Ohio State back on top in the Big 10 recruiting rankings

As Ohio State’s football program starts the first full week with the understanding of Meyer’s retirement, the adjustments to the new-look coaching staff are just starting to become somewhat real. As Ryan Day announced the decision to take the “interim” tag off of receivers coach Brian Hartline, the staff is becoming cemented for this next phase of Ohio State football.

Back on top where OSU belongs

It’s been long thought that the current 2019 Ohio State football recruiting class is a bit of a “down” year in comparison to other recent classes. While that’s true, class national rankings wise at the moment, it’s still important to note that this class has a high four-star ranking as a whole and still boasts some of the top guys at various positions in the entire country. Over the weekend though, the Buckeyes moved back to the top spot in the Big Ten conference as far as recruiting rankings go for 247sports, a place that has been oh so familiar for several years. In control of the second place slot for several weeks behind rival Michigan, this past weekend didn’t feature any new commitments for Ohio State, but still gave the Buckeyes the leapfrog over the Wolverines, as they lost their third commitment since the Thanksgiving holiday.

The latest: five-star safety prospect, Daxton Hill. A 6-foot, 185-pound prospect from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hill committed to the Wolverines just a few short weeks ago and was a huge pick-up both the Michigan staff and fans were overly excited about. A player that’s a total game-changer as far as his ability, Hill was one of the true crown jewels for Harbaugh and Michigan’s 2019 class. An obvious blow for Michigan, Alabama certainly wasn’t upset when they were on the receiving end of Daxton’s decision change as he announced via his Twitter account that the Crimson Tide would be his new pledge.

How does this affect the Buckeyes though? Well, for weeks now there’s been sharks in the water around current Buckeye pledge Jordan Battle. The four-star Ohio State safety commit from St. Thomas Aquinas High School has been committed to the Buckeyes since June but even long before Meyer’s retirement announcement, Battle’s name was linked to the possibility that his pledge may be wavering to say the least. Still committed though, the recent Daxton Hill to Alabama news may actually help Ohio State more than it thought. Of course it helps when a player like Hill isn’t seeing Ohio State each November on the field in a rivalry game, but presently, Alabama was the one school that was considered the biggest threat to take Jordan Battle away from his Ohio State pledge. Being that Hill is now with Bama, the safety they needed for 2019 may already be intact.

While it’s still possible Battle could decide to head to another school for his college years, this latest development certainly doesn’t hurt Ohio State. At any rate, it’s great to see Ohio State back on top of the 247sports rankings in the Big Ten and nationally back in the top ten.

An in-home visit with big dinner plans

Of the many impressive notes Ryan Day made during the Meyer retirement press conference last week, the best may have been his commitment to bring Ohio’s best prep stars to Columbus and keep them within the border for their college career. A recruiting strategy that has helped program after program year in and year out, Ohio high school football players are guys you just flat out want on your team—and that’s proven to be a fact several times. As we look forward to Day’s efforts in keeping the best in Ohio at Ohio State, the plans for 2019 are first and one of those plans is to keep one of Ohio’s best happy and content with his Buckeye commitment.

2019 commit Cade Stover (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) is Ohio’s Mr. Football, Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year, and more among being truly one of the best players not only in the state, but in the country. Fortunately, the Buckeyes have had him in their class for several months as he has been solid to Ohio State since April. However, with the changing of head coaches, it’s been rumored and of course for sometime now that linebacker position coach, Bill Davis, may not be around for Ohio State in 2019. While we’ll save the debate for whether Davis should be back or not for another time, it’s still important to realize that even Davis as a position has built relationships with future Buckeye players, and that’s important concerning their commitments to Ohio State and the 2019 class.

Whether you want Davis back or not, Stover is obviously linked to him in some fashion as that is not only his future coach, but also his recruiter. Thankfully, being that Stover has been committed to Ohio State this long and is an in-state kid, the chances that he’d end up elsewhere is of course slim, but nevertheless, yesterday, Ryan Day and Davis were in Mansfield to have an in-home visit with Stover—and to make sure that his pledge is solid to the Buckeyes.

If so, be excited Buckeye fans because Cade is an absolute monster on the gridiron and will certainly be a name you’ll remember.