Football Recruiting
Class of 2003 - How We See It
Part IV
By John Porentas
The members of the list of 2003 football signees have something
in common. They're all athletic. That's good, but the similarities
don't stop there.
They come from diverse backgrounds and places, but they have something
in common that can't be measured with a stop watch, tape measure,
or scale.
"What I like best about all of our kids here at Ohio State
is they're willing to do whatever is best for the team. To me, that's
a characteristic of all the guys here on this list," said OSU
Head Coach Jim Tressel on signing day.
"No matter what the size of it (recruiting class), we have
to make sure we get the right guys. What I like about all three
of the classes we've had, they're the right guys," Tressel
said.
Tressel likes the way this class meshes with his first two in terms
of attitude. Another thing the current class shares with its recent
predecessors is its academic standing.
"Right now I would have to say that all of them are going
to be in great shape (academically), and that's another good thing
about this class," Tressel said.
What else do they share? We haven't talked to all of them yet,
but did talk to some. We asked them all the same question and got
very similar answers. The question was "Why Ohio State?"
Here's what they had to say.
New Buckeye Kirk Barton:
"There aren't even words for it it's so awesome. I'm going
to be close to home, I'm going to the best program in America, the
best coaching staff in America, the facilities, I can't wait to
see that new weight room they're making. I'm just real, real excited,"
Barton said.
"With the coaches and the overall facilities, those are a
perfect fit for me, and I've been a lifelong fan. I was ecstatic
when they offered me. I had offers from Stanford, Northwestern,
Pittsburgh, Purdue, pretty much everywhere I sent film. When Ohio
State offered, that was it. There was no thinking at all after that,"
Barton said.
New Buckeye Devon Jordan:
"I'm from Columbus. It's a great city, a great town, and the
coaching staff is great. It's a great place to be."
New Buckeye Curt Lukens:
"You couldn't ask for anything better. It's a great opportunity.
It's the best of the best," Lukens said.
"I grew up an Ohio kid and every Ohio kid's dream is playing
for Ohio State. I knew I always wanted to be a Buckeye. I just wanted
to look at other schools to make sure. I looked at Florida, Penn
State and Pittsburgh. I went and looked at all those to see what
they had to offer and nothing could match Ohio State with the success
and facilities and coaching staff is the best coaching staff I've
met so far through the recruiting process. The players too, I get
along real well with the players. For me it was no-brainer."
New Buckeye Darius Hiley:
"It goes hand and hand with my family and my coaches. They
wanted to see me play and Columbus is not too far for them to travel
to see me. I love the coaches and the players down there. Why not
Ohio State? They won a national championship. I've been a Buckeye
fan all my life."
New Buckeye David Patterson:
"I've always wanted to play for Ohio State ever since I can
remember, and I couldn't find enough good reasons not to follow
my dream and go somewhere else. Ohio State has always been where
I wanted to go," said Patterson.
New Buckeye Tony Gonzales:
"The coaches, but for me probably the number one thing when
I was looking at colleges was location. I wanted to be close to
home. I see no need to go to Florida. I like the location, the coaches,
the opportunity for playing time, a great program, a national championship.
You can't ask for anything better," he said.
The answers are amazingly similar, and reveal something. The coaching
staff did not twist arms to get these players to Ohio State. Rather,
they found talented players that wanted to be at OSU, and let them
know that they were welcome. These players weren't sold on OSU by
a slick recruiting effort. They will arrive in Columbus this summer
sharing the common trait of wanting to be Buckeyes.
Class Notes:
* Two members of this class, Donte Whitner and Ashton Youboty,
enrolled at Ohio State winter quarter just as Maurice Clarett did
last year. Tressel said that is a practice that is fine for some,
but not for others.
"I think as long as it's not overdone. I don't think I'd want
ten guys. I tell our guys all the time, 'When recruiting ends, enjoy
your senior year. Don't come down here and feel like you've got
to be at every practice and feel like you're missing something.
When August 4th comes you'll have all of us you can stand.' I encourage
them to play in the All-Star games and enjoy some of those things,"
Tressel said.
* Much has been made of the lack of offensive linemen in the class.
As we said in Installment III, that might not prove to be ultimately
true. Tressel elaborated.
"We'll have close to 15 scholarship guys on the offensive
line as we begin the year, and right around the same on the defensive
line. Exactly who's who and what's what remains to be seen. We're
spending about 30 of our scholarships on the power group. I don't
think we can spend many more than that," he said.
"From a power standpoint, I think we're going to be in pretty
good shape."
* This class was relatively small due to the small number of graduating
seniors. Tressel said he would like to see that situation change
in the future.
"We'd like to have from 18 to 21 seniors every year. The 13
we had this year, to me that's a little bit of a low number,"
he said.
* This class was dominated by players from Ohio. According to Bill
Conley, that is to be expected. Conely would always like to have
the elite out-of-state talent, but is pleased with what the Buckeyes
got this year.
"I think when you look at your percentages on any out-of-state
kid, the outstanding out-of-state kids, your percentage is about
one of every six. That's if you've only got two or three schools
to worry about being your competition," Conley said.
"We got most every kid in the state of Ohio we went after.
That's really good when you can do that. The kids we got out-of-state
are some of the very best in the country. The Ira Guilford's, the
Ashton Youboty's, those guys everybody in America was recruiting.
The caliber is really the key, and all of those kids are very high
caliber," he said.
* With the possibility of players leaving the program due to medical
problems and other issues, questions remain as to how many scholarships
the Buckeyes may have remaining open after signing day. Jim Tressel
cleared that up on signing day.
"I think right now we've got two open spots. In the two range,
three at the most," he said.
How good is this class? Ask us in three or four years.
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