In the quest for content during quarantine — or “quarantent,” as I call it, I sat down and started putting together an All-Ohio team from players over the last 20 years who didn’t end up going to Ohio State.
This is a pretty arduous process, so to get a break from my hard work I headed over to the office water cooler for some crisp, paper-cupped water. Soon after, Tom showed up and asked me what I was doing.
“Getting some water,” I said.
Then he was all, “No, what are you working on?”
And I was all, “I’m putting together an all-time (from the last 20 years) all-state Ohio football team of players who didn’t choose Ohio State.”
Then he was all, “That’s stupid.”
And I was all, “I think it’s interesting.”
And he was all, “Nope. Stupid.”
And then I was all, “Are you calling the topic stupid or me stupid?”
And he was all, “That’s right.”
So that’s when I challenged him to come up with an Ohioan who went somewhere else in the past 20 years that he would have liked to have seen be a Buckeye. And by doing this exercise and looking at all of the names who left the state, he would begin to appreciate the project I am working on.
Or at the very least, gotten a little bit of mud on him in the process.
Tom Orr
Ohio State doesn’t miss out on too many elite recruits from within its borders.
There’s always the occasional Catholic school kid who can’t be pulled away from the draw of Notre Dame or the guys who really just want to go somewhere else for college.
But for the most part, the best players in Ohio have stayed in Ohio for a full decade or more.
The days of Desmond Howard, Elvis Grbac, and Charles Woodson heading north to Ann Arbor are as distant a memory as Michigan coming to Columbus and leaving with a win.
But there are unquestionably a handful of players who the Buckeyes would love to get a second crack at in the recruiting process.
Michigan has pulled a few stars out of Ohio that the Buckeyes would probably have pursued a little harder if they got a mulligan: DE Taco Charlton and TE Jake Butt both came out of Pickerington, but neither had an OSU offer.
The Buckeyes took Joey Bosa and Tyquan Lewis over Charlton, which is all pretty defensible.
They signed Marcus Baugh instead of Butt, which also ended up a reasonable choice.
Trey DePriest, a linebacker from Springfield was another high-profile miss. He picked Alabama over the Buckeyes in 2011 and was a multi-year starter. But he was never a truly impact player at the college level and went undrafted out of school.
Jordan Hicks, a linebacker ranked as the top prospect in the state in 2010, went to Texas instead of OSU. He was part of a bizarre year when six of the top seven players in Ohio left the state. But due to injuries, Hicks was something of a washout in college. He only had one season where he was really a difference-maker for the Longhorns, but has now been a five-year pro.
Mario Manningham had an offer from OSU, but picked Michigan in 2005. He turned into a star for the Wolverines, and could have bolstered the Buckeyes’ passing attack in 2007 alongside Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline. He would be a decent pick.
Tight end Fred Davis was a four-year contributor to USC’s mid-2000s dynasty after picking the Trojans over the Buckeyes. He had 62 catches for 881 yards and eight scores in his senior season of 2007, which would have added another big target to the Buckeyes’ passing game. But that assumes OSU would have used the tight end a lot in the passing game.
That’s why I’m going with 5-star offensive tackle prospect Jackson Carman in 2018. He was considered a “must-get” for the Buckeyes, but ended up choosing Clemson over Ohio State on Early Signing Day.
Tackle wasn’t a big issue for the 2019 Buckeyes, and they seem reasonably well-positioned for the 2020 and beyond with Thayer Munford, Nick Petit-Frere, Dawand Jones, Paris Johnson, and Max Wray on the roster and Donovan Jackson already committed for 2021.
But this is more about taking something away from Dabo Swinney. Given how slim the margin was during the 2019 Fiesta Bowl, removing a starting offensive lineman from the Clemson roster may well have been enough to swing the result of the game.
Carman might not have even been a starter for the 2019 Buckeyes, but he would certainly be in the mix for a starting job this season and beyond.
But by NOT starting for Clemson last fall, he could have done enough to get the Buckeyes into the national championship game.
Tony Gerdeman
As you can tell by the photo at the top of this piece, the possibility of LeBron James playing football at Ohio State is incredible to think about. He was a First-Team All-State receiver early in his career and would have been part of the 2003 football class if he hadn’t given the sport up for some reason.
So I’m asking you to imagine an Ohio State offense a couple of years later with Troy Smith at quarterback, Antonio Pittman at running back, and then the following wide receivers: Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzalez, Brian Hartline, Brian Robiskie, Roy Hall, LeBron James, and others.
But seriously, imagine Troy Smith in the shotgun going four wide with Holmes, Ginn, Gonzo, and LeBron.
As it would on the field, this feels like cheating because the possibilities are so immense and improbable. I’m not going to go with LeBron because it’s just not fair to anyone.
A sneaky good answer would be Luke Kuechly, who was a 3-star prospect in the 2009 class and signed with Boston College where he was an All-American and then drafted by the Carolina Panthers where he just recently retired from his Hall of Fame career.
I doubt Urban Meyer would have had to turn to Zach Boren to be his middle linebacker in 2012 if Luke Kuechly was around as a fourth-year player. But would Kuechly have made the 2012 team more undefeated?
There were also other linebackers, like Jordan Hicks or Jake Ryan, who were part of the 2010 recruiting class. Hicks was a 5-star guy who went to Texas and had a decent career, while Ryan was a 3-star prospect who starred at Michigan. Either of them could have held the fort in the Buckeye middle as well.
Some may point at tight end Kyle Rudolph, who was a 5-star prospect in the 2008 class. We would all then of course laugh hysterically and move on.
My answer is an answer I’ve had for years — running back Javon Ringer out of Dayton Chamiade-Julienne. Ringer was a 3-star tailback in the 2005 class and was very nearly a Buckeye, but knee and grade issues apparently made him too much of a gamble. If you ever saw his highlights from back then, it was clear he was good enough to play at Ohio State.
Of course, if you were to watch his highlights today, they would probably be too grainy for you to actually see them.
Instead of OSU, Ringer ended up at Michigan State where he rushed for over 4,300 yards in his career.
Ringer would have paired well with Antonio Pittman in 2005 and then trio’ed well with Pittman and freshman Beanie Wells. Then after the 2006 season, he and Wells would have formed a very formidable duo. He would have also been able to step up for Wells when he went down in 2008, provided he was healthy at the time himself, of course.
There are certainly other players who would have made a bigger impact, but Ringer was just a terrific player to watch and he would have been very fun to watch in Scarlet and Gray.