Next Year

[Elephant]

I hear you on the stars, problem is, why reach for an OH project just because he's from OH?
OH has 2 great CBs in 2024, but why go after an average MAC caliber kid just because he's from OH? I'd rather that kid prove himself on scholly at Akron than take up a spot at OUS where he's riding the pine and won't see the field. Like I said, OSU is chasing UGA, not scUM. In 2021 OSU landed the top OG, Donovan Jackson from TX(started this year and looked great) and Ben Christman from OH(hasn't seen the field). Would you rather OSU land Christman and Mao Glynn who signed with UC because both are from OH?
The best schools get the best players and don't settle point blank. Bama isn't settling for players who are from AL, and worrying about them staying. If the elite players they recruited leave, then you replace them with other elite players. When Haskins left for the NFL, OSU didn't settle on going after a kid from Toledo, or a kid from West Clermont HS, they got Justin Fields(from GA). UGA is sitting around compiling a roster of projects from GA, they're getting the best talent everywhere. And OSU should do the same. It's like you want OSU to become Rutgers or Purdue. Recruiting is recruiting, you win and you lose. NIL has thrown things off, and OSU will get there's in order soon. But I hope in the mean time, Day doesn't settle on in state talent because he's afraid to compete for national talent. IDC if we land players from the south, west or east coast, as long as it means OSU winning, winning big and hoisting more trophies

I think we are crossing paths at the wrong point in this conversation. I am not saying for Ohio State to go out and sign garbage. My take is evaluate the state better and slip in more of those kids that go under the recruiting radar but end up being studs at other places. Sounds easy? Evaluate the state better. We have certain position groups that are going to be influx the next few years due to recruiting misses and transfer portal. Corners are a good example. We are going on a few years now of low numbers. My argument is attack Ohio to fill that gap because I know there is a Ohio boy out there that will fit the bill and help with numbers. I find that easier in regards to secondary positions vs. o line. Ohio doesn't crap out a ton of big bodies. If we need 4 corners next year.....I totally see Ohio having the ability to shit out 3. I don't want to see the bucks chase kids and loose on when the numbers are starting to get lower...assuming Ohio State takes the current path of not diving in the transfer portal a ton (which I agree with).

 

[pnuts34]

I think we are crossing paths at the wrong point in this conversation. I am not saying for Ohio State to go out and sign garbage. My take is evaluate the state better and slip in more of those kids that go under the recruiting radar but end up being studs at other places. Sounds easy? Evaluate the state better. We have certain position groups that are going to be influx the next few years due to recruiting misses and transfer portal. Corners are a good example. We are going on a few years now of low numbers. My argument is attack Ohio to fill that gap because I know there is a Ohio boy out there that will fit the bill and help with numbers. I find that easier in regards to secondary positions vs. o line. Ohio doesn't crap out a ton of big bodies. If we need 4 corners next year.....I totally see Ohio having the ability to shit out 3. I don't want to see the bucks chase kids and loose on when the numbers are starting to get lower...assuming Ohio State takes the current path of not diving in the transfer portal a ton (which I agree with).

I think it's become harder to evaluate late in state recruits because the ESD is right around the state title game. And most kids are committing in the summer due to the sped up cycle. If you wait on OH kids and don't actively pursue the top OOS recruits, then you're going to miss out on the national guys. Its a very difficult balancing act. The ESD has thrown off being able to properly evaluate kids that may pop later in their senior years. If the Signing day was back to being only in February, than OSU may be would've landed a guy like Cornist or Sperling. But the beauty of the Portal is that one of these guys could be Buckeyes in another year, and they'll come to the program college ready, as opposed to wondering if they can function in a college system. I'd rather Buffalo work out the kinks with Sperling, and have him see if can produce in college. No different than Bama taking Jahmyr Gibbs after he was productive at GA Tech, or them getting Jameson Williams.

 

[billmac91]

Getting those 3star projects is why the OL looks just plain bad when it comes depth. OSU shouldn't have to have 3stars as any type of foundation. OSU is trying to keep pace with UGA and Bama, not Indiana and Illinois. Even with only 20 signees, the Portal can fill a lot of holes and mask deficiencies. Misses in recruiting mean little when that 5star HSer can be replaced by a small school stud, with an actual college ready body, understands college time management and knows the speed of the college game. Its great to get a 5star DE or CB, but there's a player for say Troy or Liberty with a year or 2 under his belt that comes to the program ready and doesn't need to be babied like most true frosh

I’m not sure there will ever be a right or wrong way to approach this….it’s going to be team by team and coach by coach.

Texas A&M had a historic recruiting class last year and an absolute dud of a season and the most players in the transfer portal this off-season…..many of which were on 6 and 7 figure NIL deals that have literally gone up in smoke as many of them came in entitled and did dumb shit like smoking pot in opposing teams locker rooms.

You have other teams like FSU and Michigan that are hitting the portal insanely hard to fill gaps every off-season and while their teams have improved tremendously, you’ve seen a huge down-tick in recruiting classes. Elite HS players don’t want to commit to a program where they will be recruited over by the same upperclassmen from smaller schools we are referencing. They take it as a slap in the face that they’re not good enough and don’t want to wait their turn. They want PT.

IMO, the best way to approach this going forward is to continue to recruit nationally at an elite level, round out the class with more developmental type guys that fit a specific profile (doesn’t have to be an Ohio kid but I think the sell is easier…..come be a foundational piece to our culture, be a great teammate, be patient and develop, learn the system, and have a shot to play as a redshirt Junior/senior while playing special teams earlier in career).

The thing I’ve been debating with my FSU buddies who are super jacked over a 9 win season and CFP hopes for next year is……I think Norvell is doing a good job, the team is definitely playing at a higher level…..but how do you sustain consistency when you are turning the roster over every year and so reliant on the portal. I think the morale on the team was good this year, and I assume it will be going forward as well….but they lost a lot of kids to portal, and continue to have really poor recruiting classes. I don’t think that is sustainable year in, year out.

It’s amazing Georgia only has 1 player in their 2 deep that came from the transfer portal.

Bama has only hit the portal for 1-2 starters a year.

I think OSU has done a decent job addressing big holes (Fields, Jonah Jackson, McCalister, etc) without doing much damage with current roster. Obviously our DB room is in shambles and needs work….not unlike Bama always looking for a WR.

I just think there’s a balance that will be needed. I’d posit in this current environment, the idea should be to swing for the fences nationally for 65-75% of recruits and take a more conservative approach with remaining scholarships on guys who will be great culture fits and stick around for the development but also love of the program. It will also give more flexibility in the portal because you aren’t going to risk pissing them off and causing turmoil in building. JMO.

 

[RB07OSU]

I’m not sure there will ever be a right or wrong way to approach this….it’s going to be team by team and coach by coach.

Texas A&M had a historic recruiting class last year and an absolute dud of a season and the most players in the transfer portal this off-season…..many of which were on 6 and 7 figure NIL deals that have literally gone up in smoke as many of them came in entitled and did dumb shit like smoking pot in opposing teams locker rooms.

You have other teams like FSU and Michigan that are hitting the portal insanely hard to fill gaps every off-season and while their teams have improved tremendously, you’ve seen a huge down-tick in recruiting classes. Elite HS players don’t want to commit to a program where they will be recruited over by the same upperclassmen from smaller schools we are referencing. They take it as a slap in the face that they’re not good enough and don’t want to wait their turn. They want PT.

IMO, the best way to approach this going forward is to continue to recruit nationally at an elite level, round out the class with more developmental type guys that fit a specific profile (doesn’t have to be an Ohio kid but I think the sell is easier…..come be a foundational piece to our culture, be a great teammate, be patient and develop, learn the system, and have a shot to play as a redshirt Junior/senior while playing special teams earlier in career).

The thing I’ve been debating with my FSU buddies who are super jacked over a 9 win season and CFP hopes for next year is……I think Norvell is doing a good job, the team is definitely playing at a higher level…..but how do you sustain consistency when you are turning the roster over every year and so reliant on the portal. I think the morale on the team was good this year, and I assume it will be going forward as well….but they lost a lot of kids to portal, and continue to have really poor recruiting classes. I don’t think that is sustainable year in, year out.

It’s amazing Georgia only has 1 player in their 2 deep that came from the transfer portal.

Bama has only hit the portal for 1-2 starters a year.

I think OSU has done a decent job addressing big holes (Fields, Jonah Jackson, McCalister, etc) without doing much damage with current roster. Obviously our DB room is in shambles and needs work….not unlike Bama always looking for a WR.

I just think there’s a balance that will be needed. I’d posit in this current environment, the idea should be to swing for the fences nationally for 65-75% of recruits and take a more conservative approach with remaining scholarships on guys who will be great culture fits and stick around for the development but also love of the program. It will also give more flexibility in the portal because you aren’t going to risk pissing them off and causing turmoil in building. JMO.

I agree that our approach has been good overall, it sucks dropping the close ones in the CFP but getting there as many times as we have has been impressive and something that 99% of other teams envy. And that is a good point on pissing off recruits or younger guys with transfers, I was kind of worried on how many OL we went after in the portal, though a veteran OL is definitely a need that couldn't be ignored...we knew there was going to be a probable issue once PJ and Dawand left with some of the misses on OL in recruiting.

On DBs, on paper we have recruited extremely well there recently and some highly ranked guys just didn't pan out, or there is a coaching issue. We've got highly ranked guys from all over the country, and also got a lower ranked guys like Burke, who started over great and then hit a sophomore slump.

We need to take a hard look at our approach to NIL but overall I think we are doing a good job.

 

[RugbyBuck]

I'm inclined to think that the portal transfers are because guys know they're likely or certain to be replaced or passed by. Young talent has now been in the system and should be ready to go.

Knowles has frustrated me with the absurdly unnecessary aggression and running a "safety driven" defense with meh, at least when it's counted, safeties. That said, there's no reason to expect that the defense won't improve and, really, it's ahead of where it would've been reasonable to project at the beginning of last season. His sides improved every season at the O(ther)SU and that was without 4-5 star talent in the system and coming in new every year. If Ransom could tackle in space we could be going into the NC undefeated. It doesn't all sit with him; if the cornerbacks had defended the passes and/or made their tackles, he's not having to make those tackles, but that's what being a safety absolutely requires. Hopefully, that gets better.

We need secondary help and Carter coming in should offer some, but I also think there's help already in the system that needs to and will get on the field.

 

[Onebuckfan]

One thing that needs addressed is the running game..the blocking, Alford’s room, the physical and mental preparation of the backs to play through a long season, and scheme. Ryan Day often talks being balanced and we are for the most part but against the top flight defenses we need running. With a two touchdown lead in the 4th quarter the running game should be able to use clock and wear down defenses.

 

[RuGettinIt]

One thing that needs addressed is the running game..the blocking, Alford’s room, the physical and mental preparation of the backs to play through a long season, and scheme. Ryan Day often talks being balanced and we are for the most part but against the top flight defenses we need running. With a two touchdown lead in the 4th quarter the running game should be able to use clock and wear down defenses.

I think part of that is the short bench that Day/Alford use. There needs to be more carries for the younger backs especially in some of the blowouts. Same is true of all the position groups.

 

[cdiddy70]

We’re going to have more attrition for sure.
*WR - why would Ballard stick around. He got no non-garbage snaps all year even without JSN. Marv goes out in the CFP and still no snaps. Instead they ask a former walk-on to be Deebo Samuel. The 3 guys that got 100% of the snaps this year all return.
He should use Jamo as a blue print. Go get some NIL and snaps.
Would suck to lose him (but not really because he doesn’t play), he is the fastest WR on the roster.
There will probably be a freshman wr on the roster this year that will see the writing on the wall. 3 wrs get all the snaps and a monster class coming in behind.
This should be critique of Hartline in his next review.

RB - we have 4 coming back not including Chip or X. Chip went from being the feature back and doing well v Michigan to not getting 1 carry v UGA. He can’t be happy with the way he bounced around and his path to PT.
There have been rumors on Myian all year.

OL - there are at least 3 that are dead weight. I won’t name them.

TE if Stover comes back that is 5. I could see Gee bouncing. We should of found away to use a former 5* WR to create match up nightmares.

DL - Kenyatta is already rumored.

K- we have to have the most of any team in the country.

Point is we are going to need to be active in the portal to get to 85.

And in this transfer portal/NIL era not all transfers are “processing” we could lose valuable players who want a path to more reps. Throw in some NIL and I don’t blame them.

 

[Onebuckfan]

It seems WR would be the easiest position to get snaps , Day said the three WR brought in this year are going to impact things. Why would any of the 3 freshmen from this year feel good. Unless it’s just Day talking. Why didn’t they see snaps after JSN got hurt. We needed more explosion then Fleming or X could provide consistently.

 

[pnuts34]

I think part of that is the short bench that Day/Alford use. There needs to be more carries for the younger backs especially in some of the blowouts. Same is true of all the position groups.

I remember when all were healthy last yearyear, Alford played Pryor in blowouts. TC Coffey put himself in Buckeye lore when he was given an opportunity against Akron.

But I read somewhere that Hartline didn't think the young WRs were ready to play. I'm not at practice, but I too thought it was very weird that not 1 of the frosh WRs or Ballard could beat Johnson for reps at WR

 

[cdiddy70]

We brought in 4 this year.

The top 3 from last year return.

We brought in 3 last year (burton, graves, brown)

Then there’s Ballard.

Something has to give.

Thats 8 highly recruited kids fighting over garbage time snaps.

 

[Captain Buckeye]

We brought in 4 this year.

The top 3 from last year return.

We brought in 3 last year (burton, graves, brown)

Then there’s Ballard.

Something has to give.

Thats 8 highly recruited kids fighting over garbage time snaps.

Imo Burton and Ballard are guys that could go Particularly Burton. Something didn't seem to click for Burton and I believe he recently lost his black stripe which is odd for a freshman to lose one this late.

I like Brown and Kojo but these incoming kids are a different level IMO.

 

[pnuts34]

We’re going to have more attrition for sure.
*WR - why would Ballard stick around. He got no non-garbage snaps all year even without JSN. Marv goes out in the CFP and still no snaps. Instead they ask a former walk-on to be Deebo Samuel. The 3 guys that got 100% of the snaps this year all return.
He should use Jamo as a blue print. Go get some NIL and snaps.
Would suck to lose him (but not really because he doesn’t play), he is the fastest WR on the roster.
There will probably be a freshman wr on the roster this year that will see the writing on the wall. 3 wrs get all the snaps and a monster class coming in behind.
This should be critique of Hartline in his next review.

RB - we have 4 coming back not including Chip or X. Chip went from being the feature back and doing well v Michigan to not getting 1 carry v UGA. He can’t be happy with the way he bounced around and his path to PT.
There have been rumors on Myian all year.

OL - there are at least 3 that are dead weight. I won’t name them.

TE if Stover comes back that is 5. I could see Gee bouncing. We should of found away to use a former 5* WR to create match up nightmares.

DL - Kenyatta is already rumored.

K- we have to have the most of any team in the country.

Point is we are going to need to be active in the portal to get to 85.

And in this transfer portal/NIL era not all transfers are “processing” we could lose valuable players who want a path to more reps. Throw in some NIL and I don’t blame them.

Yeah, if you're Ballard or any of the frosh WRs, I wouldn't be surprised if any put their names in. The '23 WRs will coming, and looking to play. But Ballard may also be an in state kid who's willing to stay loyal to the program because he's a lifelong Buckeye. In this day and age it may sound crazy, but I'm sure he even has some local NIL deal.

RB is a room I don't worry about in '23, and if anyone were to leave, that's an easy position to get good player.

OL and CB will be positions that will need 1-2 players

TE has almost too many bodies for the way the position is used. Gee Scott will be a Buckeye "what if"(added to such names like: Jake Stoneburner, Dontre Wilson, Roy Hall, Brandon Saine, James Jackson, etc etc), but it's a combo of being improperly used, and not being great at any one thing and not more talented than what we have at WR or TE(at least as an overall TE, him playing pretty much shows that the play will be a pass)

 

[Captain Buckeye]

Yeah, if you're Ballard or any of the frosh WRs, I wouldn't be surprised if any put their names in. The '23 WRs will coming, and looking to play. But Ballard may also be an in state kid who's willing to stay loyal to the program because he's a lifelong Buckeye. In this day and age it may sound crazy, but I'm sure he even has some local NIL deal.

RB is a room I don't worry about in '23, and if anyone were to leave, that's an easy position to get good player.

OL and CB will be positions that will need 1-2 players

TE has almost too many bodies for the way the position is used. Gee Scott will be a Buckeye "what if"(added to such names like: Jake Stoneburner, Dontre Wilson, Roy Hall, Brandon Saine, James Jackson, etc etc), but it's a combo of being improperly used, and not being great at any one thing and not more talented than what we have at WR or TE(at least as an overall TE, him playing pretty much shows that the play will be a pass)

As for TE, we have Therman and he's a difference maker. Not really worried about that position.

As you mentioned there's only OL and CB to worry about.

 

[Thump]

We’re going to have more attrition for sure.
*WR - why would Ballard stick around. He got no non-garbage snaps all year even without JSN. Marv goes out in the CFP and still no snaps. Instead they ask a former walk-on to be Deebo Samuel. The 3 guys that got 100% of the snaps this year all return.
He should use Jamo as a blue print. Go get some NIL and snaps.
Would suck to lose him (but not really because he doesn’t play), he is the fastest WR on the roster.
There will probably be a freshman wr on the roster this year that will see the writing on the wall. 3 wrs get all the snaps and a monster class coming in behind.
This should be critique of Hartline in his next review.

RB - we have 4 coming back not including Chip or X. Chip went from being the feature back and doing well v Michigan to not getting 1 carry v UGA. He can’t be happy with the way he bounced around and his path to PT.
There have been rumors on Myian all year.

OL - there are at least 3 that are dead weight. I won’t name them.

TE if Stover comes back that is 5. I could see Gee bouncing. We should of found away to use a former 5* WR to create match up nightmares.

DL - Kenyatta is already rumored.

K- we have to have the most of any team in the country.

Point is we are going to need to be active in the portal to get to 85.

And in this transfer portal/NIL era not all transfers are “processing” we could lose valuable players who want a path to more reps. Throw in some NIL and I don’t blame them.

Gee couldn’t pick up the blocking part of TE.