'05 OSU Recruiting: The experts speak out

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

SCOUT

In compiling our package of stories on football recruiting for Bucknuts The Magazine, we put together our annual consensus poll and also polled the leading analysts in the Scout.com network for their comments on the Ohio State class.


Here is a look at this year’s consensus poll as well as the top 10 teams from five national services, previous consensus poll champions and comments from the Scout.com experts on Ohio State’s 2005 class.

The Consensus Poll

Bucknuts.com Consensus Poll (by voting points): 1. Tennessee, 46; 2. USC, 36; 3. Oklahoma, 35; 4. Michigan, 32.5; 5., Nebraska, 29.5; 6. Florida State, 27; 7. Georgia, 18; 8. Texas A&M, 13; 9. (tie) Iowa, Florida, 9; 11. Miami (Fla.), 7; 12. (tie) California, Ohio State, 6; 14. Virginia Tech, 1.

Expert Rankings

* Scout.com: 1. Tennessee, 2. Michigan, 3. Florida State, 4. Georgia, 5. Oklahoma, 6. USC, 7. Ohio State, 8. Iowa, 9. California, 10. Nebraska.

* Allen Wallace, SuperPrep: 1. Tennessee, 2. Michigan, 3. USC, 4. Florida State, 5. Oklahoma, 6. Nebraska, 7. Georgia, 8. Florida, 9. Ohio State, 10. California.

* Max Emfinger: 1. Tennessee, 2. Oklahoma, 3. Nebraska, 4. Texas A&M, 5. Florida, 6. USC, 7. Georgia, 8. Miami (Fla.), 9. Michigan, 10. Florida State.

* Tom Lemming, ESPN.com: 1. Nebraska, 2. Tennessee, 3. USC, 4. Michigan, 5. Oklahoma, 6. Iowa, 7. Texas A&M, 8. Georgia, 9. Florida State, 10. Virginia Tech.

* PrepStar: 1. USC, 2. Florida State, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Tennessee, 5. (tie) Michigan, 5. (tie) Nebraska, 7. Miami (Fla.), 8. California, 9. Texas A&M, 10. Iowa (Ohio State, 12th).

* Previous Recruiting Consensus Poll Champions: 2004, USC (Ohio State, seventh); 2003, (tie) LSU, USC, Florida (Ohio State, 24th); 2002, Texas (Ohio State, second); 2001, Florida State (Ohio State, 14th); 2000, Florida (Ohio State, seventh); 1999, Texas (Ohio State, second); 1998, Michigan (Ohio State, 16th); 1997, Florida State (Ohio State, 10th); 1996, Ohio State; 1995, Notre Dame (Ohio State, 26th); 1994, Tennessee (Ohio State, second).

Scout.com Experts

* Jamie Newberg, co-national recruiting editor – The Buckeyes signed three Scout.com national top-100 players in their 18-man class, including Ohio offensive lineman Alex Boone (No. 15), Ohio defensive back Jamario O’Neal (No. 17) and New York defensive end Doug Worthington (No. 42).

“This was a great group by Ohio State,” Newberg said. “Recruiting is about filling needs and Ohio State is doing that. They started off so strong. They do so well instate. They got Jamario O’Neal, who we ranked as the nation’s No. 3 cornerback. He is another sensational player from Cleveland Glenville.

“Then, they also had Alex Boone, who we raised from No. 3 to No. 2 nationally in the offensive line rankings. He probably had the most consistent week of anybody at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl among the East team offensive linemen.”

More jewels in this class include Ohio quarterback Rob Schoenhoft and Ohio linebacker Freddie Lenix.

“Schoenhoft is a big, strong-armed quarterback,” Newberg said. “The sleeper kid I love in this class is Freddie Lenix. Some would say, `If he was only bigger,’ but I don’t care. I’d offer him no matter where he was.”

Newberg, who is based in the Atlanta area, also likes Georgia two-way star Anderson Russell.

“He is a guy I got to see play a lot,” Newberg said. “I have seen him more as a running back than a safety. He is a very good athlete who can help Ohio State.”

Newberg and Scout.com received venom from OSU fans everywhere after the network dropped OSU signee Maurice Wells, a tailback from Florida, from ninth to 24th in the tailback rankings following his two-carry performance in the All-American Bowl. Wells has since been “adjusted” back up to 19th.

“Maurice Wells is a guy they will want to get out into space,” Newberg said. “He has great speed.”

Regarding the ratings flap, Newberg said, “We call them like we see them. There is no conspiracy here against Ohio State or any other school. We have a tough job here that we are trying to do.

“The fact is several of our Southeast experts implored me since the beginning that we had Maurice Wells rated too high.

“But this is not a knock on Maurice. He has a great amount of talent and he has things you can’t coach like quickness and speed.”

* Allen Wallace, co-national recruiting editor, publisher of SuperPrep -- Wallace also addressed the situation with Wells.

“They needed a running back and they got one,” Wallace said. “I was one of the aficionados who liked (Florida’s) Maurice Wells. He was a SuperPrep Elite 50 player. He is not big and powerful like some of the other running backs we saw this year like Marlon Lucky or Jonathan Stewart. But he is qualified and had 15 offers by last June. He has terrific speed and moves and is built like a rock. He adds a lot to this class.

“Doug Worthington was the No. 3 defensive end in the country and Todd Denlinger was the No. 13 defensive tackle. Then they have Jamario O’Neal, who was the No. 3 corner in the country, and Alex Boone, who was the No. 2 offensive lineman nationally.

“They lost Jason Gwaltney to West Virginia and Walker Ashley to USC. But they did OK at the end. They got (wide receiver) Brian Robiskie and (defensive back) Donald Washington. They may not have been as highly ranked as some other players, but they were heavily recruited by some other schools.

“Ohio State also got (Ohio) defensive end Lawrence Wilson away from Notre Dame at the last minute.”

* Chris Pool, Midwest recruiting editor -- “Ohio State always has a one of the best recruiting classes in the country and ’05 is no exception. This Buckeye recruiting class is led by Alex Boone (right, OL). Alex is a U.S. Army All-American and one of the top tackles in the entire country. Jamario O’Neal was also a U.S. Army All-American and he could help the Bucks on either side of the football.

“Cleveland-Glenville linebacker Freddie Lenix is extremely underrated. Lenix is a tremendous athlete that could end up playing running back for Ohio State. Rob Schoenhoft is an “Elite 11” quarterback with an extremely strong arm. Akron’s Lawrence Wilson originally committed to Notre Dame but signed with Ohio State.”

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Well, we again see that Tressel can't recruit.

Seriously, great post by bucknuts44820. Note that we have seven OOS recruits, one each from seven different states across the country (California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York), including getting a state player-of-the-year (Laurinaitis from Minnesota) and two 5-star players. That's almost 40% of our class being from OOS. We got the country's #2 OL, #3 DE, and #3 CB, along with an Elite 11 QB. We ended up snatching Wilson away from Notre Dame. I'd say we did pretty well this class.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

i found this interesting

“He is a guy I got to see play a lot,” Newberg said. “I have seen him more as a running back than a safety. He is a very good athlete who can help Ohio State.”

 

[starBUCKS]

I find it funny that all the so-called "experts" say that Freddie Lenix is under rated. If he is so "under-rated" then why don't they just move him up in the rankings.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I find it funny that all the so-called "experts" say that Freddie Lenix is under rated. If he is so "under-rated" then why don't they just move him up in the rankings.

Dude, that is so simple, it's brilliant. Have a Great Post Award.

 

[jwinslow]

I'm quit surprised that the article did not include the fact that this was the year of Clarett's biggest headlines (despite no actual news). While we all hate focusing on it, it truly is remarkable how well Tressel and Co. did calming the fears of many recruits. Bemoll (probably more of an excuse than an all-encompassing reason that he left), McCoy, and perhaps Sledge were the only casulties.

I hadn't looked at the numbers to realize that Tressel landed SEVEN OOS guys. And despite getting burned by waiting for JG & McCoy, and losing Bemoll, they didn't panic and pick up any fallback recruits. Robiskie and DWIII would seem like that to some over on BN but they are studs in their own right.

 

[HabaneroBuck]

A couple of notes:

Some of the star players in the groups ahead of us (or close) were not players that our staff "lost out" on. Harrison to the Weasels, Stross to Iowa, Myers-White to Tennessee are three examples of players that made other classes "strong" on whom the Buckeyes simply took a pass.

Max Emfinger rates Miami at #8 and Ohio State out of the top 10. This despite the fact that Miami received zero Quarterbacks, zero Running Backs, and zero Wide Receivers. Miami's class is not a good "class." They did not hit their targets AT ALL. We did. Yet Max has them well ahead of us?

I like Wallace's comment about Maurice Wells being "qualified." As we have learned from the past, that is one attribute about a recruiting class that these rankings often overlook.

 

[EasyBuck]

Did we pass on Trey Stross?
He's a player that committed early, before his senior year. I thought he committed before the Bucks had a chance to put an offer on the table. Not really sure though.

Both of our classes from the past two years have over 35+% OOS players.

 

[Muck]

i found this interesting

That was the first thing that popped into my mind as well. Then you also have Chris Pool mentioning Lenix as a possible RB as well.

While I think both of these guys are going to end up on the defensive side of the ball...having them as possible back up plans does take away a lot of the pressure of only having three tailbacks on scholarship.

 

[brutus2002]

IMO you can add Brian Robiskie to the underated player category.

 

[HabaneroBuck]

Did we pass on Trey Stross?
He's a player that committed early, before his senior year. I thought he committed before the Bucks had a chance to put an offer on the table. Not really sure though.

He committed early, and he is the type of player who might have gotten an offer later on in the process, but at the time of his committment, the Bucks' cross-hairs were focused on Selwyn Lymon, Brian Hartline, and Andre Amos.