Washington and Stanford are going their own ways.No, not that Washington and Stanford. We're talking about the dynamic Cincinnati Taft duo of Adolphus Washington and Dwayne Stanford, who just announced their college decisions moments ago at a press conference at their school.
While it has been long thought and said that the two would be attending the same school, the longtime friends decided to go their separate ways for their college careers, with Washington choosing Ohio State and Stanford choosing Oregon.
Washington, a 6-6/240 defensive end, is the top ranked player in the state of Ohio and is a top 50 player nationally across multiple recruiting outlets. He moves extremely well for a player of his size and his combination of strength and athleticism have vaulted him to be one of the more feared pass rushers in the country. The future Army All-American is likely to play some form of the LEO position at Ohio State depending on what system the next Buckeye defensive coordinator employs. He chose OSU over offers from Alabama, Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Notre Dame, Texas, Oregon, USC, and others.
Stanford is a 6-4/200 wide receiver and would provide Oregon a big target to throw to on third downs and in the red zone, something the Ducks haven't had since Ed Dickson went to the NFL. While there have been questions about his speed by members of the media, recruiters have not shyed away from this big time play maker, as his offer list included Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Michigan State, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, Florida State, and others before he settled on heading out west.
While they may not be here much longer after this weekend, Luke Fickell and the rest of the Ohio State coaching staff have been recruiting their tails off to try and close out this class strong and that is something that all fans need to tip their caps to. Getting Washington seemed like somewhat of a long shot after Jim Tressel stepped down on Memorial Day, but a Fickell-lead charge helped the Buckeyes not only get back into the game, but close the deal on this outstanding prospect.
As for Stanford, it definitely would have been nice to have him on the roster next year, but getting Michael Thomas, Roger Lewis, and Frank Epitropoulos gives the Ohio State staff three quality receivers to joining the mix for next season.
With Bri'onte Dunn up in the air, OSU is looking at about 4-7 scholarships left in this class. It should be interesting to see how things shake out the rest of the way, but don't expect any more movement until a new coach has been announced.
Comments
Wow this was posted fast, do you guys sleep?
been up 18 hours analyzing this........
Damn thats comitment. Go get some sleep man!
just messing...had a good tip on Adolphus and new Dwayne was either Oregon or OSU so it was simple from there
Oh...Well still posted fast haha
I should know this, but is Washington 4 or 5 star?
5-Star all world....THIS IS HUGE
I knew this was huge, but it's the second dumb-ass question of the day from me. It would stand to reason if he was #1 in Ohio. I need to stop posting.
#1 in Ohio easily
He was a 5 star but since he committed to OSU he just dropped.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
Yes. Braxton was #1 until he comitted to OSU then the Driskell kid took over his spot since he comitted to Florida. We've seen both of them play this year, we know who the better player is. Hatters gonna hate, I love it.
No surprise about Stanford. Still shocked that any top flight WRs want to come here considering the general play-calling/offensive philosophy incompetence. But Washington is a massive pick-up and EXACTLY the kind of player we've been missing this season.
I see Washington and Steve Miller as really scary defensive line bookends for years to come.
We've put quite a few WR into the NFL over the years despite the offensive philosophy...
Plus, Oregon for receivers? Name the last good one to come out of there....their offense is all about the zone read/option to run and the short play action passes off of that....not the big play making receivers
I think it's less that Oregon throws a lot (they don't) than it is that they consistenly get the ball in the hands of their playmakers.
There are some other factors I could mention relating to certain recent headlines regarding the Ducks program, but that would be just speculation.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
They mentioned during the telecast that Fickell is recruiting kids to, "play for Ohio State" and not necessarily for him. Are there any recruits that we know of who are of a mind to bail if Fickell is let go? I can't imagine so, but I know that Fickell is a great recruiter, so I guess I wouldn't be totally shocked.
As for Dunn, is he just waiting to see what happens with the NCAA? Or, has he always been "shopping?"
I think Dunn wants and wanted to become a Buckeye, but wanted to see the head coaching situation and the NCAA ruling....I think he's fine with the NCAA ruling, but not the Meyer choice....he wanted a 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense....which he will get at Michigan which is where I think he ends up....good friends with Kalis/Strobel, cousins with Dymonte Thomas and now will be visiting them two weeks in a row!
Agree. Dunn will end up at Michigan. He's already said he wouldn't play for Meyer and his spread offense. Which is fine, that just gives Carlos Hyde, and Warren Ball more carries, and eventually Derrick Green right?
I missed that. When did he say he wouldn't play for Meyer?
winner winner chicken dinner on Green...he is the key
My honest opinion is that he sees the depth chart at OSU and the uphill battle he'd face. I think OSU is his favorite school, but he also sees a lot of opportunity for a back like him at scUM. Comes down to which he ends up preferring... easier opportunity or dream school.
Great news!!
Can anyone explain how/why a recruit drops from 5 stars once he commits?
...because he wasn't the 57th signee to an SEC school.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111122/SPT030101/311220125/Taft-rec...
Washington asked if he thinks he will be playing for Urban Meyer said, "I hope so."
Maybe if OSU had 6,000 variant unis we'd nab more recruits.......
http://247sports.com/Article/Washington-is-finally-a-Buckeye-49904
“It’s the education part,” Washington continued. “I know all these schools athletically can offer me the same thing. The academic support at Ohio State, there is no way you can fail. Even if you’re giving minimal effort there is no way you can fail.”
Awesome?
bahahahahahaha jeeeeeeesus...guess he is not part of that "99% of us will be going pro in something other than sports"
"Winter is coming" - Urban Meyer
Guessing he didn't talk to Duron Carter or Reggie Germany...
Reggie Germany... now there's a trip down amnesia lane...
Last I heard Reggie Germany was a personal trainer at Lifetime Fitness on Hamilton and old 161 near New Albany.
-The Aristocrats!
"That's total BS." - D. Carter
Translation: " I don't give a flying fawk about academics, the tutors/advisors here will make sure I don't fail Intro to Algebra and Golf Studies. I just wanna kill O-linemen and blow up QB's for 3 yrs then get paid stacks in the league Son. Any questions? no? Go Bucks!"
Honesty is a good quality FWIW
"You have to slay the selfish beast inside of you and be your brother's keeper" - Chris Spielman, on being a great teammate
Oh my. Washington if you're reading this, college is f'ing hard, even for the smart people. And Ohio State is only getting tougher and tougher every year. If you give minimal effort, you will most certainly fail, and you won't get to play football.
I hope I'm not misinterpreting what you're saying.
This is great news. Washington is by far the best player in Ohio, he's dominated every time I've been able to watch him. Stanford would've been a nice get too, but I think Mike Thomas and Roger Lewis will prove to be far better players. Also I heard that OSU is making a late push for Ifeadi Odenigbo? How do we compare to Stanford and Notre Dame in that case?
I agree, this is great news... Not even that concerned about Stanford, We have three young WRs who look like they will be quality players for the next couple of seasons in Reed, Smith and Spencer and Mike Thomas as you mention...
I don;t think we stand much of a chance for Odenigbo. His family values education MUCH more than athletics, and even he has said multiple times that he wants to use his football skills to get into a school he might not have gotten into. My guess is he will end up at Northwestern or ND.
Looks like Brionte Dunn is leaving. I doubt he wants to play in an urban meyer offense, he never has any good running backs
Anyone think we have a chance of getting Kalis back if Meyer is hired? We need to recruit OL in a bad way.
I'd say less than 1% chance to be honest
What about other OL recruits? What happened to that guy out in Minnesota that started to become our focus after Kalis changed his mind.
#fistpumpgobuckeyes
Jonah Pirsig? He's committed to Minnesota
Alright Washington - great choice!
Stanford - rough break, kid ... I wouldn't want to be a WR in that Ducks offense, compared to an Urban Meyer offense. Seems like he made a rash, emtional decision after his visit. Chip Kelly seems like a smug jerk to me, too. Snake oil meets salesman.
p.s. Oregon's academics --- ahhh, sorry --- not even in the same league as tOSU's.
If we were to get only one of these two guys --- obviously A. Wash is that guy. Stanford isn't a burner.
Let's use that scholly a speed guy, or some OL depth.
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Offensive Line depth easily. We need several more offensive linemen.
p.s. look ESPiN and their ESPN "150" rankings to immediately drop Washington in their rankings, due to his Ohio State commitment. It seems they downgrade players after they've committed to Ohio State.
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
The problem here is that you're even looking at ESPN's recruiting rankings. ESPN is a joke when it comes to being a recruiting service, go to Scout or Rivals.
I agree --- I always rely on scout's, but is interesting to take at look at ESPiN's just to see the Buckeye hate going on!
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
The problem is that you are looking at recruiting rankings anyway. Its a terribly flawed system. Recruiting rankings should be looked at backwards, not forwards. Rate this class in 2015.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
anyone else think Stanford looks like Chris Bosh?
Yes, good call! --- he's got a bit of that giraffe-neck
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
SKREEE
Taquitos.
Don't kid yourselves and stop being ridiculous. We want every 4 or 5 star player that we can get. We wanted Stanford and we want Dunn - we don't know how they will turn out and we will miss the chance to develop stars
Actually we don't "need" Stanford or Dunn, we already have 3 committed WRs, and a committed RB in this class alone, along with the fact that all of our wide receivers except for Posey are Redshirt Sophomores or younger. Also our backfield is loaded, and we are hopefully the leaders for Derrick Green next year as well. Losing out on Stanford doesn't hurt, and if we lost Dunn, it wouldn't be a huge blow. Losing out on Kalis, Dodson, and possibly Jordan Diamond hurts a lot more.
Technically, we don't "need" anyone, we can have walk-ons fill every spot on the roster. You're definitely right that we have less depth at OL and more scholarships/position at RB and WR. However, it's humorous that immediately after someone decides to go elsewhere a large percentage of people come out with "He wasn't that good anyway" and "We'll be fine, we have better players anyway" statements. We sound like jealous ex-girlfriends and are making excuses to deal with these "loses."
This might be true, except for I have stated from the beginning that Roger Lewis and Mike Thomas are better players and prospects than Dwayne Stanford, also I have stated previously that losing Dunn wouldn't be a huge blow, and that it is more important that we go after Derrick Green. The losses of Kalis to UM (even though I think he ends up as a guard and not a tackle) and Dodson to Wisconsin hurt a lot more. Also if Diamond heads to UM or Wisconsin, that only further weakens our O-ine next year.
Rivals Scout ESPN
Stanford 22 50 21
Lewis 78 83 111
Epitropoulos 69 59 65
Just so you know, according to experts, Stanford would have been one of our best propects, but you are free to have your own opinion and you may end being correct. I think Thomas may be better, but he is unranked this year, given his situation. I will believe the summation of the three recruiting sites and say that we missed out on our top WR propect in Stanford.
Dunn would be a huge blow no matter what you say, especially if he ends up playing against us.
I stand by my opinion that we wanted and want Stanford and Dunn.
I know that Stanford was ranked higher, but have you watched the footage of these three players? Lewis is by far faster than Stanford, and I'd even say Epitropoulos is too. Having watched Stanford play, it seemed like the only thing ever thrown his way was a jump ball, also he clearly doesn't have the speed to take a pass to the house, whereas Roger Lewis does. Mike Thomas was an Under-Armour All-American by the way.
Actually OBP is right. You don't decline any talented player. You don't recruit on need, you recruit talent. There is no such thing as having too many good anythings at this level. Just because you have young receivers doesn't mean you can't upgrade. Its the New England Patriots approach. They draft the best player available, always. You do the same in recruiting. It may become more difficult to get, say, another top flight QB if you have a stud freshman\sophmore what have you but you load up everywhere you can. What's more-every good player you get is a good player who can't burn you elsewhere. Sorry William but you sir, are dead wrong.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
I never said that you should turn them down, if they accept your scholarship, then of course you should accept them. My point is that losing them is not nearly as big as losing Kyle Kalis, or Kyle Dodson, or possibly Jordan Diamond.
Again I disagree but that's more because I have a fundamentally different stance on recruiting than you do. I don't get excited at all about any recruit, That includes Pryor, Clarrett or any other 'big name' OSU lands or has landed. Losing Kalis is a nothing to me because you don't know how anyone turns out. Justin Zwick and mike D'Andrea were two of the biggest names we landed when I was at OSU and I remember both of them doing exactly bubcus whilest at OSU (save for Zwick's bad ass block in the bowl game against the Pokes on a reverse). Losing a guy who hasn't played a snap of football beyond HS isn't a loss. Getting him isn't a gain. Classes need to be reverse analyzed.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
I completely understand your viewpoint that recruiting classes should be reverse analyzed, so that you can truly understand the impact that each recruit made, and what their true value or rating was. However losing out on highly ranked offensive linemen that were considered OSU leans is still a loss.
Okay....who is Derrick Green?
Hermitage, Va. running back. He goes to the same school that Curtis Grant went to, he even wears #27 because he admires Eddie George and his running style.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=5577351
Wow... stud. Nice. Thanks, William.
I would rather take a 4/5 star Offensive Tackle than a 4 star receiver.
What does it tell you that he was talking about Oregon's academics, too.
Glad we got A. Wash
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Agreed. We need offensive linemen badly. Chip Kelly probably threw a Nike swag bag Stanford's way, and told him there's plenty more where that came from. Which is great for Oregon as a recruiting tool, and I could care less if they use it. We already have plenty of wide receivers, at this point the only WRs OSU would take would be Dorial Green-Beckham, which has an absolutely 0% chance of happening, and Stefon Diggs, which has a less than 1% chance of happening.
Careful throwing percentages around on this site. Some members of the national media may take them literally.
Fan of bacon since 1981
Nice!
Good, hopefully we could finally have someone get after the QB on a consistent basis.
I hope he's not as dumb and lazy as he sounds. Otherwise good luck in Kansas.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.