Grading Jim Tressel's Recruiting Efforts at Ohio State By Position (Part Two)

Dave Thurman (6:37 PM)

Yesterday we looked at how JT has done the past eight years in recruiting offensive positions; today, let's examine the defense.

Defensive End

Highest Ranked Signing: Melvin Fellows—it will be interesting to see how he does the next few years, as hopes are high.

Biggest Surprise: Vern Gholston, who was a good recruit but exceeded expectations.

Biggest Flop: Robert Rose, who was nearly as highly rated as Fellows is this year. Big Rob now has only one more year to make an impact.

Overall Position Grade: B (Some good pass rushers have been brought in or converted from OLB.) 

Defensive Tackle

Highest Ranked Signing: Quinn Pitcock

Biggest Surprise: Nader Abdallah, who made himself into a pretty good player.

Biggest Flop: Sian Cotton, who was gone from school before his star rose.

Overall Position Grade: C (The rankings don't lie, as the Bucks haven't had enough big-time recruits at this position. Maybe Garrett Goebel and John Simon change things the next four years.) 

Linebacker

Highest Ranked Signing: Mike D'Andrea (consensus No. 1)

Biggest Surprise: Pick between A.J. Hawk and James Laurinaitis, both three-star recruits who produced five-star results.

Biggest Flop: D'Andrea, who battled injuries his whole career. He would have had a hard time living up to the hype regardless.

Overall Position Grade: A (Great talent has been consistently brought into Columbus at this position, and it has produced super results.)

Safety

Highest Ranked Signing: Eugene Clifford, by a nose over Donte Whitner and Jamario O'Neal.

Biggest Surprise: Anderson Russell, who nobody but OSU thought much of, and who has had a pretty good career.

Biggest Flop: Jamario O'Neal, who, unlike Clifford, spent four years in Columbus without having much impact.

Overall Position Grade: B (Some good ones here like Whitner and Kurt Coleman, but plenty of misses, too.)

Cornerback

Highest Ranked Signing: Ted Ginn (consensus No. 1), but he moved to WR, so let's go with Corey Brown from the class of '09.

Biggest Surprise: Malcolm Jenkins, without a doubt. From a no-name to a first round draft pick!

Biggest Flop: E.J. Underwood, who had all the tools but didn't like hitting the books (though Dareus Hiley also comes to mind).

Overall Position Grade: A- (So many guys surpassed their rankings, e.g. Jenkins, Donald Washington, Chimdi Chekwa, and Ashton Youboty.)

Conclusion

There you have it—my analysis of Jim Tressel's recruiting, one position at a time. What do you think? Who did I miss? Let us know as we fix our glance to the class of 2010, and hope for more highly ranked recruits!