Taylor Graham Commits, Becomes Newest Buckeye Legacy
Fortunately, Taylor Graham, a quarterback from Wheaton, Illinois, has committed to Ohio State today, identifying the university as his dream school. In doing so, Taylor Graham becomes the latest in a recent line of Buckeye legacies under Tressel. The son of former Cooper-era QB Kent Graham (starter in 1991) follows Duron Carter and Sam Longo in the 2009 class in that field.
It may be easy to dog on Taylor Graham as arguably the third option for Ohio State in this class, and thus not the ideal prospect we want to lead us going forward. However, Taylor Graham isn’t a bad prospect. He received his offer after a quality performance at the Advanced Camp two weeks ago. He’s not Terrelle Pryor, and will definitely need an offensive line that’s going to allow him to stay in the pocket. When he’s protected, he can be lethal on short-intermediate range passes. I’m not sure he has quite the “zip” in his passes as Montana or Hendrix, but they are very accurate and catchable. I’m expecting a redshirt for him when he gets here, mostly because his Wheaton North squad seems to do very little I-formation in their offense. I see mostly pistol and shotgun snaps.
While Graham may be doubted initially by Buckeye fans for being the third offer at the position, scholarship offers from UCLA (w/ Norm Chow) and Arkansas (w/ Bobby Petrino) suggests he’s more than a capable quarterback prospect. With Braxton Miller as the target in the 2011 class, there’s no harm done in taking Taylor Graham. His decision appeared to come down between Ohio State and waiting for an offer from Notre Dame, where — if I recall correctly — his father originally started his college career. I think that basically means Andrew Hendrix is out of the picture.