Ohio State lands Big Ten's top-ranked football recruiting class

Ohio State is back on top in Big Ten recruiting, with coach Ryan Day wrapping up his first full signing class Wednesday with a letter of intent from the two-time Michigan high school player of the year.

Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska followed the Buckeyes in the Big Ten composite rankings of the recruiting class compiled by 247Sports.

The Big Ten has nine teams among the top 40 nationally for the first time, including five in the top 25 — Ohio State (No. 5), Michigan (No. 14), Penn State (No. 15), Nebraska (No. 20) and Wisconsin (No. 25). The Gophers' class was ranked 36th.

Last year was the first time since 2010 that Ohio State's class was not judged best in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes were transitioning from Urban Meyer to Day and slipped to third behind Michigan and Penn State.

"It's been great to recruit a whole class from beginning to end," Day said on the Big Ten Network. "We've done a great job in Ohio but also have done a great job from coast to coast."

Day's 25-man class includes 17 four- or five-star prospects on the heels of a 13-1 season that ended in the College Football Playoff. One of the four-stars is Cameron Martinez of Muskegon, Mich., who held off signing in December when co-defensive coordinator and his primary recruiter Jeff Hafley was named head coach at Boston College.

Michigan stood pat with 23 December signees, including 14 four-stars. The Wolverines had hoped to land Under Armour All-America offensive lineman Micah Mazzccua of Baltimore, but he pulled out of his commitment two weeks ago and signed with Baylor.

Former Gophers head coach Jerry Kill joined TCU's staff as a special assistant to coach Gary Patterson, a move in the making for several weeks.

The two are Kansas natives and longtime friends.

Kill will be in charge of the Horned Frogs offense but won't be one of the on-field assistant coaches. He was in a similar role at Virginia Tech last season.

Kill was Gophers coach from 2011-15 before seizures caused by his epilepsy forced him to step down. He worked as an associate athletic director at Kansas State in 2016 before being the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks at Rutgers in 2017. He retired from on-field coaching after that season.

Pat Narduzzi, who served under Mark Dantonio for eight seasons at Michigan State before becoming head coach at Pitt, said he has no intention of replacing Dantonio at Michigan State.

"It's my ultimate goal to be here at Pitt," Narduzzi said. "I came here to get a job done. We're just working on continuing to move forward."

Narduzzi declined to comment when asked whether he had been contacted by Michigan State.

"Put it this way, my phone was blowing up last night," he said.

• Maryland quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome entered the NCAA transfer portal, indicating his plan to transfer, a person close to the situation said. He is expected to graduate in the spring, so he will be immediately eligible to play at another school. He lost his starting position at Maryland to Josh Jackson last season.