Football
Hazell Hits the Jackpot in Recruiting Class
By John Porentas

Since he has arrived at OSU to coach the wide receivers Darrell Hazell has proven to have a pretty good eye for talent.

At his first national signing day press conference Hazell told anybody who would listen that the kid from New Jersey would be a player despite the fact that he wasn't highly recruited. No matter who asked him, Hazell always gave them the same name for the guy in the class that really excited him. That player was Malcolm Jenkins.

There have been others. In another season Hazell was very excited on national signing day about that kid with the funny name even though he too, like Jenkins, wasn't exactly a high-profile guy. Like Jenkins, Chimdi Chekwa has worked out pretty well.

Ironically, the players Hazell talked about in those seasons were not players that he ended up coaching. As a matter of fact, his unit, the wide receivers, has to go against them at OSU practice sessions.

This season Hazell was smiling once again on signing day, but this year it was :"his guys" in the recruiting class that were making him grin, and when Hazell grins, you know it. He's got one those big, infectious smiles that when he turns it on and talks about somebody or something, you just know he's convinced he knows something you don't, and you better listen.

We listened, and what we heard is that Hazell absolutely loves the trio of wide receivers in this year's recruiting class, beginning with Jake Stoneburner. The very first thing Hazell says about Stoneburner is to forget about anything you've ever heard about him being a tight end.

"He is not a tight end," said Hazell matter of factly.

"You see all these (recruiting web) sights that have him as a tight end but he's a receiver. He's a wide receiver who because of his size people label him as a tight end," said Hazell.

At the national signing day press conference OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel ran a cutup film featuring highlights of all the incoming signees, and Stoneburner's highlights confirmed what Hazell said. Stoneburner is definitely a wide out. In high school his team ran bubble screens to him. It looked a little funny when a screen play went to a 6-5 guy, not some little scat back, but the laughing stopped when Stoneburner got the ball. He had the speed and moves to make big plays, and that's what Hazell sees in Stoneburner. That, and incredible hands. Stoneburner's highlight reel included several one-handed, eye-popping catches that went for big gainers.

"He's a guy who can bend, he goes up and gets the ball, he can run, he's got quickness, he's a true wideout at 6-5," Hazell said.

Stoneburner will create matchup problems for any average to even above average sized defensive back, and that had Hazell grinning. And Stoneburner was just the starting point.

Wide receiver Devier Posey is another big receiver, in the 6-3 range, that is a game-breaker. According to Hazell, Posey doesn't have good speed, he has really, really good speed.

"He's deceptively fast," said Hazell.

"I saw him run a 10.7 100 meters with my own eyes, it was 50 degrees outside last April, and it was into the wind.

"I looked at the Accutrack clock and it looked like he wasn't running real fast, but when I looked at the clock it came across in big digital letter, 10.7. I said 'Holy mackerel'

"He's a 10.5 guy that's 6-3, so he's exciting," said Hazell.

Posey is big, and very fast, but also has that ability to turn average plays into big ones with outstanding skills after he makes the catch.

"Once he (Posey) gets the ball in the open field he's phenomenal," said Hazell.

Posey's highlights bore that out. Posey showed the ability to make tacklers miss, then turn on the jets and outrun people.

Stoneburner and Posey are a blend of size, hands, speed and savvy. The third member of Hazell's new guys is not big. As a matter of fact, he is the smallest member of the class, and that include place kicker Ben Buchanan, but Hazell's eyes really lit up when talking about 5-11, 186 pound Lamaar Thomas.

"He's the guy that can blow the top off the coverage," said Hazell, his smile widening at the thought.

"He'll run by you. He's a 10.2, 10.3 guy (in the 100 meters). He's that fast. He's been clocked at 10.19 hand-held," Hazell said.

Thomas is blazing fast, and that alone would have Hazell smiling, but Thomas is more than just fast. He's also a bona fide football player.

"He's got phenomenal ball skills. He plays every position. He's played quarterback, he's played receiver, he plays corner, he plays running back, he can catch the football," said Hazell.

"He can do so many things. He's very athletic, explosive, fast. He's legitimately, Accutrack, a 10.3 guy. That's a lot of speed," Hazell said.

Thomas may be the one thing that was missing from last year's offense, a game-breaking, play-making blazer. OSU current wide receivers are very good, but none of them are going to "blow the top off the coverage" the way Thomas can.

Individually, each of the three new receivers has star power, but as group, they have the potential to create unbelievable problems for a defense, simply because each of them present such different kinds of problems. Hazell no doubt has visions of three wideouts on the field some day, one a very fast 6-5, one a 6-3 blazer, and one a guy who will blow the top off the coverage. How do you defend that? Stoneburner and Posey will run past bigger safeties and go up over smaller corners. And Thomas will just run by everybody. And if you double him with a corner and a safety, Posey and Stoneburner will kill you if you single cover them.

No wonder Hazell's smiling.

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