I don't know.... Let's just say, he's gotten better over the years, and now is at the top of his game.
Despite signing two superstars in Gamble and Nugent, the 2001 class was pretty lousy, with a lot of career back-ups.
2002 was a phenomenal class, but with 18 signees being from Ohio and one being a legacy (Stan White, Jr.), it was an "easy" class to recruit to Ohio State. Kudos for bringing in Holmes, Salley, and Mitchell from the south.
2003 was an absolute disaster, with 9 of the 15 signees (that's a whopping 60%) never seeing the field. Fortunately, Whitner, Youboty, Patterson, Barton, and Gonzalez are/were above average to great. Boeckman is still an unkown commodity.
It is disturbing that so many of the class of 2004 have already been passed by younger players (Abdallah, Barrow, Dukes, Lane, Lyons, Mitchum, Patterson, Smith). The supposedly star OL class has been disappointing, with only Rehring playing like a legitimate starter (Person, Skinner, and Mitchum really need to step it up next year). Freeman has played below expectations. Gholston, Ginn, and Pittman are stars, Johnson, Nicol, Terry, and Trapasso are solid. Too many early exits (Haw, Hoobler, Kennedy, and Welch, with Underwood's status always in a state of flux). BTW, Pettrey was a gray shirt, and counts as part of the class of 2005.
At the time, I said that
the class of 2005 would be a great one, and it looks like it already is: Boone, Jenkins, Laurinaitis, Robiskie, Russell, and Washington are all starters (Robo in three-wide sets, DW3 in nickel), with the first three players already being (at least) All Big Ten candidates. Amos, Cordle, Denlinger, Hartline, O'Neal (now starting due to Russell's injury), and Wilson have already bypassed older players on the depth chart, and should start next season. Spitler is a solid special teamer. Williams and Worthington are still recovering from injury. Mo Wells has been disappointing, but if used correctly, he could still contribute. Schoenhoft has a chance to emerge at QB. Only one early exit so far - Freddie Lenix.
It is far too early to judge the class of 2006, but it looks promising. Ballard, Coleman, Gant, Grant, Homan, Rose, and Small have all seen meaningful playing time as true freshmen, and Chris Wells is your next Buckeye Heisman Trophy winner (after Troy takes home the hardware this year).
The class of 2007 is shaping up nicely.
So, with the exception of 2002, Tressel's recruiting has followed a fairly predictable path - a slow start with some lean years early, but now he is bringing in top classes filled with recruits who fit his system/philosophy (not necessarily five-star, blue-chip, all-universe players).
BTW, I noticed a change in recruiting philosophy beginning with the class of 2005; not coincidentally, the recruiting classes have been significantly better (more productive in college) since then.