"Just build a wall around it."
It was the prevailing plea during those lost, formative seasons early in the John Cooper era when Ohio talent was fleeing the state annually. Meanwhile, Coop's Buckeyes failed to reach even Earle Bruce's unacceptable nine-win ceiling once over his first five years.
Vonn Bell (TN), Joey Bosa (FL) & Eli Apple (NJ)
That quieted somewhat when double-digit winning seasons became normal again with Ohio State winning in Pasadena via Joe Germaine (Arizona) David Boston (Texas) Michael Wiley (California) among many, many other imports. The first Rose Bowl victory season in 23 years went down just months after the Heisman winner (Pennsylvania) and best tight end in the country (Texas) helped the Buckeyes break several school records.
There was no wall around Ohio. The Buckeyes compensated by finding talent everywhere.
Today they still win with the same national recruiting footprint. Ohio State just signed a bunch of players from 10 states other than Ohio - but to this day there remains an underlying fear about the ones that get away. It's a natural, anxious reaction.
Look at Michigan's roster at the peak of Cooper's rebuilding job: Lincoln Heights' Michael Taylor was the Wolverines' quarterback until Willoughby Hills' Elvis Grbac replaced him. They both handed off to Ashtabula's Jerrod Bunch (team captain!) and threw to Warren's Alfie Burch and Cleveland's Desmond Howard. Those guys killed Ohio State - and there were so many others.
The exodus occurred for a number of reasons, ranging from "grew up a Michigan fan" to "the well-respected local sports guy in Columbus went on television after the Illinois game in 1992 and point-blank said Cooper should be fired." That uneasiness helped send Westerville's Ki-Jana Carter to State College - and there were so many others. Ohio's greatest natural resource was being fleeced and then used against it.
Cooper's problem was the sharper edge of the same sword that helped him transform Ohio State football into the powerhouse it still is today: He just didn't get Ohio, which helped him see the rest of the country a lot better. Meanwhile - and unfortunately - Bo Schembechler totally got Ohio. Gary Moeller did as well.
There's no wall around Ohio. There never was, there never will be and Bo knew exactly what he was up against. The Buckeyes went 5-1 against Michigan when Bo was coaching on Ohio State's sideline. He left Columbus with five Gold Pants. The only national championship ring he ever won had OHIO STATE engraved on it. He knew Ohio as well as Woody ever did.
Mo has the same ring. He went 3-0 against Michigan as a player and was an Ohio State captain. He's from Lima. Bo was from Barberton. They knew what it took, and they were totally unafraid to take it.
Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer are now at Michigan and Ohio State and there are no walls for either program, which is understandably cause for concern both inside the Big Ten and outside the region. They both know what is required to win big and making themselves comfortable wherever they need to be is their specialty.
Harbaugh ran satellite camps in the South on Michigan's behalf before he coached a single game there. He's hiring high school coaches from there, ruffling feathers there and even planning spring breaks there. The Southeastern Conference is formally protesting Harbaugh's practice plans for Bradenton under the hilarious auspices of overreaching into the free time of student-athletes.
It comes from a conference notorious for aggressively policing the steady preservation of amateurism in its own house. This is just build a wall around it circa 2016. It's a natural, anxious reaction.
Historically the most famous college football players from Bradenton are, objectively, Nebraska's Tommie Frazier and Florida State's Peter Warrick. It's south of Tampa, not exactly the heart of SEC country. The IMG Academy happens to be located there and that's where Harbaugh is planning to hold his practices.
FOURTEEN of OSU's 22 starters in the 2014 national championship game were Ohioans, BUT THEY NEEDED ALL 8 IMPORTS TO WIN THE TITLE.
In related news IMG has more 3, 4 and 5-star talent on its practice field than any other school in the country. Ohio State 2017 commits Isaiah Pryor and Marcus Williamson are two of its current juniors. Ohio State 2016 signees Malik Barrow and Tyler Gerald graduated early from IMG and have already enrolled in Columbus.
Urban has dipped into IMG for years. There's no wall around Florida. There never was, there never will be and Urban knows exactly what he is up against recruiting in the South and especially in Florida. Two of his three national championship rings say FLORIDA on them.
Meanwhile, 14 of Ohio State's 22 starters in the 2014 national championship game were Ohioans. The imports that complemented them on the depth chart - Joey Bosa (Florida) Vonn Bell (Tennessee) Michael Thomas (California) Ezekiel Elliott (Missouri) Jeff Heuerman (Florida, again) Evan Spencer (Illinois) and Curtis Grant (Virginia) - could have started anywhere in the country.
The Buckeyes aren't in the title game without them. His formula for importing talent from beyond Ohio's borders is beyond reproach.
Ohio State will once again hold a satellite camp in Florida this summer about an hour away from where Urban won his first two rings and down the street from current OSU verbal Shawn Wade's high school. Last summer Ohio State ran a camp on FAU's campus in Palm Beach County. It's as if he never left Florida.
Urban's advantage is the sharper edge of the same sword that has helped him elevate the Buckeyes into what they are today. He not only gets Ohio; he gets the South and the West too. Meanwhile - and unfortunately, depending on where you sit - Harbaugh does as well. Apparently having bosses from both of the Big Ten's flagships camping out so close to the SEC footprint was one too many for Greg Sankey, hence the sudden protest.
Harbaugh won two national titles at a I-AA program that didn't offer athletic scholarships and had never won anything before his arrival. He transformed Stanford into what it still is today. The 49ers completely fell apart once they were stupid enough to let him go. Harbaugh at Michigan commands every institutional advantage in the FBS except two: Weather and a deep local talent base.
So spring break at IMG seems like a pretty good idea. It's a talent mecca like no other and it belongs to no conference. You can't build a wall around it, and even if you could - there's nothing keeping Meyer or Harbaugh from soaring over or through it.
SEC programs understandably prefer to recruit their backyards in much of the same way Ohio State primarily recruited Ohio for decades. It's easier, the relationships are stronger and require less maintenance. When Cooper shifted the balance at Ohio State it was uncomfortable for a lot of fans who hated to see Ohio talent going elsewhere. It was the necessary consequence of roster math and difference makers.
Zeke Elliott (MO) taking a handoff from J.T. Barrett (TX)
The SEC is the only conference in America that openly and unapologetically aggregates pride. Taking coveted players from within its footprint - no matter how fuzzy the borders are drawn - probably feels the same way. Its football programs barely ever leave home to play games as it is.
And its commissioner probably wouldn't blink if it was Darrel Hazell, Bill Cubit or Tracy Claeys planning spring practices in South Florida. It's just different when disruptive coaches at credible threats to that unapologetic, aggregated pride are doing it in plain sight - or as Michigan's coach is doing in deliberate, spectacular fashion.
Harbaugh won't be stopped in Florida in much of the same way Bo and Mo weren't kept out of Ohio, or how Meyer hasn't been blocked from anywhere he's wanted to go. And the NCAA won't create legislation to prevent coaches from extending their reach, because there are no walls around recruiting bases, nor should there be.
It's impossible to win a national championship without the best talent, and most of that happens to be the South's greatest natural resource. It should come as no surprise to anybody - let alone the SEC commissioner - that the country's best coaches are determined to fleece it for their own.
