Ohio State Football: The top ten recruits of the Urban Meyer era

This was a no-brainer for me. Chase Young is the best player I’ve ever seen play for Ohio State, so it was easy to make him the best recruit of the Meyer era. It’s not that hard to make the case that he deserves this top spot either based on how dominant he was.

Young was the highest-rated recruit the Buckeyes signed in the 2017 class. Young was a five-star kid out of Maryland that certainly lived up to that rating. The moment Young stepped on campus, he started crushing offensive tackles and guards that lineup up opposite of him.

Young was great all three years he played for the Buckeyes. His best year was his junior season under Ryan Day. In that season, he had a ridiculous 46 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, and 16.5 sacks. That sack total is the best in school history by 2.5 sacks, and he even missed two games due to a dumb suspension.

Simply put, the guy was an absolute freak. If you let someone block him one-on-one, he was getting a sack. There was nothing else that was going to happen. Even if you double-teamed him, he would still sometimes get to the quarterback. He was a complete game-wrecker.

Young was a Heisman Finalist in that 2019 season as well, a unanimous All-American, and was named to the Big Ten 2010s team. I’m not sure if there will be a better player than Young that comes through Columbus, but I hope there is because Young was a freakshow.

Young was the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, one spot ahead of his teammate Okudah. His NFL career has been pretty dominant as well, as he was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie. Not only is he the best Buckeye I’ve ever seen, but he’s one of my favorites too.

There you have it! The ten best recruits of the Urban Meyer era. Hopefully, Ryan Day can have players this good play for him too.