Looking Way Forward: The Offense
TP2 2.0?With two nights sleep on it, several rational appeals to reason making their way around, and 207 days until the Thundering Herd come to town to kick off the 2010 football season in the Shoe, it’s only natural to begin mulling how the 2011 meat market will shape up.
A quick overview of the offensive players who will wrap up their eligibility following the 2010/11 season looks as follows:
| POS. | NAME |
|---|---|
| QB | None |
| RB | Brandon Saine |
| FB | None |
| WR | Dane Sanzenbacher, Grant Schwartz*, Taurian Washington |
| TE | None |
| OL | Justin Boren, Bryant Browning, Josh Kerr, Andrew Miller, Connor Smith |
*=Assuming the rumors of Schwartz’ transfer don’t come to fruition
This of course excludes the possible early defectors (Pryor, Posey, heck, even Herron in some circumstances) and transfers seeking the opportunity for fresh starts. Even being conservative in ballparking this all, given the 10 that have no choice but to move on to the next chapters in their lives, and assuming 2 early pro declarations and/or a transfer or two, and we’re looking at (give or take) roughly 12-14 hypothetical offensive spots to fill. So where to go with the potential offers?
There’s no mistaking the Buckeyes could use one quarterback commit (or potentially 2 if Pryor exits stage left or Bauserman gets tired of relaying signals into the huddle). Huber Heights product Braxton Miller (Rivals / Scout) would seem to be at the top of that wish list. The four star reminds many of a rawer, younger Terrelle Pryor and could potentially be groomed for a season under the man himself or potentially a caretaker for the offense until he’s ready. Florida product Jerrard Randall (Rivals / Scout) is also said to possess a Buckeye offer.
The sudden girth of talent at the tailback position makes it unlikely an offer is made, unless of course a monster prospect makes their interests widely known/emerges through the camp circuits. Jamaal Berry, Carlos Hyde, and Roderick Smith should all have between 3 and 4 years of eligibility amongst them, and with Herron as a senior and Jordan Hall with the 3 in the bank, the need to go tailback becomes less of prerogative. It would seem unlikely a scholarship fullback gets the offer too, with Adam Holman and Zach Boren seemingly in it for the long haul.
Wide receiver is another position where the Buckeyes find themselves blessed with an abundance of long-term talent. With Duron Carter, James Louis, James Jackson, Tyrone Williams, and Bradley Roby all in the bullpen, it would take a phenomenal, one of a kind talent to necessitate another adding another stallion to the stable. Some feel Vernon Hills Ill. product Evan Spencer, son of former Buckeye great Tim Spencer (Rivals / Scout), could be just that player. Another Tarblooder, the diminutive speedster Shane Wynn (Rivals / Scout) could also find a way to earn an offer and contribute immediately on special teams. With just Jake Stoneburner and Nic DiLillo in fold, the Bucks would also largely benefit from adding some new blood at the tight end position to the ‘11 class.
With the much publicized exodus of linemen coming and just 1 finding their way into the ‘10 class, the Buckeyes will need a surplus of talented big uglies to fill in the gaps on the depth chart in the next class. Glenville lineman Aundrey Walker (Rivals / Scout), Centerville two way player Michael Bennett (Rivals) and New Jersey product Angelo Mangiro (Rivals / Scout) are said to be on the Buckeyes’ shortlist to jump start things. Getting several more names in the mix and walking out with 3 or 4 faxes this time next year would unquestionably go a long way towards giving us all a little bit of extra peace of mind going into the ‘11 Football Campaign.
So what say you: Which offensive positions should the Buckeye key in on during the early tactical planning stages of the 2011 recruiting drive?
Duane Long thinks Braxton Miller is a much more polished passer than Pryor at this point in their respected careers, so I don’t think he is rawer than Pryor, most certainly younger though
http://www.duanelongreport.com/2009-articles/november/2011-quarterbacks.html
“respective careers”
it’s early
I respect Long’s analysis, but Braxton had a ton of just absolutely junk games from an accuracy standpoint. 4/9, 5/11, heck, even a 1/12 type game if I recall correctly. He was barely a 50% completion percentage quarterback as a sophomore, and I’m fairly certain he didn’t improve (and potentially digressed) as a junior.
Duane has become a caricature of himself. Man still knows quite a bit about football, but his word is far from gospel.
I think we need 4-5 OL in this recruiting class. Whiffing on so many prospects in this year’s class makes it imperative to get the numbers back up in a hurry. Not a good year for OL talent in Ohio in 2011, so it’s important to recruit the national guys. 1 QB should be good, esp if it is a top shelf talent. Probably one TE, ie ‘lineman who catches the occasional pass’. Just to keep the cupboard stocked, probably 2 WR types. Really not much else needed on the offensive side of the ball. As Luke says, we’re good at RB, unless a real stud wants to come to Columbus.
2 Questions
1) Isnt Roby a CB?
2) Did Fragel get moved to T?
1) Yes, Roby is a CB.
2) All of our TE’s get moved to OT… Stoneburner will probably be an exception…
>>Did everyone else see how good Carlos Hyde looks in his S&G #34 jersey? What a HUGE upgrade over MoWells…
Yeah, my my mistake. Roby is expected to project likely as a corner even though he spent a lot of time at wide receiver in high school. I’ve certainly heard the swap talk about Fragel as well.
[quote]With the much publicized exodus of linemen coming and 0 finding their way into the ‘10 class…[/quote]
Norwell?
Good call Skyler. How can you forget about Norwell. I remember reading articles all last year about him. I knew about him before Jamal Berry and Carlos Hyde. Give the kid some credit.
Plus I like Marcus Hall for the next few years. Big boy! Give him some playing time and he could turn into a road grater.
Henderson and the others would have been nice. I’m not as concerned since our new backs are not scamper backs like boom and zoom. Hyde and Smith are going to run over linebackers if they get in the way. What I would like to see is Beanie come back and give a clinic on the SOJ!
How many O-Lineman did we whiff on? I recall 3, but seems like they only went after 4. And Moses was really late in the game. It’s not like there were pursuing 15 line man and missed them all.
The only other OL we went after was Chaz Green (Florida).
I’m telling you, Kyle Cameron from Toledo Central Catholic is an O-Lineman to watch for. Great size, and I know he’s been down on some unofficial visits.
Outside of the line I see the need for a QB, TE, and a WR. While there is good depth at WR, when you start going 3-4 wide, depth can disappear quickly.
Braxton Miller reminds me of a rich man’s Tate Forcier. I think he’s too small and delicate to last 2 to 3 years as starting QB at Ohio State, he has been injured in the past and he has more of a cornerback’s body. Of course I’d love to have him, but I’m not sure he has the physical tools to last in the type of nonconference and conference schedule we play.
I’m more interested in Cardale Jones, who I think is a sleeper prospect out of Glenville. He hasn’t taken a lot of snaps under center, but he’s fast, 6′4, 200 LBs, and very raw. Ginn Sr. say’s he’s better than Miller, but that’s just what Sr. likes to say to get his kids offer. Jones says OSU is his dream school. He’s a definite redshirt, but we redshirted a QB out of Glenville a few years back and things turned out fairly well.
I liked what I saw of him in the state title game. Plus, he gets down with iWeb: http://cardalejones.com/
+1
I’d love to see Jones as a Buckeye.
Sign’em both up.
There’s plenty of room considering that we’ve only got a handful of scholarship QBs on the roster: TP (star), Guiton (back-up), Bauserman (not an answer), Graham (red-shirt), Reed (”Slash”).
Someone posted this list of potential QBs for 2011 (see Bucknuts – Recruiting Board):Braxton Miller (O – OH), Jarrard Randall (O – FL), Teddy Bridgewater (I – FL)*, Cardale Jones (I – OH), Jacoby Brissett (I – FL). Note: O – Offered, I – Interest. Seems that OSU offered B Miller and J Randall and no offer as yet to Cardale Jones. Frankly, wh QB shd we take for this 2011 class?
I watched Cardale play twice last year – in the season opener against St. Ignatius and in the State Finals. He has perfect size and looks good if you just watch him – his throws on the run look great. Unfortunately, his accuracy is very lacking at this stage, and he’s no where near the class of runner that Terrelle Pryor is. His throws tend to sail on him and he does panic under pressure.
That being said, he looked MUCH better in the State Finals than he did against Ignatius (he was benched for Christian Bryant against Ignatius). He plays with such a huge talent advantage against most opponents that he becomes really hard to judge. His receivers can outrun most (although they did him no favors against Davidson) and his offensive line is incredible.
At this point, I don’t really see him as an elite FBS QB, but he still has a year to prove me wrong.
good Job Dick Rod
http://www.freep.com/article/20100204/SPORTS06/100204063/1319/Star-U-M-recruit-confessed-to-2-burglaries-in-2007-records-show
Never fails to disappoint.
If you can’t win the Crystal football may as well recruit for the Fulmer Cup.
Take it easy… A lot of kids – including our own Santonio Holmes for example – have had some issues in their past but got their lives turned around. At least this kid is admitting to past mistakes and accepting responsibility for his actions.
Go Bucks!
I don’t recall Holmes having been charged with two felonies before he even set foot on compus.
Santonio decided to swap felonies for kids in college.
He admitted in interviews before the Superbowl last year that as a kid he sold drugs (e.g., committed multiple felonies) to get extra money for clothing, etc.
What I’m saying is some of these kids have done questionable things in the past, but turn their lives around – and some of those even have the integrity to admit it.
…and then smoke a lot of pot and take naked pictures of themselves and get arrested for domestic violence
possession of pot does not equal armed robbery, etc. BIG diff.
The 2010 version of “A MICHIGAN MAN.”
mgoblog was bashing a Free Press reporting for asking RichRod about the kid and making some smart ass comments about him running from the police.
lets see if they acknowledge now that the it comes out the kid admitted being involved.
I love how he is rocking the all gold grill!
That blog’s a joke. He was aquitted which means innocent. I also read on more than one occasion, wrong place wrong time. So was he in the wrong place, and just happened to have a weapon on him when he was caught? Anyway, if he was OSU bound we’d be hearing how OSU likes to recruit shady characters and Michigan would never take a kid with that kind of past etc. etc etc.
It does make me smile to see that they are so happy to be recruiting, such a fast, finess type of team. That’ll go over really well in the Big 10. They may win fewer than 3 conference games with a team like that every season.
Ya size and strength is a contributing factor in having a solid defensive secondary. Strength>Speed= 5 Star Defensive Back. Please give me a break with your comment. The secondary is all about speed. It’s not like he’s going to be lining up on the defensive line.
4.25, 4.31 40 times for a cover corner or safety equates to less than 3 conference wins.
DUDEMAN says dumb statement
I’m not just talking about DB’s, the comment I’m responding to mentioned how great it was that DickRod is recruiting a speedy finesse type team. That mean s woo hoo we have a 150 lb QB but he sure is fast. Alright, who needs a brusing tail back in the big 10, when you ca get a finesse guy. Finese doesn’t win Big 10 Championships.
It does however win Big East Championships, which explains success there for DickRod and failure so far in Big 10.
Brian I can tell by your grammar and sentence structure that you are a moron. Nothing else needs to be argued here. Case closed.
Sorry, I didn’t realize that I was being critiqued here. I don’t have time to proofread my posts as I have a job and work while posting. However, if you’d like to compare witts, I’m think I’m quite capable of holding my own thank you.
Also, just because a guy runs a 4.25 does not mean he’s going to be an elite DB. Even a moron like me knows that. End of story.
is demar dorsey literate? i mean judging by that video of him “dancing” and making zoo sounds i don’t think it’s a safe assumption…
I am confused by “With the much publicized exodus of linemen coming and 0 finding their way into the ‘10 class”. We did get one OL in this class.
OL Andrew Norwell
6-6, 270 CINCINNATI (ANDERSON)
seriously. quick edit should fix that
Yeah… Typo. Fixed, thanks CO.
You’re welcome. Colorado wanted to make sure young Mr Norwell was forgotten in all the Henderson/James hoopla.
Just my opinion but I would like to see an accurate gunslinger in the S&G.
Maybe, have the looks of a Bradford, and McCoy.
Just straight line up four receivers, and have a huge back in the backfield.
I have yet to see us recruit, and land that type of Quarterback. We recruit Krenzel types like Taylor Graham, Joe Germaine, Steve Bellisari, Justin Zwick.
I just would like to see us go after a Texas or Calfornia Gun Slinger!
Some one who maybe isn’t that mobile, but has a cannon. He is mentally tough, and
Who can thread the needle.
Anyone else desire a quarterback like that?
Am not saying I don’t love my by TP because I think he is freak of nature, and is a Great quarterback. Talking about his replacement for when he goes to the NFL.
Couple ideas:
David Ash
Derrick Brown
Jeff Driskel
Michael Eubanks
Kiehl Frazier
Darion Griswold