We've reached mid-May and are headed straight toward Peak Offseason. The weekly 11W Offseason Mailbag will do its best to help talking all things Ohio State football, basketball and recruiting.
Is it possible to regularly recruit one-and-done talent to Ohio State when the football recruits and program are always going to take center stage in Columbus? Does the No. 2 status of the basketball team vis-a-vis the football team hurt our ability to get "celebrity" players on campus? — OSU_Alum_05
I was hoping this question would come up so I figured I'd start with it.
Look, when it comes to Ohio State, football will always be No. 1 and basketball will be secondary. That's just the way it is here, and the sooner fans realize that — and most do, but some still don't — and the sooner the comparisons between the two programs stop the better off you'll be. It has taken 100 years to build Ohio State's football program; the basketball program is not there yet.
Thad Matta has elevated the Ohio State basketball program to places it has never been before. Yes, last year was rough, but the track record over his 12 seasons has been tremendous.
But yes, it's still possible for Ohio State to land one-and-done talents, as well. Hell, it had one two years ago in D'Angelo Russell. The thing with Ohio State basketball, though, is that it's not realistic to expect those talents every year. What the Buckeyes have to do is build their roster with a solid core of guys who stay for three or four years and then add a one-and-done talent every three or four years to that mix.
I don't know that the "football school" stigma means all that much as we've seen before when Ohio State basketball was really good from 2010-13 there was a ton of hype around both sports. Both can be really good at the same time; it has happened before.
What's your honest opinion of the 2016-17 men's basketball team and how will they do record-wise? — Seattle Linga
With Trevor Thompson announcing Tuesday he is returning for his junior season as expected, I think Ohio State is in a pretty good position heading into next season.
Will the Buckeyes compete for a Big Ten title next year? I'm not so sure about that just yet, but I definitely think they have a shot to finish in one of the top-four spots in the league. Yes, Ohio State returns a strong core, but that core is coming back from an NIT season, so to expect the Buckeyes to jump from middle-of-the-pack in the Big Ten to league champs in one season maybe isn't all that realistic.
It all depends on the progression of two players, in my opinion. JaQuan Lyle and Keita Bates-Diop have to emerge into all-conference players. They are the two guys on this roster with pro potential and both need to take big steps next season for Ohio State to become a good team. The other guys — Marc Loving, Jae'Sean Tate, Kam Williams and Thompson — all must improve, too, and if they can just increase their roles and production that will make the Buckeyes that much better.
I'm not sure what to expect from the group of four guys incoming. I think some of them are going to have to play, but it's impossible to predict how much impact they'll have on this team as the six guys I mentioned above will surely see the bulk of the minutes.
A record prediction at this time is also impossible, but I'll say...23-8 in the regular-season before the Big Ten tournament and without the league schedule set yet I'll say the Buckeyes go 12-6 in the Big Ten. After postseason play, I'll guess Ohio State can get to 25 or so wins and I think it is an NCAA tournament team this year. The Big Ten is not going to be all that strong next season, so that certainly plays in Ohio State's favor.
How do you see the passing game shaking out this year? Care to take any guesses on stats for the passing game as a whole, or any individuals? — Avail31678
Moving to football now, and another question that has been a popular topic since spring football began.
The beginning of your question I eliminated to save space, Avail, but you were correct in that Urban Meyer has stated multiple times he wants to be more balanced offensively in 2016. He felt Ohio State got a little too reliant on the running game last season and even though the Buckeyes had a player like Ezekiel Elliott, you have to have some sort of balance to be as dominant an offense as Ohio State expects to be.
I know J.T. Barrett is back and he'll be one of the top quarterbacks in the country, but I have questions right now about Ohio State's receivers. Yes, they're talented, but I'm the type of person that needs to see something to fully buy in and right now we simply haven't seen much from anybody on the roster. There's no question there is talent, but it's unproven talent at this point.
But I don't think that's going to stop Meyer from trying to establish more balance. Elliott is obviously no longer in the backfield so I think there may be a bit more of an emphasis to allow Barrett to make as many plays as possible and that will be both through the air and on the ground.
What do you see as our biggest weakness opening the 2016 football season? — GoBucks10
I think there are a few, but they all stem from the same thing and that's what I'll go with here: Ohio State simply doesn't have a ton of experience.
The Buckeyes just lost so many guys who saw the majority of the snaps over the last two seasons and while they do have a ton of talent, a large portion of that talent has never played major college football before.
You can work on route running, tackling, blocking schemes and such, but there is no way to work on experience without just playing games. That will come, but I think it's a huge question mark for Ohio State next season.
What in the world is going on with Markell Johnson? — Shawn Kemps Kids
Ah, the $1 million question when it comes to Ohio State basketball recruiting. To be honest, the answer right now is that I don't think anybody really knows what's going on with Markell Johnson and I think that even includes Markell himself.
Everything I've heard seems like Markell really just isn't sure what he wants to do yet and that includes what class he'll be in and where he'll attend college. Right now, it seems things are maybe trending away from Ohio State a little bit with all of the uncertainty around Markell and the staff is maybe preparing back-up plans. They'd love to have him, of course, but Thad Matta doesn't usually enjoy waiting around for players to make up their minds about things. It's kind of a "you want to come to Ohio State or you don't" type of thing a lot of the time.
Still, though, this is one of the more bizarre recruitments I've seen and can legitimately say that I don't think anybody really has any idea what Markell is going to do in regards to both questions.
Is Derek Culver being recruited hard by Matta and staff? I hear of a lot of players being mentioned yet he is rarely brought up — SoulPatrol32
Another hot topic in recruiting is Ohio State's pursuit, or lack thereof, of the No. 1 player in the state of Ohio in the 2017 class, Derek Culver.
Culver has some big-time offers and the Buckeyes would surely love to have him, but there's a bit of a logjam at his position and it's kind of halted their pursuit of him. Basically, with David Bell, Trevor Thompson, Micah Potter and Derek Funderburk already on the roster for at least two more years, and Kaleb Wesson already being committed in the 2017 class, there isn't really any need at all for another big — no matter his talent level.
That's not a knock on Culver or his skill level. He's clearly a really good player, but with five big guys slated to be on the roster as of right now for the 2017-18 season, it doesn't make much sense for Ohio State to pursue another. The Buckeyes have other needs that need filled in the 2017 recruiting class and that's a big difference between football and basketball recruiting. Every year you try and take the top player in the state for football, but in basketball if you've already got two or three guys at that position, it makes it difficult to just try and grab the top guy when there are other needs and you only have a limited number of scholarships.
What is you way-too-early best guess for the starting line-up for the opener? — Buckeye Phi
Offense: QB- J.T. Barrett; RB- Mike Weber, WR- Noah Brown, WR- Corey Smith, H/WR- Curtis Samuel, TE- Marcus Baugh, LT- Jamarco Jones, LG- Billy Price, C- Pat Elflein, RG- Demetrius Knox, RT- Isaiah Prince
Feel fairly confident with that group with the exception of the one guard spot (it's still TBD if Price will play LG or RG this year) and the right tackle. I'll guess Knox beats out Matt Burrell and Michael Jordan and I think Prince holds off Malcolm Pridgeon for right tackle as of right now.
Defense: DE- Sam Hubbard, DE- Tyquan Lewis, DT- Michael Hill, DT- Tracy Sprinkle, SLB- Chris Worley, MLB- Raekwon McMillan, WLB- Dante Booker, CB- Gareon Conley, CB- Marshon Lattimore, S- Malik Hooker, S- Damon Webb
Feel pretty confident about all 11 here. I think Lattimore, if he stays healthy, beats out Denzel Ward for the other corner spot. I believe Hooker has solidified himself as a starting safety and I think Webb beats out both Cam Burrows and Erick Smith, who are both coming back from injuries.
Who leaves first: Schiano or Warinner? — SFlaBuckeye13
I think both will wind up leaving at some point, but I'd say Greg Schiano is more likely to leave first. Schiano hasn't really said much when it comes to Urban Meyer's usual "two-year agreement" he has when he hires new staff members, but the longtime head coach may be an exception. I wouldn't be surprised if this is Schiano's only season in Columbus, and I'd be shocked if he stayed longer than two years.
Warinner could get a head coaching gig soon, as well, though. I just think Schiano will be the first of the two to move on.
Is there a general rule of thumb regarding the number of players desired for each position on a team? Is there a wide difference in views? — OSUSam77
This is an interesting question, so thanks for asking.
You're correct in that this is a major challenge for coaching staffs and it's part of the reason why I think it's much more difficult to build a roster in college basketball than it is college football. The numbers just make things so much more complicated. In addition to that, not knowing how long you have kids in basketball makes it even more difficult. You're guaranteed three years in football. You really have no idea how long you have a player in college hoops.
In basketball, you'd probably like to have a total of four or five guards, four or five wings/stretch forwards and probably three true post players. But like I said, each year is different and there's so much turnover, rarely does a team have a perfect roster.
In football, depth along the offensive and defensive line is crucial and you'd love to have double-digit guys on your roster each year there. You probably need a good number of wide receivers and defensive backs, as well. But you have 85 scholarships to work with in football, so if you're short in one area you can put a major emphasis on that in the next recruiting cycle. It's not that easy in basketball with the ever-changing parts.
Has Chris Jent become the head coach in waiting now that he is back at Ohio State? — GrandTheftHartley
That certainly seems like it's a strong possibility.
I'm of the belief that Thad Matta will be Ohio State's head coach for as long as he wants to be. With that being said, Thad's health may not allow him to do this much longer, so Jent's return opens up the possibility he could be the heir apparent once Thad finally decided to step away, whenever that may be.
Jent was actually asked about that during his introductory press conference a few weeks back.
“I don’t think there’s any coach in the country — well, maybe not any coach, but to say that you wouldn’t want to be the head coach at Ohio State, I don’t think there’s too many people who would say no, I don’t want to be the head coach at Ohio State," Jent said. "But my job is to help Thad Matta and to get better in every facet of the college game. With recruiting and every other area that it represents. I’m here to get better and I’m here to help the program succeed as it has in the past.
"Whatever happens in the future, it happens. Our goal right now is to get these guys ready to have a great season next year.”
How many times in elementary school did someone ask you "Do you make shoes?" — BPOSU
If you're asking me to put on a number on it, approximately 4,587. Still happens to this day on occasion, if we're being honest.
