Big Ten storylines to remember from July

July has come and gone. There were plenty of recruiting fireworks that happened across the country throughout the month so it’s easy to lose track of what all happened. Rivals is here to make sure you don’t forget any of the interesting storylines around the Big Ten. 

Oregon has big fireworks

Oregon had an enormous start to the month. It really all went down over the July 4 weekend. The Ducks flipped four-star offensive lineman Tommy Tofi away from Cal. Then they landed five-star offensive tackle Immanuel Iheanacho to be a cornerstone of the class. He’s got superstar potential in Eugene for the Ducks in the Big Ten.

Four-star safety Devin Jackson and four-star athlete Jalen Lott are also big-time players that the Ducks can use in a variety of ways.

Dan Lanning‘s program capped off the month with a massive pull out of SEC country with the commitment of five-star edge rusher Tank Jones.

Michigan goes on four-star spree

Sherrone Moore added four players to Michigan‘s 2026 recruiting class during July. All four players are rated as four-stars in the Rivals Industry Ranking. South Carolina edge rusher Julian Walker kicked things off on July 1. Virginia wide receiver Travis Johnson filled a big area of need in the Michigan class. 

Former Alabama commitment Dorian Barney had Ole Miss, Penn State and Texas A&M on his list of finalists so his commitment represented a big win for Moore. Flipping Jordan Deck from Baylor gave Michigan its fourth Texas native in the 2026 class. 

Michigan had a great month and that was a good storyline in the Big Ten.

Illinois pulls the major upset

One of the biggest upsets of the cycle within the Big Ten happened on July 12. That’s when Illinois got a verbal commitment from four-star athlete Jacob Eberhart. All signs pointed to Eberhart announcing for Oklahoma. But the Illini won out in the end and landed the big, rangy athlete that can play a variety of roles in Champaign. 

He’ll be a hot commodity for teams trying to flip him but the Illini are well aware of that. It’s fun to watch the Illini crash the blue blood recruiting party in the Big Ten.

USC with a comeback win

USC did so much work on the recruiting trail in June that its easy to forget that the program had a huge commitment in July. The Trojans landed a pledge from the No. 52 player in the country, wide receiver Boobie Feaster. The four-star Texas native pledged to Lincoln Riley‘s program over Texas A&M and LSU. 

The Trojans made a strong push at the end of the recruitment to beat out the family ties to LSU and the in-state push from Texas A&M. This recruitment might not be over but for now USC landing Feaster gave us a very interesting storyline in the Big Ten during July.