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I have looked at the class of 2010 targets from the point of view of who are the most talented and who I want to see here. I have not addressed it from the point of view of need. That is because there are so few to speak of. No need for linebackers, running backs or receivers. We have more weakside ends than we can use. The same with fullbacks.We are solid in depth at corner. We have a quarterback in this really down quarterback class so even if the staff desired another there are no targets out there. The staff is already courting 2011 kids. We need tight ends but the staff is looking to next year for a tight end. No offers out there for 2010 kids but at least one, Ben Koyack from Pa, for a 2011 kid. I believe Baldwin fills that role in this class anyway.
1 - Seantrell Henderson - OL. I am trying not to get excited about him but the buzz is this will come down to Ohio State and USC. One thing I have heard is that Henderson is being told that he can come in here and start at left tackle. I try to avoid rumors but this one has such a solid foundation that it makes sense. We all saw how much Mike Adams is struggling. He is an immense talent. He is so far behind at this point with the loss of reps from injury an
d suspension. Halfway through his sophmore year he looks more like a player halfway through his first year. He got suckered all game by Purdue lining up a player inside the end and tackle and faking the blitz. The one good thing about Bollmans small group philosophy is the staff can look a talent like Henderson in the eye and tell him he can be in the mix as soon as he arrives on campus, and not be lying.
NOTE: I am a straight no chaser kinda guy. I don't pull punches. Central to that is throwing the punch at the right guy. Saturday I said Andy Miller got beat by Kerrigan too. He did not play. That was Cordle out there. I saw a white guy lined up at left tackle. I did not see his number and assumed it was Miller. My apologises to Miller.
2 - Josh Shaw - DB. I call him a DB because he can play anywhere in the secondary. I like our corner depth but it is nice to have a talent such as Shaw who can play both. Offensive line depth has been a concern of mine for some time. I think I might actually rate safety as more of a concern. When Anderson Russell got benched all my fears about the position came to fruition. We completely revamp the back 7 because of that one move because nobody was ready to step in? Are you kidding me??? Not even the much ballyhooed Ohrian Johnson was worthy of anything but back-up reps. We need the caliber of talent who can come in here and play next September.
3 - LaMarcus Joyner - DB. Another elite talent and versatile enough to play either safety position. He is so competitive. Just look at the way he plays the game. The way Florida State is playing plus Bowden hanging on by a thread puts him into the Buckeye lean category. I have not heard anything. I am just saying that a kid who wants to win as badly as Joyner and one who is being as level headed at Joyner has been about this I question whether he is going to put himself into an unstable coaching situation where he is going to lose more games than he can stomach, no matter how close to home it is.
4 - Sharif Floyd - DT. You probably thought you would never see him on a list of mine. The difference is he has now scheduled a visit. That and the fact that Heyward could leave. That is going to weaken one position or the other. Heyward is a strong side end but could help at DT. With him gone we are looking at less than ideal situation at DT and a really shaky situation at strong side end. Floyd is elite. He does not help us at SSDE if Heyward leaves but he shores up the DT situation. There are never too many DTs anyway.
5 - Matt James - OL - Yes. He is back on the list. No, I have not heard anything. I am putting him back on because he has not committed. I had solid info a couple of months ago that he was going to verbal Notre Dame. He didn't. For the longest time I kept hearing Cincinnati was the leader. Still no verbal. He is a kid that obviously does not like the recruiting process. It has been my experience that kids with that mindset will get it over with as soon as humanly possible if they have a favorite. That tells me we still have a shot and there is no question about the need. He seems to be a humble kid but he is also a superstar talent. He has never sat in his life. Being able to get on the field as early as possible will be banging around in the back of his mind. The Buckeye can offer him that as well as either Notre Dame or Cincinnati.
I know I am going to be asked about Jordan Hicks. He is not on the list because we don't need him. Yes, I said that. We want him. He is the best linebacker I have ever seen in Ohio. He is the nations #1 LB prospect. You always want a player like that especially if he is an instate kid. Look at the roster right now. Etienne Sabino is the most talented kid I have seen come into the program since Big Kat and maybe the best ever. I would say he and Hicks are close but I give the edge to Sabino because I believe he can play any of the three linebacker spots. I don't see Hicks being able to play the middle. Sabino can't get on the field here. Andrew Sweat is the most A.J. Hawk looking linebacker since.....A.J. Hawk. He can't break into the starting lineup either. Storm Klein is the best linebacker nobody is talking about. He did not play much LB in high school so he gets overlooked. He plays mop-up duty here. Dorian Bell was a national top 5 linebacker. He is a little undersized but anywhere else he would have played as a freshman. Jordan Hicks, as good as he is, as much as I want him here, would redshirt. We want him. We want a talent like him badly. This list is about need. We don't need him.
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I thought we were looking good for Shaw, but he seems to fall in love with the last school he visits.
Hard to get a good read on him.