The spring transfer portal has opened and closed, spring camps and games have come and gone, and summer is rapidly approaching.
Despite losing some big-time players to the portal, the Oregon Ducks are walking away from the spring window with the No. 4 transfer class in the nation, only trailing the Texas Tech Red Raiders, LSU Tigers, and Ole Miss Rebels.
So, where exactly does that leave the Ducks in the Big Ten power rankings as they look toward their second season in the conference?
Sadly but unsurprisingly, which might make it even more sad, the Purdue Boilermakers find themselves at the bottom of the Big Ten totem pole, once again.
With 57 players transferring out of Purdue and only 46 players joining the program, new head coach Barry Odom struggled to build anything of true significance for the program so far.
According to On3, the Boilermakers lost an Index Score of 40 points during the transfer portal window and will almost certainly struggle to perform well during the upcoming Big Ten season.
Despite bringing in the No. 15 transfer portal class in the Big Ten, the Northwestern Wildcats are far from primed to dominate the conference during the upcoming season.
Head coach David Braun took over the program just two years ago and has slowly shaped the Wildcats into the program that he wants them to be. However, in one of the most competitive conferences in the nation, Northwestern is still well short of being a top dog.
Braun was able to bring in three-star cornerback Dillon Tatum and three-star interior offensive lineman Talan Chandler to fill the holes left by portal departures, but it was far from enough to push Northwestern up the conference power rankings.
The Maryland Terrapins have had waves of success and waves of misery over the last decade of college football. This season is going to be fairly similar. As in, it will be entirely unpredictable but most likely not ideal.
Despite bringing in the No. 10 portal class in the Big Ten rankings, according to On3, the Terrapins have a long way to go before they even break into the top half of the conference standings.
Mike Locksley is set to enter his seventh season with the Terps, only three of which have ended with winning records. While he brought in a few notable transfers, such as four-star cornerback
Dontay Joyner, Locksley and the Terrapins still can't expect too much from the upcoming season.
The Wisconsin Badgers fell well short of expectations during the spring transfer portal window, bringing in the second-worst transfer class in the Big Ten.
After finishing 12th in the conference last season, the uninspiring transfer portal class was exactly the opposite of what Wisconsin needed this offseason. Now, as the team heads into its third season under head coach Luke Fickell, the Badgers shouldn't expect anything impressive from the year.
Yes, the UCLA Bruins received a lot of attention this spring as former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava left the Volunteers for the West Coast. However, his abysmal performance against Ohio State in the first round of last season's College Football Playoffs should be a precursor for the Bruins' season this year.
Beyond the addition of Iamaleava, head coach DeShaun Foster only brought in one other four-star transfer. Not to mention, he lost 34 three-star transfers to the portal while only bringing in 21 three-stars to his program.
As he heads into his second season with the Michigan State Spartans, Jonathan Smith didn't need a whole lot from the portal, but he was still able to earn more commitments than losses this spring. However, with just 20 players joining the program and an abysmal finish to the 2024 season, a lot shouldn't be expected from the Sparties this season.
The biggest additions to Michigan State's roster were three-star cornerback NiJhay Burt, three-star wide receiver Omari Kelly, and three-star safety Tracy Revels, giving the defensive secondary a boost while also giving quarterback Aidan Chiles a new target downfield.