'10 OH RB Erick Howard (Ohio U Walk-On)

[TresselstillownsTSUN]

Word is if Howard gets his GPA he'll get his offer. I would love to have Howard as a part of this class. He may not have breakaway speed, but that's overrated with RB's. He's got a great combo of power, balance, and vision. I can't imagine a back that's harder to bring down than Howard...

 

[pnuts34]

I agree with what you're saying but I've been reading on a good number of sites that an offer won't come reagrdless of grades. I'm a huge Howard fan and would love to see him play for us, but the staff seems like they're going harder after Spencer Ware and even Corey Brown. I would love to see an offer go to Howard though, he has a great combo of speed and power!

 

[TresselstillownsTSUN]

I agree with what you're saying but I've been reading on a good number of sites that an offer won't come reagrdless of grades. I'm a huge Howard fan and would love to see him play for us, but the staff seems like they're going harder after Spencer Ware and even Corey Brown. I would love to see an offer go to Howard though, he has a great combo of speed and power!

Per Bill Greene, tOSU has promised Howard an offer if he get's his academic house in order...

 

[osuteke]

I agree with what you're saying but I've been reading on a good number of sites that an offer won't come reagrdless of grades. I'm a huge Howard fan and would love to see him play for us, but the staff seems like they're going harder after Spencer Ware and even Corey Brown. I would love to see an offer go to Howard though, he has a great combo of speed and power!

I think Ware is headed south to North Carolina or LSU and Corey Brown might not be a RB at OSU if he commits here.

 

[keylime_5]

Per Bill Greene, tOSU has promised Howard an offer if he get's his academic house in order...

heard that too. excellent news for Howard. It would be quite a coup if we could add Smith and Howard as our RBs in this class. Thunder and Thunder.

 

[MUBuck]

heard that too. excellent news for Howard. It would be quite a coup if we could add Smith and Howard as our RBs in this class. Thunder and Thunder.

x3 if Hyde makes it in. Looks like someone will be moving to fullback eventually.

 

[Sportsbuck28]

x3 if Hyde makes it in. Looks like someone will be moving to fullback eventually.

Duane Long thinks Howard has potential to play safety.

 

[DontHateOState]

Duane Long thinks Howard has potential to play safety.

Not fast enough.

 

[Merih]

Duane Long thinks Howard has potential to play safety.

Yeah I don't see that either. It's already kind of tough to take him as a RB with the small number of schollys available and the RB depth that comes in next year. To mold a safety out of him, it might never work out. Kind of like how things are going with Schwartz, except we don't have the schollys to try something like that out. RB or bust, imho.

 

[BayBuck]

From the beginning of this thread:

Saw Eric play McKinley tonight...and after seeing him I can tell you that his future is at RB. The kid is fast and built like a brick ****-house!

I would love to see a bruiser like Erick get his academics in order and come here to play RB, regardless of what happens with other guys like Ware and Hyde. Depth at RB is a good thing.

 

[Merih]

Yes it is a good thing, but we have a lot of guys who will be bunched into the same class. Next season, if we take Howard, we will have:

Herron (Rs Jr)
Saine (Sr)
Berry (Soph or Rs Fresh)
Hyde (Fresh)
Smith (Fresh)
Howard (Fresh)

Not to mention Hall, who I guess hasn't been assigned a position yet. Not to mention RB types...

Balanced (Boom, Smith, Howard)
Power (Hyde, Martin)
Speed/Receiving (Berry, Saine, Hall)

I think the coaches are playing this right, take our time and secure the rest of the class. If we have a scholly at the end and can get us a diehard-buckeye, I'm all for it.

 

[BayBuck]

Yes it is a good thing, but we have a lot of guys who will be bunched into the same class. Next season, if we take Howard, we will have:

Herron (Rs Jr)
Saine (Sr)
Berry (Soph or Rs Fresh)
Hyde (Fresh)
Smith (Fresh)
Howard (Fresh)

Berry seeing some PT this season seems like a safe bet, and then we'd only need to RS one of Hyde/Smith/Howard to space them out and only have one class with 2 RBs. Then when Boom graduates there's lots of healthy competition for his job.

 

[Merih]

Good conversation, and I see what your saying, but I just think that having 7 running backs on the roster at one time is too much competition, and may lead to other positions not being able to fill their needs adequately. We also don't want to handicap ourselves from going after another top shelf RB in '11 or '12 with a depth chart that would be that full over capacity. Ringer wanted to be a Buckeye, as did Sutton, and they did great for their respective schools. Any other year it'd be no question as to giving him an offer. But with Hyde coming on the books next season (who plays a very similar style to Howard) as well as Smith, it might just be too much for this year. Mr. Football might not play for Ohio State.

 

[keylime_5]

I think if Hyde plays prep this year at Fork Union that means he'll have 3 years of college eligibility left, but I'm not 100% sure about how that whole thing works. I expect we'll probably have Carlos at OSU for 4 years if he makes it one way or another. Redshirting a guy (likely Howard if he joins) will create nice class seperation between him, Smith, and Hyde.

 

[Merih]

I think if Hyde plays prep this year at Fork Union that means he'll have 3 years of college eligibility left, but I'm not 100% sure about how that whole thing works. I expect we'll probably have Carlos at OSU for 4 years if he makes it one way or another. Redshirting a guy (likely Howard if he joins) will create nice class seperation between him, Smith, and Hyde.

No, I don't think so. Eddie George played a prep year at Fork Union, and then had a full 4 year career here at Ohio State.