Wolverine247 Board

IMO, and this is not limited to Matuska, Urbie seems to be working with the assumption that can go after his very highest prospects first and then circle back on the rest if he misses on his top choices. That worked in 2012 because guys like Dodson and Pittman were "parked" at lower tier schools and PSU had a collapse of epic proportions. I don't think that will work as well in 2013, evidenced by him being caught a bit flat-footed by UM's pick up of 9 commits in the last week including 4 elite OL. I don't think Urbie is going to be very successful flipping guys from Michigan after he has once passed on those kids to pursue higher rated prospects. Kids don't like being dissed like that and UM is a very different animal than MSU or Wisky.

Michigan has serious depth issues at OL. They graduate 4 OL after the 2012 season and another 2 after the 2013 season. That's basically all they have outside of these two recruiting classes. They are in dire need for bodies.

No doubt, that's why we've offered 4 and are looking to take 2 after passing on TE last year. Hope we don't regret not offering McNamara we would have had a very good shot at landing him.

Michigan is recruiting so well right now because the coaches wrapped up most of the 2012 class early so the coaches got a head start in recruiting for the 2013 class and evaluating. Look at LTT for example, he visited for the Nebraska game and the OSU game and were the first to offer, so in that case getting a kid on campus that early and extending the offer payed off big time.

Meyer definitely focuses on national recruiting much more so than the prior staff, which will continue to help you in Ohio going forward. The only slow-play that's bothered me so far, though, is Lisle. If OSU had offered him a few months ago he might already be signed up. Now, we look like he's a second choice and we're following other out of state offers, so the risk is his feelings are hurt and he wants to look around more. Many the actual situation is better than that, but that's what it looks like from the outside.

I don't know what the Matuska situation is, but I think all signs do point to Heuerman at OSU to answer star69s post. He's been visiting frequently since his brother came to campus, has a lot of relationships on staff, a lot of his pics show him in OSU garb and he's deciding early. Anything could happen for sure, but that just seems to be the case.

I would keep in mind that total offers are going to be light this year, though, b/c OSU is going to take a very small class. There are 14 seniors, 1 banked schollie, maybe 2 guys leave early at most, then who knows what attrition will be, maybe 2-3? So this class probably tops out at 20 and guys who may have received an offer at this time last year are on the waiting list this year unfortunately. Also keep in mind Meyer still is very new and had to spend every second of his day until a few weeks ago pulling together the 2012 class. As a result, he's naturally behind in evaluating talent and developing relationships (seems like the prior staff fell down a bit in the relationship building department, as well). For all those reasons, you may be able to explain away a fair amount of perceived the Ohio offers slowness this year.

I seriously doubt anyone including Meyer thinks he is going to flip players like last year. He'll try. I'd agree entirely a lot of these guys were parked at other schools and PSU helped a ton. As for being caught flat-footed, I really think the only likely concern was the the Michigan OL haul. I just doubt he cared about the other guys. Its not like our current OL is in terrible shape after great buzzer shots with the 2012 class, but that's still our biggest need area I'd argue. I think every other position frankly is in good shape assuming the chips fall where they should, though always can be improved. I'd think the only question marks are LB, QB, and Meyer has a lot of offers out in those areas, including to local kids and firends and family. The rest of the class I think takes care of itself and any national talent guy we get is icing.

My only point is that he may not be intentionally slow-playing the kids as much as it looks like, though probably more so than in the Tressel era. Next year's cycle will be a better test.

I'm not convinced that if the LSU, AL and GA DLs couldn't eat the Meyer linemen alive that MSU will accomplish the trick. Let's not overplay the difference in prototype too much, either. OSU has offers out to Fox and LTT, who were certainly considered big enough for you guys. I doubt Pocic, Bivin and Lisle are contenders for any Richard Simmons awards, either.

I think the problem running the ball in the SEC Championship game was much more a function of not having anyone who could run the ball up the middle than having DLs in the backfield, but I'll admit I'm stale on my game memory. There's no way you're bouncing the ball to the outside on AL, though, which was the cornerstone of the Florida running game at the time. That's why I can't stress enough that OSU will continue to need big backs and I know Meyer realizes this. The AL game really drove that fact home.

As for the 2010 game... let's face it, that just was a disaster season all around for Florida. Don't think for a second I don't have some concerns of that type of year occurring in OSU's future. I think that was a function of Meyer only being half committed at that point and a team just completely out of control. Meyer seems to have learned his lesson on the second point and has instituted a zero tolerance policy. You'll argue that's only been the case b/c he's trying to cull the roster. I'll counter argue that he actually got rid of some pretty solid players, is being extra careful b/c OSU is under the spotlight and he learned his lesson on the dangers of leniency. The reality is we'll only know in a few years. I'll also say that I've been very impressed with the characters of the commits in the 2012 and 2013 classes. I haven't necessarily broadly felt that way in the past.

As for his health, we'll see if he's learned his lesson and keeps the contract with his daughter or not.

I wouldn't overblow the concept of Meyer "snoozing" on the top Midwestern kids. 3 of the 4 kids we've signed for the 2013 class are from Ohio, and we have offers out to most of the top players in the Midwest. Let's take the Rivals rankings:

7 - Burrows - commit
16 - Morris - no chance
18 - Isaac - offered
22 - Breneman - offered
26 - Foster - offered
27 - Pocic - offered
31 - Treadwell - offered
34 - Smith - offered
41 - Marshall - commit
44 - McCray - not offered yet
49 - Elmer - no chance
54 - Kugler - not offered yet
60 - Bosch - not offered
77 - Thomas - offered
83 - Lisle - offered
96 - Butt - not offered

So the ones not offered seem to be lineman under 6'6" (although Lisle admittedly was a late offer and the potential snooze in my mind), McCray and Butt. I'm not sure why McCray hasn't been offered yet. Butt we talked about earlier.

This might be a surprising fact, but according to 247, Ohio State has offered 40 kids from the South, whereas Michigan has offered 44. This, despite the fact that Meyer just came from Florida and a lot of the coaching staff is coming from the South. Moreover, OSU has a good history of recruiting from FL and GA. It doesn't seem like we're stretching for that Southern talent as much as you guys, which is surprising to me, as well. To be fair, you guys generally have a lot more offers out there, though.

Looking back at the Rivals commit lists, only 7 of the 19 5 stars Florida signed from 2006 to 2010 came from Florida so Meyer definitely had a lot of out of state success with the cream of the crop.

Man, I really need to do some actual work today.

Michigan has a ton of offers out right now because we got an early start on evaluating.

Sorry, I know I was overstating the situation, but given your OL situation, why offer Lisle so late? And Bosch and LTT not at all? Or McGovern? Many of these kids will be gone by the time OSU gets around to them or, at a minimum, OSU will have major ground to make up on the leaders. I think the same is true for Jake Butt at TE. I know you are chasing Breneman (so are we), but he is going to be a very tough pull because he grew up a PSU fan and he is being recruited by every top program in the country. Butt is an in-state kid who could turn out as good as Breneman and should be a lock for OSU. But no love from OSU means he is an early commit to your #1 rival and you are going to end up playing against him for 4-5 years. Just my .

I don't understand the late Lisle offer either. LTT was offered, though not Bosch or McGovern for whatever reason. Is it coincidence that Bosch and McGovern "only" are 6'5"? I don't know. I think generally the staff was behind the 8 ball after Bollman did nothing for OL recruiting last year and had to scramble just to fill the 2012 class post sanctions and Meyer hiring is part of the issue. Clearly you guys got a solid jump on the Midwestern OL talent and showed no mercy out of the gates for 2013, which leaves us a behind again for OL recruiting. Of course, it doesn't help that kids seem to be signing earlier every year. If either of us had even 2 commits at this time 3 years ago we would have been pumped I think.

I don't know if Butt is a guy we would have offered at some point or not. If we likely would have then we probably dropped the ball there. He may just not have fit the prototype of what Meyer looks for in a TE either, though, even if he's otherwise a solid player. Breneman is a long shot for sure, but watching his tape you definitely can see he fits the mold of what Meyer likes in a TE. Of course, what's not to like, the guy has got crazy skills. Heuerman seems like a high probability OSU sign to me, though has attracted a ton of national interest lately so may not be a lay-up.