Eye on 85: Roster Attrition is Nothing New For Ohio State

Ohio State arguably signed the greatest pound-for-pound recruiting class in college football history last month, as 20 high school seniors and one junior college transfer faxed in their letter of intent on Feb. 1.

It's was hard not to notice the elephant in the room, however.

With only six graduating seniors and six players leaving early for the NFL Draft, the staff should have only been able to sign 12 recruits. Bringing in 21 would put the Buckeyes over the NCAA-mandated 85-man scholarship limit, yet here we are.

The thing is, every college football team has roster attrition, whether it's in the form of graduation, early entrants, transfers, medical hardships and/or legal troubles that forces a player to leave the program. It all has an affect on the bottom line, which is to ensure there are only 85 scholarship players on the roster by the time fall camp rolls around.

"I think that happens everywhere, especially if you’re recruiting some good young guys and they are coming up and they bypass you," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said at Big Ten Media Days in July, well aware of the scholarship crunch he'd face in 2017. "It depends how bad you want to play."

This offseason, the Buckeyes have seen seven additional players leave the program, including quarterback Stephen Collier; wide receivers James Clark, Torrance Gibson and Alex Stump; and offensive linemen Tyler Gerald, Evan Lisle and Kyle Trout — though he'll still practice with the team this spring. Each student-athlete made the decision on their own, though it was certainly a mutually beneficial parting of ways.

This isn't the first year Ohio State has seen a large number of unexpected departures, either. It's only more prevalent because of the large disparity between graduating seniors/early entrants and incoming freshman.

*Restricted to 82 scholarships as a result of NCAA punishments for violations that occurred under former head coach Jim Tressel.

The Buckeyes currently sit at 87 scholarships — if you count placekicker Blake Haubeil, who is expected to grayshirt and therefore not count against the 85-man limit. That means one or two more players must go before the first day of class in Autumn Semester or the first practice of fall camp, whichever comes first.

"We will be at 85 come August when we need to be," director of player personnel Mark Pantoni said on National Signing Day.