As we head into our next series of the spotlight freshmen to watch in each respective major conference, the Big 10 is a group of teams that has continued to get stronger, from top to bottom, which should breed even more competitive games during the dog days of conference play.

Programs like Michigan State, Indiana, and Ohio State have been known for bringing in five-star talent in past years, however don’t sleep on schools like Purdue, Northwestern, and Illinois, who have been able to capture not just quality talent, but ideal fits for the respective system that each coach runs. Again, this is not a spotlight on the best talent that the respective program incorporated into its program this fall, but rather the freshman with the best chance of succeeding and being leaned upon early on during his stay on campus.

PURDUE

The Boilermakers struck gold late in the 2015 recruiting class and that pot of gold was a bit bigger compared to most others. Caleb Swanigan, a five-star recruit from Homestead High School out of Indiana, originally committed to Michigan State before swapping Big 10 programs and calling Purdue home. The mammoth of a big man is a true plotter inside who has deceptively nimble feet in the lane and super good hands on the glass. He can work well out of the high post and score it with room given off of the 15-foot jumper. Swanigan may have to work in this area some as the depth down low within Matt Painter’s program is pretty impressive. Outside of Swanigan, the Boilermakers return two NBA-worthy 7-footers with Isaac Haas and AJ Hammons. How the staff uses any of three when putting out two of them at a time should be a story within itself, especially as the game is geared more towards the smaller lineups that like to get out and push the pace, along with having four viable shooters on the floor. Swanigan is the definition of a low-post guy and while his conditioning improves, it will be interesting to see if he can guard the high ball screen appropriately whenever placed at the 4 and amidst a man-to-man defense. Regardless, there is a lot of talent on the Purdue roster and it would seem that Swanigan has the best chance to leave a giant mark on the program from within his 2015 class at Purdue.

RUTGERS

It hasn’t been the best of times at Rutgers over the past several months but things seem to be turning around for the basketball program as they have begun to get involved with a plethora of high level recruits on the east coast. While I am keeping this to strictly the 2015 high scool recruiting class, I believe that DeShawn Freeman, a 6-foot-7 forward out of the junior college ranks, will bring immediate production to the frontcourt with his energy and athleticism at the lid. However, if there is one freshman that can help out the Scarlet Knights early on it would have to be Corey Sanders. By way of the Sunshine State, Sanders is more of a scoring guard who is a lethal athlete in the lane and does great whenever the game speeds up. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see Eddie Jordan make games more high possession affairs, which should play into the hands to some of the personnel on his roster, including the likes of Sanders and Freeman. The 6-foot-1 guard does have to get better as a floor general in the half-court setting, but the talent and athleticism are there for the freshman to be one of the more unique talents in his class throughout the conference.

WISCONSIN

The Badgers lose a lot of production from last year’s NCAA finals squad but the cupboard isn’t all that bare as Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes become the faces of the program for this 2015-2016 season. With a five-person class heading to Madison this fall where quality big men like Alex Illikainen and Charlie Thomas can turn into effective forwards within the Big 10, it might be Brevin Pritzl that shines the brightest for the Badgers. Coming out of the same grassroots program as Koenig and recent Badger star Sam Dekker, Pritzl brings a dimension to the floor that translates at whichever level of play you watch: shooting the basketball. The in-state recruit will replace Josh Gasser from last year’s squad and should be leaned upon for his deadly stroke from deep and his ability to play on the ball some, just as well. He can have the same impact on Bo Ryan’s squad that Riley LaChance brought to the Vanderbilt program last year as a freshman, and while the opportunity might not be as great compared of his peer in the SEC, expect to see Pritzl contribute early with his shooting prowess and grow into an extended role as his days progress in Madison.