The Dirty Double Dozen and One
With such a nice pull on signing day, we had to bring in someone that loves him some recruiting to break down the class. We’re pleased to announce Alex from DTI has accepted our offer of a copy of the Ohio State offensive playbook, two chickens and a stained Snuggie and will be coming on board to help cover recruiting and various other Buckeye-bits.
The Senator and his staff brought in a great class yesterday, signing 25 of the nation’s best players. Like every year, the Bucks pulled in some big fish, missed out on some others, but in the end finished with another top 5 class. Here’s the breakdown on what could have been, what will be next year, and what to look forward to in the future for these new Buckeyes.
What Could Have Been
Brown is Athens-boundThe Buckeyes got two pieces of disappointing news on Signing Day, when Memphis Harding wide receiver, Marlon Brown, chose to attend Georgia, and when Louisville Male athlete, Justin Green, de-committed from OSU, to sign with Illinois.
Brown was rumored in the morning to be headed to Columbus, but all signs in his recruiting process pointed to Athens. Brown is a tremendous athlete, who, at 6’5”, has great size to go along with good speed and a large wingspan that helps to bring in balls that smaller receivers would otherwise miss. I feel, with many questions at wide out this year, he could have competed for playing time right away. The loss of Brown hurts, as hopes were brought up yesterday, but no sensible Buckeye fan could really expect to land Marlon, especially with the those awesome southern alumni pulling on him to stay in the South.
On the other hand, Justin Green, the brother of former OSU defensive tackle Marcus Green, was expected to be a member of this class. Green, who wavered on his pledge during the fall, visited Clemson in early January and came away saying he was still a Buckeye. Green obviously was not happy to be competing for a starting position at corner back, and went shady on the Bucks, visiting Illinois this past weekend where he subsequentially changed his mind. Rumors have swirled that Green was promised a shot at running back and that’s why he chose to sign with the Illini, but I like to think that Ron Zook is simply a cheater. Green’s de-commitment won’t hurt that much, but I wish he would have given JT more time to fill his spot. Thanks Justin!
What Will Be Next Year
Now that the class is signed and delivered, everyone wants to know who will redshirt and who will make an immediate impact next year. Looking at this class, it is very talented, and looking at the OSU depth chart, there is a lot of opportunity to compete for playing time right away.
Berry has a shot at early playing timeThe most obvious position to look at when you talk about open competition is running back. Chris Wells’ departure leaves the starting job open, with Boom Herron and a gimpy Brandon Saine as the only returning backs. Jaamal Berry and Carlos Hyde should both see the field next year behind Herron, with Berry (4.31/40) playing in spread formations and zone reads, and Hyde (6-1/230) getting some short yardage and goal line carries. Pryor’s old Jeanette teammate Jordan Hall, will most likely redshirt and I see him as a future slot guy for the Bucks.
Other players who I see competing for time next year include offensive lineman Marcus Hall, cornerbacks CJ Barnett, Corey Brown, and Dominic Clarke, linebacker Dorian Bell, defensive end Melvin Fellows, and wide receivers Duron Carter and James Jackson (mainly as a return specialist). Hall and Bell are standouts at their positions and will be tough to keep off the field, but the guy I see surprising a lot of people will be Corey Brown. Brown showed what he could do on the offensive end as a receiver in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, but can be the next Chris Gamble standing out on both sides of the ball in Columbus.
What The Future Brings
There are other players in the class who can compete for time and may be overlooked for now (see: Nathan Williams last year), but will have to take this year to better themselves and concentrate on how they can help the program in the future. I see defensive tackle Johnny Simon, safety Jamie Wood, and offensive lineman Jack Mewhort as future stars in Columbus, but right now they face log jams in their positions. Of those three, Mewhort and Wood have the best chance at playing time (especially Wood on special teams), but they will have to work hard to compete with returning players. Storm Klein, Jonathan Newsome, and Zach Boren are kids I really think have a chance to develop under the staff and will have a bigger impact than most analysts are giving them credit for. Overall, I think this class will have a tremendous impact at Ohio State and will team up with the great class of 2008 and the future 2010 class to put the Buckeyes into MNC position in a couple of years.
Now that we have recruited the players for on the field, when are we going to start recruiting coordinators?
we have coordinators butt wipe. who have led us to 6 Big Ten titles, 7 wins over UM, 3 national title games, one national championship. When you you can do better, apply for the job. If you can’t, shaddup.
Coordinators who also oversaw us getting outscored 114-41 against Florida, LSU and USC
Players make the coach, thats what I always say. I have to admit Heacock was a little more aggressive in the FiestaB. Maybe a sign of things to come.
Offense will be fine with Boll/JT. We just had no talent on the O-Line, except Brewster.
Anyway this team will have 2 tough games in ‘09 and dominate the rest. Depending how we do vs. USC/PSU will determine our fate.
Great job recruiting this year, i like Corey Brown and D. Bell to step right in.
Heres your starting LB trio in ‘09 Bell, Sabino, and Homan. With Spitler and Sweat making a few appearances.
I love our speed at the LB and D-Line positions. GO BUCKS!!!
I disagree iballbuckfan, players need to be put into position to be successful. Putting Malcolm Jenkins in a soft zone is not helping anything. Running the ball 52 times when you run 56 plays in the 2nd half is not cutting it.
Players have the talent but is up to the coaches to maximize that. You have a speed demon like Posey, you send him on long routes, not short routes to the side line. The Bucks did not do a good job at mixing things up on offense or defense which is the coach’s job. Yep, Heacok was a little more aggressive in the Fiesta but that shows that we could have done alot better on defense all year. Waiting until the bowl game doesn’t cut it.
Agreed. Our recent classes have had enough talent to make the sometimes inexplicable playcalling ‘work’. But you look at other schools with dynamic offenses and they have done more with less. I’m not asking for a wacky spread offense, but at least become less predictable, mix things up.
These players will make the coaches look good to an extent, but all I ask is that they return the favor.
The recievers were not that good and TP appeared to struggle when it came to reading the defense. Because of this they had to simplify things.
The offense suck without pryor so your reason isn’t valid.
I stand by everything I said, just imagine our defense without the talent. Heacock would be flippin burgers somewhere, those players saved his ass. Heacock isnt even the reason we got those guys, its Fickell. How come the Cleve. Browns interviewed Fickell and not Heacock?? That should tell you something. Also, the aggressive style shown by the D in the Bowl game mirrors more of what Fickell wants to do. This will be JH’s last year, and they will incorporate more of Fickell’s ideas. We will be more aggressive.
As for offense, Bollman doesn’t even call plays!! He’s basically the O-line coach who throws ideas around in chalkboard meetings. Tress is insightful enough to recognize the need for change. He didnt want to take too many chances this year with a fresh. QB. As would any college HC!! The idea of hiring a top flight OC is absurd!! No up and coming offensive mind is gonna want to come in and let JT make the final call.
Get used to this system Buckeye fans, its here to stay as long as Tress is.
“You have a speed demon like Posey, you send him on long routes, not short routes to the side line.”
Dude have you seen Pryors arm?? Besides Robiskie and Hartline got the deep routes this year, it wasnt Posey’s turn.
You can have the number 1 class every year, that doesnt guarantee anything. Every big game comes down to a little luck, and the ball bouncing in your favor to get the win. Im firmly convinced the OSU staff is doing their absolute best to bring home the title every year. As much as they’d love to, football just doesnt work that way. You learn that with experience. And Tress has more than any of us yahoo’s posting on this site.
Only two tough games? I think you are under selling Iowa, Illinois, and possibly scUM. Year 2 under Rich Rod has always seen a huge improvement…
Ryan B.,
I appreciate the rah,rah Big Ten attitude, but Im not buying what youre sellin’.
I think there are a lot of questions headed into next year in the Big 10 and I can’t tell you who the front-runner is, but I would guess Ohio State by a narrow margin but over who I don’t know.
Iowa lost way too much – they won’t be a factor. Illinois is a wild card, but i don’t see them winning at the Shoe again without a strong non-Juice runnnig game or much improved defense (without Vontae Davis).
How many year 2’s has there been?
Michigan will suck yet again. They have no real qb.
I love that USC lost out on the linebacker that went to Notre Dame. They also lost out on some players to UCLA. For too many years Carroll has sat out there like a kid with his toys and wouldn’t share, recruits are starting to see that there is too much depth and they will never play so they are going elsewhere.
The Green defection hurts, I hope he doesn’t regret this move in 3-4 years when the other CB’s in the class get a shot in the NFL just because they are OSU corners, hell Alex Smith was on an NFL roster for a while.
Yeah Teo was a disappointing loss but that kid is off to a mission in a year or two and probably end up doing nothin. All they did is get a top 3 recruiting class for like the sixth year in a row. Maybe the kids that go to USC like the depth and the fact you get to practice against elite talent everyday for four years. If you dont play at USC, go ahead and complain and transfer to UF, Cinci and whenever else you please. You can come back and man up when ur ready boy.
Dont worry about good ole SC tho, they will be doin just fineeeeeee
Or maybe they want to play for a coach who cares more about what is in their best interests as players than their own self-serving needs as the head coach (although Charlie Weiss is not really a good choice in this scenario.)
With a name like Storm Klein how can you not be a bad ass?
haha, i was just telling my friend that yesterday, that’s such a sweet name.
To much of what could have been, not enough of what will be.
Ron Zook is a fraud…. it showed in Florida earlier because of the higher level of competition. Once the Big-11 improves as a conference, he will be out on his ass. He is a motivator, liar, and will say/do anything to get a kid to sign/win a game. His teams play dirty and have no class. Good luck Justin and enjoy!
ya right… i find only acquisations no analysis .. typical buckeye fatbrain …
i’m sorry, were we going for the word “accusations” there, or is there some newfangled thing called an acquisation that pbb managed to include in his post?
well done, mr fatbrain
I am duly impressed that you figured out what he was trying to say. I was totally lost at “acquisations.” Now that I think about it, that is a rather perfect combination of “acquisitions” and “accusations.” Nice job cutting through the depths of Sid’s illiteracy!
analysis… ok
Year Team Overall Conference Standing
Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference)
2002 Florida 8-5 6-2 2 – East L Outback Bowl 24 –
2003 Florida 8-5 6-2 1 – East (t) L Outback Bowl 25 24
2004 Florida 7-4 (*) 4-4 3 – East (*) 25 –
Florida: 23-14
Zook has never lost fewer than 4 games as a head coach and is 18-30 in 4 years at Illinois. He has also never won a bowl game as a head coach at Florida or Illinois.
So I have facts to back me up Assclown!
Blame Rex Grossman!
the one who we do not name…. bears fan here
welcome on board Alex…nice insight and looking forward to what you have to bring to 11w in the future….i’m so excited for this class paired with 2008….i think JT will open up a little bit into more of a spread with TP this year……..Berry, Hyde, M. Hall, Mewhort, Bell, Wood, C. Brown, Barnett, and Carter excite me for next year…I really hope J. Simon gets on the field-kid’s a beast!
I think Ohio State is happy with the number 25 and didn’t want to push beyond that number and have to take a smaller class next year. Tressel said post signing day that he is looking at 17 next year and thinks that is the minimum size of a class they want to bring in.
I was upset about Brown at first, especially with how well he could have fit into the receiving corps from Day 1 (and he and Posey would have been an imposing young tag-team) but all 25 guys at least appear to be committed to the Buckeyes in more ways than just by signature on the dotted line, at least that’s how the majority of them sounded during their phoners on The Fan yesterday.
i just wanna know who’s gonna throw him the ball
Great first article, and great insights. We knew Zook was going to be a bone in our sides, so this comes as no surprise.
I cant imagine Justin Green playing RB. Bud Golden is good
There were some rumors about Bud Golden’s grades.
had a chance to watch Golden in high school… he is not Buckeye starting material. Always injured..seemed to never play an entire game in high school
may have been a nice special teams player
http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/hshuddle/entries/2009/02/04/former_buckeyes_coach_john_coo.html
Check this out, apprently we owe it all to Cooper.
We all knock Coop for not being able to win against scUM, but the dude could recruit. His track record of NFL players is pretty impressive, particularly at CB.
true but i think columbus was tired of seeing a damn draw on every 3 and long situation.
Nice work Alex… only the recruiting expert from DTI could bring such brilliance!
Will it be the Boom & Berry show behind TP next year?
What do you guys think are some predictions for stats for the new guys this year?
I say Berry has 80 carries for 355 yards and 2 TD, Hyde has 42 carries for 155 yards and 3 TD, Carter has 33 rec. for 279 yards and 2 TD, Jackson has a 20.1 KR average, Marcus Hall plays in 12 games, but doesnt start, Dorian Bell doesn’t start either but has 30 tackles on defense and special teams
Never go full retard…
lol un-pc but tres funny allusion.
I like most of your predictions, but no way does Carter get 33 catches. Posey is amazing and only had like 10 all season.
Compare the Recruiting class rankings for ESPN, Rivals, and Scout:
Notice that ESPN’s rankings are DOMINATED by SEC teams, in comparison with the rankings on Scout.com and Rivals.com (4 of the top 6 are SEC teams and OSU is ranked at #9)
This is yet another reason why ESPN should, for all intents and purposes, be called E(SEC)PN from now on.
Wil,
Spot on man. Id also like to see ESPN’s top 150 for the last 5 to 10 years to see how well they did in predicting redruit success, because thats what you’re doing when you assign a recruit a ranking. I know its easy to find Scout’s. Also, ESECPN was the only service last year to not rank Pryor the number one recruit.
Ohio St. was no.1 on Scout, no.3 on Rivals, and no. 9 on ESECPN!!!
Florida was 10th on Rivals, didnt make the Scout top 10, and was 5th on ESECPN!!! Haterade anyone???
Everyone agreed Bama and LSU had good hauls as they were in the top 3 of each service.
The ESPN love affair with Miami continued as they were 7th on ESPN and didnt make the other two services top 10.
Also, North Carolina was 4th on Scout, 8th on Rivals, and failed to make the ESPN top 10.
ESPN was concerned about the midrange talent in our recruiting class. I have gotten to the point where I either read or watch for the entertainment value, for any useful information I go somewhere else.
Who finds ESECPN Entertaining?
ESPN = Garbage
rivals and scout do this full time where as espn ah not so much. I’m not putting too much thought into espn since just yesterday we were at 4th and some how slipped 5 spots. There is no way you can tell how a good a kid will be by watching him vs highschool talent.
ESPN had Mcguffie at 5 stars last year. How did that work out? We only know about kids that have played at the all star level and performed well like Berry, Carter and Brown. Everyone else who knows.
Who watches ESPN for anything more than live action? The kings of self-promotion, it is very rare that I even check their website. Fox, CBS, SI, all better sites.
I get all the news I need to know from 11W, 1460.com, BTN.com and Scout.
Well, after it is all said and done according to Scout, Ohio State has the #1 class.
Ah, who cares? A class as a whole matters little. How good they are now, matters little compared to how good they will be if they continue to stay healthy, work hard, and don’t screw up.
Others have said it before, but it’s worth saying again. Recruiting classes should be judged 4 years after they happen. Anything sooner is pure speculation.
Have you guys seen this on the Big Lead? About OSU recruiting too many white players? I kinda laughed, but isn’t this also kinda racist?
http://cursedcleveland.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-ohio-state-recruiting-too-many-white.html
I agree with a lot of the chatter on “mixing things up” on offense. Can we throw the ball on 1st down? Would that be too much to ask?
I’m hoping for great things for Jack Mewhort(gotta pull for the kids from my hometown, Toledo) and hope he gets right in to replace the formerly overrated and departed senior offensive linemen.
I’m also hoping for a breakout season for Sanzenbacher, another young man from Toledo. It seemed to me that he became Pryor’s “go-to” guy several times this year when scrambing and Dane was the only one open.
What about Lammar Thomas(4* “speed kills”) to compete for running back?
BTW, Ohio State got the #3 rated recruiting class by Rivals, but was ranked #1 with two other publications, Scout Mag., and I can’t remember the other one.
And “Buckeye Chris,” although OSU gets a lot of players from the Cleveland area, it is a VERY liberal city, so to see an article on “CursedCleveland.blogspot” doesn’t surprise me.
All one has to do is look at the recruiting rankings to know that Tressel got the right kids, and the fact that many of them were white THIS YEAR, is purely coincidental.
The racists are the ones at “Curse Cleveland.” The liberal morons that level these accusations are the REAL RACISTS and can’t see past skin color. Do you honestly think Tressel says to himself: “Self, I need more white kids this year…”
Idiots.
No way flash plays rb osu….he could have went to Illinois to do that!
hahahahaha! i like the “self, i need more white kids this year…” that single line made the post