First sorry for the TLDR post.

This is meant to examine the quality of recruiting and handling of the transfer portal by Holtmann and his staff over his 6 years here.

I will grade each incoming player on their level of contribution to OSU while here but also consider if the player made it thru all 4 years or not at OSU. 3 guys are not included for the reason listed below.

Kaleb Wesson – He had committed to OSU a year before Holtmann was even hired and was a double Legacy guy (father and brother) from Columbus and was highly unlikely to leave regardless of who was hired

Danny Hummer  – transfer walk on from Air Force who was from his first class

Abel Porter – Transfer from Utah St who never got to play due to heart condition

Of course guys leaving for the NBA is good, guys transferring away is bad ie we lost part of the eligibility to another school.

Overall here is what I give in terms of Letter Grades for incoming guys

A – 3 guys so far, True stars at least 1 year of over 13 pts/game= EJ Liddell, Malaki Branham and Brice Sensabaugh

B – 2 guys so far, Very good players = Duane Washington, Bruce Thornton (so far)

C – 13 guys, Solid Guys, major role players or part time starters or xfer outs who showed promise or guys who filed a particularly needed niche= Kyle Young, Andrew Dakich, Luther Muhammad, Keyshawn Woods, Cedric Russell, Justin Ahrens, DJ Carton, Justice Sueing, Zed Key (so far), Jamari Wheeler, Sean McNeil, Roddy Gayle (so far), Felix Okpara (so far)

D – 7 guys, Mid bench guys, low end contributors or just poor mediocre performers who saw action - Musa Jallow, Meechie Johnson, Eugene Brown, Joey Brunk, Tanner Holden, Isaac Likekele

F – 8 guys, Busts, rare contributors, waste of scholarship or unlikely to ever contribute – Jadeon Ladee, Alonzo Gaffney, Ibrahima Diallo, Jimmy Sotos, Seth Towns, Kalen Etzler (so far), Bowen Hardman (so far), Owen Spencer (so far)

So here goes

Class 1

Recruits – Musa Jallow and Kyle Young

Transfers – Andrew Dakich

Kyle Young – Grade C – Played a ton of games at OSU (135) with several starts (69) across 5 years. Played in 83% of all games and started 42%. Was a gritty, “do the dirty work” kind of guy, but never a major factor for the team. Averaged 8 pts/game across his last 3 years and 5.4 rebounds. Solid roster guy but not much else. Dealt with injury issues across nearly every season

Musa Jallow – D – Played in 94 of 131 potential games with 28 starts ie played in 72% and started 21% across 4 injury filled seasons. Never an offensive threat (less than 3 pts/game each of his 3 full playing seasons), but a decent rebounder and defender for a big guard/wing. Never developed and left before his final year, at best a mid bench role player

Andrew Dakich – C - a glorified walk on who came in from UM where he had played only 49 games in 3 years, to play in 34 games at OSU. A coaches son who played smart but with very limited skills. Only scored 3 pts/game at OSU in his one year, but was a solid ball handler who filled a much needed role as back up PT Guard.

Class 2

Recruits – Duane Washington, Luther Muhammad, Justin Ahrens, Jadeon LeDee

Transfers – Keyshawn Woods

Duane Washington – B – hard to grade. Left early for NBA and has made rosters so a good decision on his part. 94 games and 48 starts in 3 years (97% and 49%), but didn’t become a FT starter until his final year. Was a solid scorer, (7, 11.5, 15.4 in his 3 years), but was quite streaky scoring 2 pts one game and 20 the next. Was not a great defender, rebounder or ball handler, but definitely a “Hot hand” good scorer.

Luther Muhammad – C - 64 games and 54 starts in 2 years here (missed only 1 game and started 83%), but chose to leave after those 2 years. Solid jump shooter, but not a big scorer (7/game), solid ball handler and defender. Might have scored higher had he stayed but given only 2 years of “OK” performance, hard to go higher than a C

Justin Ahrens – C – (114 games with 41 starts, and only a PT starter his last 2 years), he had a few big scoring games in his career, mostly noted for 3PT shooting. Was a lousy defender and rebounder  but shot over 40% from 3 his last 2 years but was very streaky. He scored 14 in 1 game, then only 14 in the next 9 games combined his last year at OSU, was 5 of 10 from 3 in the 14 pts game, then 9 for his next 42 in the next 9 (21.4%). Never averaged over 6/game at OSU even though he played 18-20 mins a game his final 2 years. Also left for his final year somewhere else. Given he left and was never more than a streaky specialist I will go with a C

Jadeon Ledee – F – Only lasted 1 year before leaving, played only 171 minutes scoring only 77 pts and 45 rebounds before transferring away after the one year, ie a waste of a scholarship from an OSU perspective

Keyshawn Woods – C – Came in from Wake Forest where he was a part time starter scoring 11+ per game in his last 2 years. Played in all 35 games with 15 starts in his 1 year at OSU but scored only 8/game here. Decent ball handler and defender, He was solid but not great, hence a C

Class 3

Recruits – DJ Carton, Alonzo Gaffney, EJ Liddell, Ibrahima Diallo

Transfers – Justice Sueing

DJ Carton – C – Showed a ton of promise but was only here for a partial season and left the team for Marquette. (20 games and only 3 starts missing the final 11 games). He scored 10 per game with over 3 assists. Left Marquette after the season but was there only 1 year also and went pro, now playing in the G League. Given he didn't even last a full season here, hard for this one from a recruiting perspective to be much more than a C, maybe a B based on talent, but playing on 2/3rds of one year it is hard to give a 10 pts/game guy that high a grade. 

Alonzo Gaffney – F – played only 17 games and less than 120 minutes in 1 year at OSU then transferred, waste of a scholarship

EJ Liddell – A – Star player each of his last 2 years here and now in the NBA, nothing but good things to say about EJ, easily an A

Ibrahima Diallo – F – played only 50 minutes across 2 season at OSU and never contributed before transferring, waste of a scholarship

Justice Sueing – C – Came in from Cal and when healthy played in 68 games with 63 starts. In his 2 full seasons he averaged 11.6 pts and 5.3 rebs a game. Not a great shooter and weak at ball handling, but many OSU fans place too much blame on him for how this past season went, when to my mind he was obviously a #2/3 option guy being asked to be a #1. That is on the staff more than the player.

Class 4

Recruits – Meechie Johnson, Eugene Brown, Zed Key

Transfers – Jimmy Sotos and Seth Towns

Meechie Johnson – D - only 2 years at OSU 43 games with only 5 starts (67% played 8% started) before leaving for South Carolina. Mid bench player in 2 years here but had a good season for a bad S Car team this year after leaving. Not a bad player but never got an opportunity to do much here having played 20+ minutes only a handful of times year 2

Eugene Brown – D - 3 years, 77 games with only 11 starts. (79% played 11% started) Got 10 starts last year but had only 3 games with double figure points in 3 years. Was in part hampered by injury and never really became more than a role player from the mid bench. Has chosen to leave for his final year

Zed Key – C – So far. 85 games with 47 starts so far. (88% played and 48% started). Hampered by injuries this and last year, but has steadily developed year over year as Pts, Rebs, Asst, blocks and steals have all improved each year. Not really star material, but a solid 3 option. Has averaged 9.2 pts and 6.5 boards over the last 2 years. Really a PF forced to play C. If he continues to improve into next year this could go up to a B

Jimmy Sotos – F – From Bucknell who played only 261 minutes in 2 seasons at OSU. Scored only 32 pts. Waste of a scholarship.

Seth Towns – F – a risky transfer who was coming off a bad injury at Harvard where he had missed 2 full years before coming to OSU. Played in only 25 games in his 1 partially healthy year here scoring 3.8 pts and 2.2 rebounds in less than 11 minutes/game, then missed his entire last year due to injuries again. Feel terrible for Seth, but as a transfer he was too big a risk and complete bust

Class 5

Recruits – Malaki Brahnam and Kalen Etzler

Transfers – Cedric Russell, Joey Brunk, Jamari Wheeler

Malaki Branham – A - 1 very good year then turned pro.

Kalen Etzler – F – hard to grade this any other way. Has played in only 9 games and 30 mins in 2 years scoring only 7 pts. Maybe he can develop later, but at this point he has been a waste of a scholarship due to not being able to break into any kind of rotation as he realistically didn’t play in the last 20 games this year for a sub .500 team and appears to have no path to making the regular rotation next year either.

Cedric Russell – C – came in from Louisiana but was just a solid role player/shooter off the bench for OSU, playing 30 games with no starts and about 13 mins/game. A terrible defender and simply unwilling to rebound, he contributed little his 1 year here.

Joey Brunk – D - Come in from Indiana, but rarely got minutes at OSU. Had 1 big game late in the year when he got a chance to start, but otherwise played less than 8 minutes a game and didn’t play at all in 4 games

Jamari Wheeler – C – came in from PSU, started 31 games but was just decent at 7 pts/game, 2.9 assists and 3.2 rebs, was a solid defender but certainly not a star

Class 6

Recruits – Roddy Gayle, Bowen Hardman, Felix Okpara, Brice Sensabaugh, Bruce Thornton

Transfers – Tanner Holden, Sean McNeil, Isaac Likekele, Owen Spencer

Roddy Gayle – C – so far he has been solid, cracked the starting lineup late in the season and has shown some ability, largely still TBD

Bowen Hardman – F – has played only 18 minutes so far, and seems to have no role moving forward as OSU has likely over recruited him in the upcoming class and Thornton and Gayle seemed to have locked down the starter roles. Seems to be a likely future transfer.

Felix Okpara – C – similar to Gayle, got better as the year progressed and so far solid, still largely TBD

Brice Sensabaugh – A – needs to work on his defense, but no doubt a serious scoring threat, but may be a one and done

Bruce Thornton – B – was tempted to give an A, but not quite that level yet. 10.6 pts and 2.6 asst per game was a very good start, could easily become an A in the future

Tanner Holden – D – came in from Wright State and ended the season effectively benched due to mediocre play. Didnt play in 8 games and had zero starts, scored only 3.6/game when he did play, frankly a bad miss by the staff

Sean McNeil – C – solid starter/shooter most of the year. Came in from WVU, played in every game and scored nearly 10/game, solid addition as a role player

Issac Likekele – D – played a ton of minutes, but frankly I dont know why. A flat out terrible shooter, (sub 45% Eff FG percent and only 45% FT percent), decent ball handler and rebounder/defender that keeps this from being an F.

Owen Spencer – F – Transfer from the Citadel who was initially a walk on, but has now been placed on scholarship even though he only played 19 mins for OSU this year and has 2 years eligibility left, so making him a scholarship guys seems like a waste, as he will likely never be much of a contributor. His lack of usefulness became glaringly apparent when Zed went down, as even when Okpara would get in foul trouble they went to Eugene Brown rather than Spencer to fill the role. Similar to Kalen Eztler above, putting him on scholarship seems to be a waste of that scholarship