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LGHL Burning Question(s): Can Justin Frye recruit?

Burning Question(s): Can Justin Frye recruit?
Josh Dooley
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


usa_today_21339502.0.jpg

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Ohio State’s previous OL coach sure seems to take a lot of heat for the Buckeyes’ perceived lack of depth and/or talent up front, but at this point, isn’t it more of a Frye issue?

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the most important questions yet unanswered for the season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content and our ”Burning Questions” articles here.



In the 2023 NFL Draft, Ohio State had three offensive linemen drafted, including and highlighted by Paris Johnson Jr. at No. 6 overall. Last season in Columbus, left tackle Josh Simmons finished first among Buckeye big men in overall pass block(ing) grade according to PFF. This, after transferring in from San Diego State last summer and moving to a new position (Simmons played RT exclusively at SDSU).

So there are certain things for which OSU offensive line coach Justin Frye deserves at least a little bit of credit... But then there’s the, uh, other things.

Like, most of us saw the Cotton Bowl, right? No offense to Enokk Vimahi, but randomly trotting out a new OL for that game against Missouri was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. Before that, it was poor execution in pivotal moments against Michigan. Before that, it was slight-to-moderate regression throughout the 2023 season across Ohio State’s entire OL. Except for arguably Simmons, who still wasn’t exactly Trent Williams out there.

I am not personally calling for anyone’s job, but the video below speaks for itself:


Does Ohio State need to fire OL coach Justin Frye?? pic.twitter.com/F1JYrEfFTG

— Buckeyes Network (@BuckeyesNetwork) December 30, 2023

Then I could get into basic communication stuff, failures in the run game, not trying Matthew Jones at center sooner (his natural position), and so on. But I think you get the point. There is no sense in beating a proverbial dead horse.

Unfortunately, gameplanning and on-field execution (by his players) are not the only areas in which Frye has occasionally come up short during his time in Columbus. In my mind, the bigger and more concerning issue is and has been his inability to recruit at a high level.

Because at least glass-half-full OSU fans could look back at 2023 and say “Well, the cupboard was bare. That’s on Greg Studrawa.” And there’s certainly an argument to be made for Coach Stud not setting the next guy or gal up for success. However, since 2022, it has been on Frye to replenish said cupboard; something that would then allow him to focus primarily on cleaning up and improving the Buckeyes’ OL play.

The problem there is that since joining Ohio State’s coaching staff – which should make things (recruiting) easier almost by default – Frye has largely failed to replenish that stupid cupboard I keep talking about. It’s like he’s going to the good grocery store(s), in the good neighborhood(s), and looking for the good groceries, ingredients, whatever... But then somebody walks over to the produce section and steals his basket or cart. Defeated, Frye decides to just stop by the local corner store on his way home and pick up whatever’s available.

**Before I go any further, I want to make one thing crystal clear: This is not meant to be a shot at, or criticism of, the players that Frye and OSU have brought in as part of the program’s last two recruiting classes (or via the transfer portal).

That being said, Frye has landed just one top-150 recruit since arriving in Columbus. And that player (Luke Montgomery) is from Ohio, meaning he likely grew up hoping, wanting, and wishing to be a Buckeye someday. Frye’s next best recruiting effort was landing Ian Moore as part of the 2024 class. The latter was ranked No. 182 overall and hails from Indiana.

So it’s not as if Frye went into Florida or the heart of the south and “stole” a player who I actually think has the potential to be a stud sooner rather than later.

Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Frye criticism temporarily aside, he got a good one in Moore

Not including Montgomery and Moore, Frye has helped Ohio State sign six other OL — all three-stars. Of those six, four were in-state prospects. In the transfer portal, he helped lure Simmons and former Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, both experienced but available for a reason. Conversely, Studrawa helped land at least one top-60 overall player every year he was in Columbus.

So again, no offense to the guys that Frye is bringing in, but his recruiting classes simply aren’t good enough. Not if we’re measuring them against the classes signed by Stud, who Ryan Day kicked to the curb.

Now you might come back at me and say “Ok, but look ahead to 2025. OSU is poised to land Carter Lowe, currently ranked No. 33 overall.”

And? Your point is? Look, I believe that Lowe is absolutely the real deal, but guess what. He’s from Ohio. Landing him should be like shooting fish in a barrel. Lowe is also the ONLY OL currently committed to the Buckeyes as part of their 2025 class. While I realize that teams are just now starting to build and solidify their ’25 classes, that hasn’t stopped several (other) Ohio State OL targets from committing elsewhere.

Of course, all will be forgiven if Frye is able to land David Sanders Jr. or Josh Petty. But what is our collective level of confidence in that? What is Ryan Day’s? More importantly, what is Day’s current level of confidence in his OL coach in general?

Those sound like burning questions for a different day, no pun intended. So I will get back to my original: Can Justin Frye recruit? Given recent history, I’m not sure that he can. At least not at a high level. And that isn’t going to fly at Ohio State for long.

Fortunately for Frye, he has about six months to prove people such as myself wrong. I certainly hope that he does, and if/when that happens, I will gladly write a piece or go on a podcast to eat crow.

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LGHL Burning Question: Does Big Ten Expansion end conference title dreams for OSU women’s basketball?

Burning Question: Does Big Ten Expansion end conference title dreams for OSU women’s basketball?
Jami Jurich
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Buckeyes have new weapons aplenty, but will they have enough power to cook against two West Coast powerhouses?

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the most important questions yet unanswered for the season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content and our ”Burning Questions” articles here.



For a moment there, things looked pretty bleak for Ohio State women’s basketball.

Hot on the heels of two consecutive successful seasons, which included a Big Ten regular season title and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2021-2022, followed by an Elite Eight appearance in 2022-2023, this year’s regular season brought more of the same success fans had become accustomed to.

With a 26-6 overall record (16-2 in the Big Ten), the Buckeyes once again secured the Big Ten regular season title. And then they ran out of steam. In a shocking loss, they fell to Maryland in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament before being upset at home by No. 7 Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Then came the complete roster restock.

Starters Jacy Sheldon (G), Celeste Taylor (G), and Rebeka Mikulasikova (F) finished their collegiate careers, leaving behind enormous shoes to fill. Sheldon, for example, started for most of the last five seasons, save for some injuries, and after leading the Buckeyes this season with 17.8 points and 3.8 assists per game, she was drafted by the Dallas Wings as the No. 4 overall WNBA Draft pick. Taylor averaged 10.1 points and 2.5 steals per game, and went to the Indiana Fever as the 15th overall pick, while Mikulasikova put up 9.4 points per game for her part.

Still, it was the unexpected losses that stung the most, when three backup guards entered the transfer portal. Rikki Harris and Emma Shumate (who each had the potential to help fill the gaps left by Sheldon and Taylor), plus Diana Collins hit the road, leaving head coach Kevin McGuff to pick up the pieces.

While he still had two key returners in junior forward Cotie McMahon and senior guard Taylor Thierry, he needed to bring in new faces to the mix.

NCAA Womens Basketball: Ohio St. at Iowa
Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

He wasted no time, adding two top 25-rated transfers from the portal (forward Ajae Perry from Kentucky and guard Chance Gray from Oregon) and five incoming freshmen.

The incoming recruits include the No. 2 overall recruit in guard Jaloni Cambridge (younger sister of returning Buckeye guard Kennedy Cambridge), along with guard Ava Watson and center Ella Hobbs, both national top 100 players.

In an offseason where the mass exodus of experienced talent could have left fans with questions, McGuff quickly found answers.

But the landscape is changing, and a major conference realignment triggered by football deals has downstream implications for Big Ten Women’s Basketball. Even without the roster upheaval, the Buckeyes had their work cut out for them. The Big Ten Conference was already full of heavy hitters, and two more are about to pose a real challenge to Ohio State’s title hopes: USC and UCLA.

UCLA made it to the Sweet 16 last season after finishing the year as Pac-12 semifinalists. Now, they’re projected as high as No. 5 in (perhaps too early) preseason predictions, including that of ESPN analyst Charlie Creme.

Where the Buckeyes had to scramble to fill roster holes, the Bruins have been sitting pretty—six of their top eight scorers are back for the 2024-2025 season.

And then there’s USC, hot on the heels of a successful run that ended with an Elite Eight appearance. The Trojans join the Big Ten as last year’s reigning Pac-12 Champions, and Creme puts them at No. 2 in his predictions. No doubt, that’s in large part because of sophomore standout JuJu Watkins, whose name will likely be on everyone’s lips yet again. Watkins spent her freshman year smashing records (including, it’s worth noting, Caitlin Clark’s record as the highest-scoring freshman), for which she was named Freshman of the Year and earned All-America First Team honors.

NCAA Womens Basketball: NCAA Tournament Portland Regional-Connecticut vs Southern California
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

If I had to guess, Watkins is just getting started. In fact, Watkins actually got started against the Buckeyes last year, dropping 32 points in her college debut to lead USC in their upset victory over then-No. 7 Ohio State.

And she’s surrounded by other weapons in Rayah Marshall and Taylor Bigby. Oh, and if you thought Ohio State’s recruiting class was impressive, you should see USC’s. They led the country with the top-ranked recruiting class this year.

That’s not to say Ohio State can’t overcome a foe like Watkins. After all, the Buckeyes had to hold off Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes on their way to last year’s conference title. But this is a different OSU team with less experience and less time to find their groove, so they’ll need to work quickly if they’re going to clear that hurdle.

For Ohio State, their talent isn’t the issue—it’s the ticking clock.

Ohio State is in a race to figure itself out, to build chemistry among the newer players. It will be this intangible factor that determines whether Ohio State can hang with USC and UCLA in what feels like a new superconference in every sense of the word.

Are dreams of claiming the conference title again this year all but dead with these new West Coast additions? Probably, unless the Buckeyes get a little help from Lady Luck.

If they find her, she’ll probably take the form of Cotie McMahon. McMahon—an All-American honorable mention in her sophomore season—was second on the team in scoring last season with 14.4 points per game and also led the team in rebounds, averaging 6.3 per game. Her leadership is the team’s golden ticket to continued conference success and, along with Thierry, she’ll need to be a fast-acting superglue if this team is going to form the bond needed to defeat the former Pac-12 additions.

Whether McGuff, McMahon, and his Buckeyes can pull off some kind of miracle won’t become clear for a few months, but in the meantime, they’ll need to work at lightning speed to find their stride, lest the West Coast become the Best Coast in the Big Ten.

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Google Business was BOOOOMing for the Buckeyes on Monday as football, men's basketball get commitments - Land Grant Holy Land

Business was BOOOOMing for the Buckeyes on Monday as football, men's basketball get commitments - Land Grant Holy Land
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".

Business was BOOOOMing for the Buckeyes on Monday as football, men's basketball get commitments Land Grant Holy Land

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LGHL Hangout in the Holy Land: What are some ‘Burning Questions’ we have heading into the season?

Hangout in the Holy Land: What are some ‘Burning Questions’ we have heading into the season?
justingolba
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


usa_today_22714982.0.jpg

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Plus, Ohio State men’s basketball gets a huge BOOM! And Carmen’s Crew is back for another go-around

The latest episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s flagship podcast is here! Join LGHL’s Josh Dooley and Justin Golba as they discuss Ohio State football, basketball, recruiting, and much more! Come for the hot takes. Stay for the warm ones.



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We are back for the Fourth of July week, and for this newest episode of Hangout in the Holy Land, we are talking about all things Ohio State Athletics… because a lot has happened.

We start with the most important topic. Is the Fourth of July overrated? Or, at least, are fireworks overrated?

It is a big week for Ohio State recruiting as the Buckeyes await Justin Hill’s decision. And is Oregon becoming a problem? After that, we stick to the LGHL’s theme week and discuss some Burning Questions that we have heading into the football and basketball seasons.

We also discuss Ohio State men’s basketball landing a commitment from 2025 top-100 Dorian Jones, Carmen’s Crew return to TBT, and Neal Shipley’s play at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Please like, rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast. As always, Go Bucks!



Connect with the pod:

Twitter:
@HolyLandPod

Connect with Josh Dooley:

Twitter:
@jdooleybuckeye

Connect with Justin Golba:

Twitter:
@justin_golba

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