Dave Thurman (10:12 am)
Everyone knows that the state of Ohio produces amazing football talent, and the Buckeyes usually get the lion's share of the great ones. From Archie to Beanie, its like a conveyor belt that keeps spitting out amazing players: Art Schlichter, Troy Smith, Cris Carter, Orlando Pace, Dan Wilkinson, A.J. Hawk, Andy Katzenmoyer, Mike Doss and Antoine Winfield to name just a few.
But what about the topnotch talent the Bucks have harvested from out of state? Who are the best players to come from beyond the sacred borderlines of Ohio? And (dare we ask) what about the great Ohio high school talent that headed to other schools? Which players got branded as traitors for spurning the Bucks? Let's examine those questions in two parts, beginning with the out of staters who were wise enough to leave home and don the Scarlet and Gray.
Rather than try and come up with an exhaustive list I'll give you my choice for best player to come to OSU by state (limited to the past three decades):
FL: Chris Gamble (No state has been kinder to the Bucks, especially in regard to speed. Honorable mention to Santonio Holmes and Michael Jenkins)
PA: Eddie George (Lots of good ones from our neighbors to the east, but none as great as the sweet strider from Phily. Here's hoping Pryor gives him a run for his money)
MI: Pepper Johnson (Nothing sweeter than stealing one from up north, and I'll take Pepper by a nose over Vern Gholston, though Krenzel will always have a special place in my heart)
IL: Mike Tomczak, just slightly over Eric Kumerow
NY: Will Smith
TX: David Boston (How'd Coop ever talk him into coming?)
CA: Michael Wiley (Speaking of Cooper, he used to get a bunch of guys from the left coast. Honorable mention: Nail Diggs)
AZ: Joe Germaine
NJ: Malcom Jenkins (For years it was Alonzo Spellman, but Jenkins passed him in my book, not to mention that MJ's actually sane!)
GA: Rory Graves (Got to go back a ways fort this one, but Cam Heyward has two years to catch or surpass him)
LA: Jonathan Wells
MD: Shawn Springs
WV: Darrion Scott
KY: Jeff Ellis, barely over "The Strangler" Robert Reynolds
MN: James Laurinaitis
MO: Reggie "Did I Skip Class" Germany
MD: Stan White Jr.
IN: Donald Washington
CO: Chris Sanders
KS: Jamie Summer
SC: Derek Ross
Hope you enjoy the list. Who'd I miss? Send me a note and let me know.
Next up, "Installment two - The good guys who crossed the border into enemy territory."
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