Ohio State football: The changing of Ohio State recruiting

The Ohio State football team did a lot of hard work in recruiting the last month or so. In doing so, you can tell how much their recruiting has changed.

The Buckeyes just wrapped up the busiest recruiting month in its history. While monitoring all that happened throughout June, it became very apparent just how much Ohio State football recruiting has changed in recent years.

When I say it has changed, I’m not speaking only in regards to the rise of social media or one-day camps. Rather, I’m looking at where OSU is reaching out to bring in players and who they are battling to get those players.

Looking at the roster for the 2002 national champions, you see only two players from California. Running back JaJa Riley, who transferred to UNLV after two seasons with the Buckeyes, and junior college transfer Jack Tucker. This was a team made up of players from Ohio and Florida, along with a few from Midwest states and New York.

Fast forward to the 2014 national champs and you see much of the same. Only two players from California (tight end Marcus Baugh and wide receiver Michael Thomas), loaded with Ohio players, and the usual amount from Florida and the Midwest. But, we start to see guys from other southeastern states, along with New Jersey and Texas begin to populate the roster.

Fast forward again to now and things have really changed. Ten players from California are on Ohio State’s current roster. Seven are from Texas, three from Arizona and Tennessee, two from Washington, one each from Nevada, Colorado, and Hawaii.

They appear to be creating a pipeline from Washington; a state they’d never before recruited until 2019. Recently they’ve gone into places like Utah to get Branden Bowen and Idaho for Tommy Togiai. The Buckeyes’ westward expansion in their recruiting has certainly paid dividends.

The other recruiting change has been which schools the Buckeyes battle for a player’s services. In a very short period of time Ohio State has gone from going head-to-head with Penn State, Michigan, or Notre Dame for the majority of their recruits, to Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Georgia.

Recent events have the Ohio State football program going at it with the Fighting Irish for a couple of players, but it is not the norm. If a player has OSU in their final five, you can bet at least two of those four heavyweights I mentioned are included.

Going up against the nation’s best programs has made Ohio State better at recruiting. When it was mostly Penn State or Michigan, flashing a conference or national championship ring got you to the front of the line. That doesn’t work when you’re dealing with schools showing off similar jewelry. The Buckeyes got better at selling themselves as a program beyond wins and championships.

Expanding their recruiting to truly nationwide is one of the things which has separated the Buckeyes from the remainder of the Big Ten. It will also help keep them as one of college football’s elites.