Our Honor Defend

‘Twas the night before this college football, and all throughout this blog.  Vico was feverishly better knowing Adam Griffin in order to, well, finish this series.  Seriously, you try finding a perfect rhyme for blog.  Adam Griffin comes to Ohio State well after signing day had concluded and most had thought this class was finalized.  Asking about potentially walking on to the team, Tressel and company later informed him that they had an available scholarship that he was welcome to have.  It was a very brief recruitment and it will be recapped in usual fashion in this 18th, and final, installment of the third edition of this now 19-part series titled Better Know A Buckeye.  Yes, that is a bit of a misprint.  Somewhere along the way, I had started counting 19 when Adam Griffin came into the fold and forgetting that Carlos Hyde was better known as part of last year’s class.  I know what you’re saying: that’s really bad form for someone entrusted with very sensitive data on a daily basis.  But, well… shush.

Height: 5’7
Weight: 178lbs
40: 4.5
High School: St. Francis DeSales HS; Columbus, Ohio

His Recruitment: I had been following Adam Griffin for sometime after finding his profile on Rivals.com.  Yes, he is Archie’s son and that’s what made it easy to start following.  Interest and offers for Griffin were limited.  The service academies — Air Force, Army, Navy — had all extended offers to join their squad.  These offers speak to both Griffin’s character as well as what he brings to the football field.  He was a featured back in a DeSales offense that utilized a lot of flexbone.  He lined up occasionally at tailback when DeSales went with I-sets, but most plays I saw of him on offense had him as a wingback utilized often on wingback leads.  All service academies rely on flexbone triple option motifs, like that used by DeSales, to get the most out of their talent.  Further, Griffin is a good kid with a level head on his shoulders.  He is exactly the type of young person that service academies want to get a commitment from.

The service academies carry a level of prestige in other facets, but they are unlikely to generate much enthusiasm in terms of college football.  Further, the academies need “commitments” from recruits in more ways than one.  It is not a bad thing to be reticent about committing in that particular way.  Griffin’s only other offer was from I-AA Eastern Illinois.  Absent any other Division I offers, Griffin did not commit to anyone on signing day.

His Commitment: A few days later, Griffin called Jim Tressel asking if it would be okay to come to the program as a walk-on and if the staff would be willing to give him the opportunity.  Tressel told him he would get back to him on it.  Unsure of where it might lead, Griffin resumed life as normal as a basketball player at DeSales.  A week later, Tressel called back and said that he could bypass the walk-on route altogether if he would accept a scholarship offer being extended to him.  With Thaddeus Gibson going pro and the Buckeyes striking out on some of their late options (Seantrel Henderson, Matt James), the coaching staff felt that Griffin was worth it.  He accepted immediately.  The final commitment of the 2010 class, it made the day of a lifelong fan who had just called a week earlier to ask about walking on.

Where He Excels: Adam came to Ohio State with no clear idea of what position he would be given the task of learning.  Some programs interested in him looked at him on both offense and defense.  He is a cornerback if he is on defense.  He is working with the cornerbacks as of right now and I have not been able to discern how well he is adjusting.  He is either a receiver or a tailback on offense.  He brings something to either position, but I definitely looked at him as if he would be playing on offense somewhere.

I really think he is special with the ball in his hands and I would like to see him as a slot receiver.  Buckeye fans who came of age actually watching his father, some dude named Archie, play for Ohio State will see his dad’s “wiggle”.  I remember my dad telling me that Archie didn’t run so much as he vibrated down the field.  It seemed Archie could move in three directions simultaneously, breaking ankles while using a developed upper body to elude the arm tackles he would get by juking defenders out of their feet.  Adam has some of his dad’s “wiggle”.  He has good vision with the ball in his hand and is fairly nimble-footed.  He knows how to follow blockers.  Dad was a better power-runner than Adam is, but you’ll see in his highlights just how well the flexbone triple-option offense suited him at DeSales.

Must Work On: Adam did not get a lot of interest from Division I programs because he lacks ideal everything at any position he will play.  It is a rough way of saying it, but he lacks the ideal height for a receiver or defensive back.  He lacks the hip drive and lower body strength to get through the line of scrimmage at tailback.  His top-end speed is decent, but he does not have the proverbial “jets” that you would want.  I know, it sounds rough on him.

I really think he could carve out a niche as a slot receiver.  I think he is better with the ball in his hands than he is trying to defend it.  He has good vision and knows how to maneuver his blocks.  I am not saying he will be a star at Ohio State and that would be totally unfair to him to expect him to match his dad’s legacy.  Nevertheless, if he commits to learning the tricks of the trade (especially creating separation w/ precise route running), he could be fairly annoying to opposing defenders on short yardage situations.

Failing that, I think defensive backs have the lowest “height requirement”.  It is where he is now.  Whatever the case, developing upper body strength is imperative.

Redshirt? Yep.  This one is a no-brainer.  He will benefit from the additional year in figuring out how to make the most of his talents.

Highlights: Senior season, 15 minutes of it.

Miscellany:

• Kevin Griffin, his cousin, was the last Griffin to come to Ohio State on scholarship.  Kevin is Ray’s son and was the first commitment in the 1994 class.  He became a special teams standout by the end of his career.
• His older brother, Andre Griffin, came to Ohio State as a walk-on tailback in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  He is currently an assistant coach at Saginaw Valley State.
• You want a little factoid about the Griffins that will make you cringe?  Only one of them, Keith (the youngest one, I think), has a national championship.  Keith Griffin was part of Schnellenberger’s fabled 1983 Miami Hurricanes team.  It certainly was not for lack of opportunities for Archie, Duncan and Ray at Ohio State.  Hopefully Adam will be the breakthrough.
• Adam has been good friends with Clark Kellogg’s son, Nick.  Both played on the DeSales basketball team.  Nick Kellogg is at Ohio University now on scholarship for basketball.
• Eleven Warriors caught up with Adam Griffin shortly after news of his commitment went public.  He said he would likely have taken up the offer from Air Force if Ohio State did not come through.
• He wears #9 for Ohio State.  Archie gave the okay to un-retire #45 for Adam if he wanted it, but Adam did not accept.  4+5=9 anyways.
• Cardinal Mooney beat Griffin’s DeSales team in the Division III state title game, ending Griffin’s high school football career.
• Vital statistics, courtesy of Scout.com.

He rushed for 940 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior, totaling 1,736 all-purpose yards; on defense, he accounted for 47 tackles and a pair of interceptions.

I think Adam Griffin is now better known…

…as is the entire 2010 recruiting class.  Football season, y’all.

Class of 2010
Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?	Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?
Darryl Baldwin	DE	Solon, OH	05.25	James Louis	WR	Delray Beach, FL	06.21
Drew Basil	K	Chillicothe, OH	05.17	Scott McVey	LB	Cleveland, OH	05.03
Corey Brown 2010	ATH	Springfield, PA	08.08	JT Moore	DE	Youngstown, OH	02.15
Christian Bryant	DB	Cleveland, OH	08.31	Andrew Norwell	OL	Cincinnati, OH	03.29
David Durham	LB/DE	Charlotte, NC	04.12	Verlon Reed	ATH	Columbus, OH	08.24
Taylor Graham	QB	Wheaton, IL	05.08	Bradley Roby	DB	Suwanee, GA	08.29
Adam Griffin	ATH	Columbus, OH	09.01	Roderick Smith	RB	Fort Wayne, IN	05.13
Chad Hagan	LB/S	Canonsburg, PA	07.06	Jamel Turner	DE	Fork Union, VA	03.08
Johnathan Hankins	DT	Detroit, TSUN	08.29	Tyrone Williams	WR	Cleveland, OH	07.09
Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL	06.29.09	Class of 2010: Better Known