Ohio State has picked up two more stud 2018 verbals the past couple of days in Andrew Chatfield and Teradja Mitchell. They are in the process of stealing kids throughout the country thought to be leans to other schools. Of their 12 verbals 11 are on somebody's top 100 list and 9-10 are pretty much consensus top 100 players. They are also recruiting nationally, hitting pay dirt from coast-to-coast, including California, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Oklahoma and Tennessee. They are recruiting at a level that could be even higher than their just-signed 2017 class. Even Alabama has not recruited at this sort of level in the past. Same goes for USC back in the early 2000s.
Hate to say it, but we are not going to match up with them recruiting until we beat them on the field. We can beat them, of course, based on numerous other factors, such as:
- Player development
- Player evaluation
- Better on-the-field coaching
- Their top players leaving the program after just three years
- Staying at least within striking distance when it comes to recruiting
The elite talent is becoming even more and more concentrated with the elite programs. Those programs that are recruiting at an elite level are Ohio State and Alabama at the very top, followed by Florida State, Clemson and Michigan at the next tier. So we are recruiting at a very, very high level, just not at the historically great levels of Ohio State. All things are cyclical, of course, so we just need to keep on plugging away and things will turn. No school can continue to recruit at the rate they are recruiting, or at least I hope not.
In any event, for the elite Big Ten programs to be successful they need to go national. For example, I was just reviewing the Class of 2019 in nearby Pennsylvania and it has to be the absolute worst class I have seen in that state EVER. Penn State yet to offer a kid and there are just a small handful of legit high P5 level players.
A couple of other thoughts. Looks like Ohio State and Penn State may have landed two o fthe op 3-4 QBs in the nation in Smith and Fields. Also of note is the high percentage of elite African-American quarterbacks in the 2018 class. Back in the 70s and early 80s I remember how few African-American QBs there were starting in the NFL. Now there are loads of talented young QBs who are not just "dual-threats" (i.e. athletes) but big-time passers. Good to see old and very wrong stereotypes being smashed.
I will talk more about Ohio State and recruiting in my next podcast this week, but what are your thoughts?
https://ohiostate.rivals.com/commitments/football/2018
Hate to say it, but we are not going to match up with them recruiting until we beat them on the field. We can beat them, of course, based on numerous other factors, such as:
- Player development
- Player evaluation
- Better on-the-field coaching
- Their top players leaving the program after just three years
- Staying at least within striking distance when it comes to recruiting
The elite talent is becoming even more and more concentrated with the elite programs. Those programs that are recruiting at an elite level are Ohio State and Alabama at the very top, followed by Florida State, Clemson and Michigan at the next tier. So we are recruiting at a very, very high level, just not at the historically great levels of Ohio State. All things are cyclical, of course, so we just need to keep on plugging away and things will turn. No school can continue to recruit at the rate they are recruiting, or at least I hope not.
In any event, for the elite Big Ten programs to be successful they need to go national. For example, I was just reviewing the Class of 2019 in nearby Pennsylvania and it has to be the absolute worst class I have seen in that state EVER. Penn State yet to offer a kid and there are just a small handful of legit high P5 level players.
A couple of other thoughts. Looks like Ohio State and Penn State may have landed two o fthe op 3-4 QBs in the nation in Smith and Fields. Also of note is the high percentage of elite African-American quarterbacks in the 2018 class. Back in the 70s and early 80s I remember how few African-American QBs there were starting in the NFL. Now there are loads of talented young QBs who are not just "dual-threats" (i.e. athletes) but big-time passers. Good to see old and very wrong stereotypes being smashed.
I will talk more about Ohio State and recruiting in my next podcast this week, but what are your thoughts?
https://ohiostate.rivals.com/commitments/football/2018
