Eleven Warriors

*EDITED* I removed the list of potential transfers and just listed positions where we may see transfers. Hope that clears up the controversy.

A couple of days ago I posted a comparision of the last two recruiting classes for Ohio State and Michigan using the 24/7 Composite Ratings as the sole metric.

This comparison allowed for us to see how each school's potential strengths/weaknesses both in a vacuum and in direct relation to the other as well as give a little preview for what areas each school might be looking to address in 2014 and 2015.

Piggybacking off of that post, I wanted to see how these last two Ohio State recruiting classes (2012 & 2013) stack up talent-wise with the recruiting rankings of the rest of the roster right now. Thus, using the same 24/7 Composite Ratings, I was able to create this new document that breaks down the talent position by position.

After reviewing the data, I have several non-sequential observations:

1. Urban Meyer has seriously upgraded the talent level of this team with just 1.5 classes of his own recruits, particularly at Running Back, All-Purpose, Defensive Line, Linebacker and Cornerback. He has brought in key people at every other position as well - Barrett at QB, Clark/Smith at WR, Baugh at TE, Lisle/Decker/Dodson at OL and Vonn Bell at Safety.

2. Three of the most highly-regarded recruits brought in during the Tressel/Fickell era have not developed as expected - Rod Smith, Steve Miller and Curtis Grant.

3. Brad Roby, Devin Smith and Carlos Hyde have significantly outperformed their rating as a recruit. Roby, in particular, should be added immediately to the Hawk/Jenkins/Laurinaitis canon of '3-stars who devleoped into 5-star 1st Round Draft Picks'.

4. Meyer has been superlative at bringing in dynamic all-purpose offensive weapons (Marshall/Wilson/Elliott) but has been surprisingly average with his WR commits, missing out on James Quick and Stefon Diggs, among others. I'm sure that Corey Smith and James Clark can develop into big-time talents but neither are the can't miss prospects that Meyer is bringing in at other positions.

5. This defensive-line has a chance to go down as the best in the history of Ohio State football over the next 2 years. And that still might be underplaying their potential because of how YOUNG they are - Not a single senior among the bunch and only 4 juniors (Steve Miller, JT Moore, Michael Bennett, Joel Hale). And considering some of the 2014 talent that Meyer is already in on, we should expect for these riches to continue growing.

6. The linebackers are the most underrated unit on the team right now - The 4 sophomores from last season (Perry, Perkins, Williams, Marcus) are all VERY talented and I expect them to develop a lot coming into this season. Add to that Mike Mitchell and Trey Johnson, who are comparable to Grant/Shazier in terms of how recruiting services see them. Oh, and we still have Shazier and Grant. And we're likely to add Raekwon McMillian, Dante Booker and Kyle Berger next year. So if opponents manage to slow down the elite D-Line, they run into a fearsome crew of LBs.

7. Without Vonn Bell, here's our 2014 Safeties: Devan Bogard, Jayme Thompson, Ron Tanner, Darron Lee and Tyvis Powell. That's all of them. With Vonn Bell this unit goes from a HUGE question mark to a promising but unproven group. Expect Bell, Bogard, Thompson and Lee to be on the field a lot (defense AND special teams) this fall as coaches try and figure out what 2014 will look like.

8. The 2014 offensive line is potentially a hot mess. ASSUMING that Taylor Decker, Kyle Dodson, Jacoby Boren and Chase Farris come good and can be counted on as 4 out of 5 starters that leaves Evan Lisle, Antonio Underwood, Tommy Brown, Tim Gardner, Pat Elfien and Daryl Baldwin as the ONLY scholarship depth. OL is THE priority for the 2014 class and I expect a big-time class to come in and challenge for immediate playing time.

9. Here's some potential postions where transfers may happen SOLELY based on depth and no other information: RB, DL, LB and Corner.

Interested to hear some other thoughts!

Just watched OSU-Syracuse again and have a few thoughts:

1. Craft is FAR and away our most important player. He is unimaginably disruptive to the opponents lead guard, he brings patience, stability and a calming presence on offense and he is an emotional leader out there who pulls the team together and keeps everybody's mind focused on the present task at hand. Craft almost NEVER rushes things, almost NEVER makes a bad pass and his decision-making is routinely superlative.

2. Tyshawn Taylor vs. Craft will go a long way to deciding this FF matchup. The first time around, Taylor had 13 assists, 7 TOs and only 9 points. Kansas shot nearly 60% from the field, so that's what accounts for some of those assists - And they still beat us without Sullinger by only 11 at home. My prediction is that Craft dominates Taylor this time around - Craft has already seen Taylor once and Craft only gets better when he sees a player multiple times - Ask Trey Burke.

3. Deshaun Thomas is the biggest matchup problem in the FF. He can hit perimeter shots, he can dribble drive, he's a monster around the basket and he is probably the best 6'6 offensive rebounder I've ever seen play college basketball. If Kansas starts their big guy, Whithey, on Sullinger, then that puts Thomas Robinson on Thomas, which would be an incredibly big mismatch in Thomas' favor. And if KU sits Whithey down and lets Robinson guard Sullinger, then KU loses their shot-blocker as well, which frees up the interior. KU left Robinson to guard Hummel (a similar player to Thomas) against Purdue and Hummel had a field day before they switched up in the 2nd half. How Kansas decides to guard Thomas will be a huge factor.

4. Look at the stats from the earlier KU-OSU game. We shot horribly, turned the ball over, got outrebounded, had foul trouble and played Jordan Sibert for 15 minutes - All in a road game against a top team without Jared Sullinger. And somehow it was a 6 point game with less than 2 minutes to go. Looking at that, I have to say that I feel very confident that as long as we play our game and bring the intensity on the defensive end.