Ohio State Recruiting Wish List
By Adam
Most fans in State College, Ann Arbor, South Bend, and probably throughout most of the midwest are sick of hearing about Urban Meyer’s recruiting for Ohio State. In all fairness to them, I would be sick and tired of hearing about the recruiting success of a nearby, big-name, new coach who hadn’t even coached a game at that school yet. However, lucky for me, I’m a Buckeye fan, and I am currently addicted to recruiting updates and news floating around about the 2012 OSU class.
I have already done a preview on Scarlet and Game for every commitment in this class, and a bonus one for Roger Lewis, a Pickerington native who is no longer going to be attending OSU because of his failure to reach the pre-requisite scores on his tests, and some very ugly charges brought against him recently. The class stands at 23 players, and because of early enrollment, grayshirting, medical hardships and transfers, OSU could have somewhere between 3 and 5 spots still open, depending on which expert on the topic that you ask. With that said, and with National Signing Day (or National Letter of Intent Day) only 24 hours away, the following 5 players are my wish list for closing out this amazingly encouraging offseason…
Davonte Neal
ESPN Top 150 – #8 Overall
Height: 5’10”, Weight: 175 lbs
Hometown/School: Scottsdale, AZ/Chaparral High School
Position: Athlete
If you watch even just the first play on this video, in which Neal lines up in Shotgun formation, takes the snap, and makes 5 people miss before easily covering the remaining 40 yards to the endzone untouched, you can clearly see that he would be an immediate impact player. He would seem a no-brainer to return kicks and punts, and would likely earn himself playing time in a Percy Harvin-type role in Meyer and Herman’s offensive scheme. In other words, imagine Braxton Miller having the option to either take off running, hand the ball off to Carlos Hyde or Bri’onte Dunn, or throw a quick pass to Davonte Neal……Is it September yet?!
Stefon Diggs
ESPN Top 150 – #13 Overall
Height: 6’0″, Weight: 185 lbs
Hometown/School: Olney, MD/Our Lady of Good Counsel HS
Position: Athlete
Diggs is, without a doubt, the long shot on this list. He is practically bleeding blue and orange right now and doing the gator chomp in his sleep, but if OSU is unable to land Davonte Neal, then Diggs would be a great addition. Again, I don’t see this one happening, although he was recently seen at Value City Arena standing next to Urban Meyer for his official visit, so who knows what could happen in the next few days.
Jamal Marcus
Height: 6’2″, Weight: 230 lbs
Hometown/School: Durham, NC/Hillside High School
Position: Defensive End
Although Jamal Marcus is listed on ESPN as the 16th best defensive end in this recruiting class, and 3 of the top 15 spots already belong to other OSU recruits, I would not be surprised to see him in scarlet and gray next year. I think that Marcus would convert to a middle linebacker role at OSU, where he would become a big LB, as opposed to a small DE. He appears to be close to a decision and has narrowed his options down to OSU and East Carolina. If this is the case, then this group (Camren Williams, David Perkins, Josh Perry, and Jamal Marcus) could certainly surpass the on-field performance of another recent LB class that included Mike D’Andrea, AJ Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, and Stan White Jr.
Kyle Dodson
Height: 6’5″, Weight: 315 lbs
Hometown/School: Cleveland Heights, OH/Cleveland Heights High School
Position: Offensive Tackle
The rumor mill has had Dodson as a Buckeye for months, hinting that he would decommit from Wisconsin “at any time.” However, he has remained true to his Badger commitment, so far. Ohio State could use another lineman in this class, and although I don’t think that Dodson is ready to play immediately, with a redshirt year for him to learn from the new coaching staff, he could earn playing time in the fall of 2013 and be a major part of this offense in the future.
Bam Bradley
Height: 6’1″, Weight: 195 lbs
Hometown/School: Trotwood, OH/Trotwood-Madison High School
Position: Safety
I’d like to see OSU bring in one more defensive back, specifically a safety, to work and develop into a game-ready player by his redshirt freshman or sophomore year, and Bam Bradley would definitely fit the bill. As his name suggests, this kid loves to hit, and is quick to come up in run support and stop a ball carrier dead in his tracks. After a year of working with the Buckeye’s newest coach, Bill Sheridan, I think that Bradley would have the knowledge and skill set to earn or strongly compete for a starting role on defense.
There you have it…my top 5 remaining players that I’d like to see OSU bring in. If this happens, or even if Urban is able to get a couple of these athletes added to the class, then I think OSU will remain a top 3 class for 2012. Add to that the fact that we’ve already gotten commitments from the top 2 players in Ohio for the 2013 class, and the future is looking bright, but that’s a whole extra blog in the making…
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