Our Honor Defend

I’m not that interested in the NFL and tend to cast anything where the Cleveland Browns are not crowned as champions as automatically illegitimate.  Nevertheless, the Super Bowl serves, for me at least, as a well-wishing mechanism for Buckeye alumni who aspire to continue playing football professionally, representing the university and program that served as the intermediate step to the pros.  Tonight, Malcolm Jenkins and Will Smith had their professional breakthrough, and will be fitted for Super Bowl champion rings.

This game probably serves as great satisfaction for Malcolm Jenkins.  I do not need to remind you how his previous championship forays ended.  While the second half of those games were non-competitive… sigh… Malcom Jenkins actually made his greatest impact in the second half of the Super Bowl.  Listed as probable with a sore hamstring, Jenkins saw extended playing time on defense.  He was matched against Austin Collie throughout the second half.  Minus being burned once by Collie before the 2 minute warning (too much postum-fueled Mormon Speed for Jenkins to handle), Jenkins played admirably on defense, hopefully establishing the finishing touches for a great sophomore season.  His other exploits include breaking up, and nearly picking, a pass by Peyton Manning, TFLing the dickens out of Collie on a quick screen, and corralling a Colts kick returner who, in all good conscience, should not have taken that kick out of the end zone when he was so deep in it.

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All the relevant letters of intent are in and now, finally, coaches are at liberty to publicly discuss the incoming recruits and what roles they think they will serve in the future. Eighteen signed for Ohio State, ranging from Ohio to out-of-state hotbeds like Pennsylvania and Florida. States like North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana will also send their own to Columbus to play for the Buckeyes, which has always been a diverse, regional team (that is: from all areas of the Midwest).

It is therefore unfortunate that the way the 2010 recruiting season ended has been the topic of discussion so far.  To recap: Ohio State lost on all of its offensive linemen targets.  That Matt James took the offer from Notre Dame over Ohio State is not terribly surprising, as most everyone saw that coming after the hire of Brian Kelly at Notre Dame.  The next two decisions threw me for a loop.  Morgan Moses, originally an ‘09 signee with Virginia, was probable to sign an LOI altogether while he worked at Fork Union to earn college eligibility.  I had thought Ohio State was in really good shape either way.  Yet, with qualification still ongoing, and an Ohio State scholarship withheld for the meantime, Moses decided to renew his 2009 commitment to play for Virginia.  Lastly, the biggie — Seantrel Henderson — signed with USC in a signing day ceremony of which I have yet to understand the need or the desirability.  The Buckeyes were second choice again, as they were with Matt James, Sharrif Floyd and likely Jordan Hicks, Latwan Anderson and Morgan Moses.  5 stars must be for closers only and, regrettably, the finale to this class will rehash the “Tressel can’t close” mantra and all the weird, message board reasons you will read for it.  It feels a little like 2007, where the Buckeyes closed out that particular stretch by whiffing on Rob Gronkowski, Josh Brent, Ben Martin, Anthony Davis and Joseph Barksdale.

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Today is the big day in the world of college football recruiting.  Fax machines all across the country will be working overtime, delivering letters of intent to the hands of college football coaches (and their office assistants) more than willing to collect them.  Ohio State will be just one of those programs making sure that all the LOIs get in, and that all their ducks are in a row.

Last year, Ohio State was just making sure everyone got in since there was not many recruiting prizes left for them to collect.  This year, there is.  This year, we might get actually get one.  Do we perchance to dream?

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I’m aware that this is going to be an important week for the Buckeye football program, and that people serious about Buckeye football are a little more focused on the here and now rather than a search back randomly into Ohio State’s past for its own sake.  However, the important week in question is more accurately an important day — Wednesday — and if, you’ve read this blog for awhile, you’ll know that this is kind of my thing.  So, while all eyes look to Wednesday to see what will be the composition of Ohio State football for 2010 and beyond, this post will look all the way back to September 12, 1987 for the Buckeyes’ season opening victory against West Virginia.

The Buckeyes entered the 1987 season as one of the hottest teams to finish the 1986 season.  After losing the season opener against Alabama in the Kickoff Classic, and following that game with a 40-7 thrashing by the Washington Huskies, the Buckeyes almost won out.  They lost to TSUN to be denied the Rose Bowl, but finished the season with a dominating effort on defense in the Big Ten’s first foray into the Cotton Bowl against heavily favored Texas A&M.  Their reward: a #5 preseason ranking in 1987 and a defense led by veterans like Eric Kumerow, Greg Rogan, William White, David Brown and, the leading tackler in the NCAA in 1986 (206), Chris Spielman.

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With shooty hoops mostly in accessible to me at the moment, the football season over, and uploading stuff to the YouTubes being a time-consuming endeavor, I struggle for content in the void between college football and the process of better knowing incoming Buckeyes.  On that note, I thought I’d offer some disparate recruiting thoughts for this Friday to end the work week as well as think ahead to this coming Wednesday, when the fax machine at the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex will be getting quite a workout.  In the process, I do not pretend that what I say is gospel or inside information, just observations of what’s already being discussed publicly.

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