Our Honor Defend

Signing Day is rapidly coming up, and I don’t think I’ll be able to finish both Klein and Mewhort before it.    Fortunately, most of this class is rather easy to do since their recruitments were relatively short and their path to Ohio State was certain.  This is definitely the case for Adam Homan, fullback/linebacker from Coldwater HS and brother of current outside linebacker Ross Homan.  There was only one school Adam was ever interested in attending, and he’s now currently enrolled there.  In this probably brief BKAB feature, I give Adam a necessary overview.

Height: 6’2.5
Weight: 230lbs
GPA: 3.9

His Recruitment: With a brother currently enrolled at Ohio State and Adam the product of an Ohio high school program playing at a dynastic level, his path to Ohio State was all but certain.  His journey to Ohio State started in earnest when he enrolled in a summer camp at Ohio State fresh off his sophomore academic year.  In that aforementioned article, Adam let it be known that he was really close to his brother, was really grateful that he had the opportunity to watch him play at that National Championship Game that shall not be further discussed¹, and, most importantly in terms of recruitment, he aspired to play for Ohio State.  By that time, Doc Tressel was already interested in the younger Homan, having invited Adam to the Bowling Green game in 2006 and communicated with his Coldwater HS coach by that same time too.

As Ohio State’s 2007 season began, so too did Adam’s junior year, making the MLB/TB/FB a college football prospect.  Adam began to receive letters from other programs, including Iowa, Illinois and Pitt.  Ohio State began to show more interest, inviting Adam to the opener against Youngstown State.  Adam obliged, and joined Mike Adams, Jake Stoneburner, Storm Klein and Garrett Goebel (among others) in the very meh victory over the Penguins.  Iowa, Illinois and Pitt made their own respective invitations to Adam to be a guest at their home football games, but he never obliged those offers.

His junior season ended with a bang as Coldwater won the 2007 state championship at the Division IV level, upsetting defending state champion Cardinal Mooney (same school as John Simon) 28-27 for the crown².  The good news didn’t end there.  On December 21st, Ohio State — dream school for Adam — came calling.  Doc Tressel called Adam to let him know a written offer was in the mail.  Adam received it shortly thereafter.  Adam, only a junior, receiving such an offer was obviously a significant personal accomplishment.  In spite of new interest from the likes of Purdue, Virginia, Stanford and Northwestern, Adam admitted that nothing could really top the significance of that offer for him.  While he did say in the same breath that he wasn’t sure when he’d make a decision, I don’t think he left much to the imagination of what his decision would be.

His Commitment: Over the weekend of December 27-29, 2007, Adam had basically made up his mind.  In essence, his commitment to Ohio State — made public on December 29 — was not only a little Christmas gift for himself but a reaffirmation of his achievement as a quality football player.  It was certainly not a surprise to anyone following.  True to his comments earlier in June 2007, he will finally play alongside his brother at his dream school.  His commitment was the fifth in the 2009 class, following the verbals of Jordan Whiting, Storm Klein, John Simon and Jack Mewhort respectively.  As chance would have it, John Simon — nemesis from Cardinal Mooney in the state title game — only committed 3 days earlier.  Mewhort’s decision went public the same day.

Where He Excels: There’s little footage on Adam that I’ve been able to watch, so I don’t have a very complete take on him³.  Adam, by all accounts, is your typical grinder.  In other words, there’s nothing he does that’s flashy and, accordingly, very little to compile for a YouTube video that would get lots of views.  However, “grinder” is also a synonym for other cliches that come up in evaluating football players, such as “tough” and “smart”.  In other words, Adam has most of the fundamentals down.  He rarely gets crossed up and puts himself in a good position to make the necessary play.  While he may lack Dorian Bell-type athleticism, such alert play from Adam can neutralize any advantage a superb athlete with bad form may have.

Moreover, I keep reading that Adam is deceptively fast (see: football speed vs. 40yd dash with no pads and helmet speed) and why defensive end may actually be an option for him down the road.  I haven’t seen it for myself, but apparently Adam has it.  Combine a high motor with good form and that illusion may actually be accurate.

Adam also has important superlatives off the field.  The 3.9 GPA suggests as much.  I don’t think anyone has ever articulated it in terms of college football evaluation, but I’m convinced there’s a correlation, however qualified, between a high GPA and performance on the field.  The better you can use your brain in non-football settings, the better you can be coached and, I think, the wiser you are for it on the gridiron.  Truly shining on the gridiron may mean going beyond analytical accumen in important ways and getting in touch with animal instincts.  However, the fewer occasions where the brain is fried or stumped, the better you can do that.  Adam, like big brother Ross, has a strong worth ethic and also puts in more than the necessary effort in the weight room as well.  It worked for Ross, as he was a standout on the defense as the third linebacker to seniors Laurinaitis and Freeman.  There’s good reason to think it could work for Adam as well.

Must Work On: As I said last week with Zach Boren, college fullback becomes a catch-all for HS tailbacks without necessary footwork, vision or speed for a college tailback, HS linebackers without necessary lateral speed to play linebacker in college or HS defensive ends without necessary burst to be a college defensive lineman.  More than a few of those are probably appropriate for Adam.  Remember, a “grinder” in football player evaluations is a synonym for a lot of things.  “Underwhelming athlete” and “limited mobility” are just a few of those.  Like Zach Boren aforementioned, this may be a problem with picking up outside pressure on passing plays in the I formation.  Said outside heat has been a thorn in the Buckeyes’ side for the past 3 years.  Lastly, just a minor note, in what little I’ve seen of Adam in his junior season, I think he’ll probably need to pack a little more muscle on his upper body.  Given his love of the weight room, I think this will be forthcoming.

Redshirt? Doubt it.  The 2009 recruits will probably play heavily into the fullback picture in the 2009 season.  Adam is also already enrolled, which is usually a good indicator for a recruit who doesn’t redshirt.  Give Adam the winter conditioning, spring game and summer camping and he’s, at the very least, a special teamer for the opener against the Middies.

Highlights: 2006 sophomore highlight film will have to suffice.

Miscellany:

• If you don’t know about this already by way of Ross Homan, Adam is a first cousin to Bobby Hoying and Tommy Hoying.  I’m no expert on kinship and genealogy, but I think that basically means his mother’s maiden name is Hoying.
• On that note, mother and father are Alice and David Homan respectively.  A Google search suggests that the family business is in real estate.
• His offer from Ohio State was his only written offer during the entirety of his recruitment.
• Bill Kurelic named Adam the best fullback/tailback prospect in the 2009 class in June 2008.
• Adam won Defensive Player of the Year honors his senior season across the entirety of Division IV football in the state of Ohio.
• He won similar conference honors for his senior season as well.
• Adam went on the record saying that he’s more of a Paris Hilton kind of guy than he is a Lindsay Lohan kind of guy.  I gotta tell you Adam… that’s… that’s awful.  The correct answer is that both have that aura around them of something biohazardous.

As always…

Here’s hoping for 4 (or 5) great years at the university we all hold dear.

1. I don’t even think that game happened as a result of me hunting down and killing, with copious amounts of liquor, any and all brain cells that remember that thing that happened there. [↩]
2. Winning that game also entailed 21 unanswered 4th quarter points to end Mooney’s 28 game winning streak. [↩]
3. I have a subscription to Bucknuts, but not Scout or Rivals.  This may be part of the problem since Bucknuts uses Scouting Ohio for highlight reels, and Scouting Ohio only has footage of Adam’s sophomore season available. [↩]