Eleven Warriors

He was able to flip so many kids last year bc he was awarded the OSU job late in the recruiting where the kids have already made their decision. He was not able to recruit these kids until Nov. This year Urban has been able to recruit these kids right off the bat and these kids have been able to see what OSU and Urban has to offer before they make their decision. So I believe it will be harder to flip kids this year.

You know, I wondered the same thing. The one reason I don't think we'll see as much of what we saw when Meyer first got to town though-When he got Dunn, and Dodson specifically, they were being recruited by Ohio State. Then they were being recruited by Ohio State AND Urban Meyer so their interest in OSU was stoked and ignited by Meyer when it wasn't really otherwise as high under the old regime (Grant it, Dodson was sort of missed).

This year with guys like Pocic and Anzalone, etc they have already faced the full brunt of a Meyer lead recruiting push and still opted to go elsewhere (at least in the case of Pocic). No one is safe for anyone until that kid signs in NSD, but I don't really think we'll see the windfall like we did last year.

There is a difference between panicking and being disappointed. We'll have a very good class, but we certainly won't have a dominant class. We've missed out on a lot of the coaches top targets, more than I'm certain most expected, even the coaching staff. That is dissappointing. I think that we'll become more dominant after a great season or two, but for right now OSU is still an unknown.

I think they need to fill all the voids. So definitely need an OT, probably a safety, and at least one more WR. I think they take another tackle, another guard, 2 more WRs, another RB/slot ATH, and maybe a LB. That makes six, which gives us an 18 person class, which is about capacity without attrition. I think if other top targets fall through, the staff will leave it at ~18, and focus on 2014.

@AHH, I agree with you on Thompson, he's shown enough at NFTC camps, and if he has a good season with that added experience and training, he definitely deserves an upgrade. Not sure about Sprinkle as much though, partly because he's a really raw talent, also partly due to services' camp reliance, something he doesn't seem to get into.

Disagree. Tress routinely had top-10 classes. you don't get that with "5s and 6s". He got 7s and 8s year in and year out, with a couple of local 9s and 10s sprinkled in. Just because Bollman turned some of them into 4s and 5s doesn't diminish that Tressel was a pretty great recruiter in his own way. Different than Urbs, and I agree that everyone should calm down, but let's not forget that Tress's classes steamrolled the BIG for 10 years. How quickly we forget how happy we were with Tress.

A popular misconception about JT is that he was a mediocre recruiter whereas by any standard he was one of the best recruiters of his time.  Could he lock down the top talent in Ohio?  Mo C, T Ginn, D Whitner, B Wells, D Posey, M Adams, and J Simon is a short list of 5* talent from the Buckeye state that became Buckeyes under JT.  Could he reel in the big fish from OOS? D. Worthington, L. Grant, TP, E Sabino, JB Shugarts, M Brewster, D Bell were all highly recruited OOS 5* that came to Columbus under JT.  S Holmes, C Heyward, B Rolle were all highly recruited 4* who had no tie to the Buckeyes beyond JT. Could he find the diamond in the rough that others missed?  All of the following were 3* or less: N Mangold, V Gholston, Malcolm Jenkins, A Youbouty, Chimdi Chekwa, B Roby, J Hankins, J Laurinitis, and yes, AJ Hawk was a 3*.  This list is partial and anyone who wants to add to it feel free, but the point should be clear.  JT could recruit with the best of them, including Urban Meyer.

I guess I need to clarify.  I'm assuming this thread was started to discuss OL recruiting and that's what I was referring to.  No one in their right mind would question Urban's defensive or skill position recruits...or Tressel for that matter.  I was referring to the fact we could have 5-6 2013 OL guys if Urban wanted to settle like I believe Tressel did.  But instead he is going after the best 

Once again, JT went after the best --including along the OL-- and often got them.  From where are you getting this idea that he didn't?  Remeber Seantrell Henderson?  He was the top rated recruit in the country at any position, and JT went after him hard --likely at the expense of lower rated in-state recruits.  We lost that battle, but certainly JT had "the nuts" to fight it.