2010 tOSU Recruiting Discussion

[pnuts34]

Man, like other people have said, we've been real spoiled by these past couple classes (especially last year, I almost wet myself when we had over 20 commits in july!) and we just need to be patient. We're not Texas, matter of fact no one is not even USC. But the fact that our coaching staff can keep a good number of our top kids in state is commendable. I have a friend that's a Miami fan, and yeah they had one good year of getting south FL talent, but now Shannon is looking pretty mediocre on the recruiting trail. We're gonna have a down year with so much young talent on our roster which is probably scaring some kids off. For example, I don't see a top flight QB coming here if he knows he"s gonna be carrying Tpryors jock strap for the next year or so. I like the stock piling of RBs but we might start having that problem that USC has, in that there's so much talent that there isn't enough time to play everyone. Just my 2 cents not trying to be a downer, but I'm not too worried about this class, as long as we keep winning Big 10 titles and getting to BCS games, kids will want to wear S&G, sometimes they'll commit a little earlier sometimes later. But we are THE Ohio State university and that always is in a kids mind, at least we're not rooting for Baylor, Indiana or Washington State, lol!

 

[RB07OSU]

Color me as not worried yet...

The reason for what we see is low scholarship numbers...

Breakdown by position...

QB - We know we need one...Montana has been offered...Couple others being kept luke warm...Keep in mind in the back of our mind should be Braxton Miller will be in the 2011 class, so the 2010 QB could never be anything more than a career backup...

RB - Looking good for Smith and Ware at this point, but if not we could always go after Howard, or someothers...Do we even need two here? We took 2/3 however you look at it last year...Smith and Ware are just gravy on top...

WR - We don't lose anyone next year...We could go 1 or 2 here...We hvae offered some guys...Dyjuan Lewis is still out there, but if we were to take none I don't think it would be a huge issue, but we will grab one or 2...Lots of talent out there this year...Corey Brown is another one that I like where we stand with...Jordan and Wynn are two names off the top of my head for next year that will be looking at top 10 in state and 4/5 star status...

TE - this is a position that is perplexing to me, note because of who we have offered, but moreso because it doesn't seem the staff ever wants a TE that can stretch the field...Not sure why...I would of offered smith, Welch, CJ early and taken the first 2 to committ...They are all good enough to play here for sure...Do we land any of the two we have offered? at this point I am leaning towards no, but The staff doesn't seem to use the TE, so if we could find someone late in the game we will be fine here...It isn't like this is a make or break position for our classes, but it is a frustrating position.

OL - We have a 5 star OT...we could stay in state and have one of the top recruiting classes in the country...We are seeing what James/henderson/Benedict/Green/Linder/hurst etc want to do...If we land one of them then great, 2 amazing...None we go after guys like Donnal/Schofner, but both have great offer lists and are could end up being just as good as the guys mentioned before, and they both hopefully come to camp and the staff sees them up close...We have landed 7 over the last 2 classes, so a class of 3, with one of them being Norwell we are looking good here...One of the deepest years in state I have ever seen...next year should be pretty good as well...

DE - Fine here...Loaded on the roster, and Moore, Durham, and maybe one more...Next year good here as well with Miller...

DT - this is another position of worry, but they really aren't out there...Maybe a guy like Black gets and offer and suprises here, as he is not the staffs prototype at tackle...But we have depth here on the roster, but this is a position that would be great to continue to really keep stocked...next year will produce at least one stud (Rock) and maybe a couple more...

LB - Stocking up here...Turner/McVey and hopefully Hicks...We will be fine with 2, and next year has some names out there like Depreist...

DB - Probably need 2/3...Bryant, hopefully Joyner and there are a ton out there...They are throwing some offers out to some big time kids and see if anything sticks...If not there are some guys in state that could see offers like Givens or Talbott...

K/P - I think we at least need a prefered walk-on or grey shirt, I hate the idea of one guy doing punting and kicking, their leg wears out doing all that kicking...

If we land guys like Turner, Norwell, Hicks, Ware, Joyner, Smith There is lots of star power then provide 3/4 star depth and load up again next year...

I agree with you mostly CB40, good analysis. I think Ohio is loaded on high end talent but there is a big dropoff beyond the top 10, so it fits the bill for our class this year. I especially agree on DT and TE...two positions we need...no DT's out there really (maybe Jack Guy?shot at Garrison Smith?Hunter?) and TE leaves me scratching my head. Honestly there aren't any positions of dire "need", but I would just hate to lose 2 or all 3 of Ware, James, and Hicks. If we hit 2 of 3, that is huge in a class of 15-17 (I say 17). At this point I honestly would like to see us hit on some star power since this is such a small class...'11 will be the deep class.

 

[B-town Buckeye]

good discussion. My concerns are similar to what rb07 has stated already. Mostly surrounding the timing of some of the offers. IMO it's not much of a coincidence that the top OOS guys that OSU seems to be in good shape with (Montana, Joyner, Corey Brown) are ones that got their offers very early in the process...while the apparent latest offers around Florida seem to be with guys with monster lists already and the OSU offers have kind of gone over without a ton of head-turning attention (except maybe Grimes?). Not really a fan of the 'if we strike out on kid X this year, there's always next year with kid Y' in general especially when it comes to QB recruiting when you currently have Pryor and a man that hasn't played in half a decade and a kid who seemed to be ready to go to Prairie View before OSU offered (according to his own quote here Scout.com: 'Dream Come True' For Guiton) currently behind Pryor...but that's just me.

I don't really understand the handling of Welch at all. We'll see how it plays out, but it seems that OSU reacted to ND's offer with an offer of their own. And I hate to see OSU doing that with an in-state kid. Offering from a position of weakness IMO. If he was good enough for an OSU offer a week after ND offers...why not just offer anyway earlier in the process? I'll admit to having a mild level ignorance about the ins and outs of the recruiting process...so maybe someone can help me on this one. From the vantage point of my computer chair it seems unlikely that Welch could have done anything in the 3 weeks or so to impress the OSU coaches more than he already would have been able to do. No spring practice, no visit before the offer that I know of (again, could be wrong). Seems like if they liked this particular kid a week ago, all the information that would go into the liking of this particular kid would have been around 3 weeks ago. An offer then (and before ND) and maybe OSU takes the upper hand in the recruitment? Maybe something went on with the TE in Illinois that made OSU jump on Welch when they did...regardless, I'm puzzled so any insight here would be appreciated.

Overall, I think the comparisons to the 2003 class or the 2007 class is warranted at this point. I don't like the slowplaying of what seems to be very quality in-state OL (after Norwell and James) in favor of low-percentage (IMO) shots with OOS kids...hopefully a few Ohio keep their recruitments open and make the trip to camp. Not sure what's going on at defensive tackle but maybe someone will emerge. Bucks are loaded at other spots and somehow adding Smith and Ware at RB would be sickeningly awesome. Couple playmaking (not possession) WR types would be nice (Brown seems like he has more than legitimate interest here) and I think the Bucks will find the quality DBs they need. LB of course is stacked, DE looks good for the near future. With OSU being pretty stacked with quality and youth at a number of positions and there being a smaller class this year, I too thought we'd see the Bucks more active at the positions of need as well as the positions that OSU has had issues recruiting in general recently...as well as really giving more top OOS prospects the treatment Joyner has enjoyed this year. Hasn't come to pass...yet. I'm sure the class will be at least solid in the end.

 

[jwinslow]

Guiton was a solid pickup, and far better than you're giving him credit for, but by himself, that is a concern. Braxton Miller's recruitment will be as suspenseful as Christian Bryant's... That is playing into their approach a bit.

With regard to welch, oklahoma blew the doors off of the pace of his recruitment. I believe Nd responded to that offer, and then osu. Can't dog the one school for that and not the other.

Use stoneburner properly this year if you want TEs to come to osu. The TE factory in south bend matters a lot more than being a few days behind nd.

 

[TresselstillownsTSUN]

Anybody who has seen Ken Guiton's film knows how was a very solid pick up, but I digress...

 

[B-town Buckeye]

given the situation OSU was in (and on some level put itself in IMO), getting a guy like Guiton at the 11th hour was about as good of a save as could be expected. Doesn't change the fact that, based on his own words, he thought he was Prairie View bound before OSU came calling.

And I chose dog OSU and not ND in regard to Welch because this is an OSU site, not a ND site. And even then, OSU still could have offered after OU 'blew the doors' off his recruitment...yet OSU continuted to wait until after ND anyway. And since ND is a 'tight end factory' and OSU had ground to make up there, perhaps OSU offering before ND could have given the Bucks a small edge (no matter how slight)? But we'll never know now. Hopefully I'm wrong and the coaches can get Welch to commit. I contend an OSU offer before ND could have helped (even in a small way) in getting that done.

Simply put, I don't like OSU seemingly being forced to react to offers of OOS schools on in-state kids.

 

[jwinslow]

I don't care what site this is, the criticism should still apply to ND. Elder is more nd territory than osu anyway. If osu messed up by letting others force their hand in their talent pool, then nd did as well.

As for guiton, i'll stick with highstreet's opinion, which is well regarded.

Guiton is a guy that I have had the chance to watch in person throw the ball and he is very talented.

I believe that he and Tyrik Rollison (not so much anymore) were largely underrated because they did not have the ideal specs that you would expect for a national QB recruit.

This kid has great foot speed and a big-time arm. At the beginning of the recruiting year all of the major Big 12 schools were all over him and their fan bases expected him to be a major target. He was invited to all of the junior days and shown the "love".

After sizing him up in comparison to some of the other QB's many schools went for the more physically gifted guys instead. Guiton actually looks like a regular 17 year old high school kid, and these coaches are always enamored with the big framed guys for whatever reason.

Missouri pledged Blaine Dalton
Texas pledged Garrett Gilbert
LSU pledged Russell Shepard
Kansas pledged Christian Mathews (another good one)
Nebraska pledged Cody Green
Texas Tech pledged Jacob Karam
and finally Oklahoma pledged Drew Allen

This left Guiton basically out in the cold with the schools that he was interested in early on and his talent level does not honestly translate to a school like Houston (Sorry coach Sumlin).

So while he may not pass the "eyeball test" that a lot of folks like to use to evlaute and judge talent, he does pass the football test and ultimately that is what he will be judged for at OSU.

Is he Terrelle Pryor?

No, but he reminds me an AWFUL lot of Antonio Henton coming out of high school.

Guiton could have played anywhere if given the chance and people that have followed his career will tell you the exact same thing.

rb, lb, CB, S are in good shape. Wr is not a need, and very thin locally.

Until Hendrix and Montana shun osu, I'm not too worried about qb. Many like bolden better than Gardner anyway.

OL has a lot of young talented kids. Brew, adams, shugarts, mewhort, hall, norwell. 1 more stud and the position is fine. 2 good prospects and we're being spoiled by depth. 1 more stud and 1 solid developmental guy (plus already verballed stud norwell), and that's great as well. Land donnal or james or linder and the class is fine.

DT is pretty thin overall in America and locally. I'm not sure they can do much with the cards in the stack this year.

 

[TresselstillownsTSUN]

I would of like to see more DT targets in this class. But like Jwins said it's a very poor year for DT anywhere. We're really gonna have to hit it hard next year, but I like the guys we have have on the roster already. I would love to see us add a space eater someday.

 

[B-town Buckeye]

I'm glad that some/many are high on Guiton. Like I said, I think the Bucks did well given the situation. Still doesn't change a thing about where Guiton himself said he'd likely be getting ready to play his ball right now had OSU not 'found' him late.

As for Welch...I don't care about ND. I don't care to criticize ND. I don't care to think about ND. Unless they are coming into Ohio and attempting to take an OSU-caliber kid. You mentioning that Elder is more ND territory even strengthens my belief that if OSU was prepared to offer him (as they did) after ND offered him they probably should have been prepared to offer him before ND offered him.

The staff does a great job overall. But they're not perfect. And this Welch situation looks like (to me) potentially one of those times. Nothing more. Nothing less. And since he's a TE...it's probably no big deal anyway.

I'm hoping for 3 OL this year. There's quality OL in Ohio right now it seems...so maybe you take an extra one or two if you can - while you can - just in case in coming years there's a time in which the state doesn't produce in similar quality.

 

[Naplesbuckeye]

If you look at the kids that verballed to the surrounding Big 12 schools you understand how Guiton was left out.

Welch or ANY TE coming to OSU isn't going to make or break this class.

It is late May and we have time on plenty of offers. I agree with other posters that sounding the alarm in May is way to premature.





quote=B-town Buckeye;1471193;]I'm glad that some/many are high on Guiton. Like I said, I think the Bucks did well given the situation. Still doesn't change a thing about where Guiton himself said he'd likely be getting ready to play his ball right now had OSU not 'found' him late.

As for Welch...I don't care about ND. I don't care to criticize ND. I don't care to think about ND. Unless they are coming into Ohio and attempting to take an OSU-caliber kid. You mentioning that Elder is more ND territory even strengthens my belief that if OSU was prepared to offer him (as they did) after ND offered him they probably should have been prepared to offer him before ND offered him.

The staff does a great job overall. But they're not perfect. And this Welch situation looks like (to me) potentially one of those times. Nothing more. Nothing less. And since he's a TE...it's probably no big deal anyway.

I'm hoping for 3 OL this year. There's quality OL in Ohio right now it seems...so maybe you take an extra one or two if you can - while you can - just in case in coming years there's a time in which the state doesn't produce in similar quality.[/quote]

 

[B-town Buckeye]

If you look at the kids that verballed to the surrounding Big 12 schools you understand how Guiton was left out.




Not to make this (more) about guiton, because I don't really care that much and I'm definitely NOT trying to rip on a Buckeye and this isn't the place for this discussion....

BUT there's other conferences and programs that play D-I football in his general area (and even more that recruit it) that are not in the Big 12 or the programs therein. Mountain West....Sun Belt....WAC....CUSA....

 

[jwinslow]

Do you have some breakdown of his film for us? Or just arguing against analysis with an offer list?

Its a good thing Alex had the offers to justify osu's offers, err... :tic:

 

[B-town Buckeye]

nope...I'm not an amateur film analyst. Just try my best at connecting the dots to figure out what is going on and why things happen the way they do/did. I can't get terribly excited about a guy that was on his way to Prairie View before OSU first talked to him on a Wednesday and then offered him on the next day Scout.com: 'Dream Come True' For Guiton. Sorry. I hope he wins 2 Heismans. The same hope I have for all Buckeyes.


When Ohio State offers an in-state kid in May (or really any time at all), that's all the justification that kid needs IMO. You'd never hear me question an offer to a JT Moore or guys like that the way I've seen other do. IMO no one knows this state like the OSU coaches...which is why I wondered about OSU's timing in offering Welch (and in reading this site and others, I'm not the only one). I'm simply uncomfortable with OSU apparently allegedly appearing to be reactive due to other offers when it comes to an in-state recruit. Timing seemed weird to me. No more. No less.

 

[Naplesbuckeye]

I don't think OSU was going to get any qb until the end of the year when Pryor was hurt and they didn't get Boyd.

Why else would they go the whole year without really recruiting qb's and then to get on the Boyd train when he was available.

When they saw Terrell injured in the Texas game they released that they needed one more guy...a safety valve of sorts...so they go Guiton. No harm and no foul as the kid can be moved to other positions WR etc.

Guiton had opportunities to verbal to other schools early and he held out...it burned him except for the OSU offer at the end.

 

[jwinslow]

I'm no expert either, which is why I'm encouraged when guys like highstreet speak highly of him. I'm not trying to sell him as a superstar, just a far better player than someone who belongs at prarie view.

I'm trying to figure out how you can accept Moore blindly (without question) on the merit of an osu offer, but not have that osu offer carry much weight at all for guiton.

I think you'd find many here who like guiton more, some by a large margin.