By Drew Thurman (7:36 pm)

Today I want to look at the wideouts in the 2009 class. The Buckeyes are set to lose a lot of the depth at wideout over the next several seasons, and they will have to replace guys like Ray Small, Brian Robiske, and Brian Hartline. This makes the 2009 class very important at the position of wideout. Lucky for the Buckeyes, this class has started very strong here...

The first commitment came from Chris Fields (6-1 180), a wideout from Painesville, Ohio. Fields is the type of wide receiver the Buckeyes need on the outside. Fields is a great playmaker with a lot of speed. A few of the recruiting sites are not the high on Fields, but I do not understand why. Watching Fields on film makes you drool, and I feel he has some great things in store. The other commitment came this week from James Jackson, who hails from Grand Ledge, Michigan. Jackson was a huge commitment for the Buckeyes to get. Jackson is super fast, and is a great wideout to bring in with Fields.

Even though the Buckeyes have received commitments from these two gentlemen, there are still a ton of names on the radar. The first has to be Duron Carter (pictured) from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Carter has great size at 6-3 180, and has the ability to really go up and get the ball. Chris Carter being his father is not hurting his stock either. Duron is going to be more a fight then people think though. Some want to already sign him off as being in this class, but I think the Buckeyes have a lot of work to do still. I feel LSU is still quite a player for Duron's services. Two other names to watch are Marlon Brown (Memphis, Tenn.) and Kraig Appleton (East St. Louis, Illinois). Getting either one of these guys will be a tough task for the staff, but if they do it will be quite a reward. Both possess great size, especially Marlon Brown who is listed at 6-5 205. I am not counting either one of these guys in the class, but who knows what Tressel and the staff can pull off.

So overall I see us getting at least one more receiver. If Brown or Appleton pull the trigger the Buckeyes way though, we could see more taken. This 2009 class is loaded at wideout, and it is good to see the Buckeyes tapping into that. It will be interesting to see who finishes off the class. 

The commitment of James Jackson on Monday was another showing of how powerful Jim Tressel has become at recruiting. When Jim Tressel first came to Ohio State, many skeptics talked about how he was a poor out-of-state recruiter. The claim was that he was great in the state of Ohio, was getting players anywhere else was too much for him. Now a few years later, Jim Tressel is proving that he is one of the elite recruiters in the country. People want to talk about Pete Carroll and Urban Meyer, but Tressel is up there with both of these gentlemen.

I personally feel Tressel has gotten better each year in recruiting as he figures out his strategy more and more. Making the jump from Division 1-AA to Division 1 was probably a hard jump for Tressel in recruiting. Sure he had a good name in Ohio thanks to being at Youngstown State, but he was not established elsewhere. 7 years later Tressel has become one of the premier coaches in recruiting.

So, this 2009 class has been incredible to watch. While many teams struggle to bring in commitments, the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel may have all their commits by the time the season arrives. On top of this, these recruits are coming in from all over the country. It does not matter if it is Texas, Michigan, Florida, or Pennsylvania Tressel is getting his foot in the door. He is an elite coach, and an incredible recruiter!

Drew

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Drew