Weekend at Jimmy’s
All they do is… (InsideTheU.com photo)In the past three days, we’ve seen the ‘09 class go from a large-for-June 17 to an astonishing 22 verbals. A little advanced camp love and all of a sudden, it’s late June and OSU is running out of spots already.
If you’ve missed any of the details, the recruitniks at OHD and DTI have the everything covered, but just to recap, the Buckeyes added the following players:
With the exception of Carter, who’s a mega-legacy, each of the new prospects has earned four stars from Rivals and all rank within the top dozen or so players at their position in the nation. Still, would anyone really be surprised Duron turned out to be the sleeper in this group? His dad’s quote is already legendary:
“This is kind of surreal. This morning I went for a walk and thought to myself that I can’t believe how great this is. I feel like I died and went to heaven because I get to go through the Buckeye experience twice.”
Emphasis mine, to match the chub I got when I first read that quote.
The Buckeyes now have far and away the largest group of ‘09 commitments and to paraphrase JHC, they pass the looks test. With another five or six spots to fill, we could be looking at the largest class of the Tressel era. Granted, these are all verbals and a lot can change, but it’s rare that a kid changes his mind after getting to know the Vest.
What’s really interesting is that Tressel is now 7-1 head-to-head against Rodriguez1 for this class. Give the guy some time to get his bearings and all that, but doesn’t a new hire usually translate to some excitement and a small boost in recruiting (see Brewster, Tim)?
However, the more I read about Michael Shaw, the more I’m hoping he doesn’t come back to burn the Buckeyes. Anyone else worried about that one?
1 Bell, Hall, Fellows, Linsley, Bellamy, Jackson and Brown against Justin Turner.
While there is no doubt he is fast, he maybe a little shady as well. He flip-flopped on signing day and it looks as if he falsified residency status in order to attend Trotwood. He actually sounds like a perfect fit for RichRod.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/05/23/ddn052308spshawweb.html
Duron Carter will almost definitely get that 4th star before it’s all said and done. You don’t get an early invite to the Under-Armor All-American Game as mid-level 3-star prospect.
For a comic compare-contrast, look at the Zooker’s current class. Some DC kid just committed today, which ruins to some degree the zinger I wanted to deliver, but Tressel has approximately 10 scholarships still floating around (probably a little more, but you get the drift… no more than 15, I would say). Zook has to have over 100 offers still out there. Tressel’s success rate is in the 80 percent range, meaning he does his homework, targets, and gets what he wants. Zook offers kids around the country and, until today, all three of his commits that he had to boast were from the state of Illinois. When Melvin Fellows decommitted, the Zooker lost a third of his 2009 class. When Darrell Givens decommitted, the Buckeyes lost 1/16th of its class. Methinks the Zooker is trying too hard at this.
As a good Ohioan growing up I was a Buckeye fan. It wasn’t until Keith Byars and Cris Carter that I truly fell in love with football as a kid in the 80s. Carter, especially, and his unreal catches and seemingly effortless athleticism put me on a path to die-hard fandom.
Here’s to Duron and hoping the best for him in his time in Columbus.
I have a feeling that bringing in guys like Bell and already having guys like Thaddeus Gibson, Jermale Hines and Brian Rolle waiting in the wings is going to continue our recent streak of stuffing prized Michigan running back recruits. I’m more worried about McGuffie than Shaw or anyone else Michigan has brought in recently.
McGuffie’s reckless style of running will probably be discouraged at the next level. Div 1A tackles are much bigger, stronger, and faster than those he hurdled in high school. He’ll get himself hurt. He’ll be taught to keep his feet in contact with the ground.
I am not too worried… we have 2 stud RB’s verballed and (hopefully) 1 more to go. Tressel is amazing… he loses 2 NC games in a row and he seems to have gotten stronger with the force… this is the definitely the best OSU recruting class I can remember except maybe for the 1998 team’s recruits…
G O B U C K S!!!!!!!!
I’ve read a couple articles on the guy and he seems like a scUMbag. I say his players are fruit of the poisonous tree and should be left for TSUN. I think OSU is to the point where we can pass on talent with shady character and go after good character and still have a great prospect.
Make that 23!
Welcome Jonathan Newsome to the mix!
http://www.bucknuts.com/news/story.php?article=3951
My head hurts. I don’t think I can keep up with Ohio State’s recruiting.
Vico is down. I expected this would happen. I blame Ron Zook.
OHD: Stack overflow exception. Too many verbals. Too soon.
For what it’s worth, I blame database issues on michigan… michigan…
In the interim, you can watch this: http://www.rivals.com/video.asp?section=fbrecruit&pkey=&vidtype=amp&vidid=3487
If this doesn’t make you want to run through a brick wall and set fire to some academic building at the university of michigan, I don’t know what would (see especially: the 20 second to the minute mark). I’m ready to fight someone.
It ends in a cool way too.