| 15 May 2011
I have believed offensive line recruiting is hopelessly flawed for some time. We talk about decisions with the offensive line but this staff, overall quite adept when it comes to evaluating talent, has not done a great job of evaluating safeties. The Buckeyes have offered two more out of state safeties. That is a total of six offered safeties that I am aware of. Five are from out of state. I have stated before that I understand the offers to Deon Bush, Travis Blanks and Jordan Diggs. They are probably three of the top ten safeties in the country. I feel confident that Bush and Blanks are.These latest offers leave me scratching my head.
I look at the offer to Jeannette, Pennsylvania athlete Demitrious Cox and here we go again flashes through my head. I am looking at a 7:35 film and I think there were five defensive back plays. Maybe it was the decision of the person who recorded it to make it about 95% of Cox at quarterback and he does play all the time both ways but the film surely does not suggest an every down defensive player. We keep doing this. How many quarterbacks is this staff going to recruit to play safety before they accept that the strategy is not working? The history is nothing but a failed experiment. I don't know if Grant Schwartz played any safety in high school. All the film I saw of him was at quarterback. Rocco Pentello played safety but was mostly a quarterback. Dave Biddle knows all things Xenia Beavercreek. He says Zack Damicone did not play at all at safety in high school. Orhian Johnson did not play safety in high school. The only reason he was the starter is because of injuries and a lack of options.Verlon Reed was brought here to play safety. Again, if he played safety in high school I am not aware of it. Thankfully the staff saw he was a better option at receiver before time was wasted trying once again, to turn a quarterback into a safety. I understand the principle. Safety is about athleticism and reading the game. It seems like the move should work. Sitting back there and making a correct read seems like it would be so similar to reading the game at quarterback. When Orhian Johnson is the only one who can be considered even a remote success you have to say that theory does not work in the real world. We talk so much about reps, and rightfully so. It is about experience. I do not understand why that thinking does not apply with the recruiting of safeties. We see the staff continue to recruit players with little and sometimes no reps at the position. I think it would help if we would pick from the kids whose primary position is safety.
The most recent offer is to Chaz Elder. He is a safety from Georgia. He has a fine offer list. It includes Georgia, Auburn and Florida State. Jarrod Wilson and Bam Bradley are not offer talents? I don't get that. Both have impressive offer lists themselves. They have solid grades. Elder is a fine looking player but he is not any more impressive than Wilson and Bradley. The buzz is the staff does not know if Bradley is a safety or a linebacker. Elder is bigger than Bradley. What really gets to me is the reported forty time for Elder is 4.75 to 4.79. Bradley can run 4.75 to 4.79 after finishing a marathon. I have no idea why we have shown no interest whatsoever in Wilson.
In any year I would wonder why we are are not paying attention to instate safeties of this caliber. In this recruiting season we are fighting an uphill battle against a level of negative recruiting tactics like we have never seen before. Safety is a need position. The fact that six offers are currently on the board, beyond the verbal from Frank Epitropulous, says the staff is in agreement. We have offers to the kind of players who wait until signing day to choose their school. The ability of this staff to close is not one of its strengths. Coming home and getting the talent right here in our own backyard seems such a logical strategy. We just can't afford to miss.
I know some are going to say, well, I just trust the staff. Based on what? What is your measure of success? There are currently five Buckeye players on NFL rosters who were recruited by this staff. Three, Donte Whitner, Kurt Coleman and Malcolm Jenkins were recruited and started their careers as corners. Both Whitner and Coleman played as freshman at corner. Malcolm Jenkins did not move to safety until he went to the NFL. That is not a legacy of success that says we should just have faith.
Maybe we should look to the success at producing cornerbacks, so impressive that if Ohio State is not cornerback U it is certainly one of the finalists for the title, as a guideline. One thing that leaps out at me is whether the players played other positions in high school, they played cornerback.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
