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Ohio State Football: Three-star recruits ‘Big’ part of Buckeyes’ success

By Charlie Lockhart

LINCOLN, NE - SEPTEMBER 28: Center Josh Myers #71 of the Ohio State Buckeyes readies to snap the ball (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE - SEPTEMBER 28: Center Josh Myers #71 of the Ohio State Buckeyes readies to snap the ball (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – DECEMBER 07: Davon Hamilton #53, Branden Bowen #76 and Jashon Cornell #9 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate after the win against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Football Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 7, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 34-21. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – DECEMBER 07: Davon Hamilton #53, Branden Bowen #76 and Jashon Cornell #9 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate after the win against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Football Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 7, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 34-21. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Although many players on the Ohio State football team were ranked as four-star recruits, fifth year seniors who weren’t had a big impact last season.

Urban Meyer always loaded up his Ohio State football team with four-star recruits and a few five- stars. But ones in the 2015 recruiting class who weren’t ranked that high contributed to the Buckeyes’ success last season, and in a ‘Big’ way.

By that I mean the majority of them were linemen. Let’s start with those big guys on offense. I’ll list their 247Sports Composite position and overall player rankings in the 2015 recruiting class.

Branden Bowen:  No. 61 OT, (543)

Bowen was the starting right guard in 2017 but went down with an injury mid-season he didn’t fully recover from until last spring. He earned the starting right tackle and had an outstanding season and was named second team All-Big Ten by the coaches and third team by the media.

Joshua Alabi:  No. 30 SDE, (555)

After coming over to the offensive side of the ball he was an excellent backup left tackle. Alibi played well filling in for Thayer Mumford when he was dealing with injuries. You know Greg Studrawa hates to see this guy moving on. A backup left tackle who can fill in and the offense keeps rolling is an O-line coach’s dream.

Rashod Berry:  No. 35 WDE, (728)

After moving to tight end Berry didn’t put up big receiving numbers as he only caught 17 passes for 198 yards and 4 touchdowns. However, his blocking helped J.K. Dobbins put up big numbers on the ground.

Now for the ringer.

Jonah Jackson:  No. 170, (NA)

What a great addition this graduate transfer was to the Ohio State football team. The left guard was a big reason for the strong rushing attack and quarterback Justin fields often staying upright in the pocket.

With his performance Jackson was named first team All-Big Ten by the coaches and second team by the media.

Next I’ll look at players who didn’t block for ball-carriers but wanted to take them to the ground. They are an impressive bunch too.

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