Ohio State Football Recruiting

[Heath]

If I am Antonio Henton, I'm thinking I'm starting about October. At Ohio State.

[Caseyfan21]

Originally Posted by Heath

If I am Antonio Henton, I'm thinking I'm starting about October. At Ohio State.

No doubt, Antonio Henton is an explosive player that could probably mature into an exciting QB much like Troy Smith.
I think if Pryor commits to OSU then Henton is smart enough to be gone. He can see Pryor is similar to him yet more
highly hyped so he can see the writing on the wall. I also think the way Henton has been portrayed also has contributed
to his desire to leave. I mean, the guy was strung out by fans and the media for his arrest. No one bothered to listen
to his side of the story and I bet most OSU fans just think he's an ungrateful punk. I don't really know much about how
he's perceived in the locker room but the bad media attention has to eat a man up after awhile. I wouldn't be surprised
if he wanted to get back home where people loved him during his HS years. I hope he's strong enough to stick around and
earn people over much the way Troy Smith was able to bounce back though.

If Henton does decide to stay (which I hope), hopefully Tress and Co. can find a way to use him effectively. Why not
design a package of plays for him that can be used at any point in the game? Why not utilize his running ability by
setting up an option formation and a spread formation? I think if Tressel could better utilize Boeckman and Henton or
Pryor it could really throw some new potential into the offense. Tress's problem seems to be he gets caught up in using
one QB or the other for an entire series and won't switch them in on a play by play basis (see Smith and Zwick). If the Bucks can get that
uncertainty element into their offense it really makes it much harder for opposing coaches to plan for. How much time
do you think the OSU defense spent planning for Periloux of LSU even though he hardly played in the NC game? Just the
threat of another option can help an offense be more effective because the defense doesn't know who to gameplan for.

I think, in a perfect world, Henton decides to stay at OSU and Pryor also commits to OSU. And the coaching staff at OSU
finds a way to utilize both of them along with Boeckman. I really think Henton could be an explosive player in the slot
and out of the backfield in special formations. I think it would really help the offense get a little more creative if they set up packages
with Pryor at QB to utilize his speed and athleticism. And along the same lines if they could slide Henton into the
slot and possibly come up with some reverses and pass plays for him I think the offense could be downright scary. But
this is OSU who never really figures out how to best utilize some of the athlets (see Ted Ginn & Troy Smith) so I'm not
going to hold my breath. I'd count on Boeckman as the starter for every game next year and the OSU coaching staff
underutilizing Henton and/or Pryor if they are on the team.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

ESPN is out of the loop here.

Not worried yet.

Pryor is not milking the process, the parasites that are the recruiting services are bleeding him. Do you realize how much money is being spent by college football fans to gain insight into the college choice of a 18 year old kid? Give him his space. Between what I have read, and people I know, I expect him to wear Scarlet and Grey.

The bigger bombshell is that another of Ohio State's QBs is considering transferring. Herbie mentioned it on Friday, and there are leaks on the OSU websites about it.

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncf/index

Third video down.

[redsfan30]

ESPN is by far the worst recruiting service out there. They are laughable. I swear they haven't heard of half of the top prospects in the country.

Pryor is a Buckeye. Period.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by redsfan30

ESPN is by far the worst recruiting service out there. They are laughable. I swear they haven't heard of half of the top prospects in the country.

Pryor is a Buckeye. Period.

If it was that simple it'd already be done.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by pedro

If it was that simple it'd already be done.

Pryor was a lock for Ohio State before Coach Rod went to Michigan and Tressel tanked against LSU.

I don't see how Oregon plays in, but I would have to think Michigan is clearly the frontrunner.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by WVRed

Pryor was a lock for Ohio State before Coach Rod went to Michigan and Tressel tanked against LSU.

I don't see how Oregon plays in, but I would have to think Michigan is clearly the frontrunner.

Oregon runs a spread offense and Dennis Dixon was the front runner for the heisman before he got hurt. I'm sure that's attractive to him.

[redsfan30]

Is Michigan in the hunt? To a certain extent, yes. Pryor had connections to Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia. West Virginia was on the list, but was never considered a true front runner. Now all the sudden, Michigan lands Rodriguez and now they're the "clear favorite?" Not hardly.

I think the Rodriguez-Pryor connection is highly overblown.

Terrell Pryor has become VERY good friends with many of the members of the incoming Ohio State recruiting class. Word is (and I have some merit of inside information on this) that he and Michael Brewster have become nearly inseperable. I'm not sure how smart it'd be to be-friend those people just to turn around and go to Michigan.

Before this weekend, Terrell Pryor had been in the state of Michigan exactly zero times. Is that terribly important to this deal? Not really, but you'd think if he were seriously considering going to live in a state wear he had never stepped foot in, he would have his parents along side him. Not the case. Instead the sent a "family friend" in Charlie Batch. According to Michigan boards (and he was caught on camera at the basketball game), he seemed like he wanted to be pretty much anywhere but where he was Saturday night. He was constantly playing with his cell phone, texting alot. Speculation is (and it's just that, speculation) he was texting with Michael Brewster.

Had Michigan not shown up to the party until three-ish weeks ago, I might buy that they were seriously in the race for him. But three weeks of recruiting from a program on the decline is just not going to be enough to undue all the relationships and good-will he's forged in Columbus.

If Terrelle Pryor winds up anywhere but Ohio State, I will utterly floored.

[LoganBuck]

I find that ESPN information to be completely out in left field. We are talking Adam Dunn on a pop up during a 6pm start time game lost. All I can say is that they are going to end up looking like Tom Lemming did five years ago with Lorenzo Booker. Stunned silence.

[redsfan30]

If I remember correctly, ESPN had Chris Wells rated somewhere in the 30's to 40's overall, and the fourth best running back in the class of 2006, where almost every other outlet had him as a top five player regardless of position.

ESPN is the LAST place people should go to get recruiting information.

[guttle11]

From my amateur viewpoint, I think ESPN is the best of the services for basketball, and only slightly above a 12 year old's assessments on the football side.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by redsfan30

If I remember correctly, ESPN had Chris Wells rated somewhere in the 30's to 40's overall, and the fourth best running back in the class of 2006, where almost every other outlet had him as a top five player regardless of position.

ESPN is the LAST place people should go to get recruiting information.

yes I remember criticizing ESPN for that in a thread on an tOSU board a couple years ago...

everybody had one thing to say: :deadhorse :deadhorse :deadhorse

[RedFanAlways1966]

http://ssbea.mercer.edu/recruiting.htm

A model developed by Mercer University economists that predicts where recruits will sign. So far the model has been 78% accurate for this year's recruits. Take it as you will, but I thought some might find it interesting.

[Cedric]

Originally Posted by WVRed

Pryor was a lock for Ohio State before Coach Rod went to Michigan and Tressel tanked against LSU.

I don't see how Oregon plays in, but I would have to think Michigan is clearly the frontrunner.

They are not. Michael Brewster, his brother and other OSU recruits traveled to watch Pryor play basketball last night. All of them including Pryor spent the night at another Ohio State commits house, Andrew Sweat. I'm not a stalker, just reported on Buckeyes website

He's a Buckeye and has been recruiting other players for months. He just wants some spotlight and I don't blame him one bit.

[Cedric]

Originally Posted by pedro

Oregon runs a spread offense and Dennis Dixon was the front runner for the heisman before he got hurt. I'm sure that's attractive to him.

He cancelled his visit for tomorrow. According to Charlie Batch he isn't taking anymore official visits because of banquets and basketball. Pryor is best friends with Mike Brewster already and called both Etienne Sabino and Lamaar Thomas days before they committed to Ohio State. He's either going to Ohio State or he has a weird way of helping his future rival if he went to Michigan or Penn State. Now that Oregon is off the table I think it pretty much ends any speculation as to where Pryor goes. I'm biased but I'm also a realist. I seriously doubt that Josh Jenkins goes to Ohio State and most Ohio State fans feel otherwise. I also thought Ohio State was over hyped before the title games the last two years and sadly was right.