His reasons for the comments are weak. I can see the claim that some of the guys we took "may not be of
OSU caliber" though...let's be honest, Homan, Boren, and Bellamy weren't thought of as can't miss guys. Boren only had a UC offer and I don't know if Homan had any. Bellamy blew up recently and his film was good, but it was his camp performance that got him the offer from
OSU. I have a feeling he will have a good senior year and move up. I think ESPin is talking about Boren and Homan though. Most were shocked over those offers and something to consider is bloodlines. A ranking service can't rate a player highly based on bloodlines...the film has to match up. If Adam's last name wasn't Homan, does he get an offer? I know for a fact that there would be no offer for Zach if Justin wasn't coming...it was essentially the offer that Justin would/should have accepted in '06. Now don't take this post as "these guys aren't
OSU material" and as a disclaimer, I "trust the coaches." However, we have to view this as objectively as possible.
First off, Luginbill is indeed an idiot. However, he is correct in the fact that a team's fans will complain 99% of the time about the rankings their players get. It's in my opinion that I would say Homan and Boren need a great senior campaign to warrant a 3 star rating. A recruiting service can't just say a coach is a good talent evaluator and go by that...they can't "trust the coaches" or their legitimacy would be shot (not that it already hasn't been shot for ESPin). Some players don't pan out and it's their guess that certain guys won't at
OSU. However, Luginbill's main basis cannot be supported. If he says the players recruited in the classes that matched up against Florida and LSU are inferior, I could see that. However, he can't use that as evidence for these rankings. In summary, he won't name the 2 or 3 guys he questions but just as a talent evaluator, I can see why he would want to see improvement from Boren and Homan. In the end though, he needs to realize how stupid he makes himself look (or is) in his arguments. In my honest opinion, I think our class is 2nd to USC's in terms of quality so far. If you watch their commits highlights, it is tough to argue. However, when this class adds players like Berry, Emilien, and Adams (possibly), I think we will be the top class. As Buck Twenty said though, let's just beat the frickin' SEC for once and shut the critics up. I almost feel like a Michigan fan trying to debate their recruiting class against
OSU...we can debate all we want, but we have been owned by the SEC lately, just like we have owned Michigan lately. Only difference is they have actually beat us once in the last 6 years, we are 0-9 against the SEC lately. I know this sentiment won't be popular but as this site loves to prove positive facts, we also have to face the negative ones. So...let's just beat them and then they will have to find a new excuse to rate us low.