M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[WM Wolverine]

PSU being in deep trouble and going through a coaching transition really helps Urban, tons of talent in Ohio & Pennsylvania combined that OSU will get first dibs at. Jersey, Maryland & Virginia are places where PSU traditionally dominates too and those areas might open up for Meyer though VT seems to be a 'favorite' for a ton of recruits in this class (we'll see how they fare)...

M is dominating its state (sorry Sparty, you'll be back to mediocrity soon) and secured everyone they wanted in-state (besides Elmer). Outside M, they've went into Illinois and plucked a couple blue chippers away from the Domers (LTT & Bosch), hopefully this trend continues with other blue chippers in Illinois (Treadwell, Isaac, Pocic). M going into Illinois and landing elite talent away from the Irish is a significant step in tilting that rivalry in M's direction; a week ago I would say landing 3 of the top 5 in Illinois would be very impressive...

Chris Fox (Colorado) is a former Michigan resident with family still in the area (and at least one parent a huge M fan), not overly impressive pull. The only other commits of Hoke's are Dymonte Thomas (M childhood favorite) and Urban Meyer's scraps he didn't want from Ohio; Butt, Charlton & Dukes...

[JRB]

Penn State hasn't dominated in Virginia in a good while, and I don't expect them to this year either. They'll always be able to pick up a quality prospect or two, but they're not going to get the number of top players out of Virginia they could fifteen or twenty years ago.

VT has a history recently of being the third or fourth choice of a lot of elite recruits. VT doesn't land a ton of four- and five-star kids, and I don't expect that to change much this year. Virginia probably has the most depth it's had in the last five years, which will help VT's cause, but that depth is going to draw a lot of attention, especially from SEC schools, and VT just doesn't win a lot of head-to-head battles with the Alabamas and Floridas of the world. VT lost a four-star kid, Korren Kirven, on signing day to Alabama. Kirven grew up 90 miles from VT's campus, played with Logan Thomas at Brookville High School, got an unofficial VT offer as a freshman and had visited VT over a dozen times. Plus, some of the top-rated 2013 kids that will play in Virginia aren't really "Virginia kids"-- E.J. Levenberry, for instance, just moved to Virginia in July(he played previously at DeMatha in Maryland, which sends kids just about everywhere), and QB Christian Hackenberg is a FUMA kid originally from Pennsylvania(though his dad played at UVa). I'd expect a good bit of the top talent in Virginia to head out-of-state in 2013.

[Pasadena Blue]

I think we would be hard pressed to say Hoke is kicking UM's ass in recruiting given the end to the 2012 classes. Meyer is an awesome recruiter, and a good finisher. It would be surprising if Ohio doesn't equal or better recruiting classes than M during his tenure. That doesn't mean Meyer is going to dominate the rivalry as most Ohio fans are expecting ... that remains to be seen. It's Game On. We'll see who wants it more as M and Ohio pull away from the pack.

[iam416]

based on his 2013 class so far he has to be seen as pretty much an abject failure compared to the mild mannered Fred Flintstone

This.....is hilarious.

I think we would be hard pressed to say Hoke is kicking UM's ass in recruiting given the end to the 2012 classes. Meyer is an awesome recruiter, and a good finisher. It would be surprising if Ohio doesn't equal or better recruiting classes than M during his tenure. That doesn't mean Meyer is going to dominate the rivalry as most Ohio fans are expecting ... that remains to be seen. It's Game On. We'll see who wants it more as M and Ohio pull away from the pack.

This.....is correct.

Urban Meyer's scraps he didn't want from Ohio; Butt, Charlton & Dukes

This....is too pejorative. They're not "scraps". I think Butt would have received an offer -- and certainly, if he had, I wouldn't complain. I think Dukes has good size and good enough speed. I'd love to see the Marion Franklin-Trotwood film from last year's playoffs. M-F hung a ton of points on a really talented secondary -- would have liked to see how they did it and how Dukes played. As I recall, it was a really weird game with Trotwood out early and M-F throwing the ball left and right the rest of the game. Charlton is the only guy I'm nonplussed about. I just don't see it with him, but what do I know.

[iam416]

In other news, apparently UFM finally got around to offering Evan Lisle, an Ohio OL. Lisle is, IMO, clearly the top OL in the state in a fairly thin year. Lovell Peterson might be the only other guy worth an offer.

Lisle, though, for some reason didn't have an offer. The Nick offered yesterday and that got the ball rolling. I don't UFM wants to take any chances against The Nick. So, he should commit soon. He is #83 according to Rivals and the 5th best player in Ohio -- according to rivals. That's about right per the Ohio rating.

I've also been meaning to post a top players in Ohio rating. Will do that today, too. I gave my very uneducated opinion to WM awhile back. This has more shape to it and only a few real head-scratchers.

[iam416]

Here's the Top 75 in Ohio according to the OSU Rivals site: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ohiostate/fo...ings/rank-3028

I think it's a suprisingly good start. My early quibbles would be that Ross Douglass is way to0 high and Mitch Trubisky at #61 is craziness. DeVeon Smith and Gedeon should be higher, too.

Allen Trieu, of Scout, had this general assessment:

I'll give you the guys we feel are generally underrated right now:

Rob Wheelwright, Mitch Trubisky, Deveon Smith, Gareon Conley and Aregeros Turner. Trubisky is going to probably going to be a mid 4-star on Scout.

[Hannibal]

11 players from Ohio in the rivals Top 100. Pretty impressive.

Dukes checks in at #26. Not too bad. Will probably end up a high 3*.

[iam416]

11 players from Ohio in the rivals Top 100. Pretty impressive.

Not in the top 100. Maybe in the Rivals250.

One more comment -- I think Lovell Peterson is too high. He's a quality OL, but he's pure interior. Lisle is pure OT. I think that OSU will probably get around to offering Peterson, but I'm not sure. He could be a prime candidate for Dantonio to steal.

[Hannibal]

Actually, it looks to be 6 in the Top 100. They have Jake Butt at #11, but he's in the rivals Top 100. I assume that means they'll rerank him somewhat lower next time.

[lineygoblue]

They always re-rank players lower when they commit to Michigan.

[iam416]

Actually, it looks to be 6 in the Top 100. They have Jake Butt at #11, but he's in the rivals Top 100.

The National Rivals version -- the Rivals250 -- is a bit odd. For one, there's no way McCray is a better prospect than Thomas. None. I'm also of the opinion that Butt isn't the 6th best kid in Ohio.

If I were to rate them, it's Marshall, Burrows, Thomas as a clear top 3 and, actually, very clearly in that order. I lean toward Lisle at #4. Gibson at #5. Caleb Day at #6. Price at #7. Then probably 5-6 kids I have hard time separating, including Butt, DeVeon Smith, McCray, Gedeon and Zaire.

It's impossible for me to say who should or shouldn't be in the Rivals100. But that's the order I'd put the Ohio kids in. Frankly, every kid I named is a legit, big-time recruit who should end up at a top program.

[Michael Pitts]

This explains so much.

[DennisT]

Is that men or women?

[Rob F]

Is that men or women?

Good one, Dennis---I've been laughing now for the last 5 minutes!

[Rob F]

Kudos, too, to Michael Pitts for first reporting on that survey --HEY! Wait a minute--- Don't you live somewhere down there?!