Drew Thurman (10:57 am)
There was a lot to process through yesterday, so let's take a look:
1) Before anything else you have to praise the staff for putting together a really solid class. With the loss of so many seniors it was important to bring in guys that could step up early, and this class is loaded with young men that can do that (Carter, Mewhort, Hall, Berry, Hyde, etc). There is a lot of size and speed throughout this class, and needs were really addressed at wideout, running back, and in the secondary. Tressel and his staff continue to impress on the recruiting front!
2) What is going on in Justin Green's head? I never call out a recruit like this, but everything about his decision to head to Illinois doesn't make any sense. Even if I try to put my Buckeye bias aside, I still think Green made a huge mistake. Not only has Zook proven that he can't put his recruiting classes to consistent use, but why would Green want to play running back there? The Illini have a bevy of running backs returning, including Ford and Leshoure who were only true freshman last year! On top of that the Illini are bringing in Bud Golden of Cincinnati, OH, who looks like a much better "true" running back than Green anyways. On the other hand, he could have come to Buckeyes at a great time when the secondary is thin and inexperienced. With his speed, he could have been a weapon at corner very early in career. The decision doesn't add up!
3) What is up with the new ESPN recruiting rankings? Once again ESPN shows way too much favoritism towards southern recruiting and the SEC. In fact the Buckeyes got knocked all the way down to ninth, behind four SEC schools. Part of my beef with their system (and there are a lot) is that they jump on whatever schools have the best National Signing Day. This is when I say, WHO CARES! Its ridiculous to me that the Buckeyes are penalized for receiving a majority of their commitments early on in the process. Georgia and Florida have no business being ahead of the Buckeyes in the 2009 class, but because of "big signing days," ESPN puts them way up the board. I personally favor the Rivals.com rankings much better. Ohio State is ranked third, which I think is very accurate, and Georgia and Florida are ninth and tenth. ESPN recruiting is trash, and the only reason I care so much is that they are a media giant who sucks in way more viewers than a Rivals or Scout. Their opinions on recruiting consistently are not accurate, but the public has to put up with them because they have a monopoly!
Regardless it was a good day overall, and ESPN's rankings can't take away from that. The 25 commitments the Buckeyes have coming in, along with last year's class, makes the future look very bright!
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