The-Ozone Recruiting Commentary
Why This Column
When the-Ozone went on line many, many years ago we had a feature called “Recruiting Commentary” which featured information from both the web and from professional recruiting information experts, specifically Bill Kurelic.
Bill was an in-demand guy and eventually went to work for Rivals as a full-time employee. Recruiting Commentary continued after that, but without ‘inside” information, only with information gleaned from the Web. Eventually, so many recruiting services popped up that it seemed like Recruiting Commentary was just superfluous and was eventually dropped. Through the years we’ve dabbled in recruiting coverage, mostly during signing season, but recruiting has not been a real focus for us, if for no other reason that there were (and are) so many other people already doing it and doing it well.
So why a Recruiting Commentary column today? After all, there are more places than ever covering Ohio State football recruiting. What’s changed is that the recruiting information world has become a world of premium information that must be paid for by the consumer. That it turns out is a good business model. It must be because so many people are trying to make money doing it. The result of that however is that recruiting sites have had to deal in more and more detail and minutia in order to differentiate themselves from their many competitors and gain subscribers. That is wonderful for the avid recruiting enthusiast. It occurs to us, however, that not everybody falls into the mold of a rabid recruiting information hunter. There is another group out there that is interested in recruiting, but not enough to be willing to pay for the information and not enough to have to expend the time and effort to sort through all the detail and minutia that the recruiting sites are producing to attract their target market, yet interested enough to want to know what is going on with Ohio State recruiting from time to time.
That’s the intended audience for this column. We don’t claim to have any secret, inside information. What is here is readily available on the internet. What this column tries to do is gather that information in one place, then add some analysis and perspective to the data. It’s a service to those who are interested in recruiting but not so interested as to pay a subscription fee and/or spend a lot of time sorting through information. Come to think of it, even those who do pay subscription fees may find our perspectives and analysis interesting, and if nothing else they can show their expertise by adding to these reports in the comments area accompanying them.
The General State of OSU Football Recruiting
You probably already know this, but the state of OSU recruiting is somewhere between fantastic and amazing. Urban Meyer started it and Ryan Day’s is building on it. In Day’s first full year as OSU Head Coach the Buckeyes are recruiting at a level that probably eclipses the level established by Urban Meyer, and that is saying something. While the head coach at Ohio State Meyer brought OSU recruiting to unheard of levels , and now Day is not only meeting that standard, but might actually be surpassing it.
The 2021 OSU recruiting class currently consists of 19 verbal commitments and is ranked by the 24/7 composite as the number one class in the nation. The Buckeyes currently have verbal commitments from four five-star prospects, 12 four-star prospects and three three-star prospects. Alabama’s second-ranked class also has four five-star commitments, but currently no other school has more that one. In the Big Ten, Michigan has one five-star commitment, the rest of the league has none.
24/7 provides a metric which attempts to measure the quality of the players in a recruiting class. It is the average player ranking of the commitments in the class. OSU’s current average is 94.94. To put that in perspective here are the player rankings of OSU’s classes under Urban Meyer:
2020 91.79
2019 91.87
2018 94.29 (highest average in the nation that year)
2017 94.59 (highest average in the nation that year)
2016 91.56
2015 90.31
2014 90.59
Day’s first class at OSU is currently ranked higher than any class signed by Urban Meyer. The Meyer classes that were close to Day’s current level were the best class in the country that year by this metric. Additionally, Day is not done yet this year. There is room for five to seven more players in this class. Based on the players that the Buckeyes are still in on, the average for Day’s class has a chance to move even higher. Nationally, Alabama is nipping at OSU’s heels with an average player ranking of 94.48, about a half-point behind. Clemson is at 94.17, Georgia 93.95 and LSU 93.46. In the Big Ten, Michigan is at 89.48, Wisconsin at 88.76 and Penn State and 88.60.
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2020/07/theozone-recruitinging-commentary/
Recruiting Commentary: Volume 25, Installment 2
In yesterday’s return of this column we promised to start getting into some of the specifics of this year’s recruiting class. Before we do that however we’d like to look at just one more perspective on this year’s overall class success.
As noted yesterday, 24/7’s average rating of players committed to the 2021 OSU class currently stands at a whopping 94.94, the highest such rating in the nation. We wondered how that rating compared to other top classes nationally in recent years, specifically teams that have found their way in the national championship playoffs. Here’s what that looks like.
2020 Georgia 92.69
2020 Clemson 93.45
2020 Alabama 93.56
2020 LSU 93.27
2020 Oklahoma 90.40
2020 Oregon 90.19
2019 Alabama 94.38
2019 Georgia 92.59
2019 LSU 90.75
2019 Oklahoma 91.20
2019 Oregon 90.60
2019 Clemson 89.76
2018 Georgia 94.23
2018 Alabama 91.94
2018 Clemson 93.45
2018 Oklahoma 90.95
2018 Oregon 89.18
2018 LSU 90.11
From the looks of those numbers Day is collecting talent at a level that will allow the Buckeyes to be serious national playoff contenders.
Breaking Down the Players
If you didn’t already know, the Buckeyes currently have 19 verbal commitments in this class and are expected to sign 24 to 26 players. We’re going to take a position-group by position-group look at how their current class breaks down and who might still be on the recruiting board in those groups. We’re going to start today with offensive linemen.
As of this date the Buckeyes have two offensive linemen committed to this class. All ratings are 24/7 composite ratings. The commitments are as follows:
Donovan Jackson – 6-4, 308. Rated the number one offensive guard prospect in the class and the 20th-best player nationally at any position. Rated a five-star player, he is ranked the sixth-best offensive lineman overall among centers, guards and tackles. From Bellaire, Texas.
Ben Christman – 6-6, 299 – Rated the number six offensive guard and 113th-best player nationally at any position. He is rated the 20th-best offensive line prospect overall among centers, guards and tackles. He is rated a four-star player and is from Richfield, Ohio.
The Buckeyes have two good players along the offensive line committed at the moment, but that’s probably about two-fewer than they would really like to have. OSU’s offensive line recruiting took a major blow when offensive tackle JC Latham committed to Alabama. Latham was long-considered a heavy OSU lean but surprised a lot of people when he announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide. At 6-6, 305 Latham is rated the fifth-best tackle prospect in the class and fifth-best offensive line prospect overall, one place ahead of Donovan Jackson. He is rated a five-star player and the sixteenth-best player at any position nationally and would have been a welcome addition to this class, but he will not be part of it.
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2020/07/recruiting-commentary-volume-25-installment-2/
Recruiting Commentary: Volume 25, Installment 3
In the
last installment of Recruiting Commentary we looked at the state of offensive line recruiting in the 2021 class. Today we’re looking at the big guys on the other side of the ball, the defensive line.
To date the Buckeyes have three verbal commitments from defensive linemen and they are three good ones. There are two very highly ranked defensive ends and one very highly ranked interior lineman. They are as follows (all ranking information is via the 24/7 composite ranking):
Jack Sawyer: At 6-5, 248 Sawyer is considered the third-best player at his position nationally and also considered the third-best player at any position nationally in the most recent 24/7 rankings. Clearly, it is a great year for strong-side defensive ends when the top-three players in the nation are all defensive ends, and the Buckeyes have secured the services of one of he best in Sawyer. A very athletic defensive end, Sawyer actually saw duty at quarterback in his high school junior season. He is recovering from a knee injury but is expected to recover fully and be at full strength for this season if high school football is played in Ohio this year. Sawyer is rated the top player in the state of Ohio. He was one of the first commitments to this Buckeye class and was a huge target for Michigan but decided to stay home to play. He is a native of Pickerington, Ohio, and a five-star prospect.
Tunmise Adeleye: Standing 6-3 and weighing 240 pounds Adeleye is ranked the fourth-best strong-side defensive end in the nation and is ranked the 30th-best player at any position nationally. Adeleye attends IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. His final decision came down to a choice be Ohio State and Alabama and the Buckeyes won out. He is a four-star prospect.
Mike Hall: At 6-3, 290 Hall is considered the fifth-best defensive tackle prospect in the nation and the 54th-best player overall nationally at any position. Like Sawyer, Hall is an Ohio native who has decided to play his college ball in his home state. He is a native of Streetsboro, Ohio and like Adeleye his decision came down to OSU or Alabama. Hall is a player whose stock has risen dramatically over the last nine months or so and his best football is probably still in front of him. He is a four-star prospect. .
Those three players represent a pretty good haul of defensive line talent but there are at least two more defensive linemen the Buckeyes would love to add to this class. The first is strong-side defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau of Sammamish, Washington. Tuimoloau is currently ranked the second-best player in the nation at any position and the second-best player at his position in what is a very good year for defensive ends. He has long-been considered an Ohio State lean and has 92% of his crystal balls pointed at the Buckeyes. If the Buckeyes were to land him they would have the numbers 2, 3 and 4 defensive ends in the nation in this class. He is a five-star prospect. Alabama, Oklahoma, Stanford and Southern Cal are seen as the competition for the Buckeyes for his services.
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2020/07/recruiting-commentary-volume-25-installment-3/
