That's always a tough question for me because it's tough for me to look at a class from years ago and not factor how that class performed at OSU into the equation.Sounds perfect. So, if we land those guys where does that put us in Buckeye class history in your opinion? Absolutely puts us as #1 in the country this year but I wondered where it might be in our own history. Best I've ever seen since I paid attention without a doubt but thats probably only a 15 year list or so.
'02 is still one of the gold standards for me. Clarrett, Carpenter, Hawk, D'Andrea, Datish, Downing, Holmes, Kudla, Pitcock, Richardson, Salley, Smith, Zwick, etc. That class was one of the greats both on Signing Day 2002 as well as looking at what they accomplished at OSU. Class was ranked 5th overall by Rivals.
Unfortunately that was followed by the '03 class which I have gone on record as saying was one of the worst ever...but again that's looking at it more from what they did or didn't do at OSU. Yeah Gonzalez, Barton, Whitner and Youboty were great but you had guys like Guilford, Irizary, Cotton, Maupin, Hiley, etc.
'07 was a great class on paper...but suffered overall because they only took one OL in Blankenship. But almost the entire class outside of Evan was 4-stars...Clifford, Evege, Herron, Heyward, Hines, Oliver, Rolle, Saine, Scott, Thomas, Torrence, Washington...all 4-stars. That class didn't even make the top 10 for Rivals somehow. Wonder if the historical data is accurate there?
'09 was another class that was highly ranked on Signing Day. Guys like Whiting, Newsome, Bell, Brown, Jackson, Klein, Linsley, Mewhort, Simon, Fellows, Clarke, Fields, Hall, Berry, Carter, Barnett. All highly rated. And this class had a great run although it was typically the lower ranked guys like Simon, Boren, Fragel, Guiton, Hyde and Linsley that carried the weight. That class finished ranked #3 by Rivals.
And '13 was another great class. Maybe in the all-time (since the advent of recruiting rankings) discussion. Bell, Burrows, Barrett, Baugh, Apple, Bosa, Marshall, Elliott, Wilson, Lewis, Lisle, Hill, Mitchell and Johnson. Ranked #2 in the final team rankings by Rivals.
So this class has a chance to go down as one of the best ever on Signing Day. And '17 is looking equally as promising.
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