Could Big Mike be the next Buckeye Legend?The recruiting of high school football players has blown up over the last five years. There is so much information and exploitation of these young kids, it is difficult and expensive to keep up. I try not to get too hyped over someone who has yet to play a down for OSU, as rating 16 and 17 year olds is definitely not an exact science, so IMO, none of those rating services mean much.
However, it is hard not to notice the new verbals Tressel and his staff seem to be pulling in every week. We all know Tressel has a nice chunk of recruits verballed for the 2009 season and kids are jumping at the chance to play in Ohio Stadium.
Since Vico inspires me to know my Buckeyes a little better, I wanted to read a bit more on Tressel's boys possibly coming to Columbus next fall. The list is quite solid, as 11 of the 14 are four or five star recruits, according to Scout and Rivals.
That is obviously impressive, but how about the head start JT has on the rest of his peers. After back to back national title games and three straight Big Ten championships, what high school kid wouldn't want to come here and play in the Shoe, if offered a scholarship?
Michigan is second with seven verbals, although those recruits will probably be forced to sign their LOI under false pretenses, with nonwritten agreements and pressure from the governor. Michigan St. and Penn St. follow with six each .
However, the rest of the conference, has a total of 14. That's right, Ohio State has as many verbal commitments as Minnesota(5), Wisconsin(3), Illinois(2), Iowa(2), Northwestern(2), Indiana (0) and Purdue(0), combined.
Jim Tressel and his staff have their recruiting machine rolling, picking up the top players nationally and separating themselves from the rest of the conference. While I think it is too early to discuss the 2009 class, I wonder if there is a freshman coming in this season, not named Terrelle Pyror, that you would like to see turn into a Buckeye Legend?
Comments
Mike Adams is The Way, The Truth and The Light. All shall be revealed by a Mike Adams pancake block and all shall be able to rush through it for divine glory, and multiple touchdowns.
That said, there's a lot of similarities going on right now in Columbus that there was going on with Tom Osborne's early 90s Huskers. Remember: after a string of crushing Orange Bowl defeats to the Hurricanes and Seminoles, nobody thought Osborne's Huskers could keep up with the "speed" brought to the forefront by the rise of the Florida schools. Consequently, it became a point of emphasis in recruiting and it resulted in a more national scope to recruiting. Similarly, the Buckeyes in 2008 and 2009 have stepped up their efforts in places like Florida, Pennsylvania and Maryland and have started to secure some of the best athletes in the country. There is a marked difference, especially in the secondary and receiver corp I think (I guess you could say linebackers too), of who the Buckeyes have brought in and are targeting in 2008/2009 than in previous years. And those largely unsung guys that the Buckeyes have brought in past classes -- Robiskie, Hartline, Russell, Jenkins, Washington to name a few of the current upperclassmen -- have turned out pretty good.
I'll back off a bold claim about what good things I hope will follow; indeed, analogies are contextual. However, the changes the Huskers made in the early 90s paid huge dividends in the mid 90s. I hope the next 4 years will be just as good for the Bucks. If nothing else, I hope it results in getting the SEC monkey off our backs like Nebraska did with the Florida schools (especially in 1995... hoping we could pull that off with some hapless SEC school...).
It's unreasonable to expect that every Buckeye recruit will become a 1st team All-American, but I can dream it.
I like Vico's analogy with Nebraska, above. Very applicable, I think. What makes CFB so interesting, is that more happens away from the field than on it. The on-the-field part of CFB is the culmination of everything prior.
Despite the Buckeye's short-comings in the NC games these last 2 years, things are certainly looking up. Good is getting better for them, and that's the way I like it.
I hoping Lamaar Thomas becomes a legend. OSU needs to have that versatile speed threat on their offense. I have not seen this kid play, but anyone who possesses the nickname "Flash" has to be fast. Being able to use him similar to what Teddy brought could be key in the upcoming years.
Lamaar was the first name that popped into my head as well.
Lamaar also popped into my mind. His speed jumps out - but also I've heard he's got great football instincts. Also pretty excited about Etienne Sabino... could be the next great OSU LB
I'm on the Etienne Sabino bandwaggon!
There are a number of players who excite me, but I'm most eager to see how well the O- and D-lines develop, particularly in the defensive interior, where they've not been particularly impressive of late. Me likes the war in the trenches.
The Nebraska analogy is interesting, and one I hadn't thought about much. I think OSU already possesses a more national recruiting base than Nebraska had in the early 90s, but it'll be fascinating to see if Vico's take comes about.
I do agree that OSU is at a point in the program's recent history where it either takes a leap forward as the nation's preeminent, annual power, or two steps back, assuming a position as the Big T(elev)en's top team (whatever that's worth), and settling for BCS also-ran games. It'll be one or the other, because repeated national title game losses won't be tolerated by the public or the press - especially bad losses - and OSU will find itself at a voting disadvantage when trying to get another crack at a championship. People couldn't vote out the Buffalo Bills - as much as we wished we could. They can refuse to vote for OSU, and those votes do have a critical impact.
Here's hoping we take one giant leap for Buckeye-kind, right?
2005 and 2006 we had speed we were just as fast last year too. Its not speed its playmaking and coaching
Preach on, Drama...
Sitting back in that zone against Florida and LSU drove me bonkers. Where's the press-man coverage when you have one of the best corners in college football?
Boeckman Fett:
"Where’s the press-man coverage when you have one of the best corners in college football?"
It was pretty clear that they were doing everything they could to disguise Antonio Smith's weaknesses against Florida, but - for Gawd's sake - if it hasn't worked for a half, try something else. Anything else.
I think our defensive playcalling in the last two bowl games has been very suspect, and it's interesting to note that those two games were missing one key person - Dantonio. I don't think OSU was well-prepared either for basic packages OR eventualities that arose during those games. What was particularly maddening was to watch them practice against certain plays that LSU/Florida would surely run, yet not be able to cover them after weeks of practice, leave practice without resolving those issues, and get burned by those same plays on national television. What gives? It's one thing to get fried by a trick play; it's another to get fried by a tight end seam route that you've practiced again and again, all without success. It's a bread-and-butter play for LSU, for heaven's sake - it's on film in nearly every game they played in 2007. What's the point of practicing against a clear weakness if it isn't addressed?
It may be the inherent problem of a two-headed approach to the defensive coordinator position - I don't think any two coaches can be "co-" anything - or it may be a philisophical thing, but it isn't working against teams with comparable talent. Something has to change.
Stoneburner is my pick to become something special. Reminds me of mix between David Boston and Michael Jenkins (I know, I know, that is a little much to hope for, but he used the word legend.) He has the size and quicks to be a Kelen Winslow type at WR with a little more speed than Winslow had. Man it would be nice to have a big presence in the slot, like a big bruising Gonzalez.
Joe Fox,
Do you recommend we buy out Dantonio at Michigan State and rehire him?
I do. He coached high risk, high reward. That's why the pass defense was so bad in 2002 and 2003. But teams were also scared of them. You could catch it, but you knew your were going to get hit. QB, RB, WR, hell even TE, you were getting hit.
The coaches have to approach the USC game differently than they did the last two title games. Is man the answer?
Also, I second the bring back Dantonio motion.
we also had one hell of a d-line when dantonio was here. We will relize next season what we were missing in L. Wilson. He's big, tall and fast. He can take half the field away when he get his hands up. He won't get 14 sacks but he will knock down many passes this season. The d line and O line should be awesome.
We have a lot of young speed to work in (Saine, Pryor, Thomas, Posey, Washington) if any of these guys step up we won't lose. The USC game has to be just like (Texas2006) all business.
and we got james jackson an absolute burner 4.31 wideout. He is like teddy. The best part is he is from Michigan and was the 1# wr in the state
I'm not a big fan of Wilson's. He's a solid player, and more consistent from play-to-play than Gholston, but his peak isn't close to Vernon's. He's serviceable, but I don't expect the kind of numbers some folks in the press seem to think he'll generate. I hope I'm wrong.
I keep waiting for Robert Rose to "click," but haven't really seen that out of him, either. I hate to think he's the Corey Pargo of the 2000s.
Poe wrote:
"Do you recommend we buy out Dantonio at Michigan State and rehire him?"
I think he was the best defensive coordinator in OSU history, bar none. That said, he's gone for good. No one leaves a D-I coaching job at a major school (it's Sparty, of course, but they're a good-sized program) to go back to a coordinator position at a former employer. Dantonio's gone, and he should be - he's a talented coach who deserved a shot at a job, and now he's got it. It's a credit to Jim Tressel that Dantonio forms a branch from the OSU tree. If anyone can turn Sparty into a solid 8-4, bowl-bound team, year in and year out, it's Dantonio.
I think OSU has to play more man, and more aggressive coverage. They will indeed be burnt from time-to-time (that's the nature and risk of man coverage), but they'll also create more turnovers - something that's been lacking lately - and work within a system that creates more blitzing opportunities. You can blitz from a zone, of course (the Steelers have made a tradition of it), but not so well from a 4-3, in my opinion (others would strongly disagree). If we were a 3-4 team, we could talk - and Gawd knows they'd be a fabulous 3-4 team with some defensive end help. They certainly have enough linebackers for it. I'm not sure why it's never been considered. As deep as they are at linebacker, I'd be in a holy rush to get as many of those guys on the field as possible.
Switching defensive philosophies takes time, though, and is an institutional thing - kind of like Nebraska shucking (pardon the pun) decades of the option in favor of a West Coast offense. If a transition like that isn't prepped carefully, and bought into from top to bottom, it crashes like the Hindenburg. Switching philosophical approaches to the game is not a process that can be hazarded willy-nilly.
I'm not sure what the answer is, or if the answer isn't lying within the minds of the current defensive staff - it may well be, and I hope it is. I just think that what they're doing in big games against teams with comparable talent isn't working, and needs fixing - quickly, before week #3.
Hard to consider legend talk when you've got "a team with a coaching staff that can't even beat a team AT HOME that won only two games the year before". At least that is the talk over at SMQ, stinks that JT got out Zookered at home. Johnny, Joe and B. Fett are just echoing the obvious weaknesses that have developed within the buckeye staff over the past few years. Even a super blessing of great seedlings get stunted with a staff that seems to be in over their heads, but enough grumbling. Just think about the would be legends that never get the chance, Joe Bauserman comes to mind.
Joe Bauserman (Fox),
I wasn't serious about buying out Dantonio, FYI.
If you're willing to pay for Dantonio, would you be willing to pay Mike Singletary to come out of the NFL?
@ Joe
I like the 3-4 with a modified 85 Bear's look. With people dropping in & out as a call dictates, which only confuses a quarterback and buys precious split seconds which only helps a pass rush. Its the difference between a QB being able to make the correct read and being rushed to force a throw or take a sack.
One of problems on D, FWIW, we do not disguise our coverages well in the pre-snap. Our guys seem to be tipping off blitzes and various coverages by being too jumpy. Toss in an over abundance of zone coverage and we get the nightmare scenario when dealing with a hot or experienced QB.