LB Austin Spitler (official thread)

[Buckskin86]

Bnuts premium

He will visit tOSU on Dec. 10th after his Wisky visit on the 3rd. According to his dad, Spitler is probably leaning toward Ohio State. They promised Wisky they would visit and they are keeping their word.

[stxbuck]

He is basically a lock if offered. They had a big front page story on him in the DDN and he basically said he was just waiting for the OSU offer.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by stxbuck

He is basically a lock if offered. They had a big front page story on him in the DDN and he basically said he was just waiting for the OSU offer.

He was offered (see buckhunter's post at the top of the previous page in this thread).

[Oh8ch]

Here I come to throw water on the fire again, but I hate late offers, especially instate. It tells me the staff is not that confident about our chances OOS and are going to the second option. If Im sure of one thing, its that the staff has Ohio pretty well scouted for talent. Hence, if he was our first option, why is he now getting an offer after the entire season is now over?

I agree, but I think you are - by necessity - always going to see this. You know going in that you aren't likely to land all the blue chippers you are chasing - you just don't know which positions you will miss at. If you offer all your fall backs first the class fills up. That doesn't mean the fall backs aren't quality kids (otherwise they would have used this schollie for Taz) - just that we had a chance to score big.

While this probably indicates we 'missed' someone else that isn't necessarily a 'loss' - just a long shot that didn't pan out.

It is also nice to steal one from Wiscy, much as we did Frost from Iowa.

[StoRMinBrutus]

When a kid logs 120 tackles in his junior season as what would still be considered raw talent, then you have a pretty decent football player. Lets hope this kid, who loves the Buckeyes, will become another great one. He seems to have a nose for the ball and some say he runs a 4.6 -40, so he has the potential.

Congratulations on the offer !!

[tundra1]

Originally Posted by NewYorkBuck

Here I come to throw water on the fire again, but I hate late offers, especially instate. It tells me the staff is not that confident about our chances OOS and are going to the second option. If Im sure of one thing, its that the staff has Ohio pretty well scouted for talent. Hence, if he was our first option, why is he now getting an offer after the entire season is now over?

Hey, maybe Spitler just showed some needed growth and improvement during his senior year. There's a lot of physical growth that occurs during the late teens.

After all, in another example (i.e. not the AJ Hawk one), before his senior year in HS, Ben Roethlisberger had not played QB. A number of people (especially those over at BN) used to lament why we had Bellisari instead of someone like Roethlisberger. Could we have made too early a decision on whether to offer Big Ben?

[wadc45]

(Not to toot on my own horn but) I have said since the beginning of this thread that I thought Austin could be a nasty ILB/DE at tOSU. Congrats to Austin on an outstanding season...

Get me on JT's staff...I would have Taz in this class too!!!!!!

[stxbuck]

I hope he turns out to be a good one, but after watching him play in person this year, I was not overly impressed. Maybe his other 10 games were mindblowing-I hope they were and he proves to be a stud at OSU.

[tsteele316]

I wouldnt categorize this offer as a failure on another player.

Spitler is being looked at as a MLB. The only other candidates for that spot interested in osu are mathis and possibly felder. mathis has grade problems and as of now, would be questionable to get through admissions. Spitler has shot up the rankings in rivals. He played at a smaller school in western ohio, so he didnt get a lot of attention.

You haveto remember these are 17-18 year old kids. Some need an additional year to develop.

[StoRMinBrutus]

Any recruit who has that raw football talent and who as a junior can rack up 120 tackles has alot of potential no matter what league he is in. He's a smart kid and will do well at Ohio State if he commits. Learning the system is half the battle at the next level and he'll do just fine.

[OilerBuck]

I just heard on 1460 that Austin committed. Not a surprise...but it's official now.

Congrats to the newest Buckeye!

[DaytonBuck]

congrats to Austin, I think this maybe the first SWBL player ever for OSU. Don't sleep on Bellbrook or the league Austin played in. Bellbrook played Alter (home of Nick Mangold, Jeff Graham), Miamisburg (ND commit David Bruton), Germantown Valley View (an elite program. The SWBL isn't the GWOL, GCL, Federal League but it can get a player ready to play at a high level.

[bucknut11]

Congratulations Austin!

Let's hope this get's the train rollin...

[Buckskin86]

Kurelic Premium

It was always his dream to be a Buckeye. He does not think he will make his Wisky visit this weekend but will be at tOSU on Dec. 10th for his official.

Congrats to Austin.

[brutus2002]

Awesome news!!! Congrats to Austin.