Ohio State Football Recruiting: Power Ranking the Last 5 Recruiting Classes

Ohio State's recruiting in the past few years has been surprisingly hit and miss, but more recently full of disappointments which have led to where the team is right now.

The Buckeyes have brought in plenty of big names in recruiting, but not all that many have panned out when you consider how high these classes were ranked.

There have been many great, great players to come out of the last five recruiting seasons as well as gems that came out of nowhere.

But there have been a fair share of 5-star busts as well that just never panned out.

Here is a power ranking of the last five recruiting seasons.

5. 2012

To be fair, the only reason 2012 is currently ranked fifth is because none of these players have played a down of college ball yet; so their worth at this level is still an unknown.

On paper, this class has a chance to be as good as any other in recent OSU memory, especially on the defensive line with players like Noah Spence and Adolphus Washington.

Urban Meyer's inaugural class at OSU helped bring in some offensive linemen for depth including Taylor Decker and Joey O'Connor.

The only thing this class lacked was the pure offensive game-breaker that the Meyer spread attack demands.

Even without that, this class could help be the springboard for another Buckeye title run in the Big Ten.

4. 2010

2010's class was known more for the misses they had in recruiting than who they landed, as prospects like LaMarcus Joyner and Seantrel Henderson spurned Ohio State.

That didn't stop the Buckeyes from getting good players, especially stud DT Johnathan Hankins, who was only a 3-star prospect. He has quickly become one of the mainstays of the Buckeye defense going into his junior year.

WR Corey Brown and DB Bradley Roby are expected to be the top guys at their positions and Andrew Norwell will likely start at LT this season.

Five of the 19 commits are no longer with the Buckeyes.

3. 2011

The final class of Jim Tressel's tenure brought Ohio State some of the most exciting players that they have on the roster.

Braxton Miller has proved early on that the stage of the Big Ten is not too big for him, although there is still some seasoning left to do.

LB Ryan Shazier has already proved to be a force on the defense, and should be a fan favorite for years to come with his aggressive play and athleticism.

Many more of these players should be in starting roles this year or in the future as they continue to grow as football players.

2. 2009

2009's class was ranked No. 1 on Scout.com because of how loaded it was defensively.

And while this class did have quite a large amount of talent, especially from John Simon and Jordan Hall, a whopping eight of the 25 members of the class of 2009 are no longer with the team.

This type of attrition really hurt the team going into this season because these are the seniors for this season, the leaders of this year's team.

Simon and Hall have had pretty good careers, and other players like C.J. Barnett have been pretty good as well.

But looking at this class just makes fans wonder what could have been.

1. 2008

Depending on your interpretation of the 2008 OSU recruiting class, they are either famous or just infamous.

The "Brew Crew" as they became known did help win two straight Big Ten championships and the 2010 Rose Bowl.

Unfortunately, they also have the legacy of the biggest scandal in Ohio State football history which cost Jim Tressel his job as head coach.

Terrelle Pryor, the most hyped high-school prospect of that year, played very well at Ohio State by the time his junior season came to an end with a (vacated) Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas.

He left OSU after Tressel, and two other seniors were suspended to start the 2011 season.

While they did bring the program some big wins after three straight BCS losses, they also did end their title streak after the 6-7 season in 2011.

This class is arguably the most talented of any in recent memory. If only they had stayed out of trouble, a national championship could have been a real possibility last year.

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