Author: G (Page 26 of 44)

Jim Tressel always takes care of business, and now he’s bolstering the Buckeye defense with commitments from new recruits:

With three weeks until national signing day, Ohio State’s recruiting class continues to grow, especially on defense, and rise in the national rankings.

On Tuesday, defensive end Walter Dublin of Sarasota, Fla., called Ohio State coach Jim Tressel with his oral commitment, the 14th high school player to pledge his future to the Buckeyes.

Allen Wallace, the national recruiting director for Scout.com, has Ohio State rated 10th nationally, but the only school ranked higher with that few commitments is USC at No. 5.

It’s good to see them working on the defense. On offense, this year’s class is already led by running back Chris Wells, considered to be the #1 ranked player in the country by Scout.com. The 6-foot-2, 235 pound Wells stole the show at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, featuring the top high-school seniors in the country. It will be fun to watch this guy in the Buckeye offense next season. The offense is already explosive, and adding a big back will make them even more potent.

One of our readers – Dave in NY – posted this link to a great article from the O-Zone.net that explains which players will likely be starting for the Buckeyes on defense in 2006.

Like Dave, I feel much better about next season’s defense after reading this article.

This sucks. Junior CB Ashton Youboty announced his intention to leave Ohio State and enter the 2006 NFL draft. Junior safety Donte Witner has not made it official yet, but he’s also expected to leave early. Ohio State will be losing nine starters from this season’s dominating defense.

With Vince Young leaving for the NFL, the Buckeyes might have been the pre-season #1 team in the country. That ranking will be harder to justify now that they’re losing two more defensive starters. That said, neither guy was a dominating players, and the Buckeyes are often loaded at this position. We might even see Ted Ginn getting some time at DB.

Both guys are making a mistake. Neither player will be picked in the first round. They might even drop to the thrid round. They could have come back for their senior season on a Buckeye team that has a great chance to play for the national championship. They could have improved their draft status. They should have stayed.

ESPN’s Pat Forde is already out with his pre-season top 25, and he has the Buckeyes ranked #2 behind Texas. His reasoning is pretty simple – “Did you see Troy Smith, Ted Ginn and Antonio Pittman carve up Notre Dame in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl?” If Vince Young leaves for the NFL, we might see the Buckeyes ranked #1 to start the season.