Christmas came six days early for Ohio State as 15 players signed their letter of intent yesterday. Let's take a look at how the newest Buckeyes' recruiting rankings stack up with the highest rated Ohio State players at their projected positions.*

*Recruiting rankings are a relatively new process and rankings prior to 2008 are not as thorough. Many talented players did not receive a ranking and are not eligible for this list.

Garrett Wilson is now Ohio State's highest rated commitment at WR. The Ausitn native replaces Trevon Grimes at the top of the list. Grimes was a lauded ball catcher, but he only appeared in two games during his Buckeye "career". Near the end of the 2017 season, his freshman year, Grimes announced that he was transferring to Florida to be closer to home.

Remember, recruiting rankings are not an exact science. Angelo Chattams (.968) signed with Ohio State in 2001 and is ranked 4th at WR. Chattams played in 9 games and caught two passes for 26 yards during his only season with the Buckeyes.

On the other end of the spectrum, some guys named Michael Thomas (.848) and Santonio Holmes (.867) are the lowest rated receivers for Ohio State. Again, recruiting rankings are nice, but they don't always predict how a player's career will unfold.

According to the experts, Zach Harrison is the marquee player in Ohio State's class of 2019. Hopefully the Olentangy Orange star will have a career similar to the Bosa brothers. Harrison is only the second player to enter the program as a 5★ prospect at SDE. 

Noah Potter comes to Ohio State with rankings similar to Nathan Williams, Tim Schafer, Darryl Baldwin and Dylan Thompson. Some players that out performed their low rankings were Jay Richardson (.800) and Tracy Sprinkle (.859)

Expectations are going to be very high for Harry Miller. The Georgia native comes in as the program's second highest rated center. Miller is only the second 5★ center in Ohio State history.

Vonn Bell had a very successful Ohio State career and is currently spending his Sunday's playing in the NFL. This season, Isaiah Pryor had significant playing time with mixed results, 2019 might be a big season for him. 

Here is a list of other Ohio State players recruited at safety between 2001-today that have been selected in the NFL Draft: Dustin Fox (.968), Nate Salley (.900), Donald Washington (NR), Jermale Hines (NR), Nate Ebner (NR).

For those wondering, Jordan Battle (.963) would have landed sixth on Ohio State's all-time safety recruiting rankings.

Nine players came to Ohio State with higher recruiting rankings than Cade Stover. However, rankings are not an exact science and the Buckeyes have found success with lower rated outside linebackers. Think about this, Etienne Sabino, Justin Hilliard, Reggie Arden, Mike Mitchell, and Dante Booker had higher rankings than these Buckeye defenders that were ranked well outside of the top 10: Ryan Shazier (.946), Joshua Perry (.941), Bobby Carpenter (.900) and AJ Hawk (.833).

Tommy Eichenberg ranks 10th out of the 14 Ohio State commits to receive a ranking at inside linebacker. This appears to be a bad sign for the St. Ignatius player. However, James Laurinaitis (.833) has the lowest ranking of the 14 ILBs and he ended his career as one of the most decorated Buckeyes in program history. 

247 has Ohio State with 23 players recruited at the ATH position since 1996. Many of the players have become household names among Buckeye fans. Some names you might recognize, Darron Lee, Sam Hubbard, Malik Hooker, Tyvis Powell, Christopher Worley, Malik Harrison, Corey Brown and Cie Grant. 

Will Steele Chambers and Craig Young join the list of memorable names above? 

Cormontae Hamilton joins AJ Alexander as the lowest rated tight ends to sign with Ohio State. With the TE not being a focal point of the Buckeyes' offense, I don't see a top-rated player at this position signing with the Ohio State unless Ryan Day makes some changes on offense.

Looking at the top 3, you can see that one of these things is not like the others. Sam Maldonado did not live up to the hype. After two seasons and 218 rushing yards on 61 attempts, Maldonado transferred to Maryland.

On the other end of the spectrum, Beanie Wells and Maurice Clarett lived up to the lofty expectations. Although it would have been nice to see Clarett play for more than one magical season.

Of the 17 Ohio State players to have a recruiting ranking, only three score below .900. Crowley joins Daniel Herron (.875) and Jordan Hall (.870) on that list. Two players listed just above Crowley are Warren Ball (.914) and Carlos Hyde (.900).

For those wondering, Jaelen Gill, JK Dobbins, Demario McCall, Ezekiel Elliott and Dontre Wilson are list at the APB position and are not in the RB rankings.  

Of the 27 Ohio State players that have received a ranking from 247, 20 of the players have had a 4★ rating or higher. Malcolm Pridgeon, Taylor Decker, Kyle Dodson, Kyle Trout and Gavin Cupp are Buckeye offensive tackles with similar recruiting numbers to Ryan Jacoby.

Last year, Ohio State hit a recruiting home run with Taron Vincent. The Bradenton, FL native is the highest-rated DT in program history. This season, Jaden McKenzie comes in as the second lowest-rated Buckeye in history. Only Davon Hamilton (.829) had a lower rating. Joel Hale, Robert Landers and Adam Bellamy are players with a similar ranking to McKenzie.

The time for recruiting rankings is over. It's time for the players in the 2019 class to earn their spot on the roster and on the field.