Jim Tressel

Ohio State’s 2010 recruiting class includes 18 prospects and there are a lot of positives about the group, with the wide receiver crop at the top of the list.

However, this year’s signing day will be best remembered for the Buckeyes’ inability to land the three big-time offensive linemen they were after down the stretch. Seantrel Henderson picked USC, Matt James chose Notre Dame and Morgan Moses stuck with his original commitment of Virginia.

That left OSU with just one offensive lineman in its 2010 class – Andrew Norwell from Cincinnati Anderson. Norwell is a good get, but this marks the second time in four years that the Buckeyes landed just one O-lineman (Evan Blankenship in 2007, who is yet to play any meaningful snaps during his college career). Signing just one OL in two of the last four years seems almost unfathomable for a program like OSU. The good news for the Buckeyes, of course, is that they inked three in 2008 and four in ’09. However, there is no getting around the fact that offensive line recruiting was an abject failure this year.

On Wednesday, Ohio State’s head coach Jim Tressel and his assistants held a press conference to introduce the 2010 recruiting class and speak a little bit about each of players. The class includes nine players from Ohio and nine out-of-state prospects. There are nine defensive players in the group, seven offensive, one “athlete” (Verlon Reed) and one kicker/punter (Drew Basil).

Obviously, one of the main topics of discussion in the team room at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center was the Buckeyes ending up with just one offensive lineman in this class when they clearly wanted more.

“I think that creates great opportunity for the future of offensive line recruiting here at Ohio State,” assistant coach John Peterson deadpanned.

But come on, the staff has to be disappointed that they landed just one offensive lineman in this class, right?

“No, not at all,” Peterson said. “Whatever we end up at is the magic number.” (At the time, there was still the outside chance that OSU could land Henderson.)

Peterson was asked how many offensive linemen the Buckeyes will likely target in 2011, but he wasn’t very forthcoming.

“Well, I know Coach Bolls (offensive line coach Jim Bollman) and I will discuss that after today and then we’ll make decisions in the near future,” he said.

Bollman also addressed the disappointing finish in terms of offensive line recruiting, but says there will be no negative affect on the Buckeyes in 2010 because they will return four of their five starters up front.

“Is there a little bit of a void? Well, I think this year we would have no problem at all even if we would have got zero,” Bollman said. “But it’s also about looking down the road into the future. So, like John said, we’ll have to sit down and assess that after the day is over and see how the numbers add up. And maybe we’ll have to get one more next year than we were planning. Those things happen in recruiting. So, we’ll have to adjust to whatever the situation is.”

Tressel also gave his thoughts on offensive line recruiting much later in the press conference.

“You asked Coach Bollman how many offensive linemen he would have liked, well, we had pigeon-holed two,” he said. “He probably would have liked three or four. We could definitely afford two within our budget.”

As for Norwell, Peterson says he’s every bit of 6-foot-7, 300 pounds and he thinks the lone recruit from the Cincinnati-area to sign with the Buckeyes this year could be a special one down the road. Norwell is coming off a broken leg which ended his senior season in the fifth game. However, Peterson says the doctors think Norwell will make a full recovery.

“We saw him a week ago and all indications are that he’ll be fine,” Peterson said. “He’s been cleared to do lower-leg lifting, but only time will tell as he starts to run and change direction. But there are no indications from doctors that he’ll be hindered.

“One of the things that Andrew has is he plays with a chip on his shoulder. He loves playing the game. Getting a guy that’s a big guy that can run and move and learn different positions is exciting.”

Strength of the class

The opinion here is that the Buckeyes really cleaned up at the wide receiver position and we’ll look back on this as one of the best WR hauls of the Tressel era, which is saying a lot.

And not only are the three wideouts talented, they are different-kind of players.

James Louis is the speed merchant and someone that will also help out on kickoff and punt returns – where plenty of help is needed. (And yes, Louis actually signed. There were more rumors about him the last few weeks than there were about Tiger Woods in December.)

Tyrone Williams is the kind of big receiver that Ohio State currently doesn’t have. A player that can create mismatches with his height and reach, and he also has plenty of speed.

And then Corey Brown can do a little bit of everything. More of a running back in high school, Brown will be a WR at OSU. And the Buckeyes are hoping that will work out better than it did with Lamaar Thomas.

“You know what, I think this is the best group coming in since I’ve been here,” OSU assistant head coach/WR coach Darrell Hazell said. “A 6-7 guy that has great athletic ability that can go up and catch the ball, good quickness off the ball, plays outside of his body … he’s a pretty special guy.

“Then you have James Louis coming out of Florida who is explosive. He has a 38-inch vertical jump. He catches it well, he’s quick, he runs, makes people miss and plays special teams. He’s an exciting, exciting guy to watch.

“And then you have Corey Brown who is just electrifying out of Pa. I am really excited about these three guys.”

Other highlights of the class

Ohio State also did well at the tailback and cornerback positions.

At tailback, Carlos Hyde was originally expected to be in OSU’s 2009 class, but had to go to prep school to get his academics in order. However, running backs Doc Tressel thinks it might have been a blessing in disguise as Hyde has seemingly matured through the process and is now champing at the bit to begin his college career. Hyde has already enrolled at OSU and he attended Wednesday’s press conference wearing his Raymont Harris-esqe No. 34 jersey.

Joining Hyde in the class is another big back, Rod Smith, who is one of the best tailbacks to ever come out of Indiana. Expectations are very high for him, although it will be difficult for him (or Hyde) to get playing time as a true freshman. Ohio State is flooded with depth at the position.

“We think we have two great tailbacks in Boom (Herron) and Zoom (Brandon Saine),” Jim Tressel said. “There’s no question about it and I hope they stay healthy and they could be special. I think Brandon Saine may be one of the most under-talked-about running backs in the country. He just has tremendous hands, tremendous speed and can do so many things.

“Jordan Hall has been a guy that we’ve been very happy with, and Jaamal Berry, the flashes we saw we think were very good.

“And bringing in two more guys … one minute you think, ‘Man, we could be all right.’ Because not only do you need tailbacks on Saturdays, you need them every other day of the week and your defense needs to face them and all the rest. And then a week later, you get an ankle, you get a hamstring and we’re back to running the Wildcat or something. It’s a problem I like to have. I think if everyone is healthy (it will be the most depth we’ve had since I’ve been here).

“And we’ve got good, young fullbacks, too. So, Doc’s room is well-stocked; we’ll see if he can coach them up.”

At cornerback, OSU landed two talented players in Christian Bryant from Cleveland Glenville and Brad Roby from Suwanee, Ga. (Cameron Heyward’s high school of Peachtree Ridge.)

OSU cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson said Bryant has a “physical presence” and is “very intimidating” for a corner. He even compared him to former OSU cornerback Antoine Winfield of the Minnesota Vikings. “He has what you look for in a corner,” Johnson said. “He is physical and he can cover.”

As for Roby, he was a wide receiver until his senior year of high school when he switched to corner. He originally committed to Vanderbilt, but a connection to Heyward’s family helped sway him. Heyward’s mom and Roby’s mom are best friends according to OSU safeties coach Paul Haynes. Roby never left the field during a high school senior, playing corner, wide receiver and returning kicks.