BM5: Signing Day's Eve is here - 247Sports
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


BM5: Signing Day's Eve is here
247Sports
Yet, somehow, the Buckeyes are favored by 2 points over the visiting Terrapins on Tuesday (7 p.m.; ESPN). Perhaps Mike Conley is playing in this game for OSU and Vegas is wise to it. Otherwise, we're not sure how Maryland is the underdog. What's next ...

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Big Ten Network Announces 2017 Signing Day Coverage
BTN Communications via Big Ten Network

BTN will once again dedicate eight hours of programming to cover National Signing Day on Wednesday, including: BTN analyst Gerry DiNardo’s visit to College Park for a one-on-one feature with Maryland’s DJ Durkin BTN analyst Howard Griffith’s trip up north to Minneapolis for an exclusive interview with Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck Interviews with coaches and signees already on campus In keeping with Signing Day tradition, BTN will honor the fax machine. Fans can submit their recruiting questions during the eight hours of National Signing Day coverage by fax – yes, by fax – to Mike Hall, Griffith, DiNardo and Allen Trieu

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Men's volleyball: How the defending champion Buckeyes keep on top of the game - NCAA.com
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Men's volleyball: How the defending champion Buckeyes keep on top of the game
NCAA.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Last February, the Ohio State men's volleyball team, riding a seven-match win streak, hosted longtime rival Ball State. It was a hard-fought match but, despite staving off two match points in the fifth set, the Buckeyes fell to the ...
What went wrong for the Buckeyes in Iowa, moving forward247Sports
Elijah Gardiner discussion, Wyatt Davis talks with the Buckeyes, and more Ohio State recruiting newsLandof10.com
Ohio State football: Tall Texas receiver commits to BuckeyesColumbus Dispatch
cleveland.com -Land-Grant Holy Land -Eleven Warriors
all 73 news articles »

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Former Buckeyes to sign autographs at Lima Mall - Lima Ohio
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Former Buckeyes to sign autographs at Lima Mall
Lima Ohio
Autograph session, former OSU football players Kato Mitchell, James Cotton, Thad Gibson, Marcus Hall and Donald Washington, 1-7 p.m., Feb. 4, Lima Mall, 2400 Elida Road, Lima. Autographs, $15 each or $70 for all five players. Tickets required: ...


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Matt McCoy Previews Tonight's Game Between The Terps and The Buckeyes In Columbus - CBS Local
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Matt McCoy Previews Tonight's Game Between The Terps and The Buckeyes In Columbus
CBS Local
Matt started by talking about this year's Buckeyes team and whether its a rebuilding feel or a disappointing feel saying “it's disappointment for the most part this is a team that was a bubble team last year but still won games in conference, with ...


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Wow, the title of this thread should be in "Headlines you don't see everyday"

"USC Decommit, Indiana Verbal"

The Goaltending Rollercoaster
T6S via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


OTTAWA, CANADA – JANUARY 26: Mike Condon #1 of the Ottawa Senators stretches in front of his net prior to a game against the Calgary Flames at Canadian Tire Centre on January 26, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

Note: the following goaltending piece was written by @StefanWolejszo for ‘The 6th Sens’. If you’re not already, give him a follow on Twitter and leave some feedback in the comment thread.

Without further ado.

Things change quickly in the NHL.

When the last NHL lockout ended four years ago the Ottawa Senators were able to roll out Craig Anderson, Ben Bishop, and Robin Lehner, and had what appeared to be an embarrassment of riches at the goaltending position. Fastforward to this season and we find the team plucking a goalie from the scrap heap to avoid being forced to start one of their developing goalies after Anderson’s leave of absence.

To say Ottawa’s goaltending situation has been a rollercoaster over the past few years would be an understatement.

With the welcome news this week that Anderson is preparing for a return, and the team signalling that they would like to extend Mike Condon’s contract, the crease is once again becoming crowded and difficult decisions will have to be made.

The goal of this piece is to provide some context to the current goaltending situation by looking at the recent past in order to better understand where the team is heading.

How we got here

Four years ago, during the lockout shortened season, the Ottawa Senators were faced with the positive variety of goaltending controversy. On Feb 21st 2013, Anderson was carted off the ice on a stretcher after this play:


The team had traded a 2013 3rd round draft pick (which was used to pick Tommy Vannelli) to the St. Louis Blues for Ben Bishop one year earlier as a stop gap. The idea was that Bishop could play a small number of games as Anderson’s backup which would allow Lehner to get a ton of games under his belt as the starter for Binghamton. Anderson’s injury forced the team to recall Lehner on an emergency basis. The negative of Anderson being injured was also a positive because giving Lehner a few NHL starts would likely be an important part of his development.

A funny thing happened during that lockout season. The Senators were struck by a slew of injuries all at once, including Eric Karlsson getting his Achilles slices by serial accidental-injury-inflictor Matt Cooke, Jason Spezza aggravating his bad back, and Jared Cowen injuring his hip while being forced to play with the B-Sens during the lockout.

When the injury bug hit it looked like the Senators were dead in the water. In fact, they probably should have been. But during that “pesky Sens” phase, which was marked by games featuring 58 minutes of terrible hockey followed by thrilling last minute goals, the Senators’ goaltenders all rose to the occasion.

Goaltender Games Played Save % in 2013
Craig Anderson 24 .941
Ben Bishop 13 .922
Robin Lehner 12 .936

The goaltending situation turned into a log jam, and rumors emerged that Lehner was not happy with the idea of being sent back down to Binghamton. Although Lehner is sometimes accused of being a hot head it is hard to blame him considering the solid numbers he was posting in the big league. He certainly did seem ready to be in The Show on a regular basis.

At the 2013 trade deadline, Bryan Murray opted to nip any impending goaltending controversy in the bud by shipping Bishop to Tampa Bay for Cory Conacher and a 4th round pick that was used to select Tobias Lindberg. This trade still generates a great deal of angst among some Ottawa Senators fans, which is fair considering the fact that Ben Bishop was a solid goaltender. However, it is hard to image that the Senators would have invested the shade under $6 MM per season to sign him that Tampa paid out. The Senators are sometimes accused of not having a game plan, but in this instance they had an identified starter in Anderson and an heir apparent in Lehner, and moving the temporary backup out when Lehner was ready was simply a case of sticking to the larger plan.

The 2013-14 Senators ended up being a disaster. After losing Daniel Alfredsson to Detroit on Free Agent Grab Bag Day the previous summer, and with rumors swirling about the Senators being in a budget crunch, the team crashed and did not make the playoffs. Although Anderson (.911) and Lehner (.913) posted very similar numbers, questions about Lehner started to swirl when he piled up a series of sub-par performances after Anderson was injured.

At this point a new wrinkle was added. Although Lehner and Anderson were on par in terms of save percentage in 2013-14, Anderson had more wins while Lehner scored higher on some underlying metrics that were developed in the analytics community. This led to an analytics versus eye test debate where a portion of the fan base viewed Anderson as the starter and wanted the team to give him an extension, and another part of the fan base believed that it was time to cut bait with Anderson and turn the net over to Lehner, who they believed was the better of the two goalies. Age was also a factor and there was some concern that Anderson’s play would start to deteriorate over the length of any extension the team gave him.

In the summer of 2014 the Senators opted to keep their goaltending intact and signed both Anderson and Lehner to extensions. The idea appeared to be that Anderson would keep the net until a point where Lehner asserted himself through his play as the clear number one goaltender.

To hamburgle or not to hamburgle, that is the question

The Senators got off to a bad start in 2014-15, and uninspired play in the early part of the season cost world class Montreal Canadiens troll Paul MacLean his job. Despite the change in coaches, and improved play from the team after Dave Cameron took over, the Senators seemed out of contention for a playoff spot by early 2015. This led to more than a few fans to call for an all-out tank in order to get into a better position in a very strong draft the following summer.

Anderson was clearly the better of the goaltending tandem during the 2014-15 season, posting a .921 save% and a record that slightly tilted to the win side. For his part Lehner struggled to a .905 save% and had a losing record. After Anderson and Lehner were both injured the club called up Andrew Hammond, who most fans associated with somehow giving up three goals in an AHL game before the anthem was even finished. Tank talk grew even louder and dominated Sens Twitter.

Hammond made his first career start against the Canadiens on 18 Feb 2015 and ended up stopping 42 shots to pick up a win. This was the start of one of the most improbable hot streaks in professional sports, as Hammond posted a .941 save% while going 20-1-2 down the stretch drive to lead the Senators into a playoff spot. Some fans correctly point out that his numbers fell down to Earth before the streak was over, but at the time fans were generally happy while Hammond chiselled his name into team folklore. He will always be the Hamburglar just as Curtis Lazar will always be the guy who eats things he probably shouldn’t.

Although most of us knew deep down inside that the Hammond run was catching lightening in a bottle and that investing in Hammond moving forward was a pretty big risk. Realists pointed out that there was no way the team was going to let him walk after he so effectively worked his way into the hearts of so many fans. The hope was that the team would offer a contract that would not be too damaging moving forward. I doubt anyone was really all that surprised when the team signed him to a 3 year extension worth $4.05 MM in total. The dollar figure seemed quite reasonable, in a “it could have been worse” kind of way, but more than a few eyebrows were raised among fans over the inclusion of the 3rd year in that deal.

The summer of 2015 also featured other moves as the Senators tried to re-establish a goaltending prospect pipeline. Chris Driedger, who was a third round pick for the Senators in 2012, was signed to an entry level contract in April while Boston University prospect Matt O’Connor signed the following month. Developing goaltenders does not always pan out, but it looked as though the team would be in good shape if one of the two turned into an NHL player.

The ripple effect of signing Hammond in May of 2015 was that one of Anderson or Lehner was going to be moved out. The team opted to keep their proven starter, and a package of Lehner and David Legwand’s crappy contract was parlayed into a 1st round pick that was used to select Colin White. Replacing Lehner, a goaltender the club had spent considerable time and effort developing, with Hammond, who many believed was a flash in the pan, led to a fair bit of frustration among a part of the fan base.

While Colin White is an excellent prospect, and freeing up cash from a bad contract is great, complaints about the team’s overall plan grew louder. This seemed very different from 2013, when it was possible to see a larger picture even if one did not agree with the wisdom of moving Bishop out. With Anderson not getting any younger, and Hammond unlikely to be a legitimate long term replacement, exactly what was the plan?

The 2015-16 season was terrible and appeared to confirm all of the concerns fans had about the goaltending situation. Just to be clear from the outset, it would be patently unfair to say the Anderson/Hammond package was responsible for the Senators missing the playoffs in 2015-16. There were many issues within the team that came into play that season. Having said this, aside from early season heroics from Anderson that allowed them to stay in the playoff for a little while, the team’s goaltenders certainly did not provide a big enough bandage for all that ailed the team during Dave Cameron’s final season behind the bench. Anderson finished with a mediocre .916 save% and continued to win more than he lost while Hammond rocked a .914 save% and lost more than he won.

Where we are at

I don’t think I am going to surprise anyone in saying that the goaltending situation this season has been a bit off of the beaten path. Anderson was off to a good enough start, but then tragedy hit as his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Before the situation progressed to the point in the treatment where he had to take an extended leave of absence he put in a series of performances that were so good, so brave, and so emotionally charged, that they put a tear in this grizzled old hockey fan’s eye.

For his part, since the end of The Streak Hammond has (unsurprisingly) shown that he is not the answer to the question of who will take up the reigns once Anderson is done. In fact, some bad blood developed after his apparent dispute with the team over whether he should be sent to Binghamton for a conditioning stint after his most recent injury. Hammond refused to be sent down so the team waived him and sent him anyway. It is fair to say that his future with the team is cloudy at best, and those of us who still love him for The Streak can only hope that he is not Jimmy O’Briened.

With Anderson on leave and Hammond’s injuries the team was faced with a dilemma. Ideally one of either Driedger or O’Connor would have been called up to take up the slack, but either the team had no faith in them or felt those prospects needed more development time. Instead of looking inward for options, the team opted to give up at 5th round pick in 2017 to bring in Mike Condon, who had earned a bit of Twitter fame for going on a short hot streak for Montreal that led to an overenthusiastic claim from some media members.


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While Condon’s stellar play has kept the Senators in the playoff picture, the goaltending picture moving forward is a bit of a mess right now. Bringing Condon in and asking him to play every game without a break has produced good results in terms of the standings this season, but it also led to fair questions about whether the Senators even have an actual goaltending pipeline at this point. We all get that the team is in win now mode, and that developing prospects for an undetermined point in the future may not be a big consideration at the moment. But the fact that the team believes Condon is more likely to produce a win after more than two dozen consecutive starts, including back to backs, than any of the goalies developing in the system is a searing indictment of the state of the team’s once vaunted goaltending pipeline.

Moving forward

With the team signalling that Condon will likely be extended the team is facing a situation where they either move Hammond (a tough sell at his price) or face a sunk cost where they put a goalie on a one-way deal in the press box. Under normal circumstances trading Anderson, who would be much easier to move, would be an option. Considering the nature of all that the Anderson family has experienced I think it is very safe to say that will not be on the table unless he requests it in order to be closer to their preferred medical care for his wife while she is in what is known at the “maintenance” phase.

If and when Condon is extended the Senators will have three goaltenders on one-way contracts. In order to get a good picture of the impact of a Condon extension it is a good idea to take a look at the contract values in real dollars (i.e. not cap hits) of the main goalies in Ottawa right now:


Anderson’s contract was structured to fall off in the last year when he would presumably be sitting more as the team transitions to the heir apparent, which was Lehner at the time of the deal. This strategy is apparent when looking at how the dollar figures for Anderson fall off as his contract progresses while Lehner’s contract is backloaded with increasing dollar figures.

Moving Lehner out in favor of Hammond could have represented a significant cash savings for the team as Hammond’s $1.5MM is less than half of Lehner $3.15 MM payday next season. This type of saving gives the team some flexibility to make deals or sign players in other positions and should have been a windfall for the Senators.

The problem is that signing Condon to an extension that will likely be in the $1.2-$1.5 MM range will eat away most of that saving unless they can move Hammond out. The best case scenario would probably be for the Senators to move Hammond out in exchange for a depth player with similar term and who that the Senators could use in the bottom part of their lineup, but it is unclear whether there would be any takers for that type of offer.

An added problem is that the organizational goaltending picture becomes exceptionally clouded after next season. Ideally the club will be nurturing a backup goalie along next season with 30 or so starts to season him to take the reins in 2018-19, but at this point I cannot see how that is going to happen. If we ride an Anderson/Condon tandem next year then one of them will probably have the net the year after. That leaves the team in a position where we are hoping Condon’s current excellence is not a temporary state of affairs or extended Anderson despite him being in the wrong half of his 30s.

Conclusion

Solid goaltending is one of those odd things where it is easy to sometimes take it for granted, but once it is gone you realize that you are cooked without it. I was born and raised in Winnipeg and my second team is the Jets, and I can tell you all about how a lack of good goaltending means hitting the golf courses early each spring.

Fans who have followed the Senators for a long while sometimes point to the lack of a solid top end goaltender as being the team’s Achilles heel when they were legitimate Cup contenders. Bringing in Hasek was supposed to fix that but we all know how that worked out. Some fans were upset when Bryan Murray brought in Anderson and gave him a long enough look to kill off the team’s chances at a high end draft pick that year, but he was looking at a bigger picture where the team would go nowhere fast without a legitimate number one goalie.

The team had that number one goaltender with Anderson between the pipes, and they started to work toward developing future goalies so that they would not be hobbled by goaltending in the future. For a while it looked like the present and future goaltending was solidly in place. But then Lehner hit an extended rough patch and the team moved on without a great backup plan in place.

Of the five goaltenders in the main part of the system, only Anderson and Condon can be reasonably viewed as legitimate options for the NHL club. Hammond may come around again, but his good game to stinker ratio has been out of whack since the end of his great run. Maybe O’Connor and/or Driedger will put it all together next season or the one after, but considering the team did not give them any games to give Condon a much-needed rest I find it hard to believe even the team is high on that possibility.

That leave the team with two decent goaltending options going forward which, granted, is two more than some teams have. The problem is there will be a point where we can no longer depend on Anderson being a rock for the team, and that moment may be coming sooner than we would like given the status of our current goaltending pipeline.

Extending Condon will help shore up the goaltending, and it is possible that he will turn into a bona fide starter the team can depend on for a few years. He is a late bloomer, kind of like Bishop was, and sometimes players like that put it together late in their careers.

The odds are though that Condon is more of a solid backup type that is great to have in a supporting role but may not be the guy to propel the team forward to the next level. If it works out that way Condon will still be a great player to have on board.

The thing is though that the team needs to start working on developing that pipeline again to avoid riding on a wing and a prayer later on.



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How to watch Ohio State vs. Maryland: Preview, game time, live streaming online
Meredith Hein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


The Buckeyes look to upset the Terps in Columbus.

The Ohio State men’s basketball team has been working without a rhythm for the duration of the season. The Buckeyes had won three of their last four before conference matchups when they headed to Iowa City to face the Hawkeyes Saturday. While it was not a hot streak by any measure (especially given the Buckeyes’ two-point loss at home to Northwestern), Ohio State had finally started to show signs of life after starting the Big Ten season 0-4.

Then they faced the Hawkeyes, who dealt Ohio State a jarring blow in the form of a 13-point loss that never seemed even that close. And all with the Big Ten’s leading scorer, shooting guard Peter Jok, on the bench.

“We’ve got to try harder,” said coach Thad Matta after his team’s defeat. “I tried everything in my arsenal. It wasn’t clicking.”

With their NCAA Tournament hopes all but smashed, Ohio State has fallen to 11th place in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes return home to Columbus to face 17th-ranked Maryland in the pair’s first matchup of the conference season. Maryland is on a hot streak of its own, having won their last six games on their way to a first-place tie with Wisconsin atop the Big Ten. The Terps finally cracked the top-20 this week in the AP Poll, with a 19-2 record on the year behind sixth-year head coach Mark Turgeon.

The last time these two teams faced was exactly one year ago, when eighth-ranked Maryland defeated Ohio State by a score of 66-61. Earlier in the 2015-2016 season, the Terrapins had defeated the Buckeyes by 35 points--the worst loss in Matta’s tenure at Ohio State. Matta remains 2-3 overall against Maryland.

While the momentum from wins over Michigan State, Nebraska and Minnesota has all but dried up following the Buckeyes’ loss to Iowa, Ohio State--depending on which team shows up--has a shot at knocking off the surging Terps at home. It is a must-win for the Buckeyes if they have any hope of a tournament-worthy resume.

Numbers to know

11-2


Turnovers have remained an issue this season for the Buckeyes. But the bigger issue, perhaps, is points allowed off turnovers. In the first half alone against Iowa, Ohio State committed eight turnovers, with the Hawkeyes capitalizing with 11 points. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, only managed two points off six first-half turnovers for Iowa. While Ohio State cleaned up the turnover issue in the second half, finishing the game with a reasonable 12 turnovers, the disparity in points in the first half killed them early. The Buckeyes have been averaging 13 turnovers per game this season, and cannot afford to give up those extra possessions to a much more efficient Maryland team.

39.9%


The Terps boast one of the best shooting defenses in the nation, holding opponents under 40 percent from the field on the season. In total, Maryland is keeping its opponents to 65.8 points per game on average to their 75.7 points on offense, which is among the best scoring margins in the NCAA. In conference, the Terps are allowing just 65 points per game, which is good for second in the Big Ten in scoring defense. Ohio State, a team whose offensive woes have been well-documented over the course of the season, will need to establish their shooting early against Maryland.

#12


Maryland is among the worst in the Big Ten in their assist-to-turnover ratio, with a 1.0 on the season--better only than Nebraska (0.9) and Rutgers (0.8). While the Terps are a highly unselfish passing team, averaging 14 assists per game on the season, they do have a tendency to be sloppy with the ball, averaging just as many turnovers per outing. Against Rutgers, the ratio was worse, as Maryland gave up 18 turnovers to the Scarlet Knights to just 15 assists. Still, the most recent trend indicates significant improvement: The Terps recorded 19 assists against Minnesota Saturday to just seven turnovers.

Cast of characters

Ohio State

Trevor Thompson


The seven-foot center was held scoreless for the first time this season when he fouled out in the second half against Iowa--all after scoring a career-high 19-points against Minnesota earlier in the week. Playing just 13 total minutes, Thompson remained in the game against Iowa after committing his third personal foul less than a minute into the second half. In his second matchup against Maryland last year, the Terps were able to work in the paint and Thompson fouled out. So far this season, Thompson has averaged 10.5 points per game on the season, and has been one of the more reliable players on offense for the Buckeyes. He will need to stay out of foul trouble in order to keep Maryland from working inside.

Jae’Sean Tate


The 6-foot-4 forward led the Buckeyes in scoring against Iowa with 17 points on the night Saturday, hitting 8-of-10 from the field on a day when offense was inconsistent. Like Thompson, Tate got into foul trouble early, limiting his aggressiveness against Iowa. Tate leads the team in scoring, averaging 14 points per game on the season to go along with 6.3 rebounds. Unfortunately, his free throw shooting, sitting at 54.8 percent, is the worst of any of the starters for Ohio State and has put his team in a bind on several occasions thus far this year. Tate cannot afford to give up easy points against such a strong scoring defense.

Maryland

Anthony Cowan


The six-foot freshman guard--one of three freshmen to start for the Terps--has emerged as the perfect complement to Trimble, taking over as the facilitator for the Maryland offense this season. He has grown more comfortable as the season has worn on, opening up Trimble for shots, creating more effective ball movement and becoming more aggressive in the paint. Given his quickness, he has also played a higher-degree of shutdown defense than his veteran counterpart, but has still managed to contribute double-digit points on offense, shooting 56 percent from the field, to go along with a team-high 3.6 assists per game.

Melo Trimble


The unquestioned leader of the Maryland squad, the 6-foot-3 junior has been rated as one of the top point guards in the country, even recently being named among the finalists for the Cousy Award honoring the nation’s best point guard. The lone returning starter from last year’s squad, Trimble is averaging 17.1 points per game--good for the sixth-best scorer in the Big Ten--to go along with 3.4 assists. This season, with Cowan running the Terps’ offense, Trimble has been playing off ball, shooting from in the paint and outside the arc, where he averages greater than 36 percent shooting.

How to watch


Game time: 7 p.m. ET

Radio: 97.1 WBNS-FM

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN

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Meet Kenton Stufflebeam, the Buckeyes' secret recruiting weapon ... - ABC News
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Meet Kenton Stufflebeam, the Buckeyes' secret recruiting weapon ...
ABC News
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Before Kenton Stufflebeam could go to work on his next recruiting pitch, he had to sit through one himself. The talented, 19-year-old graphic ...

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Class calculator: Projecting Ohio State's best-case finish - 247Sports
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Class calculator: Projecting Ohio State's best-case finish
247Sports
In short, it slightly raised the Buckeyes' overall score, but had a bit of a negative impact on the average star rating. Prior to Gardiner flipping from Missouri to Ohio State to become OSU's 20th commitment in the 2017 class, the Buckeyes had a ...
Ohio State Recruiting Notebook: The latest in Buckeyes recruiting ...Landof10.com
Ohio State football: Tall Texas receiver commits to BuckeyesColumbus Dispatch
Ohio State football recruiting: Rounding up everything from the ...cleveland.com
Eleven Warriors -Land-Grant Holy Land -OSU - The Lantern
all 59 news articles »

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Defensive tackle and Ohio State Buckeyes' target Jay Tufele has his ... - 247Sports
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Defensive tackle and Ohio State Buckeyes' target Jay Tufele has his ...
247Sports
The country's No. 2 defensive tackle and Buckeye target Jay Tufele has now finalized his plan to announce his college choice.

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Ohio State basketball: 7 types of bad plays that keep hurting the ... - cleveland.com
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Ohio State basketball: 7 types of bad plays that keep hurting the ...
cleveland.com
Thad Matta's Ohio State Buckeyes have been plagued by a familiar string of bad plays this season. Can they turn it around? (Paul Vernon, Associated Press).
Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Hey, another disappointing 1-1 weekWaiting For Next Year
Thad Matta Radio Show: Andre Wesson's 'Bought In' Mentality Helps ...Eleven Warriors

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Ohio State in pursuit of top prospects, No. 1 rated recruiting class for 2017
Dan Hessler via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


National Signing Day for the 2017 recruiting class is tomorrow and the Buckeyes hope to add to one of the best recruiting classes in program history.

National Signing Day 2017 is just one day away. At the same time, the college football recruiting world is moving at full-speed. Ohio State has already been able to construct one of the best recruiting classes in program history and is in a close second to Alabama for the No. 1 overall class this year.

Urban Meyer and the Buckeye coaching staff have already added 20 commitments to this class, which is already more than what was expected entering the year. However, with that being said, there are still multiple targets still uncommitted that the Buckeyes are hoping to add to the class.

The first being Marvin Wilson (Bellaire, TX / Episcopal). Seen as the No. 1 defensive tackle in the class, Wilson has been viewed as one of the best players in the class regardless of position.

The five-star DT has a final four of LSU, Florida State, Oklahoma and Ohio State, but there has been no indication as who is the favorite of the group. All four programs have been heavily recruiting him in the waning moments of this year’s recruiting cycle— with Ohio State being the last of the bunch to visit him, which will hopefully bode well for the Buckeyes.

While there has been no official indication on which way Wilson is leaning, there has been plenty of speculation. LSU has been the longtime favorite to land the 6-foot-4, 329-pounder.

Bleacher Report released their predictions on where they believe the top remaining prospect will land, and Buckeye Nation will be happy to see that they believe in the end it will be the Buckeyes. Again, this is all speculation as Wilson himself has been quiet since announcing his top four, but if his tweet from mid-January means anything, Ohio State could put the icing on the cake for this class.


If the Buckeyes are unable to land Wilson, there is another interior defensive lineman the program is looking at in Jay Tufele (South Jordan, UT / Bingham). Another top-rated DT, Tufele is seen as the third best DT in the class and is a top 50 overall player, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

At one point, Tufele was looking more and more like a future Buckeye, but in the last couple months, communication between him and the program has appeared to drop off a bit. While Urban Meyer and assistant coach Larry Johnson visited Tufele on Jan. 26, there was a significant amount of time between his official visit for the Michigan game and the in-home visit where there was little to no reported communication.

That being said, Ohio State is still a contender for Tufele and is included in his final list of schools he is considering. While many believe that hometown school Utah will be his decision, Meyer and the Buckeyes can never be counted out this time of year.

Another target the Buckeyes have been heavily recruiting the last couple months is Thayer Munford (Massillon, OH / Washington). Munford’s recruitment process has been a sort of roller coaster.

Early on in his recruitment, it seemed like the four-star offensive tackle was low on the Buckeyes radar, but in the last few weeks, Ohio State has heavily increased its interest in him—and it seems to be paying off.

Munford was on Ohio State’s campus twice last week. The week prior, the Buckeye coaching staff visited him just as many times. Because of this rapid increase in contact, many have pegged the Buckeyes as the heavy favorite. In the 247 Crystal Ball predictions, Ohio State has a 91 percent chance in landing the blue-chip prospect.

Baring a major surprise, the last member of potential future Buckeyes would be JUCO running back Jalen Hurd. The former Tennessee Volunteer made the surprising decision to transfer from the program mid-season and it was reported that he was on Ohio State’s campus last weekend.

The news came as a surprise, but it has become normal for Urban Meyer to shock the recruiting world this time of year.

Hurd played in seven games last season for Tennessee, but in his last full season for the program, he gained 1,288 yards on the ground for an average of 99.1 yards per game to go along with 12 rushing touchdowns.

While Hurd played RB at Tennessee, he has stated that he would be open to a position change, most likely WR or TE, however, with the recent commitment of three-star WR Elijah Gardiner (Kemp, TX / Kemp), the WR position isn’t as big of a need anymore for the Buckeyes.

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Gardiner flips from Missouri to Ohio State - 247Sports
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Gardiner flips from Missouri to Ohio State
247Sports
In Meyer's first few seasons as the Buckeyes' head coach Meyer had some outstanding receivers, but he did not have a lot of height at the position. With the addition of the 6-foot-5 and 185-pound Gardiner, and with Grimes and Harris coming into the ...

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Ohio State football: Tall Texas receiver commits to Buckeyes - Columbus Dispatch
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Ohio State football: Tall Texas receiver commits to Buckeyes
Columbus Dispatch
That makes five players in the 2017 OSU class from Texas - his hometown is Kemp - with the Buckeyes still holding out hope to land a sixth, defensive lineman Marvin Wilson of Houston, who will announce his choice late Wednesday afternoon. "Thanks to ...
Ohio State Recruiting Notebook: The latest in Buckeyes recruiting ...Landof10.com
Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Hey, another disappointing 1-1 weekWaiting For Next Year
Class calculator: Projecting Ohio State's best-case finish247Sports
Eleven Warriors -cleveland.com -Land-Grant Holy Land
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Ohio State picks up No. 20: Texas WR Elijah Gardiner flips from Missouri, commits to Buckeyes - Landof10.com
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Ohio State picks up No. 20: Texas WR Elijah Gardiner flips from Missouri, commits to Buckeyes
Landof10.com
Now, just hours after being offered by the Buckeyes, the Kemp, Texas 3-star wide receiver – who had been committed to Missouri since November – is commitment No. 20 in Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class. “Thanks to all the schools that have recruited ...
Ohio State football: Tall Texas receiver commits to BuckeyesColumbus Dispatch
Buckeyes reunite as All Pros247Sports
Ohio State's 2017 Recruiting Class Set to Have Lowest Number of Commits From Ohio in Urban Meyer's TenureEleven Warriors
cleveland.com -Land-Grant Holy Land -CBS sports.com (blog)
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What went wrong for the Buckeyes in Iowa, moving forward - 247Sports
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What went wrong for the Buckeyes in Iowa, moving forward
247Sports
Center Trevor Thompson, who expressed disappointment even after a win over Minnesota at home where the Buckeyes nearly let a 17-point lead slip away, gave OSU close to nothing. The redshirt junior fouled out with no points and six rebounds after only ...
Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Hey, another disappointing 1-1 weekWaiting For Next Year
Thad Matta Radio Show: Andre Wesson's 'Bought In' Mentality Helps Him Be Most Improved Player This Season, Keita ...Eleven Warriors
Once more, Iowa eyes its first road winThe Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines

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Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Hey, another disappointing 1-1 week - Waiting For Next Year
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Hey, another disappointing 1-1 week
Waiting For Next Year
Going into the week, the Ohio State Buckeyes had won two of their last three games after losing five-consecutive on the hardwood. The scarlet and gray got a big win over Minnesota at home, but their good vibes quickly faded after they were dominated by ...
What went wrong for the Buckeyes in Iowa, moving forward247Sports
Thad Matta Radio Show: Andre Wesson's 'Bought In' Mentality Helps Him Be Most Improved Player This Season, Keita ...Eleven Warriors

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BH: Gill's Island? | Combine invite time - 247Sports
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BH: Gill's Island? | Combine invite time
247Sports
One of the Buckeyes' top 2018 targets is definitely Westerville South star Jaelen Gill. The Buckeyes are recruiting Gill as a running back, though some feel he will end up playing in the slot or some type of combination running back/slot position in ...

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3-star WR Elijah Gardiner flips from Missouri, commits to Ohio State
Bret Favachio via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State grabs their final piece in their 2017 wide receiver puzzle.

Ohio State looks to have found their third and final pass-catcher in this year’s recruiting class, as they have just filled the hole that was created when '17 WR Tyjon Lindsey decommitted from the program in favor of Nebraska. Moments ago, '17 WR Elijah Gardiner announced that he was backing off of his pledge to Missouri and was joining the Buckeyes.


The under-the-radar prospect was committed to Barry Odom and the Tigers for a little over two months. The 6-5, 185-pounder shrugged off an offer from Houston days after the pledge and an offer from Texas about two weeks ago. However, he didn't shrug off a trip that Head Coach Urban Meyer and new offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson made to his high school just five days ago.

Meyer and Wilson changed things quickly for Gardiner on that day. Despite having no offer from Ohio State at that point, The Lone Star State prospect was convinced to take an official visit to Columbus this past weekend to see what the Buckeyes had to show. Today, Gardiner wound up with an offer from the Scarlet and Gray and it didn't take him very long for him to jump on it.

Gardiner's rankings certainly won't jump off of the table for Ohio State fans. He is graded as a three-star prospect and the 1,213th overall player in the class. He also comes in as the 172nd best receiver and the 167th highest graded player from Texas. With that being said, this is a situation where you have to trust the coaching staff — a very successful one on the recruiting trail.

Gardiner was honored as a First Team All-District performer on offense for Kemp (TX) in the 6-3A district. In addition to being a standout receiver for the Yellowjackets, Gardiner also competed in the 200m, 4x400 relay, long jump, and triple jump events for the schools track and field team.

For the Buckeyes, reeling in Gardiner now gives them three true receivers in the class, something they have been hoping for all along. Gardiner will join Trevon Grimes and Jaylen Harris as the newest reinforcements for Wide Receiver coach Zach Smith and Zone 6. Lastly, adding Gardiner to the fold has allowed the Buckeyes to inch a bit closer to Alabama for the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. With National Signing Day right around the corner, and the class close to full, we will see if Ohio State can retake the lead over the Crimson Tide when it's all said and done.

To check out the newest Buckeye pledge in action, look no further:

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Is Urban Meyer’s biggest recruiting weapon at Ohio State a 19-year-old graphic designer?
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Buckeye fans shouldn’t underestimate the power of a strong ‘crootin pitch.

“It was basically like a whole recruiting pitch. I'm a graphic guy, I don't know how big of a pull I would make. But it ended up turning into like a recruiting battle between Texas and Ohio State."

— Kenton Stufflebeam to Austin Ward (ESPN)


Urban Meyer is on record as wanting to have the best social media game in college football, so it’s good to see him putting his program’s money where his mouth is in that regard, after having done so with facilities, assistant coaches, and more.

To think that the head football coaches at the University and Texas and The Ohio State University recently got into a recruiting battle over a 19-year-old graphic designer is something that I’m sure Darrell Royal and Woody Hayes never could have imagined, but, given the importance of social media in the modern-day recruiting process, it shouldn’t be a surprise.

However, what might be a surprise is that @CoachHessler’s last name isn’t Hessler, and that even after a substantial raise, he still can’t afford a shirt.

“But as we take a closer look at how Meyer put this class together in this five-part series, the first part is about what may be overlooked this year: Winning Ohio. Again.”

— Ari Wasserman (Cleveland.com)


They say the grass is always greener on the other side, but for Ohio State football coaches dating back decades, there is nothing like homegrown talent. As Cleveland.com pointed out before the season, Ohio is fifth in terms of producing NFL talent. So, while the big fish from Florida, Texas, and Nevada might be getting most of the attention this recruiting season, it’s hard to count out “born and bread” Buckeyes.

While there are only five native-Ohioans in the current 19-player class, locking down the state’s numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 11 players (all maintaining a four-star rating), is a big bonus for what could potentially be regarded as the best recruiting class in school history.

“Ohio State is poised to put the finishing touches on a recruiting class that's the deepest in terms of quality prospects in school history, according to the analysts' ratings, and it appears that coach Urban Meyer and his staff have one state in particular to thank: Texas.”

— Tim May (Columbus Dispatch)


It’s clear that in setting up his program at the University of Texas, Tom Herman has begun to employ many lessons that he learned from working under Urban Meyer. However, if he hopes to have anything approaching the success that Meyer has had in Columbus, Herman will need to quickly put up the proverbial fence around his state.

As the flagship institution of Texas, the Longhorns have a decided advantage against their in-state rivals; TCU, Baylor, Texas A&M, Houston, Texas Tech, etc.; but it is the interstate interlopers that have been picking off the Lone Star state’s best talent recently. Given Herman’s recruiting success at OSU and Houston, I wouldn’t bet on that lasting too much longer.

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#17 Terps Set for Battle with Buckeyes Tuesday - UMTerps.com
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


#17 Terps Set for Battle with Buckeyes Tuesday
UMTerps.com
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 17 Maryland men's basketball team travels to Ohio State for a 7 p.m. contest against the Buckeyes on ESPN. storylines. • Justin Jackson had a double-double with a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds, making all five of his ...
Big Ten recruiting success doesn't always equate to on-field victoriesGridiron Now

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Gophers offense can't stop Buckeyes - Minnesota Daily
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Gophers offense can't stop Buckeyes
Minnesota Daily
The Gophers overall performance was better than their previous matchup against the Buckeyes in December, but Stollings still saw things her team could have done differently in this game. “We gave up way too many second shots,” Stollings said. “They ...


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Power Rankings: Maryland jumps Wisconsin for top spot in Jon Crispin’s poll
Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor via Big Ten Network

It's getting harder and harder to ignore what Mark Turgeon's young and talented team is doing. What it's done is rattle off a 19-2 record, including a 7-1 clip in Big Ten play, to little fanfare. That's changing, at least in Jon Crispin's latest Big Ten Power Rankings.

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