Ohio State Football Recruiting: The Position Best Helped by the 2012 Class

Ohio State's top-five recruiting class is full of gems and players that can make an impact both in the short-term and in the long-term.

But there is one position on the team that got a bigger shot in the arm than everywhere else on the field: the defensive line.

Since Urban Meyer arrived at Ohio State, he landed three great defensive linemen—Adolphus Washington actually committed just days before Meyer officially took the job.

DEs Noah Spence, Washington and Se'Von Pittman and DT Tommy Schutt are all highly-touted linemen that have an amazing level of athleticism and aggression, the exact type of linemen that Meyer wants to put into Luke Fickell and Everett Withers' defense.

Spence and Washington are prototypical SEC-type defensive ends; they are not very big but use pure athleticism and speed off the edge to get to the quarterback and create havoc in the backfield.

Spence and Washington each showed what they were made of, as each were simply dominant off the edge in their respective All-Star games—Spence in the Under Armour Game and Washington in the Army All-American Bowl.

Pittman and Spence are no slouches either.

A former Michigan State commit, Pittman is a guy that has the ability to beat players off the edge with either his speed or his strength, similar to former high school teammate and current Buckeye Steve Miller.

Schutt is the type of defensive tackle that is simply known as a disruptor.

He has the ability to break through the middle of the line and break into the backfield to either stuff the running back or let the ends and linebackers clean up the play.

Schutt has a perfect mentor in senior DT John Simon to learn from, as the latter burst onto the scene as a freshman and dominated USC All-American C Kris O'Dowd in just the second college football game of his career

The only thing that may keep these players off the field for a large amount of next season is the group of players that is waiting in the wings just ahead of them.

Just last year, the Buckeyes brought in another group of talented linemen, led by Miller, Michael Bennett and Kenny Hayes.

Each of those players has an extra year of experience and will have a full spring going through new strength coach Mickey Marotti's aggressive training program in their pocket.

In addition, each of the starters on the defensive line—Simon, senior DE Nathan Williams and DTs Johnathan Hankins and Garrett Goebel—are also back this season.

That's not to say that any of the four talented freshman linemen won't get a shot either. Meyer has said he will open up full competition at almost any position.

In other words, the best players will play the most, regardless of experience.

But it isn't likely that Spence and Washington will start over Simon and Williams.

Odds are that they will have their fair shot, just like all the other guys to start, and the best ones will play.

But with this group of players, it's fair to say that this crop of defensive linemen is by far the best facet of this excellent 2012 recruiting class that Ohio State has assembled.

Follow me on Twitter @bielik_tim for the latest Ohio State news and recruiting, including the important storylines leading up to National Signing Day on Wednesday.