Our Honor Defend

Our weekly Thursday feature returns after a week hiatus. Last week was the huge spike in traffic, corresponding to our victory over the internets with the traffic that Buckeye Commentary and Ramzy at Bucknuts gave us. Accordingly, Vico and Max used the opportunity to unveil their Classics feature, for which I will be doing the next installment in due time, complete with YouTubes. But alas, our quest to recap 2007′s moments of glory returns in our countdown to no. 1.

Moment #5 was the blocked FG and Robo TD bomb that powered the rout over Washington in the “first true road test” of the season. Next up, I reviewed Papa Laurinaitis’ introduction of the Buckeyes and how Northwestern felt the rush. The third installment reviewed the “second such first real road test” of the season as the Buckeyes blew out Penn State. As chance would have it, Moment of Awesomeness #2 is a current event.

This post goes on forever, so brace yourselves.

02. Good News from the Recruiting Trail

Again, the way this worked out was entirely coincidence. When we put together this list in early January, we agreed this was no. 2, and expected to run our explanation why about a week before the actual signing day. Winning the internets interfered with that, but for now, it kinda works.

But why would the 2007 recruiting trail be our second moment of awesomeness? Well, for us, it’s the first time in what seems like forever that midseason recruiting was actually interesting, and that we were actively making headlines with our commits.

The Buckeyes already had a pretty remarkable haul by the end of spring even if no one else would commit further. Ben Buchanan was the first to commit (March 20) to Ohio State, and thus molded the class in his image, therefore ever branding this class as “the Buchanan Bunch”. Not really, but just a week after Buchanan committed, Mike Adams committed (March 10), forever giving us something to attach Biblical metaphors to. The next day, Devier Posey, who grew up a Michigan fan, committed to the Buckeyes and thus abandoned (and hopefully apologized for) his prior hedonist ways. Two weeks later, Mike Adams’ HS teammate Jake Stoneburner committed (March 26), allowing Buckeyes who have seen Stoneburner and Posey’s highlight films to ask themselves “is anyone going to be able to guard our receivers?”.

Yet, the class took a different dynamic when Michael Brewster committed a month later (April 21). Brewster was no stranger to Ohio State, and the mutual interest was strong between both parties. However, Brewster wasn’t content with just committing to the Buckeyes; his eyes were set on a bigger prize. Immediately following his commitment was the proposal to build a dynasty with the 2008 class as pivotal to the endeavor. Words and goals uncommon to a typical recruit, but Brewster is no typical player. A highlight film shows Brewster as a punishing run blocker, who pulls exceptionally well and flattens people with usually just an arm¹. We recruited that caliber player; in the process, we picked up a belligerent psychotic fan like you or I. Indeed, even though Alabama and Florida continued to try to recruit him (both coaches openly said that his commitment to Ohio State meant nothing to them), Brewster made it clear to all involved that any mention of any SEC school about the Glendale event earlier in 2007 would mean cutting off all connections to Brewster. That’s commitment.

Immediately following that initiative by Brewster was he and Adams working on bringing in more quality players, chief among them being Terrelle Pryor whose decision is still forthcoming as of writing this. JB Shugarts and Nathan Williams committed just days after Brewster (April 24), again echoing the sentiments of making this class something special. Another Brewster target — Andrew Sweat — was the next Buckeye commitment on May 31. Sweat himself would admit that he was lured in by not only Brewster’s efforts, but Brewster’s mom’s efforts through text messaging. By the end of spring, the Buckeyes had what surely looked like as substantively the best class in the nation. It would add two more at the end of summer in wrestler Garrett Goebel (July 27) and Madison product Nic DiLillo (July 30) to pad its preseason recruiting efforts.

The regular season recruiting efforts got kicked off when Lamaar Thomas verbally committed to the University of Ohio State on national television, choosing the Buckeyes over instate Maryland and pipeline school Illinois. We didn’t think we stood much of a chance with Thomas, especially since, if Vico’s reading is correct, the Buckeyes first approached Thomas to play as a defensive back. Thomas was a Maryland local who never left the state, giving the Terps an advantage there. Moreover, Illinois had the Maryland pipeline, as Ron Zook loved recruiting that DC-metro area and Maryland specifically. The committment itself gave the Buckeyes some needed assistance in the return game, where Ohio State was uninspiring this first year after Ted Ginn. This was no doubt a major heist for Tressel and a success for Brewster as Thomas was one of his “targets”. We’ll forgive him for wanging the name of our fair alma mater (mostly because his particular style of wanging was absolutely hilarious, and because he committed to us over the Illini), but are certain in due time he will be saying “THE Ohio State University” when he is introduced on Sundays.

Travis Howard next committed (October 28) to the Buckeyes immediately following his official visit, but did so without much fanfare even though he scored points with us for citing Ohio State as the ultimate experience upon his visit. This is curious, especially since Brewster thinks that Howard is the absolute steal of the class. The Bucks have had success plucking hidden gems from the state of Florida (ever heard of Santonio Holmes?). The commitment of Howard during the Penn State weekend immediately had fans thinking of Chimdi Chekwa who was under-recruited as a HS prospect but has established himself in Ohio State’s secondary rotation. But even Chekwa’s offer list (a gauge of potential) was unimpressive; Howard managed to be under-recruited and unsung, but still have serious interest and offers from Auburn, Tennessee and Georgia Tech. Howard’s commitment signified the arrival of a tall and physical cornerback who runs an obscene 4.43 40. Yet, it had us excited for another possibility.

That other possibility was his HS teammate Etienne Sabino, who may have also been the reason why Travis Howard flew somewhat under the radar. Soon after his friend and teammate declared for Ohio State, Sabino announced his decision to forgo the Florida schools and announce between the Trojans and the Buckeyes. We felt pretty confident that the HS connection would matter, and we think it did. On November 8, Etienne Sabino — the no. 1 inside linebacker recruit in the country per most recruiting services — committed on ESPNU to The Ohio State University. Moreover, he scored major brownie points with us for a variety of reasons: A) being so well-spoken in his discussion of why he joined Ohio State and B) telling that ESPNU guy in rather nice terms to go play with himself when he brought up the whole Southern Speed thing. Vico has seen his HS footage and can speak better of it, but getting another linebacker, and a quality one at that, to wait in the wings behind Laurinaitis was a welcome addition on November 8, especially when it wasn’t clear if Laurinaitis or Freeman would return.

Willie Mobley and Shawntell Rowell were the last two pickups of the 2007 calendar year, and committed after the football regular season was over. Mobley was an October 30th visit, visiting the same day as Terrelle Pryor and JB Shugarts and I think, unofficially, Michael Brewster. He was a November 30th commit and a testament to Doc Tressel’s Minnesota ties and the Tressel recruiting pitch, centered around a “family” atmosphere. Though undersized for his position, and perhaps likely to move inside to defensive tackle, Mobley brings a strength and explosiveness around the edge that made him unblockable at times and a glorified running back, or at least so it seemed since he was in the backfield so many times. Shawntell Rowell’s commitment (December 17) also marked the fifth straight year that a Tarblooder would be part of the Buckeye recruiting class, reaffirming the Glenville-OSU pipeline. Rowell’s case is unique, since his commitment was contingent upon his meeting a certain weight (he was oversized), which he worked diligently in meeting. This alone was enough to earn our respect, but he did more. His commitment was buttressed with nice, nationalist overtones that we here echo in our daily lives:

I’m from Ohio, so that’s where I belong.

I want to show the younger players coming up, and not just the ones at Glenville, that if you live in Ohio, there’s no other place to play than OSU.

2008 qualifies as, well, outside our scope of analysis (we’re talking about 2007′s moments of unbelievable awesomeness after all), but the Bucks would add a few more after the calendar year which we talk about on this blog since it corresponds with our blog being active. The Bucks would add another Tarblooder in Jermil Martin (January 13), who is a very active blocker at fullback and persistent tackler at linebacker². The same day, the Buckeyes added probably the feel-good story of the recruiting class, as well as the wildest story of them all, in Zach Domicone, marking the first time since 1969 that a Beavercreek player joined the Buckeyes. Keith Wells became Vico’s latest mancrush on February 4 for not only speaking so highly of Tressel and for plastering offensive backs in his 1.5 years of organized football, but also for declaring chemistry as his favourite subject and making engineering his major and integral to the recruiting process. The Bucks would wrap up with 6’4 athlete/DB prospect and Flava Flav doppelganger Orhian Johnson on signing day, making Johnson the lone LOID present.

And that is all without Pryor signing, who may very well put the Buckeye class over the top should he sign.

This post took forever to write, so I expect you to read it, and if you’re reading this it probably means you read all that long rambling crap before it. What makes the recruiting for this season our no. 2 moment of awesomeness should be clear. Buckeyes usually get excited about what’s going on the field, and this marks the first time in what we can remember for Buckeyes getting excited for what was forthcoming. And of course, Beanie was a major commitment, but it’s rare that we’ve had as many pleasant surprises in a recruiting class. Moreover, it’s rare that we’ve had these pleasant surprises work so hard to make the class even stronger and come in with such lofty goals in mind. Even though the Penn State thrashing is nice, this ranks for us as our no. 2 moment of awesomeness for the 2007 season.

1. won’t be able to do that at the college level, but pancaking people is definitely in the future [↩]
2. going to play fullback at OSU, though [↩]