Buckeye Blogger NetworkAfter a momentous day for Buckeye football, and after a few frosty beverages, here’s the staff’s reflections on the epic 2013 recruiting class!
Charles Brought Us A New Table!
Who’s the player on offense/defense who will make the biggest impact during his career at OSU?
Ken: Mike Mitchell. I think he has potential to have a Spielman/Katzenmoyer type career at OSU
WVa: Offense: I am going to go with one that has been in the fold for a good bit. Jalin Marshall is the guy I see coming in right away and contributing and will have a great career in Scarlet and Gray.
Defense: Tracy Sprinkle is my guy here. He looks to me to be the perfect fit to take over where Nathan Williams left off and really reminds me of my favorite Buckeye to come out of WV Darrion Scott. Good size and plays low and will show early what he has in that motor that never quits.
Tim: For me, the player who will make the biggest impact will be Cam Burrows. There is a question of whether he will play safety or corner at OSU, but wherever he finds himself playing, he will be an impact player on defense. His combination of size and speed could enable him to be a great one.
Jason: Jalin Marshall. All these kids have tremendous talent and endless possibilities, so I’ll put my eggs in the basket of the one who’s the best player in Ohio
Eric: The biggest impact defensively is likely going to be on the Defensive Line, where the Buckeyes are going to be making up the most ground. A good freshman, like Joey Bosa, could step in and really make life easier for the defense.
Offensively, that’s a little trickier. The answer is going to be whoever manages to fill the playmaker role for Urban Meyer the best. It could be Ezekiel Elliott, James Clark, or Jalin Marshall. It could also be any one of a dozen others who may prove to be extremely effective as a fast, shifty, playmaker.
Mali: I think that we’re going to see some amazing things from Dontre Wilson… I watch what DeAnthony Thomas does in Eugene, and what Harvin did with Meyer at Florida, and I can’t help but envision some fireworks from the moment he steps on campus.
I’m also excited to see what Chris Worley will bring to the table- a safety that hits like a linebacker, or a linebacker that can run with receivers… as the game gets faster, it’ll be great to have a counterpunch.
What new recruit will most likely see early playing time? Who redshirts? Read More
The National Championship has been awarded. Recruits are making commitments. Excitement for the 2013 Buckeye football season is already full throttle. Let’s rumble!
Notre Lame and the championship debacle
Let me be the first to say it, I was wrong, just completely and utterly wrong. I thought that the Irish would have learned from the mistakes of the 06 Buckeyes and some of the other programs to challenge the SEC in the years since. I was wrong. They had to learn for themselves, stubborn to the end.
So to you, the great people of Buckeye Nation, I am sorry. I allowed my disdain and overall loathing for the Southeastern Conference to put my faith in one of the most heinous college football villains of all time, the Fighting Irish. This is a mistake I shall not repeat. Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me.
No contest
Heading into the game, the Irish brought one of the country’s best defensive units, at least statistically. They were led by Manti Te’o, a player that I still feel deserved to win the Heisman Trophy, but more on that later. While Te’o was their heart and soul, their defensive line was their backbone. Against Alabama, that backbone was broken in half. Read More
SPARQ Hardware
Today, Mike Mitchell made official what we’ve expected since this summer, and became the latest verbal commitment to Ohio State at the Army All American game.
In fact, here’s the article that we’ve had loaded up in the on deck circle from early July of 2012-
Well, that escalated in a hurry. (ha… if only we knew)
Earlier this week, whispers started to fly regarding Plano Texas linebacker Mike Mitchell’s interest in Ohio State, although the Buckeyes were said to be in the mix with Florida State and Texas A&M.
Friday, though, things got serious. First, Mike excelled at
Oregon’sNike’s “The Opening” competition, and set a new national record in total SPARQ score with a 154.47 score, including a 4.39 laser timed 40 yard dash. While in Eugene, he began to connect with other Buckeye commits and word began spreading that he was Ohio State’s to lose.And today, it became official as he gave his verbal as the fourteenth member (whoops!) of the 2013 recruiting class.
At 6′ 3″ and about 220 pounds, he also had interest from Oregon, TCU, Southern Cal, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Old Miss in addition to the schools mentioned earlier.
Mike has a history of hoops excellence as well; here’s video of him dunking over opponants during a game his sophomore year. For basketball junkies, you’ve got to wonder if this might also help Mickey, Mike’s younger brother and a top recruit for 2015, consider joining the scarlet and grey… the younger Mitchell is a pretty decent football player as well.
Since that time, Mike has been identified as a 5 star linebacker and the number two player at his position by Scout, and has had offers from every school in the country. His “hat choices” included Texas A&M and Oregon.
Mike’s official was the weekend of the 2012 Celebration, and confirmed what he’d believed to be true all along- that Ohio State was the place for him to spend the next four years or so.
After the jump, check out his highlight video- he plays with good speed and a lot of aggression. Oh, and his nickname seems to be “The Abusement Park”. I kid you not.
We’ve got an overlapping double header for you today!
The liveblog will start at 12:45 PM EST this afternoon. At 1 PM, the Army All-American Bowl will kick-off. There are three recruiting targets of interest in this one – WR Shelton Gibson, WR James Quick, LB Mike Mitchell. We’ll also be watching the following Ohio State commits throughout:
At 2:15 PM EST on the Big Ten Network, the Buckeyes Shooty Hoops team will take on the Illinois Fighting Illini. This same liveblog will cover both events.
Go Bucks!
Quick
With the season winding down and it being a bye week, we figured it would be a good time to preview the targets for the next 3 months leading up to signing day, as well as look into our magic 8 ball for 2014. In the first part of this 2 part series we will take a look at 2013 class.
With 17 verbals already in the bag already we will take a look at the guys that we will likely finish with to get to a top 5 class. WR, OL, LB, and DB appear to be the positions we are targeting- Keeping in mind as we sift through the rest of this article that recruiting is very fluid so the most likely targets could change even by the time this article is published.
At the WR position James Quick and Shelton Gibson are the two most likely targets at this point; they are very different receivers but both high in talent. Quick is the higher rated of the two by most services, and he’s down to OSU and Louisville. This recruitment is really dependent on Charlie Strong and his coaching career.
Gibson seems to be a Buckeye as long as everything lines up off the field. Other names are still on the board but we will turn our focus to them if anything changes and there is reason for excitement.
One big name is still left on the OL big board; one time PSU commit Dorian Johnson, who will be back in town for Michigan game on an unofficial visit, and back in December for an official. It certainly looks like we made up lots of ground on his visit for the Nebraska game.
Also, although it’s just a teaser at the moment but one time OL commit David Dawson maybe back on the market and one to keep an eye on if he truly does want to stay close to home and Michigan doesn’t let him back in. Read More
If you screw up you best pray to your dear and fluffy lord - because I will end you.
I’ve gone back and forth the past two days while on vacation trying to decide the angle of my rant this week. Honestly I think my good buddy CeMo Buckeye said it best,
Part of me it’s kind of sad they pulled the cord on a senior so quickly, especially if it’s too send a message, but it also needs done.
There it is, it needed to be done. The previous troubles that the football program had tied Coach Meyers hands. He has no choice but to do what he is doing. These players are going to have to learn the hard way I guess. I am not going to hammer Storm Klein because I don’t have all the facts. What I will say is this – if people didn’t believe he was serious with Stoneburner and Mewhort? Believe it now. A senior and one of the hardest working kids on the team is gone for all intents and purposes. I wish him luck and wish any future player luck who wants to try Coach Meyers patience.
On to more positive things. In case you hadn’t already heard there’s some great recruiting taking place in Columbus. This past week at the SPARQ recruit challenge a possible big get for the Buckeyes not only obliterated the competition, he set new record for LBs in the 40 with a 4.39 and a new over-all high score with more than 150 points. The fun part about all of this is Mike Mitchell out of Texas says he is a 80% Buckeye lean. He will take other visits before committing however. The other interesting part to all of it is that it caused a former commit to tweet that there’s great combine players and then there’s those who can play. I’m sure he wasn’t referring to the kid that is called “the Abusement Park ”
The past two weekends were busy in Columbus with tons of former Buckeyes playing some hoops. Several former players competes against each other in the Battle for Ohio as Team Columbus defeated Team Cleveland in St. John arena yesterday. Last weekend showcased several of Roy Hall’s buddies as they raised funds for his DRIVEN Foundation. I’m on vacation and must apologize for not having more details about each event’s success and who participated. Suffice it to say that I believe in all that Roy does with his foundation and it deserves your support here.
Until next Monday. Have a great week.
