College football recruiting rankings
2013 class
Rivals.com
1. Southern Cal
2. Notre Dame
3. LSU
4. Michigan
5. Alabama
6. Florida
7. Ohio State
8. Georgia
9. Auburn
10. Texas A&M
ESPN.com
1. Southern Cal
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. Alabama
5. Ohio State
6. Notre Dame
7. Auburn
8. Texas
9. Georgia
10. LSU
Scout.com
1. Michigan
2. Southern Cal
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas A&M
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Alabama
8. Ohio State
9. Florida
10. Texas
The Ohio State football coaches are making the most of their bye week by hitting the road recruiting. Almost all of the assistants were on Twitter before they fanned out across the country to say how eager they were to meet with “Future Buckeyes.”
The task of connecting with prospective players has been made much easier by the 10-0 start this season. For Everett Withers, the first-year co-defensive coordinator, it means they not only can talk about what they can do with the program, but they have the proof to back it up.
“I’ve never been undefeated when I’m on the road recruiting,” he said ”I imagine it will be easy to go into that high school and talk to that high school coach and that counselor with people knowing you’re 10-0.”
But Withers pointed out the coaches would have a product that’s easy to sell even without the perfect record.
“Obviously, this is one of the top two, three, four schools in America, I believe,” he said. “The tradition here, there’s a lot of people who know Ohio State football. Whether they know the entire background and tradition or not, they know Ohio State football and the players that have come out and the championships they’ve won.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had any issue with somebody not calling me back or taking my call. People know what Ohio State football means.”
An impressive array of recruits have already responded to the allure of Ohio State, allowing coach Urban Meyer to build on a consensus top-five class from a year ago. The Buckeyes had 17 commitments from seniors going into the weekend, and number is expected to reach 20-22 by signing day in February.
OSU’s class is currently ranked seventh nationally by Rivals.com, fifth by ESPN.com and eighth by Scout.com. They have six players ranked in the ESPN Top 150: cornerbacks Eli Woodard of New Jersey and Cameron Burrows of Trotwood; defensive end Joey Bosa of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Middletown’s Jalin Marshall, who is listed as a multi-position athlete; tight end Marcus Baugh of California; and offensive linemen Evan Lisle of Centerville.
“It’s an outstanding class,” said Duane Long, a recruiting analyst for Bucknuts.com. “They’ve got another great D-line class — maybe not as good as last year’s, but I don’t know if anybody gets a class like last year’s on a regular basis. I think he’s got some outstanding DBs coming, too.”
Lond added: “Jalin Marshall is a player everyone is talking about, as he should be. He’s very much a Percy Harvin-type football player, and that’s something you need in the spread offense.”
Marshall, Bosa and Woodard have been ranked by various sites as elite five-star recruits, while Burrows is just outside the highest designation. Among the dozen or so four-star prospects is Meyer’s first quarterback recruit, J.T. Barrett of Wichita Falls, Texas.
Although he recently suffered a season-ending knee injury, he was heavily recruited with offers from LSU and Nebraska.
“J.T. Barrett is one of the five best quarterbacks in the country,” Long said. “He’s big time. He can do it all. He’s doing it against Texas-level competition, and that’s huge.”
Meyer arrived at OSU with a reputation as a dogged recruiter, and he hasn’t disappointed. While former coach Jim Tressel had four top-10 classes in his 10 seasons, Meyer is virtually assured of his second in as many years and seems capable of maintaining that standard for the long haul.
“He’s the anti-Tressel in terms of his intensity level,” Long said. “With Jim Tressel, there was a drive to him, but it was a very quiet, even-tempered approach to things, whereas Urban Meyer, he’s electric.
“He makes you believe. He convinces players this is where they belong. That’s why he’s going to be an even better out-of-state recruiter because he’s more aggressive.”
Tressel was fond of telling recruits to take their time and look around because he wouldn’t sign them unless they were sure they wanted to be Buckeyes. His soft-sell approach may be why the Buckeyes seldom seemed to land the most coveted recruits who waited to make signing-day decisions.
“That did lose some players,” Long said. “He just wasn’t a pressure guy. … But you can’t give away tactics — I don’t want to say to your enemy — but to your competition. You’ve got to push it as far as you can. It’s that important.”
Meyer’s six years at Florida give him a background in SEC-style recruiting, which is known for being perhaps more cutthroat than in other parts of the country.
He angered Big Ten coaches when he took the OSU job and contacted prospects who were verbally committed to conference schools. He reasoned that they had a right to reassess where they stood with the Buckeyes’ coaching change.
Meyer just offered a scholarship to Gareon Conley, an ESPN top-150 recruit from Massillon who has been committed to Michigan for months.
Confronted last winter by a couple of league coaches about what they perceived to be unethical tactics, Meyer stood his ground. He defiantly said at an Ohio high school coaches convention: “You’re (ticked) because we went after a committed guy? Guess what, we’ve got nine (assistant coaches) who better go do it again. Do it a little harder next time.”
Although Meyer will follow Tressel’s strategy of blanketing Ohio, a pair of national titles give him the clout to recruit from coast to coast. He knows that’s what it’ll take to get the Buckeyes to an elite level again.
But attracting top skill players from warm-weather states won’t be easy. Southern schools are using the inclement Midwest weather against the Buckeyes and others.
Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher told one recruiting website: “I don’t know if we ever said, ‘You’ll freeze.’ But the landscape of playing, especially if you’re a skill guy, is not as conducive as it is in the South. The weather can prohibit you from using all your skills at times and prevent you from getting the numbers and recognition and things you want. I think it is a significant difference.”
The talent has seemed to be congregating in warmer locales. OSU has had only three players taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft since 2010. Alabama has had 14, LSU 11 and Florida and Southern Cal nine each.
“Getting those kids up here is going to take a dynamic coach and a dynamic way of playing football,” Long said, “and (Meyer) absolutely can get them up here.”
About the Author