| 20 January 2010
MurrDawg on Bucknuts asked me about how I thought the Buckeyes would fill out this class. He has seen it somewhere that we have three scholarships left and there are five players out there that nobody would say not to, Jordan Hicks, Seantrell Henderson, Christian Bryant, Dominique Brown and Matt James. I would add a sixth player. There is news that coach Tressel has had an in-home with 2009 class super OL prospect Morgan Moses who ended up at Fork Union last year.. JT is not going to do an in-home with a player who is not going to qualify.
I think we can forget about James. Despite James saying Ohio State leads, we were his first visit. He will see Notre Dame. That is where it falls apart. He has family connections to Cincinnati. His dad played there. Brian Kelly bought that school national recognition and made it a place where an elite athlete would consider. I assumed that the son of an alum would not be really happy with Kelly. Once he scheduled a visit there, I knew that was not the case. I can't see him anywhere but Notre Dame.
All the news on Hicks and Henderson is trending the Buckeyes way. We are benefiting from instability with other schools. I don't know of anyone who thinks Hicks is going to Florida anymore. A month ago Florida was the team to beat. Charlie Strong left then we had this bizarre situation with Urban Meyer. The word I get is once Strong left Hicks was already on his way to reconsidering. Most thought it was Ohio State and USC for Henderson with USC likely the leader. That has changed with Pete Carrol leaving the program not to mention a guy like Lane Kiffin coming in. I think the smart money is on those two coming this way. Bryant was always coming this way. He is a Glenville kid and there is need for another safety in this class.
Brown is deciding whether he wants to play quarterback or play at Ohio State. The Buckeyes rightly did not even mess around with the quarterback issue. The offer is as a receiver. If he wants to play quarterback he has to go somewhere else. Love the athlete. Not so impressed with the quarterback.
I did not put this post up so much to talk about what remains so much as to look at what this all means. There is an argument that the late offer to Brown and what looks to be an offer to Morgan Moses means the Buckeyes are not so sure about Hicks, Henderson, Bryant and/or James. That is a solid argument, especially since Brown and Moses are possibly going to go until after signing day to make a decision. I think that a better argument is we have more scholarships than we know about. Bryant has always been a heavy Buckeye lean and Brown could decide at any moment to choose the Buckeyes. He really wants Ohio State. He is not denying that. That means the two we have sitting out there that we know about are gone if both commit. We are not going to wait on Henderson and Hicks if we only have one left to offer after Bryant and Brown? I doubt anyone believes that. Especially when it looks like we lead for both. Why is Jim Tressel taking a late in-home with Moses if he does not have a scholarship for him?
Don't ask me where we are getting them. Maybe we are about to hear that someone is giving up their fifth year. Maybe we are about to hear that someone is taking a medical waiver. I don't know. I do know it looks to me like we have more to offer than we thought we did.
EDIT: Another thought is maybe this could be first come first served but that does not account for the two big prizes left likely holding off until signing day, and the possibility that Browns desire to be a Buckeye outweighs his desire to be a quarterback, or someone gets to him and shows him what kind of money receivers make in the NFL, and the number of option quarterbacks currently drawing a paycheck in the NFL. It could very well be what is going on but I still think that we have more scholarships than we think.
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