The Best Damn Recruiting Board

I don't know...I am not real positive on Dodson. I think the only safe bet right now is O'Conner, he should commit on his visit.

i think we would want to take all 4, but i also think we would want to take every player we offer and that won't happen.

Urban said maybe another 4-5 guys in yesterday's announcement of our coaching staff. Which means a possibility of 1-2 more guys if they are worth it (the guys we are considering are).

He said they expect 3-4 guys dropping out, but said at Florida they had, "much more than that". It's not impossible for that to occur with us as well. I could see 6-10 guys dropping out imo.

Go easy on the exclamation points, darewood. Otherwise, I agree. I think kids PICK a school mainly because of the coach and his system and how their skills fit his program. They aren't necessarily thinking about an education because too many of them believe the NFL is going to be their first job out of college. College coaches sell that as part of their pitch. Very few pick a school because it has the best microbiology or nuclear physics or pre-law program. 50% of college freshmen enter with undeclared majors and athletes are no different and maybe even higher because if it wasn't for athletics, a lot of them wouldn't be going to college in the first place and just getting through HS is a struggle, much less thinking very far past it. Who thinks about what they want to be when they grow up when the odds of just getting to HS graduation alive are working against you?

The reason the SEC oversigns is because public schools in the South suck and there are no guarantees that a Southern kid who commits in June and signs in February is going to graduate in May and be admitted and academically eligible to play in September. They have had to hedge their bets by signing 35 hoping to get 25 on campus. And the 10 they lose probably wouldn't have qualified anywhere else because aside from Vandy, the SEC schools' admissions standards aren't very lofty. And the fact remains that while they may oversign, they can still only have 85 on scholarship.

When a coach leaves, I assume players STAY because a) they've developed friendships with other players, b) they also don't want to sit out a year, and c) they feel betrayed by a man they trusted and believed in, who sold them a bill of goods and then cashed out. And having been on campus, they've developed a loyalty to the school itself, maybe have a girlfriend, joined a fraternity, put down something resembling roots. Otherwise, you'd see a mass exodus of players transferring and following the coach who recruited them whenever he leaves and takes a job somewhere else.

Glean...good word! Just by using it, you may have raised the intelligence quotient on this board by 20 points.

As I've been saying, 3 D's and a (O) C are passing grades at OSU. I'm betting Urban will take 25. Then he'll work the roster to get to 82 by 9/1. That means "cutting" the 67 or so who are on it now by 10. They will be his guys--25 recruits plus 57 guys who've proven they want to be here.

2012 may be a tough year. With such a young roster, a new system and no OL depth, I can see a lot of growing pains. Trial by fire. But I have confidence the seniors--Simon, Williams, Goebel, Klein, Boren, Stoneburner, Fragel--will step up and be better leaders than the Brew Crew. But we will reap in 2013 what we sow this year.

decker o connor and dodson

everything i've been reading points to 2 more OL signing and most have dodson as a solid lock. decker is still a stretch, even with the coaching changes and is pretty loyal to ND...can't wait to hear how his visit went and if the sheriff can sway him to c-bus. o'conner wants to come to tosu in a big way and if he gets an offer he'll jump at, but the staff is waiting to hear from everyone else. diamond would be a great commit and we have a seroious shot at him.

my prediction is dodson and diamond. i don't think we take more than 2. everything's pointing to 2 OL, 2LB, 1 ath for the 5 remaining spots

I have a bad feeling about Dodson. He would be a great addition, but I don't see him coming to OSU. I see O'Conner and Decker (or a surprise). I think Meyer closes this class out with only two more OL. I would like it to be three, but I just don't see it. I think it is more possible he ends up with only O'Conner than three or four of these guys.

Hope I am wrong...Dodson looks like one OSU would regret letting get away.

That would be great.