All they do is... (InsideTheU.com photo)In the past three days, we've seen the '09 class go from a large-for-June 17 to an astonishing 22 verbals. A little advanced camp love and all of a sudden, it's late June and OSU is running out of spots already.
If you've missed any of the details, the recruitniks at OHD and DTI have the everything covered, but just to recap, the Buckeyes added the following players:
With the exception of Carter, who's a mega-legacy, each of the new prospects has earned four stars from Rivals and all rank within the top dozen or so players at their position in the nation. Still, would anyone really be surprised Duron turned out to be the sleeper in this group? His dad's quote is already legendary:
"This is kind of surreal. This morning I went for a walk and thought to myself that I can’t believe how great this is. I feel like I died and went to heaven because I get to go through the Buckeye experience twice."
Emphasis mine, to match the chub I got when I first read that quote.
The Buckeyes now have far and away the largest group of '09 commitments and to paraphrase JHC, they pass the looks test. With another five or six spots to fill, we could be looking at the largest class of the Tressel era. Granted, these are all verbals and a lot can change, but it's rare that a kid changes his mind after getting to know the Vest.
What's really interesting is that Tressel is now 7-1 head-to-head against Rodriguez1 for this class. Give the guy some time to get his bearings and all that, but doesn't a new hire usually translate to some excitement and a small boost in recruiting (see Brewster, Tim)?
However, the more I read about Michael Shaw, the more I'm hoping he doesn't come back to burn the Buckeyes. Anyone else worried about that one?
1 Bell, Hall, Fellows, Linsley, Bellamy, Jackson and Brown against Justin Turner.
