Last year's recruiting class was very good, but focused on the big men. This year's class so far is the perfect compliment, being outstanding, and focused on the speed guys. An interesting thought occurs to me - normally the big guys take an extra year or two to develop than the speed guys. They need to bulk up and lift to make the jump to IA from high school, whereas the speed guys are more apt to earn playing time early in their career.  As a result, I see a confluence ahead for these two fine classes. I predict they blend, and that 2016 and especially 2017 will be outstandingly good teams for Ohio.

I tend to call them as I see them, and call them several years in advance. That doesn't make me right, just opinionated.

I'm calling the 2016 team to be a legitimate top 25 team.

It a total mistake to just look at stars and make an assumption that Toledo is out recruiting us because you know that the Ohio staff is more concerned about mentality than H.S. stats and potential at the college level. It is my belief that many of the guys offered and landed are camp guys and many of the offers from other MAC schools are the result of knowing that Ohio is in on a kid so they must know what they're doing. Take for instance Buffalo offers, why is UB throwing an offer to half the guys we offer? Its like Michigan State throwing an offer to half the guys Ohio State is looking at. A better indicator for how we are recruiting in a particular year is what percentage of players are instate because the state of Ohio is target #1. This year we've been able to recruit the state at will. How is Miami looking right now? Do you remember a few years ago when Miami got off to all of these hot starts on the recruiting trail and out of know where had that fluke 2010 MAC Championship? This year they are behind Ohio with only a few commits what I also find interesting is they are losing MAC recruiting battles they used to always win. Facilities are pretty important in the MAC recruiting battles. Bowling Green's Sebo Center is probably the prime reason why they continue to recruit well. Ohio has decked out the Peden Tower and dirt is moving on a new IPF. Ohio's location I would contend is the best for tapping into both the Central Ohio and SW Ohio football hotbeds out of all the Ohio MAC schools. N.E. Ohio is not what it used to be so the Swank theory that Akron is set doesn't really hold.

There isn't a lot of data on Top 100 state recruits but 24/7 has the two guys from Ohio listed #81 and #97 respectively in state rank. We don't compete with Ohio State for recruits. If you're looking to win recruiting wars against OSU then we have a lot of work to do. Frank does not settle for players instate that he doesn't want and doesn't think can eventually become a starter in his system. That is the real difference between recruiting now at Ohio and how it was done years ago. If he can't recruit the state well like he failed to do a few years ago he will go out of state. The only schools that have built a permanent structure IPF in the last 15 years have been WMU and Akron. Yes Bowling Green and Kent State built field houses in the 80's but its hard to compare that impact with Ohio's brand new IPF. While you say we have a long way to go the question is how far do you think we can go? Can we pull a Texas A&M on OSU by moving to the SEC? What potential do you think we have exactly? A MAC Championship and a Top 25 win? Frank has come very close to that and there is no reason to think he can't eventually obtain those heights.

Just  wanted to get it straight that we are not getting a lot of the top players in Ohio, and we're losing to various "BCS"league schools, not just OSU.

We are making progress on many fronts-bowl wins, players drafted, top league attendance, national TV exposure, but my wish list below:

As for where I would like to see Ohio-multiple MAC championships-multiple top 25 wins- at least 1 end of season top 25 ranking every 3 years-top APR in MAC-most all--MAC players every year-schedule home and away with "BCS" team every year-expansion of Peden - multiple players drafted every year-an All America player (first 3 teams) every couple years-Solich to retire with all time Ohio FB coaching record- no need to say Ohio University when talking about Ohio.  I could add more, but those to start.

Unranked, but still, counts. lol

If you're talking about Pittsburgh, they started the season ranked, but had lost the week before. Not sure they were ranked when we played them

It was huge for Frank to pull that off considering what he had to work with in year 1. Today it wouldn't be an upset but Pitt then was coming off some very good years.

I do agree with Wes that the number of Ohio players Ohio is able to land is a good indicator that they are getting who they want. They generally go after Ohio players first, and then if the class isn't full, take good players from elsewhere. They are getting an increasing number of in-state recruits, however.

Getting back to my point, the big guys tend to take an extra year or so to get ready to play, while the speed guys are more apt to play early. When you have a class that is heavy with the linemen, like last year, followed by a class heavy with backs, like 2014 will be, you have an interesting situation. The two classes will go through together, and in a few years you'll have a combo of 5th year linemen from the 2013 class and experienced upperclassmen from the 2014 class. The result should be one or two unusually good years. How good? As coloradobobcat said, we'll have to wait and see.

Things are going good and I don't see that direction changing anytime soon. In years past a program like Akron could turn it around in 3 years without too much difficulty but now you have programs in the MAC like Northern Illinois and Ohio who are too far ahead of the bottom feeders. Ohio football is a growing brand and I can't see the majority of the MAC outgrowing us. A lot of places simply don't have the potential for growth. There was a while there in the 80's where BG and Miami passed us by with bigger stadiums but they had to eventually downsize. Unless NW Ohio has an oil boom corresponding with huge growth nothing is going to be happening at BGSU. Ohio as a school is booming and that is driving growth for athletics.

At the time it was also a school record crowd which adds to the legendary status of the game.

I'm with colobobcat on this.  While we get guys with potential and coach them up...the ONLY way to be a consistent Top 30-40 or better team is to START with better players.  Imagine if we started with what Toledo has and coached 'em up.  When I see that (lots of 3 star guys), I will know we have reached the "next level".

Some years ago I posted a complete list of recruits over the prior few years sorted by the number of stars. I haven't found a great deal of correlation between any of the ratings and actual on-the-field performance. There certainly is evidence that on the whole 5 star recruits are more likely to be drafted than 4 star ones, and 4-stars ones more likely than 3-stars, and 3-star ones more likely than 2-star ones.  Why then is there no correlation at Ohio?

My answer is this? The two-star recruits that Ohio takes are probably somewhat better than the average 2-star recruit. They are not only 2-stars, but they are approved by the Ohio staff. Conversely the 3-star recruits taken by Ohio are probably somewhat worse than the average 3-star recruits. Many/most 3-star recruits end up at BCS schools, and presumably those 3-star recruits that don't are, on average, worse than those that don't. By the time its all done, however, you take better than average 2-star recruits, and worse than average 3-star recruits, and in the end there isn't much difference.