I'm reviewing Arkley's notes, and comparing them to my own. Mostly we agree, but here are a few differences. One difference is that Arkley is very inconsistent as to when he accounts for tranfers who had to sit out for a year:
Hinton - Arrived in 2005, sat out, played in 2006, Arkley lists him with 2006
Bower - Arrived in 2005, sat out, played in 2006 and 2007, not included with any class
Mooney - Arrived in 2006, sat out, played in 2007-8, Arkley lists at 2006
Carter - Arrived in 2006, sat out, played in 2007-8, not included with any class
Flintall - Arrived 2007, sat out, played in 2008-9, not included with any class
Hershey - Arrived 2007, sat out, played in 2008-9, Arkley lists as 2009
Goulet - played in 2008-10, Arkley lists as 2008, not sure where he was in 2007
Blankenship - arrived 2010, sat out, played 2011-13, Arkley lists as 2010
Prior - arrived 2010, sat out, played 2011-12, Arkley lists as 2010
I decided to count them all in the first year they are on the roster, usually the year they sit out. That's how Arkley treated Mooney, Blankenship, and Prior.
2005 - Arkley lists Jackson as a 2005 recruit and 6-year player due to injury. I very distinctly recall him not being on the 2005 team, and my notes from 2005 show that he was not on the roster. Perhaps he was a grayshirt, or perhaps the reason that he didn't join the team was injury related, but he was never granted a sixth year; he just joined the team late. My other comment is that I'm surprised he didn't mention one of the best players in that recruiting class, Mark Parson, who had somewhat of an NFL career after Ohio. Ten 2005 players played as true freshmen: Stuck, Brandon Jones, Jayson White, Brandon Peterson, Parson, Mitchell, J. Meyers, Hartke, Kenkle, Leuck. I totally agree with Arkley that the hallmark of the 2005 class is that there were very few complete misses.
2006 - I have S. Jackson with this class. He mentions that Black never became a starter, but Black had back injuries, and had to quit football. Another lineman from the same class, Bunner, actually made it to starter before having to quit the game. Not mentioned with the 2006 class was that there were four significant walkons that year, AJ Oxley (NG), Ryan Senser (LS), Matt Schulte (P), and Matt Lasher (PK). Again, I agree with his conclusion that there were a lot of misses that year (D'Aguanno, Goff, Karr, Reese, and Mercer were all players that I considered to be misses).
2007 - I have only a few comments. He misses entirely Matt Donahue, who came in and played exceptionally well as a true Freshman, until he injured his thumb, and got homesick and left the program. He mentions one walkon, Notestine, but there were three others who were significant, LB Eric Benjamin, K Barrett Way, and transfer from Toledo, P Paul Hershey (oddly, Arkley lists Benjamin and Hershey with 2009). While Flading and Strum were outstanding, a number of other offensive line recruits didn't work out, though I don't know if injury was the cause. Laudermilch, O'Hara, and Spegal were three that didn't make a lot of impact. Flowers was the starter ahead of Herman in 2009 before his career was ended by injury. The walkons made this class a lot better than it otherwise would have been.
2008 - While this was a small call, it packed a lot of punch. As far as the walkons, he lists McGrath and Hastings. McGrath actually came in 2009, redshirted in 2009, then played from 2010-2013.
2009 - Arkley lists Benjamin and Hershey as 2009 additions, but both were on the 2007 and 2008 rosters, and both played in 2008. Arkley lists Troy Hill as a 2009 recruit, but he was a no show in 2009, and actually joined the team with the 2010 recruits, a year later. The 2009 class had some very good players, but was very small because of no-shows, plus it had a fair number of misses (I count Green, Reda, Taylor, and Kenner).
2010 - Arkley is pretty much dead on. Start with a small class. Add in a lot of players that don't work out (Morales, Kozak, Tarrant, Grady, Jones, Atwell, and Stefanski), then someone that leaves the program because he's behind a star (Snyder), and a couple guys that after becoming starters, get hurt and never play again (Dietz, Mark Smith), and all that is left from the Freshman class is four players, Kristoff, Ingol, Carpenter, and Cochran. The class was boosted a bit by JUCOs (Foster, Leftwich twins, Hill), transfers (Prior, Blankenship), and a walkon (Keith Moore), which prevented a total disaster.
2011 - Again, Arkley is dead on. There were a few good players, and quite a few misses. I think they recruited a lot of players with hidden injuries that year, players who arrived with injuries, and were unable to ever contribute. I think that after that, Ohio got better at evaluating the health of players they made offers to, though no doubt they still get some people with hidden injuries. The only player that he misses was Dereck Roback. Originally a QB recruit for Notre Dame in 2010, he came to Ohio in 2011, and played TE. Most people remember him for his 26 yard TD catch in the Spud Bowl. Another excellent walkon that arrived in 2011 was Yazdani.
2012 - Once again I agree with Arkley's thesis. It wasn't a great class because of no-shows and players who arrived with injuries. I note that he includes Yazdani, but Yaz was actually a walkon that arrived and redshirted in 2011. He then misses a few players. William Johnson was a late recruit at LB, who redshirted in 2012, then played as a backup in 2013 before leaving the program. Two other walkons in 2012 later won scholarships. Blake Scipio, like OUellette, won a scholarship immediately, and played as a true freshman in 2012, but his career was later terminated due to injury. JD Sprague was another arrival in 2012 who later won a scholarship. There was also a transfer that year, Kendrick Smith, a DE walkon that transferred from LSU, who started some games in 2013 before losing the job to Basham.
2013 - Significant players added in 2013 who were not in the recruiting class were transfer TE Anthony Talbert, and walkons Jerrid Marhefka, Chad Moore, and Cody Grillot. Arkley again gets the main point exactly right; this was a great class for the defensive line, TE, and LB. The TE group was even better if you include graduate transfer Anthony Talbert, who Arkley misses, and who teamed with Mangen as the #1/2 tight ends in 2013. He includes Grant Cunningham and Brad Ellis in this group, while I show both appearing on the roster in 2014 as Redshirt Freshmen. Neither player's bio shows where they were in 2013, which qualified as their redshirt year:
http://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/fball/2017-18/bios/cunn... http://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/fball/2017-18/bios/elli... 2014 - Significant additions in 2014 not on the recruiting list include walkons OUellette, Grant Cunningham, Bo Hardy, and Brad Ellis.
2015 - Bonus additions for 2015 include Kyle Robbins, Austin Clack, and Keith Heitzman.
2016 - Extra additions include Tyler Gulliet, Nick Sink, and Tom Strobel
2017 - It's hard to know in the long run which additions will be of the most value, as it sometimes takes a few years before their value is known. In any case, additions include Jarren Hampton, David Burroughs, Dylan Wear, Markel Davis, Wyatt Shallman, Cole Irland, Brody Rodgers, Jake Neatherton. Also, there is a subtraction, since Juan Watkins, who was originally supposed to be in the 2017 class, is arriving with the 2018 class.
Last Edited: 7/27/2018 1:40:50 PM by L.C.