ANALYSIS
Key to Ohio State’s success was its early commitments
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ohio State football coaches are like squirrels gathering nuts. When the weather is warm, they scurry busily around, stockpiling tasty morsels.
Then when the cold winds blow and the pickings get slim, they don’t fear going hungry.
Fans and recruitniks pay inordinate attention to how schools do in landing commitments in January. There’s a lot of talk about how a team "closes," as if there is a save to nail down in the recruiting game-within-a-game.
And it can be argued that OSU has not dazzled in recent years with high-profile eleventh-hour commitments.
But to denigrate the Buckeyes’ closing is to ignore how well they open, for lack of a better term. And there is no better example of this than the 2005 class announced yesterday.
The two top players in the class — offensive lineman Alex Boone of Lakewood St. Edward and cornerback Jamario O’Neal of Cleveland Glenville — committed in 2003.
O’Neal’s decision was announced in February 2003, before he had finished his sophomore school year.
"That was huge," coach Jim Tressel said of O’Neal’s commitment. "You knew he was going to be a great one. And a guy like Alex Boone, who everyone in America had on the top of the offensive linemen board, for him to be on board so quickly, I think that’s obviously a great boost to establishing a great recruiting class."
O’Neal is lauded as a stellar athlete, good-sized for a corner (6 feet 1, 180 pounds) and fast (4.4-second time in the 40-yard dash). Boone is that rarest of commodities: a manmountain (6-8, 315) who can move, the earmark of a star left tackle.
It’s a bit of a stretch, but it can almost be said that Ohio State could have signed O’Neal, Boone and 16 average Joes and still had a decent recruiting class.
In the end, the Buckeyes landed six players that Rivals.com ranked in the top 10 nationally at their positions: O’Neal, Boone, quarterback Rob Schoenhoft, offensive lineman Jimmy Cordle, running back Maurice Wells and defensive end Doug Worthington.
Of those six, five committed by last September. Wells announced in January.
So when a player such as running back Jason Gwaltney, linebacker Rico McCoy or defensive lineman Walker Ashley chose to go elsewhere in recent weeks, it’s probably wise for Buckeyes fans to remember pre-September.
"This happens every year," recruiting analyst Bill Kurelic said. "People forget how highly recruited some of the players were that committed early."
Kurelic mentioned Schoenhoft, of Cincinnati St. Xavier, who Tressel practically drooled over yesterday, calling him "special."
"He had offers from Michigan and many others," Kurelic said. "Had he waited until now to commit to Ohio State, it would have been huge news."
It’s a good thing Ohio State landed some good early commitments. With the NCAA investigation and other negatives swirling around the program from November on, coaches had to work hard to keep their committed kids in the fold, let alone land more stars.
They did well to limit defections to one (lineman Kevin Bemoll of Mission Viejo, Calif.) and still land some late plums such as Wells and defensive end Lawrence Wilson.
Former Ohio State recruiting coordinator Bill Conley recalled several stellar Buckeyes who committed early, including offensive tackles Korey Stringer and Orlando Pace and linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer.
Said Tressel: "Sometimes, if you don’t get a guy or two at the end, it overshadows the extraordinary guys you got at the beginning."
It shouldn’t.
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Of course, I would also rate the RB position a little higher. Mo Wells is going to be awesome, and I think the "need" for a big back in this class is mitigated a little by the possiblity of Beanie Wells being in the '06 class. Give Tress and the boys at least a B+ if not an A- for pulling MW out of Florida and beating Ol' Petey, would ya? :p
