If you pay attention at all to Michigan football recruiting, you’ve probably noticed that the Wolverines have been aggressively recruiting talent from Ohio in recent weeks.
Michigan currently has commitments from five recruits from the Buckeye State for the class of 2019 – more than it has from any other state – and has landed three players from Ohio, including one for the class of 2020, in the past two weeks alone.
Those six commitments haven’t had much impact on Ohio State’s own recruiting efforts, as only one of those recruits – four-star Archbishop Hoban (Akron) guard Nolan Rumler, who committed to Michigan last July – was actually offered by the Buckeyes (though three-star safety Joey Velazquez was committed to play baseball for Ohio State before committing to Michigan last month).
Michigan’s attack on Ohio State’s turf became even more pointed last week, though, when Wolverines defensive line coach Al Washington tweeted out a graphic of “Michigan Legends From Ohio,” featuring an assortment of images including Ohio products who are undeniably college football legends – including Heisman Trophy winners Desmond Howard (Cleveland) and Charles Woodson (Fremont) – along with some more recent players for whom that description might be more generous.
To Be Yourself In A World That Is Constantly Trying To ake You Something Else Is The Greatest Accomplishent. - Ralph Waldo Emerson #DoYou #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/yPi69s3CUS
— Al Washington (@CoachWash56) June 28, 2018
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to recognize that last week’s tweet was all part of the Wolverines’ efforts to recruit Olentangy Orange (Lewis Center) five-star defensive end Zach Harrison, who made official visits to both Michigan and Ohio State two weekends ago and told reporters at The Opening on Sunday that he is as conflicted as he’s ever been as he decides between the two programs.
Michigan’s promotion of its Ohio-born talent, though, got us thinking about the inverse: If the Buckeyes were to make their own recruiting material targeting talent from their neighbors to the north, which Michigan-born players could Ohio State hang its hat on?
Ohio State – which has taken a more national approach to recruiting in the Urban Meyer era, but typically loaded up on in-state talent under previous coaches – hasn’t recruited the state up north as aggressively as the Wolverines have recruited the state down south, but the Buckeyes do have several examples from the past two decades that they could point to of pulling top talent from Michigan’s backyard (and Michigan State for that matter) and developing those players to have successful careers.
Craig Krenzel
A product of Ford High School in Sterling Heights, Mich., Craig Krenzel became Ohio State’s first Michigan-born star of the 21st century and earned his place in Buckeye immortality in 2002, when he quarterbacked the Buckeyes to a perfect 14-0 record and a national championship.
Krenzel, who went on to be a team captain the following season, finished his Ohio State career with a 24-3 record as a starting quarterback.
A fifth-round pick in the 2004 NFL draft, Krenzel played only one season with the Chicago Bears. Krenzel, however, also excelled in the classroom at Ohio State – twice earning Academic All-American honors and graduating with a degree in molecular genetics – and the former Buckeye star has gone on to a successful career in the business world as a principal of the Arthur Krenzel Lett Insurance Group.
Vernon Gholston
Ohio State’s first star from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School (more on that to come), Vernon Gholston had one of the most dominant seasons ever for a Buckeyes defensive end in 2007, when he recorded 14 sacks – still a school record for an individual season – and was a first-team All-American and the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year.
In just two seasons of regular playing time for the Buckeyes, Gholston recorded 86 total tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss and 22.5 sacks.
Although Gholston is now best known for being an NFL draft bust, as he recorded just 42 total tackles and zero sacks in three seasons for the New York Jets, he nonetheless earned more than $20 million in his brief professional career as a result of being the No. 6 overall pick in the 2008 draft.
Johnathan Hankins
A product of Detroit’s Southeastern High School, Johnathan Hankins told The Indianapolis Star he initially had his sights set on taking his talents to Michigan State and that his dad was a Michigan fan, but instead, he ended up becoming a Buckeye – where he emerged as a dominant defensive tackle and future pro.
In his three seasons at Ohio State, including two years as a starter, Hankins recorded 138 total tackles, including 16.5 tackles for loss. In his final season as a Buckeye in 2012, Hankins earned first-team All-American honors.
Hankins was selected in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft by the New York Giants and has recorded 184 total tackles in his first five NFL seasons (four with the Giants, one with the Indianapolis Colts), though he remains a free agent going into what would be his sixth season in the league.
Johnathan Hankins' decision to play at Ohio State paid off, as he became an All-American and has since gone on to play in the NFL.
Damon Webb
Ohio State landed another prospect from Cass Tech in the recruiting cycle of 2014 when Damon Webb – the No. 36 player in the entire country – chose the Buckeyes over Michigan and Michigan State. And Webb proved to be another investment in a Detroit product that paid off for Ohio State.
While he was often overshadowed by the many current or future NFL defensive backs playing around him in Ohio State’s secondary, Webb had a solid career of his own, starting every game of his final two seasons as a Buckeye at safety. Webb capped his time as a Buckeye off by having the game of his career in last season’s Cotton Bowl, when he returned an interception for a touchdown and had a fumble recovery that set up another touchdown in Ohio State’s 24-7 win over USC.
Although he went unselected in this year’s NFL draft, Webb is getting an opportunity this summer to make the roster of the Tennessee Titans – whose new secondary coach, Kerry Coombs, was the coach who recruited Webb to Ohio State – as an undrafted free agent.
Current Stars: Michael Jordan and Mike Weber
Webb’s commitment to Ohio State in 2014 set the stage for the Buckeyes to land two more commitments from the Technicians in 2015, when running back Mike Weber and lineman Joshua Alabi both decided to take their talents to Columbus.
It remains uncertain whether Alabi – who began his Ohio State career as a defensive tackle before moving to offensive tackle last year – will have a chance to make a significant impact for the Buckeyes, but Weber has already made his mark for Ohio State. A 1,096-yard rusher as a redshirt freshman in 2016, Weber battled injuries last season but is expected to form what might be college football’s best running back tandem with J.K. Dobbins this season.
That said, Weber isn’t even the most important player on Ohio State’s offense from Michigan. That designation goes to Michael Jordan, a product of Plymouth High School in Canton, Mich., who is entering his third season as the Buckeyes’ starting left guard as a true junior. A first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2017, Jordan could emerge as one of the best interior linemen in all of college football this season, as he becomes a leader for an offensive line that lost seniors Jamarco Jones and Billy Price from last season.
Should Jordan and Weber, who both have two remaining seasons of collegiate eligibility, each continue to perform well over the next season or two, both should be selected in either the 2019 or 2020 NFL draft, depending on whether each player decides to enter next year’s draft.
Who’s Next?
Ohio State landed a big victory over Michigan State on the recruiting trail two Sundays ago when Dwan Mathis, a four-star quarterback from Oak Park High School, announced that he was decommitting from the Spartans and joining the Buckeyes’ class of 2019, becoming one of Ohio State’s potential quarterbacks of the future.
At this point, it doesn’t appear too likely that the Buckeyes will land any other Michigan products for their class of 2019, as most of their other targets for the class have already committed to other schools.
Looking forward to the class of 2020, however, the Buckeyes have already been aggressive in recruiting one of Mathis’ Oak Park teammates, five-star guard Justin Rogers, and are considered the favorite to land the 14th-ranked overall prospect. Looking forward to 2021, the Buckeyes have already started recruiting Belleville’s Damon Payne, an offensive and defensive line prospect who is expected to be among the top players in that class.
Ohio State might not ever recruit the numbers of players from Michigan that the Wolverines do from Ohio, as the Buckeyes simply don’t place as much emphasis on recruiting their neighbors to the north as Michigan does its neighbors to the south, but they will continue to pursue some of the top players from the state. And when they do, they’ll have a track record of success – one that extends well beyond players from Michigan, but includes them nonetheless – to point to in their recruiting efforts.
