Miller Time: The Impact of Braxton Miller's Commitment on Ohio State

Almost three months ago, I wrote about how important a commitment from Wayne High School QB Braxton Miller would be.

Around noon Thursday, the No. 4 player on Scout.com's top 300 for the Class of 2011 announced his commitment to Ohio State, giving Ohio State 12 verbal commitments.

In addition, Miller said that he planned on enrolling early for spring football in 2011.

This class already has very highly-touted players, including Canton McKinley, DE Steve Miller, Plantation (FL) S Jeremy Cash, and Centerville (OH) DT Michael Bennett.

But there was no doubt that Braxton Miller was the prized gem in a deep Ohio talent pool. The talented QB brings a high amount of skill as a runner and a passer, though he does have injury concerns.

The good news is that Terrelle Pryor is likely to stay for his senior season in 2011, and with the solid performance of backup Kenny Guiton, the Buckeyes can afford to be patient in Miller's development.

What he will be able to do is take time to get stronger and learn the offense.

But Miller can have another big impact even before he steps foot for spring practice in March 2011.

Miller told Bucknuts.com in an interview prior to his commitment that he would be a tireless recruiter for whichever team he committed to, a la Mike Brewster for OSU in 2008 and DE Ronald Powell for the Florida Gators in 2010.

His top two targets should both be top in-state players, Akron DB Doran Grant and Springfield LB Trey DePriest, both five-star prospects on Scout.com.

Grant is likely to be the easier of the two to get to Columbus, as OSU is his favorite with Michigan State and USC right behind.

DePriest, however, is a different story. The potential for DePriest, the top LB in Ohio, to leave for Alabama has suddenly become a major concern for fans of Ohio State.

Although Miller is a good friend of DePriest, it may be a tougher task to convince him to come to Ohio State than it would be in most circumstances.

But the Buckeyes do hold favorable positions with many other prominent national prospects.

One of these talents is Georgia prospect James Vaughters, an LB with a great balance of size and speed.

The Buckeyes are rumored by some to be one of his potential favorite destinations, competing with Stanford, Georgia, and Georgia Tech for the services of Vaughters.

Ohio State could also be looking into more acquisitions from Florida, where Jeremy Cash has been trying to do some recruiting of his own. So far, Cash has helped the Buckeyes land TE Jeff Heuerman from Naples, the son of a former Michigan Wolverine.

Some of the other Floridians considering the Buckeyes heavily include top S Wayne Lyons, DB Jabari Gorman, and WR JaJuan Story.

With only a handful of scholarships left at the time being for the Buckeyes for 2011, the final spots could be reserved for some of those highly-touted prospects and others who are likely to emerge after breakout senior seasons.

But with the acquisition of Braxton Miller and the increase of recruits doing recruiting for top schools, it's very likely that Ohio State's 2011 class could rival or even surpass the talent levels it acquired in 2008 with Pryor or 2009, which was ranked first on Scout.com.

Either way, the next few months in Ohio State recruiting should be fun to watch.