Ohio State Football Recruiting: Can Buckeyes Make It to No. 1?

What Urban Meyer and his assistants have accomplished these last two months in recruiting has been nothing short of historic.  Before Meyer’s hiring, Ohio State was not even in the top 25 of recruiting. Now, Ohio State has a chance to finish with the No. 1 recruiting class in the country.  Regardless of whom else Ohio State can commit and who else signs elsewhere, to finish in the top five has been nothing short of miraculous. And if the class ends at 23, Meyer and his staff have pulled off one of the greatest recruiting efforts in the history of college football, which will form the foundation of a future national championship run. 

Alex Gleitman of the Ohio State football blog Eleven Warriors wrote:

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I think OSU will sign about 28 this year. The staff knows there is some attrition in addition to what we have already seen, thus enabling the Bucks to get to 82 players while signing 28 this year. About the rule of 25 players in a class per the B1G, you can count scholarships of those that enroll early against last year's count. We currently have 6 early enrollees, so that will help in getting to "25" signed for the 2012 class, although in reality it will still be 27-28.

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If Ohio State can recruit five more top football players, one has to believe No. 1 is within their grasp. 

Gleitman believes the final five recruits for Ohio State will be OT Kyle Dodson,  LB Jamal Marcus, DB Demetrious Cox, DB Armani Reeves and ATH Davonte Neal.

His colleague Jeremy Birmingham thinks Ohio State will only sign Dodson, Marcus and Reeves.

If Gleitman is right, Ohio State will likely have enough to overtake Alabama for the No. 1 recruiting spot.  Dodson, Cox and Reeves are listed as 4-star recruits while Marcus has a mixture of 3 and 4 stars.  Neal has recently been raised to a 5-star recruit by some services.

If Birmingham is right, and the Buckeyes only recruit three more players, Ohio State could move to No. 2 in most services but would likely not overtake Alabama for No. 1.

Joe and Jim from the Buckeye Battle Cry predict:

Joe

OL Kyle Dodson

LB Jamal Marcus

S Demetrious Cox

ATH Davonte Neal

Jim

OL Kyle Dodson

LB Jamal Marcus

S Demetrious Cox

Surprise – ?

Demetrious Cox has committed to Michigan State, but if either of these writers are correct with the others and Stefon Diggs joins the 2012 class (which he will decide on Feb. 10), Ohio State has a good chance to overtake Alabama for No. 1, as Armani Reeves is already a Buckeye, Dodson is likely committing to the Buckeyes and Neal is down to Arizona or Ohio State.

If Meyer can convince Diggs to come to OSU while adding three to four of the above-mentioned names, Ohio State would likely catapult to No. 1.  The fact that Diggs will will wait till after NLID means Ohio State has a chance.  When it is all said and done, adding Dodson, Diggs, Neal and Marcus will move Ohio State to the first position in most recruiting services and will end one of the craziest rides ever in Ohio State recruiting lore. 

This last week will be a wild one in recruiting, and Feb. 1 cannot come soon enough.