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Buckeye Beach Bum
OSU class of 2000 had its share of hits, misses
Some players — and the coach — didn’t last long
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
If a recruiting class can be considered a family, then label the 2000 Ohio State football class dysfunctional.
As it turned out, the group of 25, which signed on five years ago this week, had some good kids and some great players; some bad kids and some average players; and some so-so kids and several who either ran away or were run off. One wound up in jail and another is in prison serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
For sure, it was not the Brady Bunch. Heck, the players’ surrogate father, coach John Cooper, was fired after their first year together.
"I don’t know what all of the reasons were," linebacker Robert Reynolds said, "but a lot of the guys I came in with, I didn’t go out with."
Of the 25 players, including juniorcollege transfer linebacker Jack Tucker, nine were gone within two years. But those who stayed were national champions in 2002 under Jim Tressel.
"To some extent, it was almost a hitor-miss class," OSU recruiting observer Bill Kurelic said.
The backbone of the 2002 national champions came from the 2000 class: on defense, Reynolds, linemen Will Smith and Darrion Scott and nickel back Will Allen; on offense, linemen Alex Stepanovich and Shane Olivea, and receiver Michael Jenkins.
"If you can get six to eight kids from a class that end up being starters or big-time contributors, then you’re doing pretty well," said Bill Conley, who was Ohio State’s recruiting coordinator at the time.
"When you multiply eight times four, meaning over four years, which is your core group in a recruiting period, that’s 32 players. That’s 32 guys who are going to win you a lot of football games."
Which is how Ohio State should try to size up the class it is poised to sign Wednesday, Conley said. Judge the players in three years or so, not now. Give them a chance to grow together — or not.
For example, on signing day in 2000, the class was ranked seventh in the nation by SuperPrep and ninth by recruiting guru Tom Lemming.
It was loaded at linebacker with six, including Marco Cooper, Reynolds and Scott. There were talented running backs, too — Sam Maldonado, Terry Pogue and Branden Joe.
But of those linebackers, only Reynolds ever played the position for Ohio State. And Joe was the only one of the running backs who stuck it out.
The class started shedding members before it even got together. Linemen Alphonso Townsend and Larry Kinnard failed to qualify academically, and Pogue was accepted as a Prop 48 but later left school.
"I truly believe he would have been a first- to third-round pick in the NFL; he was that kind of talent," said Michael McCray, Pogue’s coach at Dayton Colonel White. "But I think he lost the confidence in himself, and that’s really hard to regain sometimes."
Maldonado had confidence he should be playing, so he transferred to Maryland. Same with linebacker Jamal Muhammad, who left for Bethune-Cookman.
"There is that part that goes with it when you recruit great athletes," Conley said. "Normally, some of them are high-maintenance guys. A large portion were superstars in high school, but when they get to college they have to learn how to fit in among guys of near-equal talent. Those that can handle it end up being stars at this level."
Marco Cooper had star written all over him. He was OSU’s highest-rated prospect according to Lemming, 44 th in the nation. But just when things started going right for him on the field, in the spring of 2002, he was arrested for having a pistol and Ecstasy pills in his vehicle and was kicked out of school. Later, he was arrested for possession of crack cocaine and served a jail term.
He has worked to shore up his life and said last fall that he was back in school.
Receiver Andrew Lee came out of Brookhaven tabbed as the next Terry Glenn. But Lee was booted from school after beating up a pizza deliveryman outside a dorm in the fall of his freshman year. Three years later, he was convicted of the rape and murder of a female video-games store clerk in Columbus and was given a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Back on signing day 2000, obviously, no one saw that coming.
"There were a lot of talented players in that class, and that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to be a part of it," said Reynolds, who just completed his first year with the Tennessee Titans. "I knew there was enough talent there in that core group for us to compete for a championship, which is what we did."
[email protected]
Some players — and the coach — didn’t last long
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
If a recruiting class can be considered a family, then label the 2000 Ohio State football class dysfunctional.
As it turned out, the group of 25, which signed on five years ago this week, had some good kids and some great players; some bad kids and some average players; and some so-so kids and several who either ran away or were run off. One wound up in jail and another is in prison serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
For sure, it was not the Brady Bunch. Heck, the players’ surrogate father, coach John Cooper, was fired after their first year together.
"I don’t know what all of the reasons were," linebacker Robert Reynolds said, "but a lot of the guys I came in with, I didn’t go out with."
Of the 25 players, including juniorcollege transfer linebacker Jack Tucker, nine were gone within two years. But those who stayed were national champions in 2002 under Jim Tressel.
"To some extent, it was almost a hitor-miss class," OSU recruiting observer Bill Kurelic said.
The backbone of the 2002 national champions came from the 2000 class: on defense, Reynolds, linemen Will Smith and Darrion Scott and nickel back Will Allen; on offense, linemen Alex Stepanovich and Shane Olivea, and receiver Michael Jenkins.
"If you can get six to eight kids from a class that end up being starters or big-time contributors, then you’re doing pretty well," said Bill Conley, who was Ohio State’s recruiting coordinator at the time.
"When you multiply eight times four, meaning over four years, which is your core group in a recruiting period, that’s 32 players. That’s 32 guys who are going to win you a lot of football games."
Which is how Ohio State should try to size up the class it is poised to sign Wednesday, Conley said. Judge the players in three years or so, not now. Give them a chance to grow together — or not.
For example, on signing day in 2000, the class was ranked seventh in the nation by SuperPrep and ninth by recruiting guru Tom Lemming.
It was loaded at linebacker with six, including Marco Cooper, Reynolds and Scott. There were talented running backs, too — Sam Maldonado, Terry Pogue and Branden Joe.
But of those linebackers, only Reynolds ever played the position for Ohio State. And Joe was the only one of the running backs who stuck it out.
The class started shedding members before it even got together. Linemen Alphonso Townsend and Larry Kinnard failed to qualify academically, and Pogue was accepted as a Prop 48 but later left school.
"I truly believe he would have been a first- to third-round pick in the NFL; he was that kind of talent," said Michael McCray, Pogue’s coach at Dayton Colonel White. "But I think he lost the confidence in himself, and that’s really hard to regain sometimes."
Maldonado had confidence he should be playing, so he transferred to Maryland. Same with linebacker Jamal Muhammad, who left for Bethune-Cookman.
"There is that part that goes with it when you recruit great athletes," Conley said. "Normally, some of them are high-maintenance guys. A large portion were superstars in high school, but when they get to college they have to learn how to fit in among guys of near-equal talent. Those that can handle it end up being stars at this level."
Marco Cooper had star written all over him. He was OSU’s highest-rated prospect according to Lemming, 44 th in the nation. But just when things started going right for him on the field, in the spring of 2002, he was arrested for having a pistol and Ecstasy pills in his vehicle and was kicked out of school. Later, he was arrested for possession of crack cocaine and served a jail term.
He has worked to shore up his life and said last fall that he was back in school.
Receiver Andrew Lee came out of Brookhaven tabbed as the next Terry Glenn. But Lee was booted from school after beating up a pizza deliveryman outside a dorm in the fall of his freshman year. Three years later, he was convicted of the rape and murder of a female video-games store clerk in Columbus and was given a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Back on signing day 2000, obviously, no one saw that coming.
"There were a lot of talented players in that class, and that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to be a part of it," said Reynolds, who just completed his first year with the Tennessee Titans. "I knew there was enough talent there in that core group for us to compete for a championship, which is what we did."
[email protected]
