Linemen elude Buckeyes
So far, OSU reaps just one of Ohio’s touted class of 2006
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Exports have taken a bite out of Ohio’s bumper crop of top offensive linemen this recruiting season. Ohio State, meanwhile, would like to add to the one it already has.
Colerain’s Connor Smith made sure the Buckeyes averted a shutout when he pledged in midsummer to sign a national letter of intent Feb. 1. But to date he’s the only one among the top six linemen in-state to go with OSU.
The Buckeyes still have a shot at Bryant Browning of Cleveland Glenville with just over two weeks left. But Pickerington North’s Justin Boren, Cincinnati Princeton’s Aaron Brown, Franklin Heights’ Lee Tilley and Lakewood St. Edward’s Joe Thomas opted to go elsewhere.
Put Smith with those four and it could have been a possible starting offensive line in three years or so. All are in Scout.com’s top ine prospects in the nation, with Smith No. 5, Boren No. 8, Thomas No. 20, Tilley No. 22 and Brown No. 23. That’s more than from any other state.
But by signing day they’ll be scattered across the college landscape.
Boren graduated early and is already at Michigan, where his father, Mike, was a linebacker in the early 1980s. Brown is going to Virginia Tech, which he fell for on an official visit in the fall. Tilley, who is headed to Auburn, was never seriously recruited by OSU but always wanted to head south anyway.
And although OSU tried to get back in with Thomas after he committed to Pittsburgh, he has remained true to that school.
Even though things have gone well otherwise in-state for Ohio State this recruiting season — it got the top running back in the country, Akron Garfield’s Chris Wells — OSU might have lost one year’s worth of a strong offensive foundation. But as Justin Boren pointed out, that’s the fickle nature of the business.
"The thing with recruiting is, the coaches never really know what a kid might be thinking," Boren said. "Even if they are always in contact with them, you never really know. That’s why you can’t put all of your eggs in the same basket.
"I don’t know if I would ever want to be a coach and have to deal with that. It must cause a lot of headaches."
That Boren chose Michigan was no major surprise, considering his lineage. Brown, meanwhile, was considered a lock for OSU through the summer, but in the days before his decision he had narrowed it to Notre Dame or Virginia Tech. His visit to Tech on a football Saturday put him over the top.
As for Tilley, "He seemed dead set from the outset to go down south," Franklin Heights coach Eric Gillespie said.
Oklahoma, Arizona State, Louisiana State and Georgia were among the 60 or so schools who offered the 6-foot-7, 310-pound Tilley a scholarship before he committed to Auburn in late November. Yet Ohio State never showed much interest in the giant, who transferred to Franklin Heights from Springfield South before the 2005 season.
"You would think that a guy offered by the places he was, there would have been a little more interest" from OSU, Gillespie said. "But maybe he made it clear from the start he was interested in going out of state."
College coaches aren’t allowed to discuss recruiting until national-signing day. But Bill Kurelic has monitored OSU for two decades for his Ohio Football Recruiting News and also is the Midwest expert for Rivals.com.
"I think Ohio State would like to get another offensive lineman before this class is done, and they have a good shot at Bryant Browning," Kurelic said.
"I don’t think the offensive line was a main priority for them this year because they’ve already got some good depth on the line. But you still have to think they would have liked to have gotten a couple more of those guys."
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