Recruiting Snapshot: Ohio State

Recruiting Snapshot: Ohio State


December 22, 2017

Taron Vincent (image via The Wolverine)

2018 Class Ranking: #2 nationally. #1 in Big Ten. Ohio State has two 5-stars, sixteen 4-stars, and three 3-stars signed. Despite having the #2 class in the country, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Buckeyes on Wednesday. They lost 4-star safety Jaiden Woodbey to Florida State, and two highly touted prospects, QB Emory Jones and OT Jackson Carman, chose Florida and Clemson, respectively.

Cream of the 2018 Crop: The two 5-stars in the group are Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy DT Taron Vincent, the #1 DT and #13 overall player, and Westerville (OH) South RB Jaelen Gill, the #1 all-purpose back and #23 player. Both of them were pursued by Michigan, but Gill was an OSU lock and Vincent gave the Wolverines a shot before leaning the Buckeyes way for a while before committing. Vincent is the son of former Wisconsin and NFL All-Pro cornerback Troy Vincent. He started off at Baltimore (MD) Gilman, and Michigan had a bit of an inside track with Gilman head coach Biff Poggi, who sent his son Henry to play for the Wolverines and was hired as a staffer for one season in Ann Arbor. But Taron transferred to IMG, and Biff Poggi went back to coaching high school ball at Baltimore (MD) St. Frances.

2019 Class Ranking: #31 nationally. #8 in Big Ten. Ohio State has one 4-star committed.

Cream of the 2019 Crop: The only commit is Huntington (WV) Spring Valley OT Doug Nester, a 4-star, the #6 offensive tackle, and #52 overall.

37 comments

  1. Comments: 400
    Joined: 12/24/2016
    INTJohn
    Dec 22, 2017 at 9:29 AM

    Does this fall into the “Know Thy Enemy” category?

    To expand the view: With the B10 East having 5 (FIVE!) programs ranked in the ’18 recruitment Top 25 Harbaugh will be getting all the competition he says he loves! OSU is dominant with PSU & MSU not going away and Durkin has Maryland coming on STRONG!

    Also; With 130 FBS schools and Michigan ranked #12; places the Wolverines in the top 10%………… So I’m a bit confused & bewildered as to why I’m reading so much negativity from Michigan fans about the ’18 class. These young men haven’t even started classes yet and many so-called Wolverine Faithful have already pronounced this class a ‘bad’ ‘not good’, etc…….

    This is a bunch of punk ass bullshit to greet this Michigan ’18 class this way. Can we at least wait 3 or 4 years b4 they are christened as ‘bad class’ or even better how about 10 or 12?

    merry effing krysmus![end rant]……………INTJohn

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      Dec 22, 2017 at 9:52 AM

      Yep. I’ve been doing these recruiting snapshot posts for years.

    • Comments: 1364
      Joined: 8/11/2015
      WindyCityBlue
      Dec 22, 2017 at 7:38 PM

      So if our class were ranked #1, would you be upbraiding Michigan fans for positivity about the class before they had even enrolled or played a down? It works both ways.

      • Comments: 1356
        Joined: 8/13/2015
        Roanman
        Dec 22, 2017 at 8:11 PM

        LOL. You are one sick puppy there Whiney.

        Hey, you happy Wolverines over there. Knock that crap off … don’t you know life sucks!

        • Comments: 1364
          Joined: 8/11/2015
          WindyCityBlue
          Dec 23, 2017 at 2:35 PM

          Says the guy who has to make everything snarky and personal, whether it has anything to do with him or not. Says the guy who can’t ever seem to keep the discussion about football.

  2. Comments: 142
    Joined: 8/12/2015
    coachernie
    Dec 23, 2017 at 1:14 AM

    I recall once upon a time, back in the Lloyd, Bo and Mo years probably, we would rotate with OSU for the top class in the B1G. Now seems like we never ever have a better class than them.
    Thought JH was going to turn that around,… nope, his stunts aren’t showing results on the field or on the recruiting trail.
    Very disappointing.

    • Comments: 1356
      Joined: 8/13/2015
      Roanman
      Dec 23, 2017 at 7:46 AM

      Your recollection is faux, particularly when it comes to Bo’s recruiting classes, as there was no national ranking thing going on. Recruiting was hardly reported on even at the local level.

      There was nothing of consequence in the way of national football recruiting news before 1998 when Rivals came along. You would have signing day capsules in the Detroit papers for Michigan, MSU and Notre Dame with no comparative rating offered going back to the middle 80’s … maybe, more likely the late 80’s.

      The Daily and the Ann Arbor News had some adequate stuff earlier-ish, but it was mostly only guys we were bringing in and notable local kids heading out.

      USA today started running capsules with a couple names in the state sport news for notable programs at the time going back to maybe 1988 … ish.

      SI occasionally had something for guy or two everybody wanted, but again, there was no ranking system for classes. No civilian outside of a specific market had clue one who OSU, Alabama, Texas, USC or anybody else for that matter was bringing in. Maybe ND to the tune of an inkling, because they were truly national program and had a New York media following. There was something about Art Schlichter coming into OSU and Cornelius Greene getting moved to WR because that’s where he was going to play as a pro, but that’s it. And frankly, I think that was a camp article.

      This whole thing is a brand new source of angst going back to 1998, when Jim Heckman got a great idea, and really, 2002 when it started to work.

      • Comments: 142
        Joined: 8/12/2015
        coachernie
        Dec 23, 2017 at 11:37 AM

        The Drew Henson recruiting class was #1 ranked in the entire country if I recall, not sure of the year.

        • Comments: 3844
          Joined: 7/13/2015
          Dec 23, 2017 at 11:47 AM

          That was 1998.

        • Comments: 1356
          Joined: 8/13/2015
          Roanman
          Dec 23, 2017 at 11:56 AM

          Tom Lemming started out in 79 or 80, and really is the grandaddy of all this stuff, but his business was basically serving as conduit between high school coaches (his clients) and college coaches (his customers). To the extent that he could pick up an interview here and there, you can bet your rear end that he did, but it wasn’t a thing at all.

          • Comments: 1356
            Joined: 8/13/2015
            Roanman
            Dec 23, 2017 at 2:19 PM

            Sort of makes you wonder how these poor dumb football coaches were able to identify guys who could play football for all those years before they had all these real smart internet guys to help them out by attaching stars to people’s names.

            • Comments: 1364
              Joined: 8/11/2015
              WindyCityBlue
              Dec 23, 2017 at 2:39 PM

              Um…they didn’t have to. You did know that there didn’t used to be limits on scholarships, right? Of course you did, because you wouldn’t be making such a foolish comment if you were that uninformed.

              • Comments: 1356
                Joined: 8/13/2015
                Roanman
                Dec 23, 2017 at 3:44 PM

                You go Whiney, that’s a pretty good one … for you.

                Kids could still read depth charts tho.

                • Comments: 1364
                  Joined: 8/11/2015
                  WindyCityBlue
                  Dec 23, 2017 at 9:31 PM

                  Oh really? And where did high school kids read the depth chart for Michigan back in the 60’s and 70’s?

                  Do you have any idea how idiotic a comment that was? Just a hint…if you’re going to be snarky, insulting and condescending, you might want to have a clue first.

                • Comments: 3844
                  Joined: 7/13/2015
                  Dec 23, 2017 at 9:35 PM

                  NOTE: In the spirit of the holiday, I’m deleting all the smart-ass posts between now and December 26. Frankly, I’m growing tired of the back-and-forth that is and has been developing.

              • Comments: 1356
                Joined: 8/13/2015
                Roanman
                Dec 23, 2017 at 3:59 PM

                They did it the exact same way they do it now, the way it’s been done since the invention of game film, they looked at miles of film that we never get to see.

  3. Comments: 1356
    Joined: 8/13/2015
    Roanman
    Dec 23, 2017 at 8:13 AM

    In an effort to help you poor souls suffering so mightily from the 12th rated recruiting class in the land, I offer a word of comfort.

    Clemson. That basin … bastion … I meant bastion, of academic excellence and wholesome women … not necessarily in that order.

    Clemson’s recruiting rankings are as follows.

    2018 … #6 … and one helluva class coming off a National Championship year with a shot to repeat.
    2017 … #16 … Third in the ACC
    2016 … #11
    2015 … #9
    2014 … #16
    2013 … #15
    2012 … #20
    2011 … #10

    There’s your classes with a shot at three straight appearances in the National Championship game and two consecutive National Championships. They did is with real nice, talented classes full of guys they recruited to fit their system, then grew up, coached up, retained and then sent out there to beat Alabama.

    Just a bit of perspective.

    • Comments: 1364
      Joined: 8/11/2015
      WindyCityBlue
      Dec 23, 2017 at 2:44 PM

      More straw men.

      But you’re free to enlighten us about how the talent gap with OSU will be closed. Or when you predict that we’ll have a Heisman trophy QB to make up for the deficiencies in our recruiting classes, which is the only reason Clemson was anywhere near the NC game in 2015 and 2016.

      • Comments: 1356
        Joined: 8/13/2015
        Roanman
        Dec 23, 2017 at 3:54 PM

        Pretty sure you don’t know what a “straw man” argument really is there Whiney?

        Secondly there is nothing I can say on that issue that will suite you Whiney as you have already looked into our future and proclaimed our QB play for the 2018 season as being a failure.

        We’ll close it the exact same way Clemson closed it on Florida State, and Alabama.

        • Comments: 1364
          Joined: 8/11/2015
          WindyCityBlue
          Dec 23, 2017 at 9:35 PM

          Prove to me I don’t know, and that you’re not using one. Show us examples of the “poor souls suffering so mightily”.

          • Comments: 1356
            Joined: 8/13/2015
            Roanman
            Dec 24, 2017 at 6:00 AM

            By definition

            “A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent’s argument, while refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent.”

            I refuted nothing in my post, I presented an idea then provided evidence. Therefor, by definition, no straw man argument.

            Merry Christmas

          • Comments: 1356
            Joined: 8/13/2015
            Roanman
            Dec 24, 2017 at 6:35 AM

            Merry Christmas! [Edited by Thunder.]

        • Comments: 1364
          Joined: 8/11/2015
          WindyCityBlue
          Dec 23, 2017 at 9:40 PM

          I love all of you. Happy holidays! [Edited by Thunder]

      • Comments: 1356
        Joined: 8/13/2015
        Roanman
        Dec 23, 2017 at 4:14 PM

        Just dawned on me there Whiney, Clemson didn’t have a Heisman trophy QB. Although they did have a great one and a Heisman finalist.

        • Comments: 3844
          Joined: 7/13/2015
          Dec 23, 2017 at 9:36 PM

          NOTE: In the spirit of the holiday, I’m deleting all the smart-ass posts between now and December 26. Frankly, I’m growing tired of the back-and-forth that is and has been developing.

          • Comments: 1364
            Joined: 8/11/2015
            WindyCityBlue
            Dec 23, 2017 at 9:48 PM

            Good idea. Along those lines, you might want to delete any posts that contain playground insults, name- calls and snark, and lack any discussion of football issues.

            That rule wouldn’t bother me one bit.

            • Comments: 3844
              Joined: 7/13/2015
              Dec 23, 2017 at 9:50 PM

              I’m hoping having a couple days’ worth of a moratorium on stuff like that will put the kibosh on certain things.

              • Comments: 1364
                Joined: 8/11/2015
                WindyCityBlue
                Dec 23, 2017 at 9:56 PM

                Well, if you’re not willing to start the “moratorium” on every post in this thread that warrants it, what’s the point of this?

                • Comments: 3844
                  Joined: 7/13/2015
                  Dec 23, 2017 at 9:59 PM

                  The point is this: it ends now.

                • Comments: 1364
                  Joined: 8/11/2015
                  WindyCityBlue
                  Dec 23, 2017 at 10:06 PM

                  I disagree with you. [Edited by Thunder.]

                • Comments: 3844
                  Joined: 7/13/2015
                  Dec 23, 2017 at 10:07 PM

                  I don’t want to argue with you. Have a good holiday.

              • Comments: 1364
                Joined: 8/11/2015
                WindyCityBlue
                Dec 23, 2017 at 10:14 PM

                Happy holidays to you, too! [Edited by Thunder.]

  4. Comments: 359
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    GKblue
    Dec 24, 2017 at 9:13 AM

    What I like about this site is that amongst the relatively few posters here the thought process is evident and most often very knowlegeable. I don’t want it to turn into another MGO laden with bs and snark and so far it hasn’t.

    This is once again a testament to the guys who have gravitated here in part by the example of Magnus/Thunder, and stay due to the decent dialog amongst us and the info provided. If we can’t apply a govenor to our thoughts before we post, then I suppose we become a pita to our Mod. Not a grand aspiration.

    Thunder Is the message board caput?

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      Dec 24, 2017 at 3:50 PM

      Not to toot my own horn, but I agree with everything you said.

      The message board is still intact, although people rarely use it.

  5. Comments: 359
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    GKblue
    Dec 24, 2017 at 4:50 PM

    Whenever I go to the message board over say the last week I get error code 404 page not found. Same when I hit register in case I need to re-register. I am one of the few that occasionally post there so I know this is a new thing.

    If you can’t toot at Christmas when can you.

  6. Comments: 359
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    GKblue
    Dec 24, 2017 at 9:39 PM

    Nope. Same error message.

    Merry Christmas to you and yours. Here in the Irish Hills of Michigan it has snowed all day and this evening the wife and I watched a movie. That’ll explain the whole “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas and Kate Hudson” thing won’t it?.

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