2023 BRPT Class Review

[calibuck]

Seems like the OT 'net' starts out pretty full, then diminishes as time goes by. Until, as you so eloquently say, "Seaton or bust". Haven't we seen that repeatedly over recent history for OLs and DE/DTs? Not certain, as Bama and GA have "tOSU depth", yet seem to reel in those late 5*s. Just read that Seaton loved Colorado, saying they were going to build their OL around him. Well, heck, that's OL 101. PS, back in the day, walked corporate offices in SF as a strategic planner, doing these long term projections. Actually did a review of my/our projections after five years, and those results came up dismally. Showed it to my boss, and was politely told to s***can it. Best thing of that versus recruiting, is that it doesn't take five years to see the proof in the pudding. Go Bucks! PSS, am delighting in seeing QB recruiting, WR recruiting, and a resurgence in DB recruiting happening. Look forward to LB recruiting to get better, and hopefully OL and DL to follow. But let's try to start now?

 

[RB07OSU]

Seems like the OT 'net' starts out pretty full, then diminishes as time goes by. Until, as you so eloquently say, "Seaton or bust". Haven't we seen that repeatedly over recent history for OLs and DE/DTs? Not certain, as Bama and GA have "tOSU depth", yet seem to reel in those late 5*s. Just read that Seaton loved Colorado, saying they were going to build their OL around him. Well, heck, that's OL 101. PS, back in the day, walked corporate offices in SF as a strategic planner, doing these long term projections. Actually did a review of my/our projections after five years, and those results came up dismally. Showed it to my boss, and was politely told to s***can it. Best thing of that versus recruiting, is that it doesn't take five years to see the proof in the pudding. Go Bucks! PSS, am delighting in seeing QB recruiting, WR recruiting, and a resurgence in DB recruiting happening. Look forward to LB recruiting to get better, and hopefully OL and DL to follow. But let's try to start now?

That is exactly the problem at OT, the Bama's and UGA's of the world slam dunk until almost nobody is left on the board. Occasionally we have a save (NPF comes to mind in recent years), but recently we resort to a Plan B/C guy or the portal. Some years you have to do that and it happens to every program, but OL recruiting has been clearly deficient and has not gotten any better aside from last year being loaded with PJ, Dawand and Wypler. To wit on the last 5 years:

'18: NPF (an absolute homerun in the final hour), Matt Jones (very good OL overall), Max Wray (barely played and transferred)...two good ones but we only landed three OL and that can't happen
'19: Vimahi (still waiting to see there, I think he can be good but hasn't had his chance yet), Dawand (obviously a diamond in the rough that worked well), Harry Miller (top recruit and I won't say anything negative on him, but didn't work out obviously), Ryan Jacoby (did nothing, transferred)
'20: Fryar (serviceable so far, but also struggling against better competition), Grant Toutant (not sure if he is still on the team?), Trey Leroux (same comment as Toutant), Jakob James (same comment as Toutant and Leroux), and Wypler (was solid last year, should have stayed for one more to help his draft stock)...mark this class down as the one that hurt us the most
'21: Ben Christman (thought he would be great, but I have not heard his name), Donovan Jackson (excellent OOS OL recruit that started off well, and now is seemingly on a drought), Zen Michalski (nothing thus far)
'22: Tegra Tshabola (jury is out on that one, but nothing so far), George Fitzpatrick (not good so far), Avery Henry (kid got cancer, obviously not going to comment there and just hope he beats it), and Carson Hinzman (so far he is struggling, but he needed another year of physical development before Wypler left...so I'm definitely not out on him yet)
'23: True frosh so I'm not going to waste much time there...I think the 3 OL from Ohio (Montgomery, Padilla and Siereveld) can be really good, so I'm not down on those guys. But Walker to me remains a massive reach because we missed on our top targets at OT. The '22 and '23 OL classes segway into my likely '24 class breakdown.

If we don't land Seaton, the '24 OL class is a failure absent some unforeseen miracle at the position (portal, commitment flip, etc.). This was a clear area of need and we whiffed on just about everyone. Not going to be a Debbie Downer on the class because it is really darn good, but OL we are failing at without landing Seaton.

 

[SubDude]

Fryar servicable? Against ND and PSU he was damn good. One more year of him at LT would be a good thing. Jeesh...

 

[The Nameless One]

'21: Ben Christman (thought he would be great, but I have not heard his name)

Christman transferred to UK after spring ball and was injured during their fall camp I believe, explains why you haven't heard his name.

Definitely thought he'd at least provide solid depth and eventually start (at G or RT) during the next couple years over guys like Zen and Tegra but that's life, c'est la vie and keep moving forward.

 

[calibuck]

Heck, I'd skedaddle too if my team kept bringing in specimen bigger, and higher rated than I was. Getting trained up, made a more physical speciman is important, certainly, but finding onesself on the fourth team is a tad disheartening. I get the 'keep your nose to the grindstone', and all that, and forget NIL, but sometimes you gotta face reality. Would imagine that Frye has had 'the talk' with quite a few of these big 'uns, and maybe not in so positive (for the player) way. Going up to what RB says, tOSU seems to lose out on the 4-5*s, and then reach for those gemstones that weren't so highly rated. Hoping that a Dawand Jones shows up - he was serviceable as a RT, but boy howdy, he blossomed for the Brownies! On one hand, gotta have the bodies, but for some reason, it seems like the top talents are avoiding tOSU. Thoughts?

 

[pnuts34]

Heck, I'd skedaddle too if my team kept bringing in specimen bigger, and higher rated than I was. Getting trained up, made a more physical speciman is important, certainly, but finding onesself on the fourth team is a tad disheartening. I get the 'keep your nose to the grindstone', and all that, and forget NIL, but sometimes you gotta face reality. Would imagine that Frye has had 'the talk' with quite a few of these big 'uns, and maybe not in so positive (for the player) way. Going up to what RB says, tOSU seems to lose out on the 4-5*s, and then reach for those gemstones that weren't so highly rated. Hoping that a Dawand Jones shows up - he was serviceable as a RT, but boy howdy, he blossomed for the Brownies! On one hand, gotta have the bodies, but for some reason, it seems like the top talents are avoiding tOSU. Thoughts?

I think a few factors have gone into OL recruiting not being up to par with other position groups.
1. A lot of the elite OL are from the south, And OsU is already behind The 8 ball in trying to bring them north. Many want to have the luxury of playing in front of their family and having the comfort of home near by.
2. Stud really screwed the program with his lackluster recruiting. Coaches like Hartline, Alford, Day, LJsr, Walton, etc have been able to keep their rooms stocked with talent, because their predecessor was a solid-sometimes even great recruiter. But they reason they are no longer at OSU, is because they weren’t good enough at other parts of coaching at OSU. For example: Coombs was not a very good schemer and in over his head as a DC/CB coach. We all knew he wouldn’t take the demotion to only being a CB coach, so he left. But he left Walton with Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock and Jyaire Brown. I’d say that Walton had a heck of a good foundation to his room. Just like as much as he’s loathed, Smith left Hartline with Olave, Wilson, Victor, Mack, KJ Hill, Terry McLaurin, Paris Campbell, etc. Being able to work with talent that is already high, is a cheat code, and some of these kids we all knew wouldve been drafted in the first few rounds. Stud left Frye with 2 OTs who most knew were leaving after his first year. And 3 IOL with talent and experience, and the rest were mainly projects. If it wasnt for Simmons in the Portal,then OSU would’ve been in BIG trouble!
3. NIL is an absolute X factor in every elite OL, but also every recruit, tbh. And OSU has said that they’re not going to go into bidding wars, or pay recruits more than the current roster. Well, many other teams are willing to do that, so it’s hard to compete against that. It’s not realistic to think that a kid is going to sign with OSU out of love for the program and a possibility of a bigger deal if he performs, when for example, Tennessee is willing to pay him up front 6 figures, and pay him 7 figures for every year he’s at school Regardless of his output.
4. Frye hasn’t shown recruits a dominant OL yet. The OL has been pretty inconsistent in his tenure so far. And that’s even with PJJ, Jones and Wylper. Everyone saw the short yardage issues that OSU had last year, and continues this year. How does Frye sell a 2024 recruit,when his OL has to gimmick to score at the goal line or to get a 3rd and short at mid field?

 

[RB07OSU]

Christman transferred to UK after spring ball and was injured during their fall camp I believe, explains why you haven't heard his name.

Definitely thought he'd at least provide solid depth and eventually start (at G or RT) during the next couple years over guys like Zen and Tegra but that's life, c'est la vie and keep moving forward.

Thanks, missed that transfer...definitely a kid that I thought would be a good one here. But to that point, maybe it's a combination of lack of development and also key misses. I look back on the classes mentioned above and there are guys I expected to be great OL (Miller, Christman, Tshabola might be on that path...).

But we gotta start hitting on some of these OOS OL after we push all our chips in on them. Ohio luckily produces some great OL talent, but we can't have an all-Ohio OL (pouring one out for my homie ComputerBuck).

 

[RB07OSU]

Fryar servicable? Against ND and PSU he was damn good. One more year of him at LT would be a good thing. Jeesh...

He's got one of the overall worst grades of any OT for a top 25 team in the country and was practically a turnstile in pass protection against Wisconsin. He looked good last year when we needed him to come in, but this year has not been good for whatever reason.

One more year of Fryar at RT (Simmons is LT) is better than the alternative most likely. And OL is tough to predict. But Fryar was a Plan B/C type of guy and sometimes that works, but not on a consistent basis.

 

[calibuck]

It appears that the pros value LOT the most after QBs. Soooo, if you pan out at the college level, you can make the big bucks by being drafted highly. Lately, WRs have been 'valued' more highly as well as DBs, with RBs sliding down the ranks. Would surmise that the OTs look to being trained up, and being on a team that is legitimate for nati probabilities. Following that logic, does tOSU have Nati probabilities? Absolutely. Are we on TV often? Certainly. Can/does tOSU add value to the OL? Well, remains to be seen/not so much. Now, add the question, Does your team pay big bucks for NIL? Have to say unknown. Am certain that these questions are bandied about by every OL out there. Go Bucks!

 

[ScriptOhio]

Well, after the regular season (12 games) here is the list of who played:



CLASS OF 2023 TRACKER

NAME	POS	DEBUT	MICHIGAN STATS	GP	SEASON STATS
CARNELL TATE	WR	Indiana	Special teams	12	17 catches, 251 yards, 1 TD
MALIK HARTFORD	S	Indiana	1 defensive snap	11	10 tackles, 2 PBU
BRANDON INNISS	WR	Indiana	Special teams	11	1 catch, 58 yards, 1 TD
JERMAINE MATHEWS JR.	CB	Indiana	Special teams	11	13 tackles, 1 INT, 3 PBU, 1 TD
LUKE MONTGOMERY	OL	Indiana	Special teams	10	44 offensive snaps
ARVELL REESE	LB	Indiana	Special teams	7	Special teams
CALVIN SIMPSON-HUNT	CB	Rutgers	Special teams	4	2 tackles
KAYDEN McDONALD	DT	WKU	6	1 tackle, 0.5 TFL, 1 PBU
JELANI THURMAN	TE	WKU	4	2 catches, 18 yards
LINCOLN KIENHOLZ	QB	MSU	2	4/5 passing, 25 yards
NOAH ROGERS	WR	Indiana	4	14 offensive snaps
BRYSON RODGERS	WR	Purdue	2	6 offensive snaps
JOSHUA MICKENS	DE	MSU	1	1 defensive snap
JASON MOORE	DT	WKU	1	3 defensive snaps
JAYDEN BONSU	S
NIGEL GLOVER	LB
CEDRICK HAWKINS	S
JOSHUA PADILLA	OL
AUSTIN SIEREVELD	OL
WILL SMITH JR.	DT
MILES WALKER	OT

(Note: The table does not include freshman walk-ons who have not yet played.)

 

[RB07OSU]

2024 Outlook​

I think the priority areas are pretty clear for next year...two very good offensive tackles, a stud RB, a pair of good DEs, and at least three CBs. With Kienholz, I am not so concerned on Raiola, though we will of course want to land a QB in '24. In my eyes, the '23 class was a very good one in terms of star power, but we need more numbers with injuries, transfer portal, etc. all being very real. And hopefully we can adjust to the NIL world, I don't want to harp on that with all the conversation that has already happened, but the landscape of recruiting has changed there and we have to do better this next cycle. I don't pretend to know the answer, but the powers that be hopefully have a plan.

Looking back on this for the '24 class, I would say we checked most boxes off. Armstrong and Moore are two very good OT prospects, though Moore might project inside and an elite OT did evade us to round out the class. Assuming we land Amaris Williams to go with Houston, check the box on a pair of really good DEs. In terms of 3 good CBs, we absolutely did that in a big way with Scott, West and Lockhart...plus the next cycle will be ridiculous at DB. QB was obviously a huge success landing Noland. We will see on the portal (need an OL or two, probably DE as well), but I would say the '24 class mostly lived up to what we needed assuming we keep our current commits and close out guys like Amaris Williams and Koi Perich, we hit almost every category outside an elite OT.