Looking at the second half of the recruiting class now.

9 - Devin Smith, WR, Massillon. I was one of those surprised by the fact that it took Smith so long to get an offer. I see a kid with so much upside. His athlete season was spectacular. He lit it up on the track and came to camp and lit it up. I see a player who is going to be so much more than he is right now physically. He is going to get bigger and stronger and I think he is one of those players who is going to get a good deal faster. He is already one of those players who runs by people. If he is even, he is leavin'. I could not be happier that he waited around on an offer. He had the kind of list that many players would just say forget Ohio State and take one of them.

10 - Nick Vannett, TE, Westerville Central. I think Vannett is underrated in general but fans don't get how important his verbal is. I think the tease of a verbal for so long put some fans off but make no mistake of the importance of landing a player of this calber. Ohio State is never going to be a tight end featured offense under Jim Tressel. Some of you want to see a tight end involved in the offense like we see with other porgrams. The tight ends are such a no comments

I am sure I will be doing this again once the class is full but right now I want to rank the players in the Buckeyes 2011 recruiting class as it stands right now.

First things first. This is the kind of class where being one of the last third of the rankings does not mean a player is a throwback. Most years there are players that might be reaches but this year I can only think of one player that falls into the potential reach zone. That is prett remarkable. That when I go down this class of 17 as it currently stands that I only see one player that I want to say that I would like to have that scholarship still in the bank or that I wonder why another player was not offered instead. I don't care where this class is rated. This is the kind of recruiting class that you build championships with. It is so strong up front. no comments

Aaron Gant, Zac Damicone, Brandon Mitchell, Nadar Abdullah, Curtis Terry, Donald Washington, Brian Robiskie, James Laurinaitis, Jermil Martin, Adam Bellamy, Kenny Guiton, Verlon Reed. All names known to Buckeye fans. What do they have in common? They all got offers later in the process. Most did not get interest from the Buckeyes until December or January of their senior years. None were household names. The reaction by Buckeye fans to most when their offers came was "Who?"

As I look at the current recruiting effort, which is looking like a top five class no matter who the Buckeyes pick up from now until signing day, I can't see any players high on my board other than Doran Grant who is a sure Buckeye lean, and I think the Buckeyes land the much underrated Ejuan Price. That leaves a few spots to fill. Even if Aundray Walker and Shane Wynn do as everyone espects and commit to the Buckeyes, there are still some spots to fill. By the time the staff knows that we are not going to get Ishaq Williams, Angelo Mangiro, no comments

Dave Biddle has a great one on one with incoming recruit David Durham. He was projected at defensive end but reveals to Biddle that he will be getting his first shot at linebacker.

I remember when he was being recruited. He came out of nowhere. The first film came out and I wondered why we had him projected at DE. Then the DE film came out and I saw why. He can play either position. Start him off there and see how he does. If he outgrows the position, he outgrows the position. Looks like a natural movedown move. Start any player at the fastest and most athletic position you think he can play and move him down. I also think it is good scholarship management. With next years monster DL class and with a linebacker class that is still looking for bodies, adding a Mike to the mix is a great move and opens up no comments

Once again we have changed servers. I waited a couple of days after the latest change to post again. How things have changed.

How long have we been talking about how spots were filling up? Now I wonder if we don't see some offers late to fill out the class. Things have changed that quickly. Several players verballed the Buckeyes. Others dropped the Buckeyes. Wayne Lyons was a safety we all coveted. He cut his large list down to a "manageable" 14. The Buckeyes did not make the cut. Another safety that it looked good with, Dondi Kirby, says the Ohio State timeline and his timeline do not match. I think there was some push on this. Kirby tore his ACL not so long ago. I think the staff forced his hand in a respectful way. I think they went at him with the no comments

I think we are on our way to a class of about 23. I think the staff could find a way to fit 25 if needed but those last two will only be used in this class if number 24 and number 25 were the kind of players you don't say no to. We are at 17 now. It makes me look at a couple of situations.

How many inside players are we going to take? We have four verbals. What if we get Mangiro? Are we going to take six OLs? Mangiro says he is going to make his decision before the season starts. Aundray Walker just said he is taking all five visits. That means we are taking six, or we are going to say no to a Glenville player. All of them are odds on the be inside players, guards or centers. I am all for taking six OLs, but six players whose best position is guard? Six players who are going to be out of position playing tackle? It is that simple. Jim Bollman likes versatile linemen. Tackles can play inside but few inside lineman can no comments

No real surprise that Ron Tanner went ahead and made it official this morning with a verbal to the Buckeyes. The only question was why did he wait. He always seemed to be talking up the Buckeyes but never verballed. If he was running around all over the place visiting I would think he wanted to make sure but he was not doing that. It doesn't matter. He is a Buckeye. I love his playmaking potential. He is a nice compliment to the more physical Jeremy Cash. Tanner is one of those players who always seems to be around the football and ends up with it in his hands a good bit. He is another in a now long line of kids Jim Tressel has recruited no comments

Thought you got rid of me? Nah. Bloguin changed to a new server. The first was defective so we moved again. Now all the bugs are worked out and we can get back to it.

So much has happened in the last week. We got a couple of verbals and camp gave us more reason to believe that the next class is going to live up to expectations and could exceed them.We had some personnel changes.

First, the verbals. Nick Vannett is a huge get. We do not throw to the tight end. I know that drives so many of you crazy. It does not drive me crazy. I agree with the basic principle of the offense. Run the ball and go down the field to to the playmakers. The tight ends that fans are getting excited about are in tight end friendly offenses. That means the tight end is a primary receiver sometimes. I don't think we will ever see that here and I am fine with that. no comments

For several months now we have been talking about how we were going to get all these elite players in and who might get left out.

We have talked about the Glenville pair, Shane Wynn and Aundray Walker. How could they wait until after the season, do this the "Glenville Way" when there were great players looking to verbal early? I have it from multiple sources that the staff would like to take two quarterbacks in this class so Cardale Jones could still make it in. My response has been, where does he fit in? How does he fit in? We may be seeing why right now.

We are looking at spots opening up. There has been a rumor that Jermil Martin will leave. Many believe he still will. Count me amongst them. We have all heard about the tragic news no comments

The Big 33 was played last night. I had no idea that it would be on the NFL Network until I stumbled across so I missed the first few minutes.

The talk of the Big 33 practices was Darryl Baldwin. I could not believe how big he had gotten. He looks like he is ready to get drafted not getting ready to step on a college field. Mark Porter has been saying left tackle for the longest time. I have always believed he was an offensive player but I thought the chances of him getting this big were not great. If you can see the great picture Gary Hosteau posted on Bucknuts make sure you take a look. The buzz is about him as a defensive player. I think if he does stay on defense it will be at DT. He is a no comments