Here's a link to Signing Day Central.

This should be a class filled with playmakers. For those that haven't been lurking on the Recruiting Forum pages, here are some of the playmakers expected to sign:

QB - Joey Duckworth, was out for the season

Big Running Back - Maleek Irons 6'1", 205; 3204 yards rushiing, 45 TDs, 10.5/carry Junior year, 2744 yards, 31 TDs, 13.3/carry Senior Season

Speed Back - Papi White 5'9" 180, 3116 yards, 12.8 yards/carry, 4.45 40

All Purpose Back - Robbie Walker 5'9" 173; 926 yards, 5.3 yards/carry, 19 catches for 259 yards

WR - Herman Brunis 6'0, 170 lbs; 40 catches, 716 yards  5 TDs, really goes up after the ball, catches it even in traffic

WR/S - Chek Washington 5'11" 183; 67 receptions, 1190 yards 10 TDs, NW Division II offensive player of the year

WR - Andrew Meyer 6'1" 190; injured in preseason

WR/DB/QB - Tyler Jones 6'1" 185

Lots more players, too, on the line, on defense. Should be fun tomorrow.

I agree - I see Walker in the slot. Of the three, he has the best hands. I also see him as the punt returner/kick returner for the same reason. They are all very different backs, though, and all will play important, and different roles.

As for Leavitt, I don't know what the reason was, but for some reason he wasn't able to enroll last fall, and deferred enrollment, but still plans to be a Bobcat. A year ago Sebastian Smith deferred enrollment for health reasons, and entered a year later, so Leavitt isn't the first to do it.

If I'm reading the signing day central page correctly, Duckworth was the first to send in his LOI. Of the first seven kids, six of them were from Ohio and it's only 9:40am.

Shouldn't this be the formula every year? This is the biggest group of Ohio kids that Frank and Co. have gotten to sign since he's been here. I feel like that's kind of bizarre given how long he's been here. I know Ohio is a recruiting hotbed for surrounding states as well, but we should be doing better than that in-state by now right?

I guess with having eight other D1 programs in the state, it may take more than a few years to attract that talent away from them to get down here. It also helps that schools like PSU, Pitt, CMU, WMU, Indiana and UK have been down for the past few years. Just goes to show how many great football players come from Ohio. I agree about the attendance thing as well. Down the road, I think that's the only way Ohio gets a stadium expansion. Ohio has to recruit kids in-state and establish a foothold which will attract more fans to watch "their boys" play.

The recruiting arms race is a fascinating study for any graduate-level student. Ohio goes from what, 6-8 kids a year from Ohio and almost IMMEDIATELY after the IPF goes up, that number doubles. Just incredible.

Five bowl games didn't hurt, either, but clearly the IPF was a huge factor, and you can see it in two places. One is the huge increase in in-state recruits. The second is the timing of recruits. Here's a table that I had posted on the recruiting forum, and it isn't complete, but you can see the difference immediately if you look at the last two years. This is the timing of verbals:
              By June    Jul      Aug     Sept      Oct       Nov       Dec       Jan       Feb
2005           0            0         0          0           0          0           0         20         6
2006           0            0         0          0           0          3           1           9         6
2007           0            0         0          1           1          1           4           5         9
2008           0            0         0          0           0          0           9           2         9
2009           0            0         0          2           0          3           2           3        11
2010           0            2         1          2           1          0           0           3         7
2011           2            2         3          0           0          0           0           4         5
2012           0            0         0          4           1          1           4           5         4  
2013           1           10
2014           5 .           8        3

Suddenly, the last two years Ohio has starting getting early verbals. This is significant because Ohio each year sends out 100-150 offers to their first choices, and then waits to see how many of those accept. Then, after the season, in December-January, they look around for other players that can fill the remaining spaces. Most years nearly the entire class was filled in the last 45 days, from mid-December on. Now they are getting a high acceptance rate from their first choices, and this year most of the class was filled by August.

Arkley's article is great, and his perspective is similar to mine. One place I differ - he expects 14 players from Ohio. I expect 17. We'll know before the day is out.

Edit - As of now 20 players are either signed or enrolled, including 14 from Ohio. I am still looking for 5 more, including three from Ohio, Connor Brown (TE), Pierce Royster (K), and Tyler Jones (S). Two important ones remain from out of state, Papi White (Oklahoma), and Maleek Irons (Canada).

The team's twitter says the list published on the website is the final list. Names not listed include Frueauf and Royster. Do preferred walk-ons still sign?

In watching our recruits' tape, the one thing that sticks out to me is how versatile a lot of them are. Most of our players look like they have played on both sides of the ball. Several of them have experience as returners. Even Bonnstetter, the punter, has experience as a QB and DB.

Haha, 16 it is, unless you count Leavitt, a leftover from last year who will join the team this fall. Add in preferred walkons Royster (Hudson) and Frueauf (Moeller) and Ohio got quite the haul from in-state this year.

Great comparison......but as I sit here drinking green koolaid he looks like Barry Sanders.

Huh....6'2"-240 pound RB who runs about a 4.4 forty and when he goes down acts like he's hurt so the D isn't worried about him?

Hmmmmm...send me some of that stuff.

Scoreboards.