Eleven Warriors

I've seen a few partial panic-mode posts the last few days regarding the shape of our 2014 recruiting class, so I thought this blog was worth making.

Here are your reasons why you shouldn't freak out about the 2014 class:
1) It's April 16th (as of midnight), that means there are around 10 more months until National Signing Day
2) OSU went undefeated last season, how many times in your life have you been able to say that?
3) Our coach is Urban Meyer
4) We might miss on Hand and Peppers -- but hey, we didn't have a single player in the Rivals Top 25 last year, and yet we still managed the #2 class overall. Who says you need to have the top few players to have an elite class?
5) This time last year: we had 8 commits.
Right now: we have 7 commits.
16 of our 24 commits from the consensus #2 overall 2013 class came after today's date last year. This year will be a smaller class -- with that in mind, we're actually right on schedule! The season will bring victories, and with those victories recruits; so fear not, Urban always gets his man!*

*Or a reasonable approximation of, or a better version (see Mike Mitchell vs Alex Italian-Name-Guy) of; the point being, even if Urban doesn't get his first target, the nature of HS football/the camp cycle, is that a whole lot of new targets will develop. Coaches will be fired and resign, causing recruits to decommit. And OSU will once again be a preeminent program, drawing in recruits who otherwise might have gone elsewhere. The night is young! Feel free to add your own reasons to my list!

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."
Proverbs 27:17

There is some dissension among OSU fans regarding whether being a "true OSU fan" means that we should root for UM to lose in every situation: lose every game environment, lose every recruiting battle, lose every bit of media exposure -- or whether being a "true OSU fan" allows for wanting a great UM team, who performs at an elite level, recruits at an elite level, and wins at an elite level, with the exception of the last game in November against OSU. 

I tend to be in the second camp, especially these days. OSU's strength of schedule relies on a competent, even elite UM team. Winning a #1 vs #2 OSU-UM game secures a trip to the National Title game in a way that a #2 OSU beating an unranked Michigan game can't necessarily. I also root for an elite Michigan team because I honestly loved the entertainment value of games like the 2006 "Game of the Century" that pitted an heroic #1 OSU team against an excellent #2 Michigan team. What's more, that victory satisfied me much more than the 14-3 or 42-7 OSU wins the following two years. I want a GREAT Michigan team, because beating an historically great Michigan team means an historically greatER OSU team. Beating an historically great Michigan team often means a Nat'l Title trip. Beating an historically great Michigan teams mean our OSU team is prepared to beat an historically great SEC team. 

While getting a Top 3 recruiting class doesn't secure an elite Michigan team in the future, player development is significant, it does push them in that direction -- in the same way that landing the consensus #2 recruiting class last year pushes OSU in that direction.

Where do you stand on this? OSU or Michigan fans alike are welcome to chime in. Does a great Michigan team help OSU? 

After reading in Gene's Quick Bits thread that Marshon Lattimore plans to visit Michigan (not a huge surprise), it got me to thinking about the sort of meltdown many fans might have if we miss on Lattimore this year -- not to mention, if Michigan were to get him haha. I feel a bit spoiled in the sense that it seems like every year lately between Coaches Meyer and formerly Tressel (both excellent recruiters, both largely engineering high points in OSU football win-wise) we manage to snag almost all of the top 5-10 Ohio talents. There have been some misses: we all remember he-who-must-not-be-Kalised, for example. Also, in doing some quick research I found that 2010 was arguably the year we missed out on the most Ohio talent in recent memory (only grabbed 3 of the top 20 Ohioans that year) -- but we did manage to land some underrated out-of-staters who've since been terrific (Big Hank, Bradley Roby, etc).

I was wondering what, if any, Ohioans you feel like are essential gets for this particular class? Either by team needs or in securing top Ohio talent in general?

List of Rivals' current ranking of Ohio talent:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ohiostate/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-3214;_ylt=Atl2gjbC58XdPiB79S7XuZx2tJB4

^Couple of points of interest to me:
*I was suprised how much higher they have Nick Richardson (who OSU has not offered) ranked than Marcelys Jones
*Nilijah Ballew is an interesting prospect -- and one that I haven't heard almost anything about to this point; might be one of those late risers ala Gareon Conley last year.

According to many Michigan fans, Urban Meyer runs a dirty program filled with arrest issues. Michigan on the other hand is a clean program where their student-athletes perform with the upmost integrity, rarely if ever running afoul of the law.
http://michigan.247sports.com/Board/59424/OU-Getting-Ready-to-Narfle-the-Garthok-Again-17420054/1
^Good example of a thread where Michigan fans perpetuate said mentality

According to ArrestNation.com
OSU arrests since Meyer's hire on Nov. 23, 2011:
Bri’onte Dunn (July 2012)
Dominic Clarke (January 7, 2012)
Jack Mewhort (June 2, 2012)
Jacob Stoneburner (June 2, 2012)
Storm Klein (July 6, 2012)

Michigan arrests since Hoke's hire on Jan. 11, 2011:
Fitzgerald Toussaint (July 21, 2012)
Frank Clark (June 2012)
Will Campbell (April 7, 2012)
Josh Furman (February 11, 2012)
Marvin Robinson (November 2011)
Darryl Stonum (May 6, 2011)

Brady Hoke has 10 extra months on the job, but one more arrest at this point. Pretty dang comparable if you ask me. Just something to consider when you hear from a Michigan fan about how the OSU program is "thug-ridden" and "full of criminals,"  which I'm sure you'll have to hear often over the next few years, compared to Michigan's angels in winged helmets.

Arrests and criminality are an issue among nearly every elite college football team, it's an unfortunate reality, but it is the reality. The doesn't make it right, nor am I trying to glorify it. I just think there needs to be some objectivity about the fact that this is becoming an issue everywhere, it's not simply a "Meyer issue" or an "SEC issue" as some would like to believe.