Name: Cesar Ruiz
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 319 lbs.
High school: Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy
Position: Center
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #51
Last year: I ranked Ruiz #5 and said he would be the starting center (LINK). He started all thirteen games.
TTB Rating: 99
Ruiz has had a solid career so far. Sometimes expectations for highly regarded recruits can get out of hand, especially for linemen. For whatever reason, I don’t think that has been the case with Ruiz – for good reason. Many centers start off their careers as redshirts, backups, or contributors at offensive guard – check. (Ruiz started five games at guard as a freshman.) Then in their next year, they play but don’t necessarily stand out – check. (Ruiz had a decent year in 2018, but he was Third Team All-Big Ten). He was Offensive Line Player of the Week against Nebraska, a pretty bad squad.
This year is when Ruiz should hit his stride. He’s no longer adjusting to play center in college – he’s already done it. Despite a new offense, the schemes up front won’t be any more difficult; if anything, they should be a little simpler. Ruiz is quick and powerful, and he has great size. There has been a little discussion about his potential to leave for the NFL after this season, and we’ll see whether that comes to fruition or not. He might not be First Team all-conference in 2019 (Tyler Biadasz from Wisconsin already won that honor, so I expect him to win it again), but I think Ruiz will be just as good. As the commander of the offensive line, he’s a very important piece, but he does have a solid backup in redshirt junior Stephen Spanellis and a freshman who has turned some heads in Zach Carpenter.
Prediction: Starting center
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3 OL in the top 6?!? This is the best countdown ever.
While I do think you are playing favorites with Runyan and Onwenu, I applaud the elevated status for the big guys up front. I had them a few spots lower because of the developing depth and faith in Warriner but now that Steuber is out for the year that depth is compromised at OT at least.
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Here’s the thing: Good players are important. Less good players are less important. These offensive linemen are up high in the ranking because they’re actually good for a change, something that has not been the case for most of the last decade or so.
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Sure but we’ve had better tackles than Runyan, like Magnuson. You ranked Magnuson #17 in 2016. And we had bigger depth concerns then too.
And before you say All Big Ten — Magnuson’s competition in 2015 (when he was 3rd team) was 2 first round picks, a second round pick, and a 4th round pick. Runyan’s was a 5th and 6th rounders and underclassmen.
Magnuson is maybe a weird case since he moved backwards in the countdown as he got better, but whatever.
You’ve rated OL highly before but never this many this high (at least from what I remember).
Seems like a positive evolution in the countdown to me and I give you credit for that.
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In defense of Ruiz (and also Bredeson/Onwenu) the competition for all conference honors on the interior was pretty stiff.
Benzschawel – Consensus All American
Biadasz – 1st Rd NFL prospect per Mel Kiper
Deiter – 3rd rd NFL pick
Jordan – 4th rd NFL pick – rookie starter on Bengals
McGovern – 5th rd NFL pick
The competition at OT wasn’t nearly on the level.
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Love this kid. Infectious personality, big & strong, etc. I could see him as a Captain if he stuck around
4 more to go, then the Countdown wrap-up, and season prediction thread. Should be a busy week!
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Unfortunately, he almost certainly won’t. Too many highly rated recruits that we develop too slowly and still lose early, maybe getting one year of championship level play instead of two.
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Too slowly? A 19y/o OL with all-conference honors?
You can’t be serious
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His age is irrelevant, as I expect you know. If a highly touted guy is going to bail after his third year, as Ruiz almost certainly will, then his second year needs to be more than just solid to have really gotten championship level production out of him.
Bottom line, our player development in general is still a year slow if we hope to win the conference or even the division more than once a decade.
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There’s some legit criticism of the Harbaugh regime: OT recruiting; QBs not ready/good enough to fill the Rudock gap; snail pac; insistence on running, despite what the D reveals to name a few
The recruitment & development of Cesar Ruiz isn’t even close to making the list. If it’s one yours, I don’t know what to tell ya – you’ll never be happy
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Getting Ruiz to play faster isn’t a development issue. You want him ready to play from day one? That means no development required.
I thought it was critical that we got players starting by their 2nd or 3rd year? That we landed top tier recruits and turn them into all conference starters?
That’s exactly what’s happened to Ruiz. It should be a success story for the model you’ve espoused. But you’re complaining. It’s not clear about what exactly.
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A highly rated recruit. Immediate contributor as a freshman. Two years of all-conference play. Depart after 3 years to NFL riches.
@WCB
Is the above scenario close to an optimal outcome? Or would you rather guys (typically lower rated) sit on the bench waiting for a few years.
Wormley or Gary? Runyan or Ruiz? Devin Bush or David Harris?
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If we somehow happened to make the playoff this year, is Ruiz a proven difference maker at that level? How many guys do we have in our top 10 that could keep us from getting squashed by recent playoff winners?
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You’re dodging the question.
Given equivalent on-field production (2 seasons of all conference play), does it matter if comes from sophomore/junior years or senior/5th years? Which is better for the team?
We have an all-conference player who will get drafted highly by the NFL. That kind of play helps the team win. More like him increase the odds of winning more games and ascending to playoff. This part is not up for debate.
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It’s much, much better if it comes from sophomore and junior years. But if you’re going to compete at a championship level, you need more than one year of championship level play from your top recruits.
And we’re not talking about players being good enough to make the difference between having a good team and a bad team. We’re talking about having players good enough to make the difference between being 9-3 and 11-1. That’s a much higher bar, and just being “solid” isn’t enough to clear it.
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There’s a lot of ways to ascend from 9-3. Fix the bottom – the weak-link deficiencies that get exploited by elite units (like OSU/PSU offenses or OSU/MSU defenses) seems like the most important one to me. Increment up the median talent level is another – the middle can improve with consistent recruiting and more focus on retention to develop depth and take advantage of red-shirt opportunities.
Squeezing an extra year from Ruiz/Gary/Bush would be nice but it’s closer to an ideal than a problem. I want as many 3-and-done 5-stars as we can get. Not going to grumble about 2 years of all-conference play with any player. That just seems absurd.
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