“I think we won today. This isn’t a good class, it’s a great class.” - Urban Meyer.
Another signing day has come and gone and again, Meyer brought the goods as Ohio State scored the nation's consensus 3rd ranked recruiting haul behind Alabama and LSU.
The class looked to be a solid 22 strong but just as it appeared signing day would be a quiet one, Meyer's latest assistant coach hire, Larry Johnson Sr., was able to flip defensive end Darius Slade, stealing the three-star New Jersey product from Mark Dantonio.
This year's crop, featuring 15 four-stars and one five-star, was sweetened by the fact it appears to address the team's needs as Meyer welcomes five offensive linemen to the fold highlighted by Jamarco Jones keeping his commitment to the Buckeyes while four linebackers come aboard headlined by Raekwon McMillan.
Jones' reaffirmation, along with the additions of Demetrius Knox, Marcelys Jones, Brady Taylor and Kyle Trout gives the Buckeyes the 2nd best offensive line class in the country behind Alabama.
For the 2nd straight year, Meyer's out-of-state signees outnumbered his Ohio haul, this time 14 to nine, though he essentially got what he wanted as he secured commitments from the top six recruits in the Buckeye state.
Speaking of Ohio guys, here's Kyle Berger, Marshon Lattimore and Erick Smith talking about their pledges to The Ohio State University.
B1G GAP. As impressive as Meyer's class looks in the eyes of the experts, the rest of the B1G didn't fare as well.
According to Rivals, Ohio State's 3rd ranked class dominated the league rankings with the next league foe not found until Sparty's 21st ranking which is interesting considering Dantonio feels this is maybe his best recruiting class to date in East Lansing.
Behind Sparty, Rivals slots James Franklin's first class at Penn State at #23, places Michigan 31st, Nebraska 32nd, Wisconsin 33rd and Indiana 36th. New members Rutgers and Maryland ranked 53rd and 57th, respectively, ahead of Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois and Purdue.
Meyer's dominance over his in-conference competition is best illustrated by the fact Ohio State brought in eight players listed in Rivals' Top 100 while the rest of the league combined to secure only six Top 100 guys.
Jones could see playing time as a true freshman
MAMA DRAMA. Speaking of East Lansing, Dantonio's glee regarding his latest crop is the result of what he believes is a dominant class on the defensive line headlined by the verbal commit Malik McDowell.
McDowell, a Southfield, Michigan product considered the best recruit in the state, held a presser at his high school to announce his decision to attend Michigan State but as of this writing, Dantonio does not have a signed national letter of intent in hand.
Though McDowell and his father both signed a paper at the presser, it wasn't an official NLOI and as a result, Dantonio was not able to speak directly about McDowell as he met with the media late yesterday afternoon. It seems at this point McDowell will end up in East Lansing but with his mom acting a hot mess over the decision thanks to what she tabbed as a bad experience she had at Michigan State.
Unconfirmed reports even had McDowell's mom tossing him out of the house over his decision to attend Michigan State though he has his father's blessing and has made it clear he intends to be a Spartan.
Sure, I'd love to have the kid in Columbus but if he's set on Sparty then hopefully moms comes around soon enough so he can get on with his life.
DYLAN THOMPSON'S +1. The fifth verbal commitment to Ohio State's 2014 haul, DE Dylan Thompson, will now come to Columbus with a plus-one as Montini Catholic teammate Mike Maduko announced last night that he will join the football program as a preferred walk-on. Manduko is a 5'10" linebacker who racked up 259 tackles and 18 TFLs in his final two years at Montini Catholic.
You can find his highlights here.
Manduko is the 2nd preferred walk-on of the class, joining Cincinnati St. Xavier signal-caller Nick Tensing who joined the Dream 14 last week.
BULLET BITS. Though the bulk of Meyer's press conference yesterday focused on the recruiting class, there was also some noteworthy chatter specific to the defense.
Meyer confirmed that new co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash will be in charge of the entire secondary with Kerry Coombs providing input on the cornerbacks and Meyer himself also getting more involved on that side of the ball.
Meanwhile, though the entire defensive staff will be involved in game planning, much-maligned Luke Fickell will be in charge of the play-calling duties.
Coombs, though a bit frozen out on defense as he will now primarily focus on special teams, did allude to the Bullets employing a more aggressive approach in 2014.
Switching to offense, Meyer noted Darryl Baldwin is currently your starter at right tackle as Taylor Decker moves over to serve as the starter at left tackle. Meyer also stated he believes both Jones and Knox could play immediately across the offensive line.
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