Big Ten football spring update: 10 thoughts on new coaches, transfers and more

Spring practice has largely concluded, the NFL Draft is complete and the transfer portal has shut down. Athletes are finishing their semester classes, coaches are making calls to fill out their rosters and spring recruiting is in full swing.

It’s a perfect time to examine the new-look Big Ten with 18 schools. Geographic divisions are kaput after 10 years and West Coast newcomers USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington join the conference. Outside of 12 protected series, the league has a true rotation where every program will visit the other at least once over five years.

With four months until kickoff, let’s dive into 10 topics associated with Big Ten football.

1. On the move

There’s plenty of turnover in the Big Ten coaching ranks with six new head coaches plus nine new coordinators on both offense and defense.

* New coaches are highlighted in green.

Northwestern elevated David Braun from interim coach and Michigan hired offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who served as interim head coach for four games last year. UCLA boosted running backs coach and former Bruin great DeShaun Foster to head coach when Chip Kelly left to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. The other hires include former James Madison coach Curt Cignetti at Indiana, ex-Arizona coach Jedd Fisch at Washington and former Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith at Michigan State.

Among the most interesting coordinator hires include Kelly at Ohio State and former Indiana head coach Tom Allen as Penn State’s defensive coordinator. Coordinators from the NFL ranks include UCLA’s Eric Bieniemy (offense), Washington’s Steve Belichick (defense) and Michigan’s Wink Martindale (defense). Moving within the conference include USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn (from UCLA) and Michigan State defensive coordinator Joe Rossi (from Minnesota). At Iowa, Kirk Ferentz replaced his son, Brian, with former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester.

2. Key returnees, additions, portal departures

Teams will continue to receive portal commitments over the next few months. Every Big Ten program added at least one player who will help this fall and lost at least one player that made the staff wince. There are also many high-caliber non-portal returnees.

Below is a list of each team’s top returning player, the best portal addition and a painful portal departure.

Illinois — Returnee: OL Josh Kreutz; Addition: DL Anthony Johnson, 6.5 tackles for loss (Youngstown State); Departure: CB Tahveon Nicholson (Louisville)

Indiana — Returnee: WR Donaven McCulley, 48 catches, 644 yards, 6 TDs; Addition: WR Elijah Sarratt, 82 catches, 1,191 yards, 8 TDs (James Madison, first-team All-Sun Belt); Departure: OL Zach Carpenter (Miami, Fla.)

Iowa — Returnee: LB Jay Higgins, 171 tackles, first-team All-American; Addition: OL Cade Borud (North Dakota, FCS freshman All-American); Departure: OT Kadyn Proctor (returned to Alabama)

Maryland — Returnee: WR Tai Felton, 48 catches, 723, 6 TDs, third-team All-Big Ten; Addition: OL Aliou Bah (Georgia); Departure: TE Corey Dyches (California)

Michigan — Returnee: CB Will Johnson, 4 interceptions, 27 tackles, first-team All-Big Ten; Addition: OL Josh Priebe (Northwestern, third-team All-Big Ten); Departure: S Keon Sabb (Alabama)

Michigan State — Returnee: LB Cal Haladay, 91 tackles; Addition: TE Jack Velling, 29 catches, 438 yards, 8 TDs (Oregon State, first-team All-Pac-12); Departure: DL Simeon Barrow (portal)

Minnesota — Returnee: WR Daniel Jackson, 59 catches, 831 yards, 8 TDs, second-team All-Big Ten; Addition: Edge Jaxon Howard (LSU); Departure — OL Cade McConnell (Vanderbilt)

Nebraska — Returnee: RT Bryce Benhart, 41 starts; Addition: WR Jahmal Banks, 59 catches, 653 yards, 4 TDs (Wake Forest); Departure: LB Chief Borders (portal)

Northwestern — Returnee: LB Xander Mueller, 110 tackles; Addition: OL Matt Keeler (Texas Tech); Departure: CB Rod Heard (Notre Dame)

Ohio State — Returnee: DE JT Tuimoloau, 5 sacks, first-team All-Big Ten; Addition: S Caleb Downs, 107 tackles, 2 interceptions (Alabama, second-team All-American); Departure: CB Jyaire Brown (LSU)

Oregon — Returnee: WR Tez Johnson, 86 catches, 1,182 yards, 10 TDs, second-team All-Pac-12; Addition: CB Jabbar Muhammad, 46 tackles, 3 interceptions 19 passes defended (Washington, first-team All-Pac-12); Departure: S Trikweze Bridges (Florida)

Penn State — Returnee: Edge Abdul Carter, 48 tackles, 4.5 sacks, second-team All-Big Ten linebacker; Addition: WR Julian Fleming, 26 catches, 270 yards (Ohio State); Departure: WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith (Auburn)

Purdue — Returnee: C Gus Hartwig; Addition: LT Corey Stewart (Ball State, first-team All-MAC); Departure: DE Nic Scourton (Texas A&M)

Rutgers — Returnee: RB Kyle Monangai, 1,262 yards, 8 TDs; Addition: DT Malcolm Ray, 3.5 tackles for loss (Florida State); Departure: DL Rene Konga (Louisville)

UCLA — Returnee: RB T.J. Harden, 827 yards, 8 TDs; Addition: OL Alani Makihele (UNLV); Departure: OT Bruno Fina (portal)

USC — Returnee: WR/PR/KR Zachariah Branch, 31 catches, 320 yards, 4 total TDs, second-team All-American return specialist; Addition: LB Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, 107 tackles, 6.5 TFLs (Oregon State, first-team All-Pac-12); Departure: CB Domani Jackson (Alabama)

Washington — Returnee: LB Carson Bruener, 86 tackles; Addition: RB Jonah Coleman, 871 rushing yards, 6 total TDs (Arizona); Departure: CB Jabbar Muhammad (Oregon)

Wisconsin — Returnee: DB Hunter Wohler, 120 tackles, 2 interceptions, second-team All-Big Ten; Addition: LB John Pius, 16 TFLs, 9.5 sacks (William & Mary, FCS All-American); Departure: WR Chimere Dike (Florida)

3. QB Shuffle

Let’s talk quarterbacks. Of the 18 programs, only four appear to enter the 2024 season with the same starter as in 2023 and only one (Penn State’s Drew Allar) wasn’t a transfer.

A few jobs appear settled — at least going into summer workouts. Among the Big Ten’s 14 holdover programs, they include Allar, Luke Altmyer at Illinois, Hudson Card at Purdue, five-star true freshman Dylan Raiola at Nebraska, Cade McNamara at Iowa, Oregon State transfer Aidan Chiles at Michigan State and former FCS All-American Max Brosmer (formerly of New Hampshire) at Minnesota. Former Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke appears likely to win the Indiana job. At Rutgers, former Minnesota starter Athan Kaliakmanis won the job over Gavin Wimsatt, who entered the portal.

Luke Altmyer completed 175 of 270 passes for 1,883 yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2023. (Matt Krohn / USA Today)

There are a few programs that are close to naming a starter but will extend the competition until August. At Wisconsin, Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke and Braedyn Locke continue to battle. Alex Orji has the edge on Davis Warren and Jack Tuttle at Michigan. Maryland is in a full-blown competition with NC State transfer MJ Morris and Billy Edwards Jr. still about even. After presumed starter Brendan Sullivan entered the portal this spring, Northwestern’s quarterback situation is far from settled.

The four newcomers have new quarterbacks entering the season, three of which lost NFL first-rounders. At Washington, former Mississippi State record-breaker Will Rogers takes over for Michael Penix Jr. Former Oklahoma (and UCF) quarterback Dillon Gabriel is the likely favorite at Oregon over UCLA transfer Dante Moore to replace Bo Nix. Miller Moss leads UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava at USC to step in for top draft choice Caleb Williams. Ethan Garbers appears set at UCLA.

Finally, there’s Ohio State. After losing starter Kyle McCord to Syracuse, the Buckeyes brought in Kansas State’s Will Howard as the probable starter. But without a quarterback leaving after spring, the battle could extend into August between Howard and Devin Brown with true freshman Julian Sayin possibly entering the competition, too.

4. Portal peak

According to numbers compiled by The Athletic, On3 and 247Sports, 414 players from the Big Ten’s 18 schools have entered the portal since last fall. So far, 235 have found new homes, 26 withdrew from the portal to stay at their current school and two opted for the NFL Draft. There were 183 players who joined Big Ten programs.

New coaches at Michigan State (48), Indiana (44) and Washington (34) have experienced the most departures; Northwestern and Penn State have had the fewest with 11.

5. Schedule balance

With divisional play ending and four West Coast teams arriving, the Big Ten opted for an unbalanced number of rivalries for each team. But the core tenets of a true rotation coupled with competitive equality remained at the forefront of how a five-year scheduling rotation was built.

“We found over time that the best way to create a cohesive conference after you go through an integration process is to play each other more, not less,” Big Ten chief operating officer Kerry Kenny said after the rotation was unveiled.

Among the key takeaways include:

• No repeat matchups in 2024 at the same location between the same opponents regardless of their 2023 conference affiliation.

• Big Ten officials reviewed 262 versions before settling on the current rotation.

• League programmer Kevin Pauga and Big Ten staff split the conference competitively into two groups of nine, three groups of six and six groups of three to ensure competitive balance.

• This fall’s schedule largely lives up to those competitive principles. Based on 2023 conference records (Big Ten and Pac-12), Washington has the most difficult schedule with league opponents holding a 49-32 record while Rutgers has the easiest at 38-43. That’s a small variance when compared to past Big Ten years with divisional play.

6. Travel logistics

With games in three non-contiguous time zones, coastal teams have the potential for some rough trips. But with a 14-week schedule, the Big Ten was able to alleviate the travel pain. With two scheduled byes, all four West Coast newcomers picked up either a bye or a home game following a trip to the Eastern or Central time zones.

Of the 14 Eastern and Central time zone teams heading to the Pacific time zone, eight have byes and six have home games the following week. None of the four West Coast teams play in the Eastern time zone the final three weeks.

7. TV changes

The Big Ten’s media rights deals become fully operational this fall with CBS ending its ties with the SEC. The weekly Saturday lineup includes a noon ET game on Fox, CBS airing the 3:30 p.m. game and NBC kicking off in prime time. NBC airs two Notre Dame games in prime time, which means it will swap places with one of the other networks. BTN and FS1 also air games while Peacock will stream Big Ten football.

With expansion, the SEC and Big Ten continue their stranglehold on television ratings. Of the 105 college football games that generated at least 3 million viewers during the 2023-24 season, 85 featured current or new members of the Big Ten and SEC. Those numbers were compiled by Sports Media Watch.

Twenty games had at least 8 million viewers and only one — Colorado-Colorado State — did not include at least one current or future SEC or Big Ten team.

8. Friday night lights

A Friday night Big Ten game will appear almost weekly on a Fox-owned network (Fox, FS1, BTN), not counting the league’s CBS/NBC doubleheader on Black Friday. According to a Big Ten official, the Friday games should be announced soon.

So far, the only known Friday game is Nebraska at Iowa on Black Friday. Minnesota opens the season at home against North Carolina on Thursday, Aug. 29, which will attract major network coverage. Traditionally, the league announces times and networks for the first three weeks of action plus high-caliber matchups around Memorial Day.

9. Rivalries renewed

The Big Ten opted to make 12 rivalries permanent in what it called flex-protect-plus. Iowa had the most with three annual rivalries while Penn State chose not to protect any opponents.

Here are the 12 protected rivalries and number of meetings in each one: Wisconsin-Minnesota (133), Indiana-Purdue (125), Michigan-Ohio State (118), Iowa-Minnesota (117), Illinois-Northwestern (117), Michigan-Michigan State (116), Washington-Oregon (115), Illinois-Purdue (99), Iowa-Wisconsin (97), USC-UCLA (91), Iowa-Nebraska (54) and Maryland-Rutgers (19).

The league’s three most-played non-protected series include Michigan-Minnesota (105), Wisconsin-Northwestern (105) and Illinois-Ohio State (103).

10. Top 25 games

With the newcomers and breakup of divisions, there are plenty of compelling matchups that should generate significant interest. Here are 25 games to mark down.

10 Big Ten-only games — 1. Michigan at Ohio State, Nov. 30; 2. Ohio State at Oregon, Oct. 12; 3. Oregon at Michigan, Nov. 2; 4. Ohio State at Penn State, Nov. 2; 5. USC at Michigan, Sept. 21; 6. Penn State at USC, Oct. 12; 7. Michigan at Washington, Oct. 5; 8. Washington at Oregon, Nov. 30; 9. Iowa at Ohio State, Oct. 5; 10. Wisconsin at USC, Sept. 28.

10 nonconference games — 1. Texas at Michigan, Sept. 7; 2. Alabama at Wisconsin, Sept. 14; 3. USC vs. LSU at Las Vegas, Sept. 1; 4. (tie) Washington vs. Washington State at Seattle, Sept. 14; Oregon at Oregon State, Sept. 14; 6. Notre Dame at USC, Nov. 30; 7. Iowa State at Iowa, Sept. 7; 8. Colorado at Nebraska, Sept. 7; 9. Penn State at West Virginia, Aug. 31; 10. Maryland at Virginia, Sept. 14.

Five that just missed — Washington at Iowa, Oct. 12; Penn State at Wisconsin, Oct. 26; Michigan State at Michigan, Oct. 26; Nebraska at USC, Nov. 16; Oregon at Wisconsin, Nov. 16.

(Top photos of Curt Cignetti, Drew Allar and Jonathan Smith: Rich Janzaruk, Matthew O’Haren, Nick King / Herald-Times, Lansing State Journal, USA Today)