signees with an average star rating of 2.83. Cushing did a nice job in Ohio, landing four of the Wildcats' biggest recruits in the class – running back Jordan Mabin, offensive lineman Ben Burkett, defensive end Vincent Browne and defensive back David Arnold. Mabin, Browne and Arnold have the potential to be superstars early for the Wildcats. Cushing also dipped into Pennsylvania to grab quarterback Dan Persa.

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