2014 Recruiting

[danwismar]

This thread had to happen eventually...why not now?

Rivals released its first ranking of 2014 Ohio kids...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ohiostate/footb ... /rank-3172

Akron SVSM linebacker Dante Booker is on top, followed by Saint Clairsville LB Michael Ferns...then St. Ignatius OT Jimmy Byrne...

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is that class supposed to be any good?

[furls]

They all are supposed to be the greatest class ever in history! Remember the STACKED 2013 OH class that tOSU wants no part of? Remember all the elite OH DL of the 2012 class that really were not that amazing. I think the 2014 has some nice players, but I think Meyer is looking for bigger fish. If I had to guess I would say that we end up with 9 or so of those players.

Dante Booker is supposed to be head and shoulders above the rest.

The 2014 OL class is considerably better than the 2013 OH OL class. I think they have Trout and Richardson transposed on that list.

[danwismar]

Like Furls implied...who the hell knows at this point? We'll see in two or three years. As for me, life's too short to spend too much of my time trying to analyze 16-year old high school football players, although I do seek out and read credible evaluators who watch a lot of games and game film.

[furls]

There are some obvious CANNOT miss guys in 2014 because they are already outperforming the top guys in 2013, but in general I think we may be stretching it on some of the 2014 analysis right now.

Right now I think the only sure thing is that Da'Shawn Hand is the best player in 2013 or 2014. As a rising junior the kid is dominating the top rising senior OT's all across the camp circuit he is on the early watch list for #1 pick in the 2017 NFL draft. Speaking of #1 overall recruits, it will be interesting to see how Clowney turns out at USC (east) this coming year. He looked pretty good as a freshman last year.

[JCoz]

Anyone else find reading about 2014 recruiting a bit less interesting? Even though I feel that recruiting is a huge, huge part of CFB success of a team, I cant help but be pretty bored with feature stories about '14 kids. I'll look at a top 250 list, maybe watch a couple highlights, but I just can't bring myself to really give a shit about what they say in these feature stories. Most of these kids arent going to be buckeyes, and, I dont know, even for a recruiting junkie it just bores the shit out of me.

BN cranks out about 15 of these a week it seems, and I pretty much just check out once I see 2014 in the article.

[e0y2e3]

http://www.the-ozone.net/recruiting/201 ... rview.html

[e0y2e3]

Kiffin just offered Marcus Lattimore (G-Ville athlete and one of the top three playes in the State in 2014). I'd really like to see Urban locking him up early, but it's doubltful since he plays at the 'Ville and they all fuck around forever.

Still looking like Dante Booker (top prospect in the state, LB from Saint Vincent Saint Mary's) is going to be the first 2014 recruit on board.

Top O-linemen in the state Jimmy Byrne was blown away by the cunts at ND last week and is a strong lean in that direction, which is really effin annoying. Not getting the top O-linemen in the State 2 of 3 years (Urban owns no blame for 2012) would be feh.

[furls]

Kiffin just offered Marcus Lattimore (G-Ville athlete and one of the top three playes in the State in 2014). I'd really like to see Urban locking him up early, but it's doubltful since he plays at the 'Ville and they all fuck around forever.

Still looking like Dante Booker (top prospect in the state, LB from Saint Vincent Saint Mary's) is going to be the first 2014 recruit on board.

Top O-linemen in the state Jimmy Byrne was blown away by the cunts at ND last week and is a strong lean in that direction, which is really effin annoying. Not getting the top O-linemen in the State 2 of 3 years (Urban owns no blame for 2012) would be feh.

Can't overestimate the "Catholic Effect."

As for Lattimore, all the 'Ville insiders say he is a lifelong Buckeye fan and that he and his family are close with current Buckeye players and their families. I think he has to be considered a VERY strong OSU lean. It will be interesting to see how Meyer handles the 'Ville drama. There is a new sheriff in town and the 'Ville kids are no longer just competing with the best in Ohio. Lattimore is the kind of kid that you would wait for until signing day even if he was OOS recruit, so he may not be a good barometer for Meyer's future treatment of the 'ville.

[e0y2e3]

Of course Iggy blowhards would be excited to go play with ND blowhards. Stupid Catholics.

[e0y2e3]

Bucks made Quin Blanding's top ten.

Will be in Hand's top ten.

Made Jalen Tabor's top five.

Lead for McMillen.

Are in the top three for Jalen Hurd.

.....

Yeah, now the Meyer has had a full recruiting cycle to work on a class, this is kind of crazy. He took the job to fully establish relationships with the 2013 kids, but now that he is getting to these kids early (they all cite talking to him as a reason OSU made the cut), 2014 will be the first offical OSU's class looks like an Urban UF class.

[jclvd_23]

Kiffin just offered Marcus Lattimore (G-Ville athlete and one of the top three playes in the State in 2014). I'd really like to see Urban locking him up early, but it's doubltful since he plays at the 'Ville and they all fuck around forever.

Still looking like Dante Booker (top prospect in the state, LB from Saint Vincent Saint Mary's) is going to be the first 2014 recruit on board.

Top O-linemen in the state Jimmy Byrne was blown away by the cunts at ND last week and is a strong lean in that direction, which is really effin annoying. Not getting the top O-linemen in the State 2 of 3 years (Urban owns no blame for 2012) would be feh.

Read in the Buckeyeplanet rumor mill from 2 of the moderators that OSU has made a decision on Byrne, and they are no longer pursuing him. It was suggested that Meyer and co. believe the early offer may have been a reach and they have better national targets in 2014. I also saw this implied (I believe on the Scout $ board), but I'm not exactly sure that's the other place I saw it.

Anyway, thought I'd share since I saw it on two different boards. I'm hoping we finally nail some big time OOS OLinemen.

[furls]

I think the Buckeyes get Dorian Johnson this year.

[e0y2e3]

Buckeye's are in the top four, if not the lead for monster 2014 takle Damian Prince out of Maryland (per an interview with Rivals in the last week).

http://247sports.com/Player/Damian-Prince-17414

Meyer is going hard after him.

[furls]

They are supposedly doing well with a bunch of 2014 OTs.

Orlando Brown Jr.
Jamarco Jones
and KC McDermott come to mind

[danwismar]

Just watched Raekwon McMillan's (GA linebacker)junior highlights...pretty impressive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-nw56SARY4&feature=plcp

Be sure to stick around for the last minute or two, which is all highlights of him at running back, where you get a little better idea of the speed and agility.

People say Dante Booker is the best player in Ohio, but the limited highlights I've seen so far don't grab me...yet. He's big...not sure how fast...and I haven't seen the aggressiveness and instincts you want in an inside backer. On the positive side, a good friend of mine has a daughter at St. V's who is a good friend of Booker, and says he is a really good kid...quiet, humble, shies away from attention.

FWIW, Bill Greene says 2014 is not a very good year at all for Ohio kids, so it's a good thing Meyer is going national. He says maybe 4-6 Ohio kids are OSU-worthy for '14.

[e0y2e3]

Yeah, it is pretty unanimously a shitty year in Ohio next year. Lattimore and Jones will end up Buckeyes from G'Ville, Booker is pretty close to a lock, Snodgrass is a lock whenever Urban gets comfortable enough with his grades to let him commit and then you'll probably see one of the tackles (Trout?) get an offer.

That's pretty much it.

In the mean time when Urban was in Georgia for his daughter's volleyball game this week he stopped in on four or five prospects just in the ATL.

[e0y2e3]

Also, the Buckeyes are lined up to have a *really* small class in 2014.

[pup]

Man, going after National kids and losing out on Ohio kids is going to kill them when they all end up at other B1G schools.

[jb]

Just watched Raekwon McMillan's (GA linebacker)junior highlights...pretty impressive:

Need him juct becasue his name is Raekwon.

I have a dream they could get a whole D named after Wu Tang Clan except for maybe the 2 DT's.

[e0y2e3]

Raekwon is the most important prospect in the 2014 class, easily.

[jb]

Raekwon is the most important prospect in the 2014 class, easily.

He's no ODB or even Ghostface Killa.

[e0y2e3]

Shush old man.

[e0y2e3]

Rivals, after naming their first 10 2014 five stars just dropped their 2015 250 Watchlist. Here's the Ohio kids on it:

Dante Booker, LB
Akron, OH
6'3" 210

Travon Hudson, WR
Cincinnati, OH
6'3" 200

Nilijah Ballew, DB
Cincinnati, OH
6'1" 180

Marshon Lattimore, ATH
Cleveland, OH
6'0" 185

Jimmy Byrne, OL
Cleveland, OH
6'4" 275

Kyle Trout, OL
Lancaster, OH
6'6" 280

Darius West, DB
Lima, OH
5'11" 189

Michael Ferns, LB
Saint Clairsville, OH
6'3" 235

Thaddeus Snodgrass, WR
Springfield, OH
6'1" 184

DeShone Kizer, QB
Toledo, OH
6'4" 205

Mikel Horton, RB
West Chester, OH
6'1" 230

Nick Richardson, OL
Westerville, OH
6'4" 285

[furls]

Man, going after National kids and losing out on Ohio kids is going to kill them when they all end up at other B1G schools.

Buckeyes going national definitely helps the B1G. There are going to be a few that hurt the Buckeyes in the near future.

[e0y2e3]

Expect about five signings once NLOI day for 2013 is over.

As a primer, here is Givler's first top 75 for Ohio.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ohiopreps/footb ... /rank-3214

[furls]

Lattimore is for real. He is the one guy on that list that is a must have for tOSU. He is the kind of kid that we are usually just hoping for from OOS every year. Its been a while since an offensive skill position player from Ohio has looked this good this early, maybe Chris Wells?

[e0y2e3]

Apparently Meyer couldn't hold Jones off anymore.

http://ohiopreps.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1452692

First 2014 signee is in.

[furls]

Rumors now swirling that the Buckeyes have made up a lot of ground on Clemson commit and GA super junior DaShaun Watson.

For those that have not cracked open 2014 recruiting yet, Watson is the only QB on Meyer's list with a committable offer. That just tells you how much he thinks of Watson. He is currently backburnering a couple of very good QBs that have been pretty vocal in their interest in tOSU.

Rivals has a Watson as a 4* but after what the kid did in the GA State Champ game, that will probably change. Threw for 305 and 5TDs against some pretty elite competition. Kid is a game changer and honestly, probably a better overall prospect than Braxton was at this point. The kid is almost the athlete that Miller is, but is an ELITE passer at the same time.

[e0y2e3]

Rivals only has ten 5* out for 2014 right now.

And Watson is part of the rumored massive GA super-stud visit coming in February. Basically 8 of the top 10 GA recruits are all planning a joint visit to OSU (and OSU leads for two of them, has great shots at three others, etc).

What Meyer and the staff did this past few months peppering GA with visits is insane.

[furls]

Yeah that group is when the focus officially shifts from 2013 to 2014. Meyer's staff not coaching for a bowl for this year may be a crucial development in the long term success of his tenure. The foundation that was laid with the finish of the 2012 class (last year), the finish of the 2013 class and the jump start on 2014 is huge.

[e0y2e3]

Holy shit. Word leaking out that Damon Webb just committed to OSU.

Kid is an absolute STUD corner from Michigan. Where this gets crazy is that the kid goes to Cass Tech, which is Michigan's Glenville. Their coach is a former Wolverine and they basically feed UM every bit the amount of talent Glenville has fed OSU. If this is true Kerry Combs (the lead recruiter) went into Detroit and stole a monster from scUM's core recruiting ground.

This is his third or fourth visit to OSU and he treated this visit almost like a senior would treat an official. Spent the night and ate on his own dime, but did everything else the visiting seniors did.

This is literally like Hoke coming into G-Ville and grabbing their top junior recruit (the top kid in Ohio next year, Lattimore).

[e0y2e3]

Confirmed by Rivals and 11W now, gotta be true. Going to take work to hold him, but wow Urban/Coombs.

And Webb's dad is saying he won't be taking any more visits, UM was never his leader and that he won't flip.

[furls]

That is great news indeed. 2014 is going to be a small but EPIC class.

[neoleo]

I love this for all the reasons eye mentioned. Following up Apple, Burrows and Conley with another elite corner, plus not only does it hurt scum by taking one of their top targets, but its just a smack in the face and hopefully loosens their pipeline to such a talent-rich program.

[e0y2e3]

Honestly, at this point it look like Kyle Berger is as close to a lock as it gets. Announcing in April/May.

Lonnie Johnson is going to announce in February and will probably be next. Then we've got the Thaddeus Snodgrass mess, which who knows WTF is going on there, but he could also be in early.

[e0y2e3]

Kyle Trout, OT from Lancaster is in.

[e0y2e3]

Another another one of the top three recruits from the state of Michigan for 2014 just committed to OSU.

Lawrence Marshall - pass rushing LEO/DE that along with Webb (Buckeye), Harris (Big time WR target) and Mcdowell (Just a freak strongside DE) makes the cream of the crop. Two are already Buckeyes and there is a very real shot at Harris as well. Suck it Hoke.

[e0y2e3]

For fuck's sake:

Parris Cambell, RB/DB/ATH out of SVSM in Akron is a Buckeye as of right now.

[furls]

So is Parris Campbell, slot WR/scat back out of SVSM (Dante Booker's school).

5 Recruits now for 2014. I guess I should sticky this thread now, but I am lazy.

[e0y2e3]

The crazy thing about Cambell is that he is going to graduate from HS at 16 and report at 17.

[furls]

Yeah, he is on the "Tracy Sprinkle" program. Sprinkle, who already enrolled and is participating in tOSU's winter workouts just turned 17.

Here are some interesting stats on the 17 year old sprinkle:

-Adolphus Washington, 6-3 289, 23.5 sacks 90 tackles as a senior in HS playing DIII ball in Cincy.
-Sprinle (17 years old!): 6-2 251, 19 Sacks 110 tackles as a senior playing DI ball in NEO.

I think Sprinkle is a player, particularly when you consider the fact that he should be a junior right now!

Ceiling is very high for Campbell. It is nice to see a bunch of early commits. You know when you land these guys early that they are the ones that the staff REALLY wants. They don't take commits from marginal commits this early. I find it strange that they prefer Trout over Richardson, pretty much every service has Richardson as the #2 guy in OH behind Jimmy Byrne (ND Commit). I trust this staff with OL evaluation WAY more than the last one, so I will defer to their judgement. I know tOSU is all about recruiting athletic OL and Trout and Richardson are fairly even there.

[e0y2e3]

Givler has said repeatedly that Trout has a far higher ceiling than any other OT in Ohio, whereas Richardson will end up a guard. The problem with Trout is that he plays in that stupid Wing-T his HS runs so he is raw as hell.

[furls]

Like I said, I trust this staff way more than the old one. If they like Recruit A better than Recruit B, well so will I. I may not understand, but I trust. If Bollman was still pulling the strings on OL.... I would be livid about Richardson's lack of offer. I know this staff is recruiting OL a certain way and some guys that were good fits under the old staff are not anymore. As I understand it, this staff wants to line up 5 tackles and hope that one can snap the ball.

[danwismar]

Lawrence Marshall has de-committed from OSU after visiting Ann Arbor and E. Lansing.

As Meyer said recently...a verbal commitment (especially one this early) means you're in a guy's top three...you've got to keep on recruiting him.

Better he realizes now that he made too hasty a decision, than to wait till January and screw up Meyer's chances to go get someone else.

[e0y2e3]

A Marshall decommit was obvious from jump. Those type of committments just don't stick.

You have someone like Webb who has been looking to commit for awhile that came to campus looking for X Y Z and planning to commit if X Y and Z were met (with his family in the loop), then you have kids like Marshall who had no intentions of committing anywhere, whose family had no idea he could possibly do as much, etc sitting accross from Urban and randomly pulling the trigger.

There are very different types of recruits, someone like Webb falls most under the Cam/Marshall type, whereas Marshall falls under the "17 year old on a visit sitting accross from Urban being star struck" type.

[e0y2e3]

And yeah, far better he realizes this now.

[furls]

Parris Campbell runs a laser timed (legit) 4.42 forty and scores a 39" vertical as a 15 year old at the Nike Combine in Massillon. Both were far and away combine bests. I guess the staff knew what they were doing!

Tough to believe this kid is basically a sophomore (by age).

[YahooFanChicago]

How long until Saban, Les, Muschamp, Hoke (lol) and others try to flip him? Ohio kid so hopefully less drama than the EzE saga.

[e0y2e3]

Kid straight up told his mom before his visit he was committing if he got the offer. Is also on paper saying he was a Buckeye since "he was a toddler" and wore OSU socks while running that stupid (as fast as EZ-E time while 6'1" and 15) forty.

He is going nowhere, period. Givler started trying to head us up about him being a Buckeye after the title game. Kid could easily end up 6'2+ and running a 4.4 before he turns 18. Just a pure specimen. Running style remind me of Tony Franklin but with height.