Yes please to more two-back sets, even if one is in the slot, and even if it's just a wrinkle we throw in every now and then. We have some weapons at RB. Let's make opposing teams think about stopping it. If the D has to think about what to do, then the D isn't reacting at full speed. An inch here leads to touchdowns there.

We are forgetting that this was the first recruiting class in the history of the program to be almost completely full by the start of the football season. That and the amount of instate players we signed early says this was by historical standards a very good class. Ohio broke through at the RB position signing 2 studs. Looking across the last few seasons, Solich's staff is now able to recruit any position with high MAC level talent another first for the program. The QB defection to Boston College was dissapointing but overall this is about where Ohio should be in recruiting; doing well in the in-state recruiting wars and able to sign a couple major instate recruits every year.

I'd like to add that you could have the best recruiting class in the MAC but if you don't do anything with that talent, whats the point? It's all about what you get out of your players. I'd rather Frank get every drop of talent and more out of his recruiting classes (which I feel he does) instead of bragging about how we have the top class in the MAC and getting almost nothing out of them a la Temple. 

Has anyone ever heard Brian Haines speak? In addition to being unable to formulate a decent punt formation, he is possibly the least charismatic human on the planet. 

youtu.be/7jjUuAHAitE

Since all of the signings are complete I thought it would be a good time to revisit this topic.  After today I have raised my grade slightly from a C- to C (since we addressed the CB position with the former Temple recruits).  The Carson loss hurts a lot, but I will hold out hope we can get him back in the future so I won't lower my grade for that right now. 

I know you guys don't want to believe in the national recruiting rankings, but I think we end up in the bottom tier in the MAC recruiting this year based on what I've seen.  We just don't have many headliners and I think maybe we took a more conservative approach after losing out on so many top tier guys last year (Lewis, Murray, Clark, and Roberts).  I will be very interested to see what Vandelay thinks of the class since he is a very objective observer who follows MAC recruiting much more closely than some of the other services. 

Do you have a grade Monroe?  I would be interested to hear what people give as a grade.  That way we can go back in a few years and see who was right.

Perfect example: This guy...

Is Vandelay's site still active?  It was down a few weeks ago and I assumed he tired of it.

No, Vandelay is still up. He doesn't seem to have done a recruiting analysis since 2010, though.

On my scales, this recruiting class is OK, but not off the charts. Watching the film, I think all the kids can play, and I think some are clearly under-rated by the services. I really like the offensive linemen - Leavitt plays with an attitude, Bristol/Wood is a force, and Murdock has great mobility. I also really like Dorian Brown. I also like all three of the WR, Wyatt, Cope, and Brown.

On defense it's harder for me to evaluate since I'm not really sure who ends up at safety, and who ends at OLB, but Quallen, Alexander, and Stewart all look good, and I like Jarid Brown at corner. Among the big manz up front, and the big manz at TE, I'm not really sure I can tell you who is the best, but there are so many, and all of them appear to have  talent. I'm confident that some will emerge as dominant forces.

Over the last 8 years the one position for which recruiting has been difficult is DT. Of all the recruits at DT, few have worked out well, and the position has typically been manned by converted DE's or walkons for most of the time since Knorr's recruits (Yates, Cohen) left. Ohio has never had much depth there. Because of the lack of depth, an injury at DT has always had a significant negative effect.  tend to agree with Monroe that a better DT situation will make all the difference in the world, and I think this year's recruits will give Ohio that needed depth.

Here are prior recruits at DT, only a few of which ever played significant time at DT:
2005 - Josh Leuck (ended up on offense), Brian Mellot (transferred)
2006 - Horace Hubbard (ended up transferring), Marcellis Williamson, Pete Reese (left)
2007 - John Flowers, Kadre Pinder (both ended up on offense), Jeff King (injured often)
2008 - Corey Moncreif
2009 - John Taylor
2010 - Jamal Tarrant (left)
2011 - Crutcher, Purdum
2012 - Clark (not eligible)

Converted DEs and walkons:
2006 Ernie Hodge at DE, and Alan Goff at DE
2008 Neal Huynh as a DE/TE
2009 Carl Jones at DE/MLB
 Walkons who have played significant roles: Oxley and Hastings.

On the whole I think this class will be fine. I think Monroe will have his wish by about 2015, with a dominant defensive line, and I don't think these recruits will make us sorry.

Some random recruiting thoughts

As much as we would like more precise recruit info, like some of the AQ schools seem to get, we sure have come a long way since the 1980s when all we seem to know were the recruits names and positions as we read them in the Post or Messenger the day after Signing Day.

The Knorr Era seems frighten us to this day. How someone with such a promising background dropped the ball so fast, God Only Knows.

Some of the ballyhooed recruits the big boys get never seem to pan out, while some of our overlooked players end up playing on Sunday. There was a kid in the area who everyone thought was going to a MAC school. He was big and played TE. He rarely was thrown the ball because the offense was designed for the option. However, a couple of Big Ten coaches  saw him at a summer camp and offered him a scholarship right there. Sadly, he couldn't really catch the ball and never played much, it would have served him far better to be developed by a MAC coach then be fodder on the practice squad.

On the other hand we there was a kid in a rural school about an hour away from me who would played a couple of years in the NFL after no Division I school gave him an offer. He played for a bowl subdivision school (I-AA.) Recriuiting is far from an exact science.

Its clear to me that if you look at the core MAC football recruiting states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois that Ohio is at a big geographical disadvantage. Frank consistently brings up in recruiting receptions how difficult it is to recruit state and how a good percentage of recruits only want to play in an urban area. Out of every MAC school Toledo has the most advantages because its urban and can dip into Indiana and Michigan. CMU if you look at the data below was able to pick up 20 recruits from Michigan, Illinois and Indiana alone. 

2013 OH Recruits
Miami-11
Toledo-10
Kent State-9
OHIO-9
Akron-7
Bowling Green-4
EMU-3
Ball State-2
Buffalo-2
Northern Illinois-2

2013 MI Recruits
CMU-14
WMU-5
Bowling Green-4
Toledo-3
EMU-3
Ball State-2
Buffalo-2
OHIO-1
Miami-1
Northern Illinois-1

2013 IL Recruits
Northern Illinois-10
WMU-5
CMU-4
Bowling Green-4
Ball State-3
Toledo-2
EMU-1

2013 IN Recruits
EMU-6
WMU-4
Miami-3
Ball State-3
CMU-2
Bowling Green-1

But his message board disappeared several weeks ago.  I think Nick got tired of it and we won't be seeing any any more analyses, etc.

 

C Money:  You are on the Money!

Uncle Wes:  Agree with you about the difficulty Ohio has recruiting being Appalachia/small town.  CMU, a totally lousy campus, has the advantage in Michigan that nothing north of Mt. Pleasant has a U to attract them so there is not much competition.

The Ohio advantage over other MAC schools other than perhaps Buffalo and Kent is the proximity to  pre-south's being current king,  dynasty days of Western PA.  Throw in West Virginia and Maryland and Virginia where these states are Appalachia types and just as close as parts of Indiana and Illinois.  

In mid 70's, Ohio Geography Prof, David "Cotton" Stephens projected a map of the two most fertile areas for harvesting college football recruits.  One was a circle of Youngstown and into PA to grab Altoona and Uniontown with the Pittsburgh/Beaver Valley being the center.  The second area included acreage around Houston TX.   These have probably lost to Florida and other southern hot spots but I think I'd rather be able to recruit Pittsburgh from Athens than Chicago/Indianapolis  from Athens.