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It seems to be raining 2011 rankings. Both Bucknuts and Rivals put out 2011 rankings in the last 24 hours. I nearly made it a trifecta. I was re-ordering my 2011 list and nearly posted it. I was doing more research and thinking I would post it when I saw the Buknuts list come up. I decided to postpone because it would have seemed like I was trying to one up them. That is family over there. You don't do that to family. This morning I wake up and see Rivals put up a list.I want to talk about some players without going into a top 10 or 15 or whatever.
The first kid I want to talk about is Shane Wynn. There has been a lot of talk about his size. Rivals got a tape measure and a scale on him at a combine this past summer. He is 5-6 and 150 lbs. I know fans are going to look at that film, very impressive indeed, and say he is so fast and elusive. Just line him up in the slot and corners cannot get their hands on him. That is too simplistic. They still can get a hand on him. It is not as easy as a split end who is standing
right on the line of scrimmage but they can still get their hands on him. Beyond that he is not going to win any battles for balls against defenders. There is a difference between interference and fighting for the ball. There is going to be contact. I don't see a kid that size winning those battles. His game is always dependent on getting him into space. Two things make the offer from the Buckeyes something I have gotten right with. One, I am coming around to the idea of offering a kick returner a scholarship. I have never been a fan. They don't touch the ball often enough. The NFL brings in kick returners just to be kick returners but they don't pay them like a full time receiver. All scholarship money is the same. Watching Ray Small has made me re-think this idea. He has never returned as many kicks for touchdowns or big yardage as Ted Ginn but I bet he has set us up with better field position more times than Ginn. He is always going forward. If a punt returner can return a kick 10 yards consistently he is going to have a major impact on his team. That and watching Trindon Holliday for LSU. He is not having that great an impact on the stat sheet. Fans are so excited about a kid that fast but Holliday is a senior and has not touched the ball 100 times. He has 4 touchdowns. He has only caught 5 passes in his career. Wynn is different. I suspect Holliday is just fast. Wynn can catch the ball, and he can run patterns. Returning kicks, being the fourth receiver and maybe taking a handoff once in while with his game breaking ability, I don't know if I would do it but I am not going to call it a reach.
I have become a fan of Colerain big back Trayion Durham. He is listed as a fullback because of his size and the fact that he plays fullback in high school but I saw a recent game. I think it was Elder. He impressed me. Big, strong, great balance and runs with great determination. He reminds me of Raymont Harris.He has a listed 4.56. I am not sure about that. If he is under 4.6 next year in the athlete season he is going to turn some heads.
Glenville has been good to the Buckeye program so fans tend to get excited about any top Glenville prospect. I look at two players who everyone reading this has heard about, Andre Sturdivant and Aundre Walker. They both are on the opposite end of the same problem. That problem is size. Walker is so big that he might be too big. He is not explosive coming off the ball. This staff has avoided overweight kids like the plague. Sturdivant is not athletic enough to play anywhere but the middle. He is tight in the hips and does not impress me in space. I know the name Brian Rolle is going to come up as an undersized middle linebacker. He is no Brian Rolle. He does not have the speed of Rolle. Cordale Jones has not impressed me as a quarterback but I really like the athlete. He could play just about any skill position except quarterback.
We may see a decent offensive line class. I don't want to put the names out until later in the year after we see some more tape but there could be a handful. At least one may not be a high school offensive lineman.
Buckeye fans are going to hear about Florida 2011 quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Is he better than Braxton Miller? Yes. He is better. He is bigger. He is even more athletic. His arm is just as strong. I give Miller the edge in mechanics. Both are five-star kids, national top five kids next year. The big question is who would I offer if I could only take one, but that one would commit as soon as I offered him, it would still be Miller. Bridgewater is so focused on going to the Show that he is thinking he wants to play another position, likely wide receiver, to increase his odds of making that happen.
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