Recruiting as become the game within the game of college football. College coaches and recruiting staffs fly all around the country trying to get the nation's best high school athletes to attend their school. This endeavor usually racks up a high bill, now we know just how high.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a report on how much each school in the Big Ten is spending. The report analyzed year by year numbers as well as growth in recruiting budgets over the last 4 years.

The biggest spenders in 2015, Nebraska, posted up nearly a million dollars ($991,818) for recruiting. Nebraska also has spent the most over the last four years (averaging ~$866k/year).

However, Penn State has the largest single year spending of Big Ten teams, spending over $1.3 million in 2014. Penn State's four year average is comparable to Nebraska as well coming in around $860k/yr.

As for the in-state schools, Michigan State saw a big jump in recruiting expenses from 2012 to 2013 (over $200k raise) and placed fifth in 2015 with over $600k spent on recruiting.

Michigan was 4th highest in 2015 spending almost $750k. While Michigan's recruiting went down from 2013 to 2014, it's worth noting Jim Harbaugh was hired in late 2014 and his full recruiting impact was shown with Michigan spending more money in 2015 than in any year focused on in this report.

All schools who reported numbers saw at least a 10% growth in their recruiting expenses over four years except for Maryland. They have seen a 17% drop in their recruiting expenses since 2012. The Big Ten as a whole has increased their recruiting spending by almost 40% over the last four years.

It's worth noting only 13 Big Ten schools appear in the report. Northwestern was exempt from providing expense report numbers as they are the only private university in the Big Ten.

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