Ohio State football: Four starters times three stars equals success

If I told you the offense of a team from a Power 5 conference had four starters whose average recruiting ranking overall was 588 and their average position ranking was 56, would you think this is a very good offense? Definitely not. Now, what if I told you these are the average rankings of four starters on the Ohio State football team’s offense? That’s right, gang, over one-third of the Buckeyes’ offense is made up of low-rated, three-star recruits.

Chris Olave was number 399 overall and just the 68th receiver, while Miyan Williams was number 627 and only 45th at his position. The amazing thing to me is two of those low-rated players are on that group of road graders on the offensive line. Thayer Munford was 285th and the number 28 tackle. Dawand Jones was so far down the list of recruits it makes you think he was put on it by mistake. Ohio State’s massive right tackle was ranked 1043rd  overall and 86th for his position.

Against Minnesota Olave had 117 yards receiving and two touchdowns. He was named the national offensive player of the week by Pro Football Focus. Jones was recognized by them as well for being the highest-graded right tackle in the country for games played this past weekend. Williams ran for 125 yards and a score, while Munford is entering his fourth year as a starter. Let me say their average rankings again: 588 and 56. That’s an awful lot of production from players who were looked at as afterthoughts.

So, what happened? Why have these guys ascended to where they are? A very large part of it is player development. Ohio State under Urban Meyer, and now Ryan Day, have few rivals when it comes to developing and cultivating talent. There is one other thing as well and it was best described by a Detroit sports talk show host a few years ago.

After the Buckeyes hung 62 on the Wolverines in 2018, I started to listening to this particular radio show because I was curious about their reaction to the blowout. In his opinion, one of the things Ohio State was doing far better than Michigan was identifying certain skill sets in hidden gem recruits and understanding how to utilize them.

He pointed to Olave and not just his usage on the punt block team, but how the Ohio State staff designed a play just for him. As we all know, Olave got a block, and Sevyn Banks returned it for a touchdown. Identifying those skill sets in low-rated recruits is another reason the Buckeyes have been able to take them and turn them into three-star superstars.

There are many other teams in Power 5 conferences with multiple starters who were not high-ranked recruits, but those teams are not considered to be one of college football’s elites. The Ohio State football program is elite.

Don’t be surprised if another former low-rated recruit finds his way into a key role this season for the Buckeyes. That’s just the way it seems to go in our favorite college football program