2003 - The recruiting season from Hell

[Oh8ch]

(Caution - there is nothing positive about this thread.)

As we sit here anticipating yet another potential candidate in what is turning into a very, very nice class, I can't help but think back to what was easily the worst recruiting season we have had in some time - and one which just keeps getting worse.

First we lost two of the very best recruits in the state - and two I really wanted - Burgess and Crable. But we not only lost them, we lost them to Michigan.

In addition, several other highly rated Ohio recruits also left the state (Quinn, Edwards, Valentine and Wheelwright - albeit apparently for grade issues in the case of the last two). I believe we ended up with 6 of the top 10 Ohio kids. And darn near missed out on two more in Irizarry and Frost. Not good.

Then, one by one, almost every highly rated player from OOS went elsewhere.

Michael Bush was going to be a perfect fit - somewhere - and he just couldn't choose a Kentucky school over us.

Moe Dampeer, Jesse Holley, Jamesley Jean and Wesley Jefferson all made visits as in January - but passed.

Worst of all was the OL. We needed help desperately and were in on so many great kids we just knew we would land a couple. But one by one Andrew Bain, Joel Holler, Tripp Carroll, Aaron Sears, Cyrim Wimbs and James Lee all went elsewhere. Nobody wanted to play for Bollman and nobody ever would.

Other than the unheralded Kirk Barton the only OL who commited to OSU was Kenyon Buford. All he lacked was an offer.

And let's not forget Louis Holmes. Still not sure what was happening with him then - or now.

Finally we had that incredibly disappointing 0 for however many on signing day. As I recall we went down to the wire on Turk McBride and Devin Stearns, plus another name or two I can't remember. And of course there was the horrendous Stanley McClover double cross.

Despite all that we ended up with a 15 man class that - once we had some distance from signing day - seemed pretty darn good.

No running back - or at least not one who was recruited to play the position - but that was OK because we seemed pretty stacked and who could expect a quality kid to come to OSU and sit behind Clarret for two years. The biggest problem was the lack of OL and the consensus was OSU would never recover from the hole they had dug at that position.

So here we are a year and a half later. Irizarry - one of the gems of the class and a personal favorite of mine for a while at least - is gone for good and Guillford is gone for now and quite likely for good as well. And they embarrased the school in the process.

Rumors seem to have proven correct that Dareus Hiley is an academic casualty and those same rumors are swirling around Reggie Smith. (Don't JT and Geiger have some agreement about taking no more than two 'at risk' kids per class?)

Two of those players were rated in the top 10 nationally at their positon and all four were in the top 25. (Interestingly, those four were among the last seven to commit.)

So what's the point? JT can't recruit? The OSU program is in trouble? We can't manage the program?

No, I think it is simply this - shit happens.

[stxbuck]

Like you said, this shit happens. That said

1-Bush will get a lot of PT as a RB this year for Lville-I will never criticise a kid for picking his hometown school.

2-Mcclover+Auburn=$$$$$

3-Guess what-shit happens-when you recruit kids from the South you are not only recruiting a change in geography, you are recruiting a change in culture-it don't happen much. For everyone who bitches about an Ohio kid going elsewhere-what the hell do you think it is like for a Florida kid to leave the Big 3, or a North Carolina kid to leave the South. Get a clue about the socio/geographic differences between states-it means a lot more than you think. BTW-New Jersey is a free-fire zone-it is whatever you want it to be...

[jlb1705]

(Don't JT and Geiger have some agreement about taking no more than two 'at risk' kids per class?)

I don't quite recall all of the circumstances from that class, but just b/c a kid isn't considered "at risk" in HS doesn't mean he can't get to college and royally screw up. I still trust that Tressel was doing the right things with that class. When they won the NC in 2002, the team was led by a relatively small group of seniors. You never know, but that class could end up doing similar things.

Besides, I don't want players in S&G who don't want to be there. That means Burgess and Crable, Quinn, Fred Davis, whomever. Even if JT could sell ice to an eskimo and get guys like that to come in, is that really helping things?

It is a shame that OSU is missing out on guys like Wheelwright, Russell, et al. b/c of grades. It's too easy for us recruiting geeks to look back like this and say the staff should've grabbed those two and not Irizarry and Guilford. It's probably best for all involved that it works out this way anyway, especially with the local boys. I would think that guys like Wheelwright who don't get a chance at OSU go to places like Minnesota with something to prove, and thus the get their academic house in order in college where they may not have if they had stayed home and "had it made" with a prestigious program like Ohio State. In the end that may be what is best all-around for guys like that. At the same time, OSU has to take some risks with players, but they can't afford to just throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I wanted Burgess real bad.. as things have turned out, I'm not missing him. Crable would have been a nice addition as well, but I don't think we're going to miss him either.

I know what you're driving at with this class.. it was a messed up year... especially on the heels of the NC. Losing some of the marquees in that class - even after LOI day - hurts all the more...

But, on the up side:

Marcel Frost
Donte Whitner
Ashton Youboty
David Patterson
Brandon Maupin

I still have hope that LeBron's running mate, Cotton, works out on the DLine and I bet Tony Gonzalez starts to make a name for himself this year.

[LordJeffBuck]

Good post, Oh8ch.

A football team really needs about 40 solid contributors; counting red shirts, that's 8 kids per class, or roughly one-third of each recruiting class. Therefore, no team needs to be truly great at recruiting; if you can hit on half, you should be consistently ahead of the game.

For example, last season the Buckeyes had a record 14 players drafted into the NFL: 6 were redshirts from the 1999 recruiting class; 7 were true seniors from the 2000 class; and one was an early-entry junior from the 2001 class.

Examining the 1999 class further:

24 players signed in 1999;

Michael Doss was the only true senior from that class to be drafted last year;

As mentioned above, 6 redshirts were drafted this year (Tim Anderson; Drew Carter; Adrien Clarke; Ben Hartsock; Craig Krenzel; B.J. Sander);

Thus, only 7 of 24 players (or 29.2%) from the 1999 class made it to the NFL.

If we add in the others who contributed but didn't get drafted (Bryce Bishop; Scott McMullen; Richard McNutt; Fred Pagac, Jr.), our success rate goes up to 11 out of 24 (or 45.8%). All in all, 1999 was an outstanding recruiting class, even though it produced only one true star (Doss).

Examining the 2000 class further:

24 players signed in 2000;

As mentioned above, 7 were drafted as true seniors this year (Will Allen; Michael Jenkins; Shane Olivea; Robert Reynolds; Darrion Scott; Will Smith; Alex Stepanovich);

7 players remain on the team as redshirt seniors (Jason Caldwell, Bam Childress; John Hollins; Josh Huston; Harlen Jacobs; Brandon Joe; Thomas Matthews) - of that group, Joe is the only starter, and the only player likely to be drafted; the other players have been slight contributors to this point.

Thus, it is likely that only 8 of 24 players (or 33.3%) of the 2000 class will make it to the NFL.

After subtracting Brandon Joe from the mix, if half of the remaining 6 players contribute something this season, then our hit ratio again goes up to 11 out of 24 (or 45.8%).

Classes of 2001 and 2002

The Tressel classes appear to be much more solid than the Cooper classes, primarily due to the fact that we are now suffering fewer academic casualties. It would seem that each of these classes will have a hit ratio of greater than 50%. That is why OSU will continue to compete for NC's under JT.

[LordJeffBuck]

A very interesting and timely analysis from the Buckeye 50-Yard Line:

The One We Didn't Get