The early signing period for football recruits is now just a week away and the Buckeyes are poised to sign one of the greatest classes in college football history.
Urban Meyer added two more highly-ranked commits on Tuesday night, landing verbal commits from the nation’s 12th-ranked wide receiver and 9th-rated defensive tackle (ratings per the 247 composite). That brings Ohio State’s class to 21 total commits as they enter the first of two home stretches on the new recruiting calendar.
This is the first year that players can have the option to send in their Letters of Intent from December 20-22, in addition to the traditional Signing Day in early February.
OSU’s class is the best in the nation by a wide margin, and by almost any measure they are on the verge of bringing in an almost unprecedented amount of talent.
According to the 247 Composite, the average player in the Buckeyes’ class checks in at a rating of 0.9487. That number is rated on the same basic scale as grades on an exam, so the Buckeyes’ average player is a 94.87% or solid A.
That’s even higher than the 0.9451 average they brought in back in February 2017, which at the time was the highest in at least 15 years of the Composite ratings.
Discussing Ohio State’s recruiting is kind of like talking about the national debt (#StickToSports), where the numbers are so astronomical they can be hard to put into an understandable context. We’ll try, though.
How good is this class? They just lost a commit from a 5-star defensive end and still have commitments from more 5-stars than the rest of the Big Ten combined.
Penn State is #5 in the Composite team recruiting rankings with a total of 259.03 points. That’s closer to #29 Louisville (204.30) than it is to the #1 Buckeyes (308.31).
Nine players in the national top-50 in the 247 composite are committed to Big Ten schools. Ohio State has 7, Penn State 2, everyone else 0.
A total of 13 players in the national top-100 of the 247 composite are committed to Big Ten Schools. Ohio State has 10, Penn State 3, Michigan 1.
Michigan currently has the 12th-best class in the nation. Ohio State holds commits from 11 (yes, ELEVEN) players ranked higher than anyone in the Wolverines’ class.
The Buckeyes have commitments from more 5-star and 4-star players than the bottom 11 teams in the Big Ten combined.
Oh, and they are the heavy favorites to land yet another 5-star player, OT Jackson Carman, who is the top offensive lineman in the nation and ranks #9 overall of any player at any position in the class.
The lowest-rated player in the class is Marcus Hooker, a CB from Pennsylvania. If the name sounds vaguely familiar, you may remember his older brother Malik. Urban Meyer has historically done okay with younger brothers of Buckeye legacies.
It’s worth noting that these classes are not in stone. Plenty of highly-ranked players are still uncommitted, and it’s certainly possible that Ohio State might not finish with the top class in the nation.
Georgia seems poised to grab a couple additional 5-star players, and Alabama is lurking at #9 in the team rankings. If they finish anywhere short of the top spot, it would be major news.
The Tide have won every recruiting “National Title” since 2010, but the Buckeyes certainly seem to have them on the ropes this year.
By the way, the last team to finish #1 in recruiting class rankings other than the Tide? That would be the 2010 Florida Gators, coached by Urban Meyer.