This is a little thing I've been interested in for awhile, but haven't had the time to put together... until now!

The question is: how were the starting players on each team rated coming out of high school? This gives an indicator of how talented a team is including attrition levels. It also might be a little informative if recruiting rankings lead to team success or not. I only did the top six teams because screw work, numbers taking only from Scout because screw work more. The numbers are as follows:

Ohio State:
5*: 3 starters
4*: 16 starters
3*: 3 starters
Other: 0 starters

Penn State:
5*: 0 starters
4*: 9 starters
3*: 10 starters
Other: 3 starters

Michigan:
5*: 2 starters
4*: 4 starters
3*: 12 starters
Other: 4 starters

Michigan State:
5*: 1 starter
4*: 4 starters
3*: 11 starters
Other: 6 starters

Nebraska:
5*: 1 starter
4*: 4 starters
3*: 10 starters
Other: 6 starters

Wisconsin:
5*: 0 starters
4*: 1 starter
3*: 11 starters
Other: 10 starters

Feel free to post corrections if I made mistakes; some of the depth charts I used might be dated. Some notes:

Ohio State is all alone, with 16 4* starting football players. They may have gone 6-6 last year, but Tressel left behind the most talented team in the Big Ten and Meyer probably knew that before going in.

Penn State is still second even after the scandal attrition. This is pretty interesting considering all the attempts at poaching players over the last year. Nonetheless, I expect them to go down a little bit as all the sanctions settle in.

Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska are all basically at the same level. Michigan is still feeling the effects of Rich Rod and massive attrition from his classes. Michigan State has recruited fairly well over the last few years and has done an even better job of developing players, although you might expect a little more momentum. I would normally expect Nebraska to be a little bit better, but I thought I saw some Nebraska fans on here say that Pelini wasn't the best recruiter.

Wisconsin's talent level may explain some of their struggles this year.