Our Honor Defend

Signing Day is like Christmas for every college football fan who follows recruiting.  There is an unmistakable excitement waking up in the morning in anticipation of what new and exciting prospects… or “presents”… will be coming your way.

For Ohio State recruiting, that Christmas in February is more like getting nothing but socks for Christmas.  You know those presents are coming, and you know you need them, but there’s no extra presents involved.  No special surprises, nothing of the sort… just socks.  Last year, the Buckeyes lost out on Josh Jenkins, had to wait a while for Terrelle Pryor¹, but did secure Orhian Johnson.  The year before that was a whole lot of suck.

This year wasn’t much for a red letter day.  First, Justin Green defected at the last moment the night before and ended up signing with Illinois.  Second, Marlon Brown just announced for the University of Georgia.  With that said, everybody (not named Justin Green) who previously announced for Ohio State have sent in their LOIs.  All those early verbals (except Justin Green) we all knew about are indeed coming, perhaps making Signing Day more like Hanukkah (with a quiet finale) for followers of Ohio State recruiting.

Still, a bowl of ice cream is still a bowl of ice cream, even if there’s no sprinkles or cherries on top.

Class of 2009

Class of 2009
Name	Position	Hometown	Name	Position	Hometown
CJ Barnett	DB	Clayton, OH	Marcus Hall	OL	Glenville, OH
Dorian Bell	LB	Monroeville, PA	Adam Homan	FB	Coldwater, OH
Adam Bellamy	DT	Aurora, OH	Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL
Jaamal Berry	RB	Miami, FL	James Jackson	WR	Grand Ledge, TSUN
Zach Boren	FB	Pickerington, OH	Storm Klein	LB	Nerk, Ahia
Corey Brown	WR/DB	Monroeville, PA	Corey Linsley	OL	Youngstown, OH
Duron Carter	WR	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Sam Longo	OL	Belbrook, OH
Dominic Clarke	DB	Frederick MD	Jack Mewhort	OL	Toledo, OH
Melvin Fellows, Safari Planet	DE	Akron, OH	Jonathan Newsome	LB/DE	Glenville, OH
Chris Fields	WR	Painesville, OH	John Simon	DE	Youngstown, OH
Reid Fragel	TE	Grosse Pointe, TSUN	Jordan Whiting	LB	Louisville, KY
Kenny Guiton	QB	Aldine, TX	Jamie Wood	DB	Pickerington, OH
Jordan Hall	ATH	Jeannette, PA

Observations

This is a great class Ohio State brought in and addresses many needs.  You can take your pick on who the headliner of this class is.  Jaamal Berry is the one getting the most hype, and he will be walking into a situation in Columbus where he can feasibly get immediate playing time at his position.  It’s hard to see the starting job going to anyone other than Boom Herron at this point, but Jaamal could easily get himself some non-garbage time snaps with the necessary effort.  There is no shortage of linebacker prospects in the 2009 class.  With the graduation of Laurinaitis and Freeman, Ohio State brings in Mr. TFL Dorian Bell, a linebacker/android created by Pennsylvania’s top engineers and programmed for the dual purpose of TFLs and mayhem.  His HS teammate, Corey Brown, also made a name for himself at the Army All-American Bowl with a fine showing.  I’m not sure what side of the ball he ends up on at Ohio State, but the thought of him as a defensive back is pretty exciting.

In terms of a “recruiting national championship”, the presence of 2 fullbacks, an unknown tight end and quarterback, and Longo and Bellamy will prohibit that Rivals.com “accolade” that Alabama “won” last year.  That said, there’s plenty of “upside” (I hate that word, and you’ll hate it too if you ever watch the NBA Draft) to everyone involved.  Fragel is enormous and, if we decide to throw to our tight ends, he’d be a potent red zone option.  Sam Longo has a great frame and could pack on the necessary college weight and still look lean.  Lastly, I don’t know why Corey Linsley isn’t getting more hype nationally.  He pulls, he hits you, and you go down.  It’s rather simple.

Comparing Across the Big Ten

I think Ohio State has the top class in the conference and it’s helpful to think that Ohio State is recruiting on another level, comparatively speaking.  However, Michigan finished exceptionally well today and, combined with the defection of Green and decision of Marlon Brown, closed a lot of the gap between the two that existed just a few days earlier.  Michigan did well addressing the QB problem, though the loss of Newsome (to Penn State) and Beaver (to Tulsa, of all places) gave the Wolverines a bit of a black eye… or another one if the 2008 season wasn’t enough.  Nevertheless, the Wolvereenies and Rich RecruitsfromFlorida-guez did well, especially in snake-oiling in Denard Robinson and Je’Ron Stokes today.

Given Penn State’s great season in 2008, it might be of some surprise that they didn’t have the same kind of recruiting bump that the 2005 season gave them.  Eric Shrive, Kevin Newsome and Darrell Givens headline their class.  Their class is 27 members strong (and I’m not sure if any of them are enrolled early.  NCAA typically doesn’t like that.), with a lot of 2-stars per BWI.  There’s no shortage of diamonds in the rough to be found, but I’m unsure of any of their respective ceilings.  Losing Jelani Jenkins to Florida is a blow too.

Don’t look now, but Michigan State seems to be on a roll in recruiting.  With Rodriguez’s apparent new interest in Florida, Michigan State has filled the void to secure most of the state’s top talent.  Sparty cleaned up in-state and headlined their class with Edwin Baker, one of the best tailbacks taken in by a Big Ten school this class.  Dantonio has also added to this class with several Ohio kids that could play at a high level, but still didn’t get Ohio State offers (see: Patrick White and Nate Klatt this year, Steve Gardiner last year).

Elsewhere in conference:

• In spite of Zooking Justin Green from Ohio State, Illinois’ class was rather light.  Zook must be feeling the pinch of a deflating follow up to a Rose Bowl campaign and the loss of his best recruiter.
• Minnesota seemed to suffer a similar fate as well.  They didn’t have quite the haul they had last year, but still solid.
• Northwestern is kind of stuck in terms of who they can recruit, but they had a good haul nonetheless.
• Wisconsin did alright.  Yanking Kraig Appleton from Illinois helps.  Pat Muldoon might be the headliner of the class.
• Indiana… could do better.
• Curiously, Iowa’s rebound this season didn’t necessarily translate to a better finish down the stretch.  The offseason probably set them back a long way, as the prevailing stories that time was not Shonn Greene and Iowa’s efficient offense, but the sexual assault scandal/coverup.  The decommitment of David Barrent (and eventual commitment to Sparty) roughly coincides with the time this issue was at the forefront.

Miscellany

• Remember Nick Kasa? The guy who openly criticized Terrelle Pryor for how Pryor handled his recruitment?  Kasa took the higher road and double-crossed Urban Meyer and signed with Colorado today.  Double-crossing Urban Meyer is kind of funny, but, dude… glass houses…
• Dominic Clarke wins the Signing Day race.  He faxed in his LOI first.
• Trent Richardson has not signed with Alabama and the rumor is that he may sign with LSU.  The meltdown that will follow when I go to work tomorrow may be kind of scary.
• On Justin Green: Remember, it’s his decision, not ours.  Yeah, I was surprised and a little miffed too, but again: his decision, not ours.  Calling him classless, calling his character into question, or getting excited at the prospect that he gets pulverized is unnecessary.  I’ll agree that he probably could’ve been more contrite with what exactly he was feeling.  If he was unsure about what the Buckeyes had in mind for him in college, if he was certain that he wanted to play tailback at the next level (as he wants to), or if he felt that he may have been pressured by his brother’s legacy in issuing that first commitment in late June, I hope he would’ve communicated that to the coaching staff.  He certainly doesn’t owe fans like me squat, but I would be disappointed if he had misled the coaching staff into thinking that he was solid on his verbal, thus pre-empting them from a Plan B.  Yet, if the coaching staff did know, but opted not to pursue a Plan B this year, then who are we to be upset.  There’s certainly plenty of great defensive backs in this class.
• That said, I do think Zook is lying to him if he told him that he’s a future tailback for them.
• Everyone is talking about Duron Carter’s hands and making hard catches like his dad used to do.  Curiously, no one is talking about how mean-spirited of a downfield blocker he is.
• Ohio State added a 2010 recruit today by getting Andrew Norwell from Anderson HS.  Norwell might be the best in-state lineman in his class.

Congratulations are definitely in order to the 25 incoming freshman in this class whose long high school odyssey has reached a happy conclusion.  May they forge firm friendships through their next several years at The Ohio State University.

1. Worth it… totally worth it. [↩]