Don’t kill the messenger, this was a question that came from the forum.
Ohio State’s class currently ranks No. 13 in the nation, but that will probably drop as other schools add some players and the Buckeyes may simply replace a decommitment (Doug Nester) with a similarly-ranked signee (Enokk Vimahi).
Ohio State will finish with possibly 17 signees this time around, which will be their first class under 20 since 2010.
As such, it probably won’t surprise you to find out that this will be the Buckeyes’ lowest-ranked class since 2010. Then, Jim Tressel signed the No. 18 recruiting class in the nation. Ryan Day may or may not do him a spot or two better.
The 2019 class is also the first OSU class ranked outside of the top 10 since 2010.
A third of that 2010 class – Rod Smith, Andrew Norwell, Philly Brown, Carlos Hyde, Johnathan Hankins, and Bradley Roby – have all found success in the NFL. That class also produced starters in Christian Bryant, Darryl Baldwin, and Drew Basil. Injuries and transfers took care of most of the rest of the class.
Despite the relatively small number of signees, that was a pretty good hit rate for Tressel.
With the 2019 class likely to be even smaller than the 2010 class, if Ryan Day has that same kind of hit rate, then things may end up working out for Ohio State after all.
And there is reason to believe that there could be more hits than misses in this class for the Buckeyes.
While they will end up somewhere in the teens in the rankings, using the 247Sports Composite, their average rating per recruit is third-highest in the nation, behind only Alabama and Georgia, both of whom have signed several more players than OSU.
So while the quantity may be lacking, the Buckeyes are once again near the top of the heap in quality.
Because of the small number of departing seniors last year, there simply wasn’t room under the 85-scholarship limit to sign a large class during this cycle.
That will change in the new few years to come, but if there was ever a year to have a head coaching change, it’s a year when there wasn’t a lot of room to miss on a bunch of guys.
It would be worse to have room for 25 guys and have to decide whether to reach to fill the final seven or eight spots, or bank some room for the following season.
The fact that Ryan Day was able to keep the vast majority of the class in the fold was a win for Ohio State.
The low rankings are simply a measure of the Buckeyes’ small numbers and not a statement of a lack of talent.
So when you are watching ESPNU tomorrow and they start questioning the direction of Ohio State based on such poor rankings, make sure the direction of your remote is straight and true as you hurl it towards your television set.