tOSU Recruiting Discussion

[y0yoyoin]

bleacher report is an awesome source for recruiting, said nobody

 

[EasternBuck]

I'll take a stab at how I see things shaping up...

I think the biggest thing to note at this point is when the recruit's official visit is set for. Now that is not true of every recruit...but I think it is telling in some cases. For example:

December = Plan A (Dawson, Mitchell)
January = Plan B (Timmons, Smith, Moore, Hearns)

Does that apply to every recruit left on the board? Of course not...for example Vonn Bell might not visit until January because of his schedule but he is obviously a Plan A guy. Here is how I see things shaping up:

QB: Barrett
RB: Elliott
RB/WR: Marshall
WR: Jacbos, Gibson, Quick (if Strong bolts...if not I think he stays home)
TE: Baugh
OL: Lisle, Gardner, one of Dawson or Munger or there still might be a name here not on our radar
DL: Hill, Sprinkle, Bosa, Lewis, Price (still think Price might end up on offense)
LB: Lee, Worley, Mitchell, Johnson
CB: Woodard, Conley
S: Burrows, Thompson
P: Townsend

So I think OSU ends with three more LBs (Worley, Mitchell and Johnson are Plan A...Hearns and Moore are Plan B...McMillian stays with UF), two more WRs (Gibson and Quick are Plan A guys...Stevens, Timmons and Smith are Plan B), one more OL (hopefully Dawson...the official will be VERY important), and one more DB (I think OSU is now in the driver's seat for Conley).

What I like about this class is how diverse it can be. Could Price end up at OG with Dawson? Could Lewis end up at LB and someone like Lee at WR? Does Burrows get his first shot at corner freeing up another safety spot for Bell? Is Conley better suited at WR? And so on and so forth.

The big wildcard for me is Bell and/or the second OL spot. Bell's love of Tennessee has always been about the school itself...it was never about Dooley. If they hit a home run with the hire, I think he ends up there. The staff obviously thought they had Dorian Johnson. Someone in Johnson's court obviously wanted him at home...and when they got a second chance, Pitt locked him down. That makes the official visit for Dawson HUGE. If they don't get him, do they push for Munger and either he or Price ends up on the other side of the ball? Or are they out there talking to guys like yle Meadows are even some kids that might be committed to other schools? Lots of great questions still to be answered...

How would Elder impact your list? His interest seems legit.

 

[MD Buckeye]

How would Elder impact your list? His interest seems legit.

Not wad, but IMO Elder is a Plan B guy.

 

[pnuts34]

bleacher report is an awesome source for recruiting, said nobody

Agreed. BR is usually a day late and a dollar Short from every other recruiting site

Elder seems like a longshot. Timmons is more realistic to land, imo as a plan b guy

 

[maximumblitz]

Agreed. BR is usually a day late and a dollar Short from every other recruiting site

Agreed, I am usually grossed out by BR. If you read the link, the real ethics question is that they cite as a source what someone told buckeyegrove. So yeah, there would be a reason they are a day late. However, they charge less.

 

[Wham]

Our OL recruiting seems to be the weakest link

Maybe it's a bunch of bad luck, maybe the relationships just had not been established, maybe the desire is really not that strong, but whatever it is, we seem to be missing on great prospects out in the open. I just hope it is not a personality thing with the OL coordinator. I hope we finish strong and do better next year in a position of need.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Maybe it's a bunch of bad luck, maybe the relationships just had not been established, maybe the desire is really not that strong, but whatever it is, we seem to be missing on great prospects out in the open. I just hope it is not a personality thing with the OL coordinator. I hope we finish strong and do better next year in a position of need.

Bollman isn't here anymore...

 

[XXXX]

If the offensive line continues trending the way it did this year, and if we are able to hang onto Warriner, I think it could become one of the strongest units on the team, the conference, and perhaps the nation in the near future. Both from a production and a recruiting standpoint.

It can't happen overnight. I'm guessing that many of the '13 OL recruits are still affected by perceptions they have of the offensive line under Bollman, which is what I think Mililani was suggesting. The line's success on the field this year will hopefully pay huge dividends in the next several years.

 

[BayBuck]

Not wad, but IMO Elder is a Plan B guy.

I think the biggest thing to note at this point is when the recruit's official visit is set for. Now that is not true of every recruit...but I think it is telling in some cases. For example:

December = Plan A (Dawson, Mitchell)
January = Plan B (Timmons, Smith, Moore, Hearns)
...

Corn's January 11th visit is in line with your IMO.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Agree with Kren. I believe it was Byrne, maybe another '14 OL recruit that said he was impressed with the OL this year and was following their success closely. We just need more time for this. Keeping our OL coach will be huge for continued success on the field and developing relationships with recruits. The Walrus had higher ranked recruits and did less with them. It will take some time to change this reputation but we are getting there.

One thing I did want to add. Does anyone think the spread is seen by recruits as having less importance on a strong O Line and therefore showcases the players talents less? I for one think this is dead wrong but I can see a young man thinking this way compared to a traditional offense.

 

[Oh8ch]

If the offensive line continues trending the way it did this year, and if we are able to hang onto Warriner, I think it could become one of the strongest units on the team, the conference, and perhaps the nation in the near future. Both from a production and a recruiting standpoint.

It can't happen overnight. I'm guessing that many of the '13 OL recruits are still affected by perceptions they have of the offensive line under Bollman, which is what I think Mililani was suggesting. The line's success on the field this year will hopefully pay huge dividends in the next several years.

It already has happened overnight. I don't know that OSU has ever recruited one group of three OL with a stronger pedigree than Adams, Brewster and Shugarts. Four years later only Adams made all Big Ten and he was second team.

This year Norwell is first team, Mewhort is second team and Linsley and Fragel (a converted TE no less) are honorable mention. We only have five upperclassmen on the OL and four were mentioned for all Big Ten.

We have evolved a mindset that we need 15 strong OL recruits on the roster because so few pan out. No longer true.

Any OL with an open mind has to be giving us a strong look right now. Urban has two months to put that message in Dawson's ear.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Any OL with an open mind has to be giving us a strong look right now.

Well then one of 2 things is the case. Either a.) O Line prospects don't by nature have an open mind or b.) Urban pulls a rabbit out of his hat because outside of Lisle it has been tough sledding this year. The one ray of hope I have is that most of the top shelf OL kids gave their verbal early this year and perhaps we can flip one when we present our resume from this year.

Maybe it is just bad timing this year. Most of your top shelf recruits gave their verbal based on our past history. Let's hope one of them will see our success this year, the chance to play for a few NC starting next year and a favorable depth chart.

 

[maximumblitz]

Let's hope one of them will see our success this year, the chance to play for a few NC starting next year and a favorable depth chart.

And a fantastic o-line coach.

 

[XXXX]

It already has happened overnight. I don't know that OSU has ever recruited one group of three OL with a stronger pedigree than Adams, Brewster and Shugarts. Four years later only Adams made all Big Ten and he was second team.

This year Norwell is first team, Mewhort is second team and Linsley and Fragel (a converted TE no less) are honorable mention. We only have five upperclassmen on the OL and four were mentioned for all Big Ten.

We have evolved a mindset that we need 15 strong OL recruits on the roster because so few pan out. No longer true.

Any OL with an open mind has to be giving us a strong look right now. Urban has two months to put that message in Dawson's ear.

All excellent points. I guess my point was that, because it took a season for this change to be demonstrated/proven on the field, it didn't happen quite quickly enough to sway all those '13 blue chip OL recruits that we whiffed on this year (Lisle, and hopefully Dawson, being the lone exceptions at this point). It seems that the foundation for OL recruiting success has clearly been laid for '14 and beyond though.

 

[wadc45]

Was glad to see that Bank's update yesterday evening was pretty close to what I had.

Not to toot my own horn but...toot toot.