Our Honor Defend

Words can’t express how happy I am about this one. No, seriously.

While the level of defensive line products we’ve brought in the past two classes may cost us with Jonathan Newsome this year and William Gholston next year¹, Melvin Fellows decommitting from Illinois and committing to The Ohio State University at least sends one clear message to Ron Zook:

Stay. The f*ck. Out of Ohio.

No, seriously. Stay out. You’re not going to win. Where I respect most verbals of Ohio kids to Notre Dame, Penn State and the Wolvereenies, the quickie verbal of Fellows to Illinois had me thinking that there was no way was I (or anyone on Ohio State’s staff) going to let this one die². And while I didn’t think we would be successful, it’s good to see that Zook is at loggerheads versus Ohio State in recruiting in two important regards. First, he cannot secure our top instate prospect, as Fellows recent decommitment shows. And, of course, second, he cannot stop the Buckeyes from taking Illinois’ top instate prospect either, as the Buckeyes snatched Illinois’ no.1 Garrett Goebel from Lombard, Il in last year’s class.

I do have some latent curiosities regarding this class as its forming, however. We’re certainly very heavy on defensive players, especially linebackers (Klein, Bell, Whiting, and Homan³, with Boren and Newsome who may still join. Simon and Fellows are the class’ linemen). The class has about 9 spots left, and really could use two more wide receivers, a few more defensive backs, and probably a tailback like Carlos Hyde to compliment Jordan Hall. And, secondly, we’re getting so many recruits so fast I wonder if recent prospects who may commit will do because they feel rushed, leading them to be possible defections sometime later in the recruiting season. Apparently the coaching staff views soft verbals as the bane of the recruitment process and encourages prospects to look around and commit when they feel 100 percent certain. I still really want Duron Carter and Marcus Hall, but I know they’re looking elsewhere. I also want Carlos Hyde and Vlad Emilien, but I know they too have other things on their register. I’d hate for them to rush in and then possibly defect, and I would hate for all the available spots to dry up as well.

Well, until that plays out, I guess I’ll just enjoy sticking this one to Zook. Of course, Fellows — to be fair to him — is arguably the state’s best prospect this year and will be an ESPN Under Armour All-American.

1. this might be unfounded, but I demand at least one Tarblooder in this class and I really want William Gholston if he progresses like he appears to be doing [↩]
2. of course, I just have a blog [↩]
3. who may become a FB [↩]