| 08 April 2010
It is becoming clear where the staff has decided it needs to focus its recruiting efforts for the class of 2011.
I am happy to see that the staff has accepted that they have not done a great job bringing in safeties. This year we are borrowing from other positions because we have not done a good job with our safety evaluations. Nate Oliver is a name we never hear anymore. Some argued with me about Damicone. He is reportedly alternatiing between the second and third team. We need to get some safeties in here and the staff is blanketing the country to find the best of the best. W have a nice collection of safeties here in Ohio. We have an offer out to Ron Tanner in state. We have eight offers out to Florida kids, some could be corners but most are safeties. We have fully 15 offers out across the country to defensive backs. I would say at least eight project to safety. That is what I call attacking a problem.
I think all coaches are constantly learning. Some argue that a loss like we sustained against Florida in the 2006 championship game is something you throw out because you can't learn anything from it. I could not disagree more. I think this staff learned something from it and we are seeing it in full bloom with this recruiting class. What we see from the southern schools, the difference between them and the rest of college football, is defensive linemen. We got killed on the edges. Ever since then we have seen the Buckeye staff get after defensive linemen like never before. We have seen the results already. We saw several talking heads predict that Oregon would hang 50 on us. Our defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. The staff has taken recruiitng defensive linemen to another level with this class. We took four defensive linemen last year. If we didn't get any we would have still had a two deep everywhere along the line once Cam Heyward decided to return to school. We have already taken three in this class. We have another eight offers out there. We just offered Joel Hale yesterday and recently hosted Florida end Anthony Chikillo. I can't recall seeing anything like this before. Then again, I have never seen an instate class like this. Ohio is looking at at least three five-star national recruits on the defensive line. Unprecedented in our time. I think Chase Farris has a shot at being a five-star too.
Offensive line is finally getting the influx it needs. Now I want to see a search for a left tackle.
I am a little surprised we are not looking at more linebackers. I count seven offers and three of those are already committed to other schools. We have two seniors and two juniors in our depth chart. I think now is the time to add two-three more.
The staff seems very comfortable with its wide receiver ranks. So few offers out there, and not in a good situation with most of them. I think we are likely to see no more than two. I think we get Spencer and I think the staff would like to get Shane Wynn, Phillip Dorsett or JuJuan Story. I like Story better and he is a good compliment to Spencer as he is a really big guy. The fact that an outstanding receiver like Devin Smith does not have an offer speaks volumes.
Understatement of the year is we are not going after running backs. I think we have to offer Jameel Poteat if he shows real interest. He is a special talent and we can't hope to hang onto all these backs.
The biggest surprise to me is the lack of interest in the Star position. We move both Stars, Hines and Moeller, to safety. Scott McVey is the only player we recruited who fits the position. I have a hard time believing that he is going to step into the position right away. Maybe we are going to see a new name emerge, a surprise name, but it makes me wonder if we are going to see something different on the defensive side of the ball. Bell is the only linebacker we have that I think could step into the Star role. I have wondered for years why we do not move Nate Oliver to the Star. He is not fast enough to play safety but has great instincts and should have enough speed to play there.
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