Badgers-Buckeyes matchup a tale of different recruiting rankings
MADISON, Wis. -- Marcus Trotter's best -- and only -- college scholarship offer came five years ago from Wofford, a tiny liberal arts college in South Carolina that plays in the lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision. So perhaps Trotter, a fifth-year senior linebacker for Wisconsin, serves as the quintessential example of the enigma that is high school recruiting rankings.
Not a single Football Bowl Subdivision program felt compelled to offer Trotter a scholarship. Yet here he is, a two-star walk-on turned starter who ranks second on the team in total tackles and has become the glue to a Wisconsin defense that Badgers head coach Gary Andersen describes as "the no-name crew."
Trotter's story is not unique at Wisconsin. In fact, four offensive and defensive starters for No. 11 Wisconsin (10-2, 7-1) will take the field against No. 6 Ohio State (11-1, 8-0) on Saturday in the Big Ten championship despite receiving a combined zero Division I scholarship offers: Trotter, outside linebacker Joe Schobert, quarterback Joel Stave and wide receiver Alex Erickson.
What does their ascension say about recruiting rankings?
"It proves to you that you don't need a four- or five-star player on a team to be a very good team," Trotter said. "We work together very well. When you have a team that has the camaraderie that we do and the bond that we have with each other, it's hard to beat no matter if you have five-star recruits."
But therein lies the great debate for Saturday's game, which features two powerhouse programs built with seemingly diametrically opposed views on how -- and whom -- to recruit.
Since 2006, Ohio State has not finished with a recruiting class ranked worse than No. 20 in the country, according to Scout.com ratings. The Buckeyes have finished in the top six in each of the last four seasons. Wisconsin, meanwhile, has not had a class reach higher than No. 29 since 2006. Wisconsin's average recruiting rank in the past nine classes is 40.4, while Ohio State's is 7.6.
"There's talent all over that field," Andersen said of Ohio State. "They've done a tremendous job of recruiting. Recruiting is everything in this business. Coaching is way overrated."
Consider that Ohio State finished with the top-ranked recruiting class in 2013 and corralled four five-star players and 17 four-star players. Wisconsin has brought in a total of 17 four-star players since 2007, and offensive lineman Josh Oglesby was the only five-star recruit in the bunch.
"If we get a four-star here, that's huge at Wisconsin," Trotter said.
Just how big of a difference will there be on the field Saturday?
The 11 players likely to start on Ohio State's offense totaled 39 stars and averaged 3.54 stars per player based on Scout.com's ratings. And on defense, the Buckeyes' starters tallied an astounding 48 stars for an average of 4.36 per player. Ten of Ohio State's 11 defensive starters garnered at least four stars out of high school, and five -- Joey Bosa, Adolphus Washington, Steve Miller, Curtis Grant and Von Bell -- achieved five-star status.
Wisconsin's 11 offensive starters, meanwhile, earned 25 stars and averaged 2.27 stars per player. Stave and Erickson didn't earn any stars as walk-ons, and center Dan Voltz is the offense's only four-star starter. On defense, Wisconsin's starters collected 29 stars for a 2.63 average. Only linebacker Vince Biegel earned four stars.
"I know I came in with some guys that didn't really get that much credit for what they did in high school," Badgers running back Melvin Gordon said. "Guys look at that. You don't have to be a five-star to make some plays.
"I don't know Ohio State. But I know we've got some guys that's starting and that probably weren't rated at all. They're playing and making plays. At the end of the day, you come in and it just depends on how hard you work at this level."
Gordon has become without question the top running back in college football and a likely first-round NFL Draft pick in 2015 if he opts to leave school a year early. Gordon, a Heisman Trophy candidate, earned a Scout.com three-star grade and was ranked as the No. 38 running back in the Class of 2011.
"We really don't get too much respect at all from anyone," Gordon said. "We go out here and we try to perform. They get the five stars, the four stars. We get the two stars, the three stars, the one stars and the no stars."
Ohio State and Wisconsin have found their own paths to success over the years. Since 1998, Ohio State has won or shared the Big Ten title seven times and Wisconsin five times. No other program has captured more than three conference championships during that span.
But while Ohio State generally brings in the best and brightest high school talent in the country, the time-tested method at Wisconsin is to take lesser-known high school players and develop them over a five-year period until they're every bit as good as a highly-rated player out of high school. That also creates the type of player willing to use every game as a proving ground.
"The only way to get there is you work your ever-living butt off," said Badgers right tackle Rob Havenstein, a three-star recruit who has become a legitimate pro prospect. "That's kind of how I was brought up and raised through Wisconsin, saying don't let anyone tell you no or say you can't do this or do that because if they do, then just outwork them and get there. Sneer at them later."
The star rankings do not necessarily suggest Wisconsin's players aren't talented out of high school. Most recruiting analysts will acknowledge there is a certain measure of ingrained bias in those ratings. Generally, if players have not garnered scholarship offers from the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame or Texas, recruiting services aren't likely to place a four- or five-star rating on them. And a player's star value could be inflated simply based on the deluge of scholarship offers once one major program offers.
So, is there a noticeable difference at Wisconsin in win-loss record against high-level recruits?
Since the 2002 season when Scout.com began tracking recruiting rankings, Wisconsin is a combined 11-14 (.440 winning percentage) against Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan -- the three teams listed ahead of the Badgers in average national recruiting rank that have been in the Big Ten for that entire span. Wisconsin is 3-7 against Ohio State and has lost three consecutive games in the series.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin is a combined 53-20 (.726 winning percentage) against Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue and Northwestern -- all teams ranked below the Badgers in national recruiting since 2002.
None of those numbers will be floating in players' heads when kickoff arrives Saturday. But, if nothing else, the star rankings have served as a motivating force this week for Wisconsin, which has an opportunity to dethrone recruiting royalty.
"We've got some walk-ons that are starters," Gordon said. "And they'll never forget it. They'll never forget being a walk-on and not being rated, not being looked at by any schools. And that fuels them to go out there and play the best and compete, to show you overlooked me and I'm going to show you why you shouldn't have."
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