Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa and NW all do so poorly in recruiting year in and year out. All have had reasonable success in the not so distant past (all except NW went to multiple BCS bowls during the BCS era) and all are in a reasonably talented state or close to one. There really is no reason they should chronically have poor classes. This is one if the problems with the big ten. Perceived lack or just plain old lack of talent (I.e. poor recruiting) effects pre season hype and rankings. This starts the big ten off at a disadvantage