| 04 August 2011
The class of 2012 is winding down quickly. At least the early stage is winding down. So many players have committed early. It seems to be that we see more every year. I remember a time, it was not that long ago, when recruiting did not even start until after the senior year of the class being recruited. Now it is almost like two separate seasons. The early commits are winding out. Later we will see some of the elite players and the fallback players start to commit. We will see official visits but very few commitments.
One of the things that has evolved with this process is the attention on younger players. The seniors to be are committed or they are waiting. The growth of the internet and the ease with which film is uploaded has allowed us to see juniors to be and even sophmores to be at an early stage.
I am looking at 2013 film more than 2012 film right now. Ohio football is in good shape. The 2012 defensive line class will never be seen again. Look at where these players have ended up. Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, Michigan State. If things go well we see a couple more at Ohio State. If it goes badly we see defensive linemen at Alabama, Notre Dame or
Stanford. We are not talking about Florida or Texas. We are talking about defensive linemen from Ohio going to that many big time programs. We may never see any single position provide this many national prospects again. 2012 is a great running back class. The safety class is a special one. Overall one of the best classes ever in Ohio.
2013 is shaping up to be an impressive class. Very impressive. In fact, it is looking like it may have the diversity that makes the the class of 2002 the class that many would argue is the benchmark all Ohio classes will be measured by. There were great players all over the place in that class.
The strength of the class is looking to be quarterback, cornerback and receivers.
At quarterback I am looking at five 2013 quarterbacks with D-1 offers if you include Jalin Marshall. That does not include Kyle Stahl and Nathan Strock, both quarterbacks who could end up being the top players at the position for the class. Stahl is a dream pocket passer with the kind of arm that means the entire playbook is open for business. Strock may be the best pass/run quarterback of the lot when it is all said and done. With Jalin Marshall and Malik Zaire in the class that is a big statement. The thing to keep in mind is we are talking about quarterbacks, the toughest position to project, with offers off of sophmore tape. That speaks volumes about the talent we are seeing in the 2013 Ohio quarterback class.
I have talked about the corners recently with Cam Burrows leading the way but fans should not forget about Avon's Ross Douglass and Copleys Aregeros Turner, both are holding major D1 offers despite the fact that they have yet to step on the field as juniors.
What I have not talked about is the receiver class. I was talking with Mark Porter about it recently. I think we are looking at the best receiver class ever in Ohio. Like with the corners and Cam Burrows, we have a receiver who is sucking all the light out of the room in Jalin Marshall so others are not getting any attention. Recently a film came to my attention of a previously unknown player. Cleveland Heights receiver Shelton Gibson is going to be an elite player in the class. He is not as elusive as Marshall but he is faster. When I profile the receivers as a position I will tell you more about him.
I have recently looked at Kevin Gladney again. I almost forgot how good he is. DiNiro Laster is very impressive on his JV film. He has really good size. We have not even seen film of Walnut Ridge's Rob Wheelwright but he was impressive enough this summer to earn an offer from Wisconsin. He is not the only potentially great receiver in this class that we don't have film of. It is going to be a massively great class of receivers.
Overall, coach Fickell, or whoever might be the Buckeye head coach, is going to have a really great class to harvest home grown talent from.
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