Big Ten Network plans eight hours of National Signing Day coverage

BTN will dedicate eight hours of programming to cover National Signing Day on Wednesday, the most coverage in network history, including:

? Live look-ins at both Michigan?s ?Signing of the Stars? and Northwestern?s special event at the iconic Harry Caray?s Restaurant in Chicago;
? BTN Analyst Gerry DiNardo?s extensive one-on-one interview with Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer;
? Behind-the-scenes action from war rooms at Nebraska and Penn State;
? And interviews with coaches and signees already on campus.

B1G Football & Beyond: Signing Day Special airs from 9 a.m. ET to 5 p.m. ET. Signing day coverage also will be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices on BTN2Go, BTN?s digital extension.

Michigan?s ?Signing with the Stars? will feature celebrities from sports, music and entertainment who will introduce Head Coach Jim Harbaugh?s 2016 class and will include Tom Brady, John Harbaugh, Derek Jeter, Jim Leyland, Denard Robinson, NASCAR?s Brad Keslowski, wrestling?s Ric Flair and others. Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald will host the Northwestern Gridiron Network at Harry Caray?s, where he will introduce his 2016 class.

Mike Hall will handle hosting duties with analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith, and the trio will be joined by recruiting analyst Allen Trieu as they provide an in-depth analysis of each school?s class. BTN reporters will be on-site at eight schools, including Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. BTN?s coverage also will include the live announcement of defensive back Lavert Hill, a top-100 prospect from Detroit who has narrowed his choices to Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State.

In addition, using the Twitter Q&A app, Hall, Griffith, DiNardo, Trieu will respond by video to fans who submit questions on Twitter using the hashtag #SigningDayOnBTN.

According to Scout.com, the Big Ten currently has three of the top 10 recruiting classes in the country, led by Ohio State (No. 2), Michigan (No. 5) and Michigan State (No. 7).