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OSU has another top class
By
Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | — Ohio State has picked up commitments from 14 football recruits so far, and a strong finishing kick could give the school its first top-five class since 2002.
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<!-- inset --> <!--begintext--> But with almost three weeks to go until signing day on Feb. 1, Allen Wallace, national recruiting editor for Scout.com, believes the Buckeyes may already have achieved one key objective.
"Whether you're ranked fourth or fifth or you're ranked ninth or 10th, it really doesn't amount to a hill of beans," he said. "I've always felt if you recruited a top-20 class every year, you could win a national championship."
The Buckeyes currently are rated 10th by Scout.com and 14th by Rivals.com. And while they're still awaiting decisions from several more promising prospects, they're virtually assured of their sixth top-20 finish in as many years under coach Jim Tressel.
They added two players this week in Walter Dublin, a Sarasota, Fla., defensive end who was being courted by Virginia Tech and Iowa, and Mark Johnson, a linebacker from Los Angeles who spurned Michigan, LSU and California. Johnson is rated as the 10th-best linebacker in the nation by Scout.com.
Thaddeus Gibson, who is
No. 7 on the list, plans to make an official visit to OSU this weekend. Wallace said he spoke with the Euclid player Tuesday night and was told the Buckeyes have a considerable edge over a batch of high-profile suitors.
"He told me there was a 65-70 percent chance that he'd end up at Ohio State," Wallace said.
"He's visiting with his parents in attendance. And on his other visits to Michigan and Tennessee, he went without his parents.
"I'd be hugely surprised if he didn't become a Buckeye."
OSU has landed yet another Cleveland Glenville product in defensive end Robert Rose and hopes to pick up two of his teammates in offensive lineman Bryant Browning and cornerback-receiver Ray Small.
But OSU has already lassoed the player who topped practically everyone's wish list: Akron's Chris Wells. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound bruiser — who plans to enroll at OSU in time for spring practice — was named the nation's top running back by
Parade magazine and earned MVP honors at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio last week.
After viewing Wells' three-touchdown performance, Wallace said: "He was a devastating example of power and speed. He's that big back everybody's looking for, and they're not easy to come by."
Stars to play
OSU linebackers A.J. Hawk and Bobby Carpenter and center Nick Mangold have agreed to play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 28.
Other Buckeyes playing on the all-star circuit include defensive end Mike Kudla in the Hula Bowl and guard Rob Sims, linebacker Anthony Schlegel, kicker Josh Huston and safety Nate Salley in the East-West Shrine game.
Buckeye bits
• The 2006 spring game will be played on April 22 in Ohio Stadium at a time to be announced.
• Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, who started three games, was named to
The Sporting News all-freshman team.
• OSU and Southern Cal are the only schools to win three BCS bowls in the past four years. Texas, with two victories, is the only other team to win more than one in that span.
