| 14 April 2011
It is something we have all come to terms with. There is too much talent in the state this year for the Buckeyes to get them all. Even with a full boat of scholarships there is no way all the players who rate a Buckeye offer would make it into a scarlet and gray. Mark Porter pointed out a statistic that drives it home. He has found at least 98 players in Ohio who hold at least one scholarship offer. It is the middle of April, Buckeye Nation. 98 players have scholarship offers.
I was looking down a list of recent offers. I kept saying to myself, that one is going to hurt. I repeated it too many times. It made me think about which ones are going to hurt the most.
Buchtel safety Jarrod Wilson is a player I would love to see an offer to but that does not look like it is going to happen. He is a great free safety prospect something I think is very much a need for the Buckeyes. While not seeing any interest I am aware of from Ohio State he has offers from five Big Ten schools Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana. This kid is a playmaker. I would rather not see him every year for the next four years. His stellar grades are confirmed by offers from Notre Dame, Stanford and Vanderbilt. Lets hope the elite academic profiles of those schools are a key element to his final decision.
William Mahone is a two-way player from Austintown Fitch with offers from Penn State, Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana so the odds he is going to be back in Columbus on the other side of the field are pretty high. He is a great player. I am sure in any other year he would be odds on to have an offer from the Buckeyes. He could be a great safety but I would probably give him a shot first at running back. He also holds offers from Notre Dame and Boston College. All Buckeye fans should hope he ends up putting academics first and chooses one of those schools.
I have been very excited about Pharaoh Brown. My enthusiasm has been dampened a bit after hearing about his desire to be a tight end. No matter which side of the ball he lines up on he could come back to haunt us. He has offers from two Big Five schools in Nebraska and Michigan as well as offers from Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue. Boston College and Syracuse are in there with offers. He has an offer from North Carolina and Butch Davis is a great recruiter. As a Buckeye fan I wish Butch Davis luck recruiting Brown. I know the Buckeyes have had him in but I don't see an offer pending especially since he wants to play tight end but does not play tight end in high school.
Lakewood St. Edward defensive tackle Greg Kuhar is in the same situation. The Buckeyes have had him down too but no offer is forthcoming. He has offers from Michigan, Iowa and Northwestern. He reminds me a great deal of recent Buckeye Dex Larimore. I would put a higher rating on Kuhar because he is bigger. I think if the depth chart were any different he would be odds on to get an offer.
Joe Bolden is the best inside linebacker in the state. I do not think it is even close. He has offers from seven Big Ten schools, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana and Purdue. The Buckeyes have not shown a lot of interest. He is a fine player who has some offers outside the region but with that many offers from Big Ten teams the odds he is going to improve the chances of some Big Ten team coming in to knock us off are pretty good. A good number of Cincinnati players go to Boston College. Bolden holds an offer from Boston College.
I am sure this one will be a bit of a surprise because I have not seemed to be that high on Kaleb Ringer. I think he is slightly overrated because the way the game is played linebackers must be able to cover and I have not seen it out of him but if you want a middle linebacker to run from tackle to tackle and stuff the run then this is an awfully good football player. He committed to Michigan without an offer from the Buckeyes. I did not see a Buckeye linebacker in Ringer but this is definitely an upgrade in talent for Michigan.
I do not include a player like Chris Wormley because the Buckeyes are actively recruiting him. I think Michigan leads but Michigan led for some big name Buckeye players early including Orlando Pace and Korey Stringer.
We know we are going to see some very talented players leave the state. Cheer hard for them to leave the region. This level of talent congregating in one or two spots is something we very much do not want to see happen.We know we are going to see some very talented players leave the state. Michigan has offered six of the seven players I have listed here. They already have a verbal from one. This is the kind of talent that can infuse new blood into The Rivalry quickly because it is not Michigan taking talent the Buckeyes do not want. It would be Michigan getting players the Buckeyes don't have room for. Big difference.
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