I know there has been a lot of discussion concerning Ohio State Recruiting in particular recruiting at Offensive Tackle. I did some research going back to 2000 to see where Ohio State was getting most of their recruits as it relates to the position. All the data was pulled from the 247 Website. While two of our best tackles ever were from Ohio, Orlando Pace and Korey Stringer, I did not want to go too far back because I wanted to keep it more current. All numbers are through the 2023 recruiting class. Take into account I am strictly going off what 247 identified a recruit as a OT and some star ratings were not provided. You will see some players that we know who changed positions once on the team.
Players from Ohio = 29. This includes 5* Alex Boone, Andrew Norwell, Mike Adams, Taylor Decker, and Paris Johnson. Josh Myers and Billy Price were identified as 5* OT's but we know they moved inside.
The only other states that sent more than one player to the Buckeyes were Indiana (Ryan Cook, DaWand Jones, and Zen Michalski); Texas (JB Shugarts (5*) and Donavon Jackson (5* but moved inside to Guard)); and NY (Shane Olivia and Malcolm Pridgeon (5* in HS but came to the team via a CC in New York).
Other 5* players of note from other states include Isiah Prince (MD), and NPF (FL).
Other players that have contributed from in-state Doug Datish (played some OG as well), your friend and mine, Kirk Barton, Bryant Browning, and Thayer Munford.
Other players that have contributed at this position from out-of-state include Jamarco Jones (IL), Branden Bowen (UT), and currently our transfer from SDSU, Josh Simmons.
Players that were recruited and transferred out include the infamous Derreck Morris from NC that eventually ended up playing for NC State. Grant Schmidt (SD), Kevin Feder (NJ), Max Wray (TN), Ben Christman (OH). Again, these fellas were recruited to play OT.
Ohio State has recruited OT from Ohio (29) more than all other states combined (21). Of course, that is to be expected. With 5 from Ohio being 5* and 3 from out of state being 5*.
The reason I bring this up is Ohio State has not really been a strong national brand when it comes to OT recruiting. We have had our moments like the Brew Crew under Tressel but overall the O line talent is Ohio driven. While we have been able to pull some talent out of other states and get the likes of NPF and others, that is the exception and not the rule. The formula for the Ohio State offensive line success is get Ohio kids and fill in with national recruits as we are able to.
So what Ohio State is going through right now on recruiting Offensive Tackles is not something out of the ordinary and maybe the remedy is hitting the Transfer Portal to get those tackles like we did this year with Simmons when we miss on the ones we are after. This is a new age for recruiting and NIL is important to these young men. It doesn't matter if we like it but it is what it is. OSU has to adapt, and I think they are, but they are being very frugal with their approach. Many moving parts in the background that we are not privy to and finishing with a top 5 class says a lot about what they are doing.
