Back in the more provincial days of college football, Woody Hayes the recruiter rarely cast his eye beyond state lines. Leave the frills and the forward pass to the namby-pambies out west. "A guy from Ohio can make it in life if he works hard enough," Hayes said. So he vacuumed the state, and indeed those born-and-bred Buckeyes often made it. More than 85 percent of OSU's 1968 national championship team hailed from Ohio (Notable exceptions: DB Jack Tatum, Passaic, N.J., and RB John Brockington, Brooklyn, N.Y.).
But as it turns out, they play football in other states, too. Over the years, Ohio State's recruiting footprint steadily expanded. A look at OSU's past 12 recruiting classes shows -- if, by chance, my math is right -- a geographically diverse bunch, with 22 states and two countries represented (See chart below). Of the Buckeyes' 242 scholarship recruits, including those in the unfinished Class of 2013, 97 hail from outside Ohio.
All of this is to point out the recent deluge of out-of-staters committing to OSU under Urban Meyer is not a sign the Buckeyes are abandoning Ohio high school football. Meyer, an Ashtabula native, has hammered the importance of recruiting Ohio, and hired a staff of coaches with ties to the state to prove it. While Michigan has capitalized in part on the turmoil in Columbus to poach several top Ohio recruits, Meyer is still off to a strong start with in-state prospects. OSU landed five of the top 10 Ohio recruits per Rivals.com in the Class of 2012, including two of the top three -- Cincinnati DE Adolphus Washington and Canton DE Se'von Pittman -- and the top two in 2013 -- Trotwood DB Cameron Burrows and Middletown ATH Jalin Marshall. Ohio players, including Central Catholic DB Jayme Thompson, make up half of the Buckeyes' 14-member 2013 class.
I do expect Meyer, though, to continue to expand the program's recruiting scope, especially in the South, where he spent five seasons at Florida, and Texas, where offensive coordinator Tom Herman has connections. Herman, who spent his first 11 seasons as a coach in the talent-rich Longhorn State, already helped the Buckeyes laid four-star quarterback J.T. Barrett from Wichita Falls, Texas.
As my highly scientific analysis illustrates, Texas is just one state out of about, oh, two-thirds of America, OSU has left untapped in the past. Will be interesting to see how the Buckeyes' classes evolve under Meyer.
State-by-state breakdown of Ohio State's last 12 recruiting classes
2013 (14)
Ohio (7)
Florida (2)
Texas
South Carolina
California
New Jersey
Missouri
2012 (25)
Ohio (15)
Virginia (2)
Massachusetts (2)
Illinois
Indiana
Colorado
Florida
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
2011 (23)
Ohio (14)
Florida (3)
Illinois (2)
Maryland
Georgia
Virginia
Indiana
2010 (19)
Ohio (9)
Virginia (2)
Pennsylvania (2)
Georgia
Indiana
Michigan
Illinois
North Carolina
Florida
2009 (25)
Ohio (14)
Florida (3)
Pennsylvania (3)
Michigan (2)
Texas
Kentucky
Maryland
2008 (20)
Ohio (9)
Florida (4)
Pennsylvania (2)
Minnesota
Maryland
Texas
Georgia
Illinois
2007 (15)
Ohio (10)
Florida (2)
Pennsylvania
Michigan
Georgia
2006 (20)
Ohio (10)
Georgia (2)
Florida (2)
California (2)
Michigan
Indiana
South Carolina
Pennsylvania
2005 (18)
Ohio (11)
New Jersey
New York
Minnesota
California
Florida
Georgia
Indiana
2004 (26)
Ohio (15)
Pennsylvania (4)
Florida (3)
Michigan
Missouri
Louisiana
Kentucky
2003 (15)
Ohio (13)
Texas
New Jersey
2002 (24)
Ohio (18)
Florida (2)
West Virginia
Georgia
Ontario, Canada
Maryland
Overall (244)
Ohio (147)
Florida (24)
Pennsylvania (14)
Georgia (8)
Michigan (6)
Illinois (5)
Indiana (5)
Virginia (5)
Texas (4)
California (4)
Maryland (4)
New Jersey (3)
Massachusetts (2)
Missouri (2)
Minnesota (2)
Kentucky (2)
South Carolina
North Carolina
Colorado
New York
Louisiana
West Virginia
Ontario, Canada
Comments