Along with ranking recruits, the fine folks over at 247Sports also rank the assistant coaches doing the recruiting. They are awarded points for the commitments they receive as the primary or secondary recruiter for a given prospect.
As the assistant coaches land commitments, they move up and down the rankings. And since recruiting is the only sport going on right now, we thought we’d start a weekly recap of the Top 25, looking at what happened over the prior week and where the biggest moves were made.
This week, however, we’ll just set the baseline.
Currently — thanks to their 15 commitments — the Ohio State coaches have six assistant coaches in the top 25.
Thanks to last week’s commitment of 5-star Virginia running back TreVeyon Henderson, OSU running backs coach Tony Alford finds himself in the top spot overall. In fact, he’s joined by three co-workers in the top five overall. Receivers coach Brian Hartline is second, defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs is fourth, and linebackers coach Al Washington is fifth.
Wisconsin special teams coach Chris Haering is third thanks to the five commitments he has helped to land.
Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson comes in at eighth with just the commitments of 5-star DE Jack Sawyer and 4-star DT Mike Hall.
The only other coach in the top 10 with just two commitments is Texas OC and QB coach Mike Yurcich, and one of those two commits is Ohio State quarterback commit Kyle McCord.
Buckeye offensive line coach Greg Studrawa is ranked No. 25 with the commitments of guard Donovan Jackson and tackle Ben Christman.
You can take a look at the Top 25 right here.
| Rank | Coach | Univ | Pos | Commits | Avg | Pts |
| 1 | Tony Alford | Ohio St | RB | 5 | 94.57 | 75.05 |
| 2 | Brian Hartline | Ohio St | WR | 4 | 97.52 | 64.1 |
| 3 | Chris Haering | Wisc | ST | 5 | 89.58 | 62.46 |
| 4 | Kerry Coombs | Ohio St | DB | 3 | 92.96 | 59.2 |
| 5 | Al Washington | Ohio St | LB | 4 | 96.11 | 57.18 |
| 6 | Jay Bateman | UNC | CoDC | 5 | 90.29 | 56.02 |
| 7 | Stephen Field | Miami | TE | 5 | 87.51 | 54.8 |
| 8 | Larry Johnson | Ohio St | DL | 2 | 97.99 | 52.91 |
| 9 | David Turner | UF | DL | 3 | 90.27 | 52.21 |
| 10 | Mike Yurcich | Texas | OC | 2 | 97.59 | 52.06 |
| 11 | Robert Gillespie | UNC | RB | 3 | 90.54 | 51.54 |
| 12 | Lonnie Galloway | UNC | WR | 3 | 92.41 | 50.98 |
| 13 | Mike Elston | ND | DL | 3 | 93.8 | 50.06 |
| 14 | Fran Brown | Rutgers | DB | 7 | 86.04 | 48.65 |
| 15 | Jeff Scott | USF | HC | 2 | 94.76 | 46.82 |
| 16 | Tim Brewster | UF | TE | 3 | 91.74 | 44.92 |
| 17 | Christian Robinson | UF | LB | 2 | 92.08 | 41.74 |
| 18 | Augie Hoffman | Rutgers | RB | 3 | 86.11 | 41.16 |
| 19 | James Coley | TAMU | TE | 2 | 97.89 | 40.93 |
| 20 | Sherrone Moore | UM | TE | 2 | 97.91 | 40.89 |
| 21 | Tommy Thigpen | UNC | LB | 3 | 93.52 | 40.55 |
| 22 | Todd Bates | CLEM | DL | 2 | 96.3 | 39.96 |
| 23 | Brian Callahan | MINN | OL | 4 | 87.31 | 39.67 |
| 24 | Brian Johnson | UF | QB | 2 | 90.87 | 39.51 |
| 25 | Greg Studrawa | Ohio St | OL | 2 | 96.83 | 39.43 |
Where are the rest of the Ohio State assistant coaches, you ask? Well, quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis was brought on well after McCord was committed, but rest assured that McCord is now looking forward to playing for Dennis. They are very comfortable with each other and the Buckeyes’ new QB coach should be given more credit here than he is.
The other three Ohio State assistants — Matt Barnes, Kevin Wilson, and Greg Mattison — are all coordinators with various other duties and very niched positions. Barnes could land the best kicker in the nation, but he’s only going to be a 3-star prospect at best. As the tight ends coach, Wilson is also limited, as is Mattison as the Sams/Bullet coach.
Getting back to the rankings, you’ll see five Buckeye coaches in the top 10 and wonder if that’s just because Ohio State has more commits (15) than any other program right now. The answer is yes.
However, if you rank by the average rankings of the commits landed, the Buckeyes once again have five in the top 10.
| Coach | Univ | Pos | Commits | Avg | Pts |
| Larry Johnson | Ohio St | DL | 2 | 97.99 | 52.91 |
| Sherrone Moore | UM | TE | 2 | 97.91 | 40.89 |
| James Coley | TAMU | TE | 2 | 97.89 | 40.93 |
| Mike Yurcich | Texas | OC | 2 | 97.59 | 52.06 |
| Brian Hartline | Ohio St | WR | 4 | 97.52 | 64.1 |
| Greg Studrawa | Ohio St | OL | 2 | 96.83 | 39.43 |
| Todd Bates | CLEM | DL | 2 | 96.3 | 39.96 |
| Al Washington | Ohio St | LB | 4 | 96.11 | 57.18 |
| Jeff Scott | USF | HC | 2 | 94.76 | 46.82 |
| Tony Alford | Ohio St | RB | 5 | 94.57 | 75.05 |
So while the Buckeye coaches are landing a lot of commits, they’re also landing plenty of the nation’s best, which is exactly the combination you want to have.
As you might suspect, when you look at just the rankings of Big Ten coaches, the Buckeyes stand out even more.
We’ve been spending time over the last couple of weeks comparing Ohio State and Michigan’s recruiting over the years, and based on where things stand at the moment in the Big Ten, the social distancing is going to continue.
| Rank | Coach | Univ | Pos | Commits | Avg | Pts |
| 1 | Tony Alford | Ohio St | RB | 5 | 94.57 | 75.05 |
| 2 | Brian Hartline | Ohio St | WR | 4 | 97.52 | 64.1 |
| 3 | Chris Haering | Wisc | ST | 5 | 89.58 | 62.46 |
| 4 | Kerry Coombs | Ohio St | DB | 3 | 92.96 | 59.2 |
| 5 | Al Washington | Ohio St | LB | 4 | 96.11 | 57.18 |
| 6 | Larry Johnson | Ohio St | DL | 2 | 97.99 | 52.91 |
| 7 | Fran Brown | Rutgers | DB | 7 | 86.04 | 48.65 |
| 8 | Augie Hoffman | Rutgers | RB | 3 | 86.11 | 41.16 |
| 9 | Sherrone Moore | UM | TE | 2 | 97.91 | 40.89 |
| 10 | Brian Callahan | MINN | OL | 4 | 87.31 | 39.67 |
The Buckeyes command five of the top six spots, while Michigan tight end coach Sherrone Moore is the lone Wolverine in the top 10. That will eventually change, as Michigan has just two commitments at this point.
Over the weeks and months, we’ll monitor the changes and fluctuations until there are actual sports to report on, and maybe even beyond.
