2006 Buckeyes Forecast, Recruiting, and The Game (Merged)

[Padraig]

Not sure if it best fits on this thread or not, but there's a short, yet really good (premium) article by Nevada Buck on Bucknuts about scholarships and all the factors that go into the staff offering a kid.

I'd link it if I knew how. Maybe someone better with computers than I can (if it already hasn't been in another recruiting thread).

Also some good stuff in there about the team in the classroom (similar to some of the other articles I've read concerning grades...good reports) and Nevada's thoughts on a few games this coming year.

Just a little FYI

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

scout.com$

2/1/06

Breakdown of tOSU's current class by Steve Helwagen.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

2/1/06

OSU expects a class of 20

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By Todd Porter REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER [/FONT]


<TABLE style="MARGIN: 10px -3px 15px 5px; POSITION: relative" width=300 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>Related Stories
Coach Zook knows Stark

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COLUMBUS - The 2006 recruiting class was put to bed Tuesday night with Ohio State waiting to find out if two more players would become Buckeyes.
If every verbal commitment turns into a signed letter of intent today, Jim Tressel will be content with a class of 20.
Ohio State addressed its defensive needs, but according to one college football scout, the Buckeyes also stayed true to their word and went after athletes who aren’t afraid to put the student part first. When the NCAA’s new APR academic report on athletic programs comes out later this month, Ohio State is expected to make a significant jump.
The Buckeyes just finished last quarter with 56 football players with a 3.0 grade-point average or better.
“I think it has a lot to do with the president (Karen Holbrook) coming in and setting new standards, but I also think Jim Tressel is truly interested in not just getting them in, he’s interested in keeping them in,” said Duane Long, an Ohio scout for scout.com. “I know for a fact he’s not pursued some kids because of off-the-field concerns.
“Some programs are going to take a big hit in terms of scholarships because of the APR. But Jim Tressel has Ohio State out in front of that. We’re talking about penalties that some may call Draconian.”
Tressel has tried to keep the number of incoming full-ride freshmen to between 18-22. A scan through the list of verbal commitments will find the state’s No. 1-ranked recruit in Akron Garfield running back Chris Wells. He was the MVP of the All-American Bowl in San Antonio last month. Wells, who is 6-foot-1, 220 pounds and runs a 4.5 40-yard dash, has a combination of speed and power and could challenge Antonio Pittman for playing time.
But Wells isn’t Ohio State’s only five-star recruit, according to scout.com’s rankings. Cincinnati Colerain offensive lineman Connor Smith, a 6-5, 295-pounder, chose the Buckeyes over Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, Michigan and Tennessee.
The class got a significant bump Tuesday afternoon when junior college linebacker Larry Grant agreed to transfer to Ohio State. Grant, a 6-3, 225-pounder who played at the City College of San Francisco, is regarded as the top defensive JUCO prospect in the country.
Grant is one of five linebackers in this class as Ohio State is losing All-American A.J. Hawk as well as mainstays Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel.
“I think about 20 every year is what Jim Tressel wants to shoot for,” Long said. “John Cooper ended with classes as small as 14, because some years he used all his scholarships.
“I think this class is an underrated class. It’s probably their second-best class since Tressel has been there. Second only to the one four years ago that produced A.J. Hawk.”
The two players the Buckeyes are waiting on are Damon McDaniel and Corey Peters.
It appears McDaniel, a wide receiver from Virginia Beach, will stick to his commitment to Florida, made earlier this week. Peters is a 6-3, 280-pound defensive lineman from Kentucky who is considering Ohio State, Michigan, Auburn, Kentucky and Louisville.
The Buckeyes also went after cornerback and safeties. All four starters in the secondary are gone from last year’s team. Chimidi Chekwa, a speedster from Florida leads, the signees at those positions.
“I think when it’s all said and done, people are going to be very, very pleased with what this class does,” Long said. “Ohio State addressed needs, and they got some speed in return. They got the best in-state players out there and took their shots out of state and ended up doing well.”
Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: [email protected]


OHIO STATE RECRUITS
Players who have verbally committed to Ohio State:
Player Ht. Wt. Pos. School
or location
Jake Ballard 6-7 255 TE Springboro
Bryant Browning 6-3 328 OL Glenville
Chimidi Chekwa 6-1 170 CB Clermont, Fla.
Kurt Coleman 5-11 180 CB Northmont
Walter Dublin 6-3 235 DE Sarasota, Fla.
Aaron Gant 6-0 200 S Orchard Lake,
Mich.
Antonio Henton 6-2 207 QB Fort Valley, Ga.
Ross Homan 6-1 227 LB Coldwater
Thaddeus Gibson 6-2 212 LB Euclid
Larry Grant 6-3 225 LB City College of
San Francisco
Mark Johnson 6-3 227 LB Los Angeles
Dexter Larimore 6-3 260 DT Merrillville, Ind.
Andy Miller 6-7 255 TE Washington, Pa.
Tyler Moeller 6-1 205 LB Cin. Colerain
Aram Olson 6-2 240 RB Columbia, S.C.
Robert Rose 6-4 240 DE Cle. Glenville
Grant Schwartz 6-0 200 CB S. Dana Point,
Calif.
Ray Small 5-11 170 CB Cle. Glenville Connor Smith 6-5 295 OL Cin. Colerain Chris Wells 6-1 220 RB Akron Garfield
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

2/1/06

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | NATIONAL SIGNING DAY

OSU-Glenville connection about to run a little deeper

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Ted Ginn Jr. had stars in his eyes.

Two years ago, the track and football star from Cleveland Glenville High School had just come back from an impressive official visit to coach Pete Carroll’s Southern California program.

"If I was 17 or 18 years old, being selfish, I’d be in L.A.," chuckled his father, Ted Ginn Sr., who is Glenville’s football coach. "Hollywood and the Staples Center (home of the Lakers) and the sun shining every day."

Then father and son had a chat, and Ginn Sr. reminded Ted what he and his Glenville program were all about.

"We teach family and community, we talk about your purpose and stuff like that," Ginn Sr. said. "We talked about if you stayed at home (Ohio State), when it’s all over, you have made an impact in your state, and other kids will look at you and want to be like you. You’ll be leading the way.

"If you leave and go to L.A., would people back home remember you the same way?"

Teddy Ginn Jr. committed to Ohio State.

Call it selfishness on his father’s part, wanting his son to be closer to home.

Call it steering kids to OSU, as rival schools’ coaches could grumble.

Above all, call it maybe the most prolific talent pipeline in the nation between one high school and a college program.

Today, three Glenville students will sign letters of intent to attend OSU: Ray Small, Bryant Browning and Robert Rose. That’s about 15 percent of the Buckeyes’ recruiting class.

It will make 10 Tarblooders to commit to Ohio State over the past five years. A check of a halfdozen other national-powerhouse college programs revealed no similar connections.

"I really didn’t have a decision until I made my official visit (to OSU)," said Small, one of the nation’s top receivers. "It just felt like home."

It might feel like home because of the similarities between Ginn Sr. and Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel. Both talk a lot about values, family and life outside football. Ginn and Tressel have known each other for 15 years, Ginn figures, dating to meeting at Fellowship of Christian Athletes summer camps.

When Ginn took over the Glenville program in 1997, he was aware there were big-time athletes at the school but that elite programs weren’t taking notice.

"We went to work (selling the kids)," Ginn Sr. said. "Academically, whatever it took. We got into a van, went to camps."

The breakthrough came when Pierre Woods headed to Michigan in 2001. That same year, Tressel’s first at Ohio State, OSU assistant and Cleveland native Mel Tucker took notice.

"Mel was probably the first one who really believed in what I was doing," Ginn said. "He came out and really took a real look."

In early 2002, quarterback Troy Smith became the first Tarblooder to commit to OSU. The next year, highly touted defensive back Donte Whitner committed.

Whitner, Ginn Jr. and Smith played regularly in 2004, reinforcing the pipeline.

"The most important thing is when someone comes back from a high school and has had success in your program," former OSU recruiting coordinator Bill Conley said. "That’s the greatest sale you can have. It strengthens the ties."

Indeed, Browning, one of the 2006 Glenville-to-OSU trio, found it helpful to quiz former teammates.

"It helped me get good information," said Browning, an offensive lineman.

"And you know if you go there, you’re going to get a fair shot to play, like everyone else (from Glenville) did. You’d like to assume that at any school you go to, but (at OSU), you already know you will because of what you’ve seen."

Even the occasional setback has not stopped the flow; two of the 10 Glenville commitments never played for OSU.

Darius Hiley redshirted in 2003, then left Columbus for a junior college, likely because of academic problems. One of last year’s recruits, Fred Lenix, also had admission problems and now is enrolled at Cincinnati.

Current Glenville recruits don’t hold that against the Buckeyes.

"The people that didn’t make it, they obviously didn’t work as hard as other people like Ted and Donte," Small said.

Ginn Sr. said he hears the rumblings, maybe from rival recruiters, that he steers his players to OSU because he wants a job with the Buckeyes. If so, he has failed more often than not.

Glenville has sent seven players to Columbus over the past three years, and at least 12 to other Division I schools.

Today Iowa, Indiana and Purdue each will sign a Glenville athlete. Last year, Ginn sent players to Wisconsin and four different Mid-American Conference schools.

The pipes radiate in all directions, and Ginn remains unapologetic that the largest one runs down I-71.

"When you’re an Ohio kid, obviously you’re going to look at Ohio State," he said. "With Ted and Troy and all the guys there setting the stage, it’s almost like that’s the logical place to go."

[email protected]

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

2/1/06

The Buckeyes still were waiting for word from defensive lineman Corey Peters of Louisville (Ky.) Central and receiver Greg Mathews of Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater. But incidations were that they would go elsewhere.

Even if the Buckeyes lose them, coach Jim Tressel and his staff certainly will be pleased with the class. Although the Buckeyes waved goodbye to their three senior starting linebackers, including All-American and Lombardi Award winner A.J. Hawk, today they are expected to welcome five highly touted linebackers among the 20-member class.

One of them, Ross Homan, who led Coldwater to a 2005 Division IV championship, is already in school at Ohio State, preparing for spring practice.

"It’s as good a linebacker class as there is in the country; with Grant coming in, it might be the best," Bill Kurelic of Buckeye-Sports.com said.

But there’s no doubt who heads up this class. Running back Chris Wells is considered the No. 1 overall prospect in the country by recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.

Wells, from Akron Garfield, committed to Ohio State almost a year ago. Even though he made visits to other schools, he said it was for comparative purposes only.

"Like Southern Cal, it is a nice place to visit," Wells said. "But the only thing they had that really impressed me was being near Hollywood, and seeing some of the celebrities and things. But that didn’t impress me that much that I wanted to go there.

"Ever since I went to the Ohio State-Michigan game in Ohio Stadium in 2004 and felt the electricity of that crowd and that place, that’s where I’ve wanted to go," said Wells, who will enroll in March so he can take part in spring drills.

Joining him in the fall will be arguably the fastest-rising prospect of the recruiting season. Defensive end Robert Rose of Cleveland Glenville went from a three-star talent in midsummer on Rivals.com to a five-star after he turned in an outstanding performance in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl three weeks ago.

Other figures on the recruiting class:


• Rose heads a three-player contingent from Glenville that includes Ray Small, considered one of the nation’s elite receivers.


• The Buckeyes will sign only two offensive linemen, but one of them, Connor Smith of Colerain, is rated among the nation’s best.


• The 20 players represent eight states, led by Ohio with 10, California with three, Florida with two and Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia and South Carolina with one each.

The class might end up in the nation’s top 10, Kurelic said, but he added it falls short in a couple of areas. He thinks the Buckeyes could have used at least one more offensive lineman, "and another impact defensive back would have been nice."

[email protected]

 

[BuckeyeRob]

if nothing else.... Pittman was much much better compare to his Fr year. I think he's a solid RB and will be even better next year.

I think you are underselling Pittman. Wells will make an impact but he wont supplant Tony. Pittman leaves Ohio State 2nd only to Archie Griffin in total yards. Tony already has 1612 yards for his career with 2 years to go. If Tony gains what he did this year over the next two seasons (1331) he will end his career with 4312 yards passing Eddie George by 600 yards being second only to Archies 5,589 yards.

Tony will be the work horse next season for several reasons. 1) he knows the blocking assignments (one of the most difficult transitions for star backs to pick up coming in) 2) he doesnt turn the ball over.
3) his speed and power is vastly under appreciated by most buckeye fans.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

2/2/06

Buckeyes span nation in recruiting

'We want to get the best players ... anywhere we can get 'em'

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Ohio State had to share the loot from three BCS bowl outings in the last four years with its Big Ten brethren. But the high-profile postseason showings are paying dividends in the recruiting realm.
The Buckeyes went from sea to shining sea to compile their 2006 class, plucking one of the nation's top linebackers, Mark Johnson, out of Los Angeles and one of the premier fullbacks in Aram Olson from Columbia, S.C.
Of their 20 recruits, 10 played outside Ohio — the heftiest out-of-state haul in coach Jim Tressel's six years.
"I think Ohio State has always been a national draw, a national school," Tressel said. "But the kids we're recruiting today are 18 years old. And from 13 to 18, they've seen us on television more than any other school. We've been to three BCS bowls, and everyone watches those. And we happened to win them.
"Ohio is always going to be where we begin. But if we can get some of the best from California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Indiana or wherever, we're going to do that ... It doesn't matter where they're from."
Neatly summing up his philosophy, second-year recruiting coordinator John Peterson said, "We want to get the best players we can get, anywhere we can get 'em."
The Buckeyes still cleaned up in Ohio, losing only one of the top six prospects — Pickerington lineman Justin Boren, the son of a former Michigan player, will suit up for the Wolverines.
But OSU coaches are finding open doors in places where they've never been, and the showing outside Ohio gotten the attention of recruiting analysts.
"When you're performing at the level the Buckeyes are (on the field), you can afford to take gambles on kids very far away," said Allen Wallace, national recruiting editor for Scout.com and publisher of SuperPrep magazine.
"Sometimes you need that extra cache in order to make that successful connection. And Ohio State can basically pick some spots wherever it wants in the United States and hang in there until the end and be successful."
The Buckeyes lassoed the nation's top junior-college player in linebacker Larry Grant, who starred for City College of San Francisco. They also nabbed perhaps their quarterback of the future in Antonio Henton of Fort Valley, Ga.
But the commitment that raised the most eyebrows may have been Johnson's. He was rated among the top-100 players nationally by both CSTV's Tom Lemming and Scout.com.
"He disappointed a lot of (West Coast) schools by not paying more attention to them," the California-based Wallace said.
With Ohio expected to have a bumper recruiting crop next year, Tressel and his assistants probably won't rack up as many frequent-flier miles. And they'll still find plenty of allies in the high school coaching ranks.
"I think John Peterson is fantastic," Cincinnati St. Xavier coach Steve Specht said. "He's a quality guy, a good person. And Jim Tressel, I've seen his face as much as I've seen any coaches from the area.
"A lot of times, it all comes down to need and what their needs are. They might be OK (this year) at positions where we have a lot of talented guys. I know Jim Tressel is committed to keeping the best players in state."
Kyle Nagel contributed to this story.
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

2/2/06

Buckeyes land another highly rated list of signees

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Ohio State collected 20 letters-of-intent Wednesday, seven coming from players ranked among the top-100 nationally by one scouting service. But coach Jim Tressel still couldn't shake that uneasy feeling he always has on Signing Day.
Most of his projections on high-school seniors have hit the mark. But he recalls the signees who seemed destined for stardom but played like Charlie Brown.
"We know that anyone who has been at this very long has made mistakes," he said. "Some who you thought would be outstanding were just OK. And on some where you said, 'He'll be OK,' they turned out to be outstanding.
"I remember one former staff member, when the decision was made to offer A.J. Hawk a scholarship, said, 'Aw, we'll have a Division I-AA fullback coming in here.' Well, that I-AA fullback will be able to buy a little bit (with his NFL paychecks) in the next couple years."
The Buckeyes landed their sixth top-15 class in as many years under Tressel, finishing 12th on Rivals.com and 13th on Scout.com.
But on ESPN's Scouts, Inc., which bases its ratings on an average grade for all recruits at a school, OSU's relatively lean class was seventh — the best showing in the Big Ten.
The gem of the group is Akron's Chris Wells, a bruising running back who earned high praise from his future position coach.
"He absolutely reminds me of Jim Brown," OSU assistant Dick Tressel said. "I know I shouldn't say that, but I've told him that, too. He even has that gait in his step like Jim did."
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.

 

[osugrad21]

Link

2/2

[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]OSU class among Top 15 in country[/FONT]
Thursday, February 2, 2006 [FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer [/FONT]

COLUMBUS - Pretty soon, that sprawling university in the state’s capital might be called Cleveland Glenville, South Campus.
Three more Tarblooders became Buckeyes — making it 10 Glenville players in Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel’s last five recruiting classes — on Wednesday, the first day for signing national letters of intent.
“You stay as objective as you can,” Tressel said of his evaluation of Glenville players. “ ‘Well, we can’t recruit that guy because he’s the fourth guy from Glenville’ — I hope we don’t do that.”
Ohio State signed 20 players, 10 from within the state and 10 from elsewhere. Three are from California — seldom a hotbed for Ohio State in recruiting — along with 12 on defense and eight on offense.
The Buckeyes have lost every starter at linebacker and in the secondary from last year’s 10-2 squad that shared the Big Ten title with Penn State and finished fourth in the national rankings. The latest recruiting class includes five linebackers, led by junior-college transfer Larry Grant from City College of San Francisco and All-Ohioan Ross Homan of Coldwater.
Homan has already enrolled and is ready to vie for playing time this fall.
“The main thing is I wanted to get an early start on everything, a jump, not just academically,” Homan said. “When I get into (fall) camp I want to feel comfortable with everything.”
On the offensive side, the prized pick was running back Chris Wells, who rushed for 2,134 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior at Akron Garfield. Some recruiting services rank him among the premier recruits in the country, and pinpointed the entire Ohio State class among the top 15 in the nation.
That’s what makes recruiting “an inexact science,” as Tressel put it. The pearls of Ohio State’s 2001 recruiting class were a stud linebacker named Mike D’Andrea and all-world quarterback prospect Justin Zwick. D’Andrea has barely played for the Buckeyes and Zwick is cemented to the sidelines, watching Troy Smith run the offense. (Smith, by the way, along with his favorite target, Ted Ginn Jr., are both Glenville products.)
Another member of that recruiting class was a little-known kid that Ohio State’s coaching staff almost grudgingly offered a scholarship. Tressel picks up the story ...
“I remember one of our former guys on our staff when we made the decision to offer A.J. Hawk a scholarship, he said, ‘Oh, man, that’ll be like a I-AA fullback coming here,’ ” Tressel said. “That I-AA fullback is going to be able to buy a little bit here in a few days.”
Hawk, who became one of the best linebackers ever at Ohio State, is a lock to be a first-round NFL draft pick.
“I’ve been here five years and I can tell you exactly what our record was all five years,” Tressel said. “I can’t tell you where we were ranked in recruiting in those five years.”
Ohio’s other eight Division I colleges also stocked up on Wednesday. Bowling Green locked up 24, Akron and Toledo each signed 23, Miami 22, Ohio and Youngstown State 20, Cincinnati 18 and Kent State added 14.
Akron delved deep into Florida to pocket eight players. Among Cincinnati’s signees was the brother of four-year Bearcats quarterback Ben Guidugli. The Bearcats also got Freddie Lenix, a Glenville linebacker who washed out at Ohio State.
Ohio’s reigning Mr. Football, Copley’s Delone Carter, made it official by signing with Syracuse. He rushed for 2,788 yards on 302 carries and scored 49 touchdowns last fall.
Ohio State, which usually has its pick of the state’s top players, has gotten just one of the last six Mr. Football winners. The one the Buckeyes got was Maurice Clarett, who helped the Buckeyes win the 2002 national championship before sliding off the team, out of college and then out of pro football.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DISPATCH

2/2/06

Power play
Buckeyes aim to put smash-mouth football back in their game plan

Thursday, February 02, 2006


By Tim May THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Akron Garfield’s Chris Wells </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Explosion. Power. Versatility.


Ohio State coach Jim Tressel spoke those words a lot yesterday as he went over the 20 members of the 2006 recruiting class.

He used the word impact, too, which is what many recruiting analysts think the Buckeyes will get from the top prospects in the class, running back Chris Wells, defensive end Robert Rose and junior-college linebacker Larry Grant.

But Tressel spoke a good deal about tight ends Jake Ballard of Springboro, Ohio, and Andy Miller of Washington, Pa., both 6 feet 6, beefy but also nifty. Both play basketball.
"The bigger, more powerful, more athletic kids you can get at the tight end position . . . that just adds so much to your game as an offensive football team," Tressel said.

Ballard especially fills that bill.

"He’s explosive . . . you look at him and think, ‘That’s what a Big Ten tight end should look like,’ " Tressel said.

With Ballard, Miller, Wells and Aram Olson, an incoming fullback and a devout lead blocker, Tressel said he might have something that has been missing from the offense — a power running game.

Not that the recruiting class was all about taking a step back to the days of 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

"We want all of it. I’ve said that all along," Tressel said. "We want to be a spread team, an empty (backfield) team, we want to be two backs, two tights team. I really believe in this day and age, if you can do it all, you put a lot of pressure on the defense."

It’s called versatility, which is what he thinks the recruiting class has on both sides of the ball. It includes five highly touted linebackers, including Ross Homan of Coldwater, Ohio, who is already on campus, and swing player Walter "Scooter" Dublin, a defensive end from Sarasota, Fla., which will help give the defense more possibilities the next few years.

"Defensively, if you can do it all, if you can be a read defense, a zone-blitz defense, a full-blitz defense and cover, if you can do all those things, I think you’ve added pressure," Tressel said. "And then add those explosive, fast, tough kids to your special teams . . . that’s what you’re looking for."
When Tressel and his staff were recruiting, they started in-state, where they took 10 players they thought were the best.

The group is led by Wells, from Akron (Garfield), who is the consensus No. 1 running back prospect in the country. Colerain offensive lineman Connor Smith blocked for Wells in last month’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Rose and receiver Raymond Small of Cleveland Glenville are also considered among the nation’s elite.

The Buckeyes also signed 10 players from out of state, the largest such contingent in Tressel’s six classes. It was led by Grant, originally from Norcross, Ga., who spent the past two years at City College of San Francisco. Several recruiting services rate him the best junior-college linebacker this year.

"Our goal is to get the best players we can get wherever we can get them," recruiting coordinator and assistant coach John Peterson said.

Ohio State was in on at least two more out-of-state prospects going into yesterday, defensive tackle Corey Peters of Louisville, Ky., and receiver Greg Mathews of Orlando, Fla. But Peters signed with Kentucky and Mathews with Michigan.

[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DISPATCH

2/2/06

ANALYSIS
Pinpointing next Ohio State stars no easy task

Tressel unsure which newcomers will stand out

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>

</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>DANNY GILLELAND | MACON ( GA . ) TELEGRAPH </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Coming off a state title in Georgia, what’s next for quarterback Antonio Henton at Ohio State? </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Ohio State coach Jim Tressel’s hair was perfectly landscaped, like a Muirfield Village development. His tie, sweater and suit ensemble was immaculate.

He orchestrated when the news conference started, who spoke, in what order and for how long, everything down to when a staffer should change the slide on the overhead presentation.

In a profession known for control freaks, Tressel is at the upper end of the scale. That’s why something he said yesterday while introducing his 2006 recruiting class was quite remarkable.

Asked who among the 20 new Buckeyes might step up and make an immediate impact, his policy became Don’t Ask, Can’t Tell.
"Exactly who’s going to step up and when? Who knows?" he said.

He didn’t seem the least bit unsettled by this lack of clairvoyance. Coaches work like dogs almost year-round trying to identify and attract the best high-school talent in the nation.

If anyone is an expert on these kids, it should be Tressel. And yet, here he was, pleading ignorance as to which players might boom or bust.

"Recruiting is such an inexact science," he said. "I know a lot of time and effort is spent on it, just like a lot of time and effort is spent on the NFL draft, and you wonder how this happened or that happened.

"And any of us that have been in coaching very long, we know we’ve made a lot of mistakes. There’s a guy we thought was going to be outstanding, or there was a guy that we thought maybe was OK and then he became outstanding.

"I remember one of our former guys on our staff, when we made the decision to offer A.J. Hawk a scholarship, he said, ‘Oh man, that would be like a (Division) I-AA fullback coming here.’ And that I-AA fullback is going to be able to buy a little bit here in a few days, so you don’t know."

Tressel protected his former staffer, refusing to name him, but don’t ridicule whoever it was.

When Hawk’s class was signed in 2002, the can’t-miss stars were offensive lineman Derek Morris, running back Maurice Clarett and linebacker Mike D’Andrea. Of the three, only D’Andrea still might be remembered fondly by Buckeyes fans. Hawk is now projected as a firstround NFL draft pick at linebacker.

So who knew? That’s the point Tressel made. Analysts analyze, gurus rank the recruiting classes and media and fans fawn over it all.

But nobody can predict which players will dedicate themselves to hard work and who will run from it, who matures into an adult and who will remain an overgrown child.

Last season, cornerback Malcolm Jenkins was not one of the highly touted freshmen, yet he started five games, partly because of an injury to Tyler Everett and partly because he was a lot better than anyone thought.

Looking at this recruiting class, one assumes Chris Wells is the star. The Akron running back is ranked the No. 1 back in the nation and among the top five recruits overall.

The level of hype is ridiculous.

"I get compared to Maurice Clarett, Eddie George, Jim Brown, a bunch of them," Wells said. "It really doesn’t affect me too much at all."

He didn’t mention being compared to Antonio Pittman, Ohio State’s incumbent starter. Last year, Pittman rushed for 1,300 yards as a sophomore, something no other Buckeye but Archie Griffin has done.

"Antonio Pittman is the starting tailback; let’s make no bones about that," offensive coordinator Jim Bollman said. "Will Chris and (Maurice) Wells help him? Certainly, yeah those guys will help him, but no way.

"(Chris Wells) is a 17-year-old senior in high school. He has the potential to be a big factor for us, but let’s let it happen."

Speaking words of wisdom. Let it be.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

LINK

2/2/06

Thursday, February 02, 2006

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Thursday, February 02, 2006

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DISPACTH

2/2/06

Some signees off to early start at OSU

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Linebacker Ross Homan was the man of the hour last night in his hometown of Coldwater, Ohio, which celebrated his matriculation to Ohio State by staging a gala letter-of-intent signing party.

But Homan, who already is enrolled at OSU to get a head start on college, didn’t have a letter of intent because he didn’t need one. So what was he going to sign?

"I’ll sign a false letter, I guess," Homan said, smiling.

Chris "Beanie" Wells, a highly touted running back from Akron (Garfield), and defensive back Kurt Coleman of Clayton (Northmont), Ohio, signed Big Ten letters of intent at their ceremonies. Because they intend to enroll for spring quarter, no national letter of intent was needed.

"But it was still special, it was like a steppingstone day, really," Wells said last night. "It marked another step on my getting to Columbus and getting on with my college career."
Talk about head starts



The ink was barely dry on the 2006 class when the Buckeye picked up the first member of the 2007 class. Linebacker Nate Oliver of Lakewood (St. Edward), Ohio, committed to Ohio State.

"I like the way it feels like a big family down there at Ohio State, and I want to be part of that," Oliver said.
Talk about quick



Raymond Small, a receiver/returner from Cleveland Glenville, wants to step right into the shoes of his Glenville predecessor, Ted Ginn Jr., at Ohio State. Ginn’s father, the Glenville coach, thinks that’s possible.

"Teddy Sr. has said that he may be the most explosive athlete he’s ever had, and that includes his son," OSU coach Jim Tressel said. "So I don’t know, we’ll see."
Another mobile QB



Quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels acknowledged that Troy Smith has set the template for what OSU looks for when recruiting a quarterback. Incoming freshman Antonio Henton is a dual-threat athlete who threw for more than 2,000 yards and rushed for more than 600 last season for state champion Fort Valley (Peach County), Ga.

"Today’s football, because of the athletic ability of the defensive people, I think that’s changed the quarterback position a little bit," Daniels said. "A Troy Smith-type quarterback is really what you’re looking for.

"But the one thing we feel is they still have to be able to throw the ball. That was the one thing we saw in Antonio. The first play I saw him on his highlight films, he returned a punt all the way, so I knew he was an athlete.

And yet when he came up to (OSU’s) camp, we saw he could legitimately throw the football. So that’s a great combination."

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

2/2/06

Thursday, February 02, 2006

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[lvbuckeye]

Holy Smokes!!! did that say that Ross Homan had 203 tackles as a senior? that's friggin' ridiculous!!!