With Friday's oral commitment of Columbus safety Ron Tanner, Ohio State has 17 players in its Class of 2011, 12 from Ohio.
Toledo Whitmer High School star Kenny Hayes is just one of the best known recruits for Ohio State's 2011 incoming class. The Buckeyes are ahead of their pace last year in recruiting, and having more success with in-state talent.BUCKS OF MAGNITUDE
This is Ohio State’s 17-player 2011 recruiting class, with five or six spots in the class probably remaining. It includes eight defensive players and nine offensive players; 12 players from Ohio, two from Florida, two from Illinois and one from Indiana; and seven players ranked among the top 250 in the country by Rivals.com and 13 ranked in the top 300 by Scout.com.
Players are listed by name, position, hometown school, date of commitment and rankings:
4 stars or better: Steve Miller (4.3), DE, Canton McKinley, Oct. 29, 2009, Scout No. 35, Rivals No. 242; Braxton Miller (4.3), QB, Huber Heights, June 3, Scout No. 4, Rivals No. 56; Brian Bobek (4), OL, Palatine, Ill., March 16, Scout No. 158, Rivals No. 220; Chase Farris (4), DL, Elyria, March 16, Scout No. 90, Rivals No. 184; Michael Bennett (4), DT, Centerville, May 16, Rivals No. 30, Scout No. 62; Nick Vannett (4), TE, Westerville, June 30, Scout No. 203.
3.5 stars or better: Kenny Hayes (3.7), DE, Toledo, Aug. 31, 2009, Rivals No. 46, Scout No. 75; Jeremy Cash (3.7), S, Plantation, Fla., April 18, Scout No. 254; Evan Spencer (3.7), WR, Vernon Hills, Ill., June 5, Scout No. 138.
3 stars to 3.3 stars: DeJuan Gambrell (3.3), CB, Toledo, March 16, Scout No. 238; Ron Tanner (3.3), S, Columbus, July 2, Scout No. 124; Jeff Heuerman (3.3), TE, Naples, Fla., April 26; Chris Carter (3), OL, Cleveland, John F. Kennedy, March 15; Antonio Underwood (3), OL, Shaker Heights, March 15, Scout No. 269; Tommy Brown (3), OL, Akron Firestone, April 3; Joel Hale (3), DT, Greenwood, Ind., June 7; Devin Smith (3), WR, Massillon Washington, June 17, Rivals No. 174, Scout No. 278.
Note: Star ratings are the combined average ratings of Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPN.com.
— Doug Lesmerises
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The first player in Ohio State's 2011 recruiting class, Toledo defensive end Kenny Hayes, gave his pledge to the Buckeyes 10 months ago and showed up at games in Columbus last fall with "OSU" shaved into the side of his head. He's a Buckeye through-and-through, and his summer has been all about his Ohio State future.
He has been running in his backyard with an open parachute on his back to improve his speed. He has been swinging an axe into a log to work on his upper body strength. And he has been selling potential future teammates on the merits of Ohio State and watching the Buckeyes' recruiting class snap into place, piece by piece.
A year ago, Ohio State had just nine pledges before the Fourth of July in a bumpy recruiting season defined by high-profile misses and 12 of the top 14 players in Ohio -- the in-state players given a 4- or 5-star rating by Rivals.com -- ending up somewhere other than at OSU.
With Friday's oral commitment of Columbus safety Ron Tanner, Ohio State has 17 players in its Class of 2011, 12 from Ohio. Of the 13 Ohio players currently with 4-star ratings from Rivals, six are pledged to Ohio State and four others remain possibilities.
"I'm very surprised that we have 17 commitments so far," said Hayes, who is considering adding another Buckeye hair message to his current mohawk for his senior season at Toledo Whitmer.
"I'm talking to guys because I want to go to Ohio State and win a national championship for Coach Tressel. I probably think that all the Ohio kids want to come to one school so we can all say we're from Ohio and we won a national championship."
While Hayes said he is surprised, he shouldn't be. His rationale is the same one espoused by former Buckeyes, such as Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, part of Jim Tressel's first recruiting class in 2002 -- why leave home?
After not signing highly rated players in the 2010 class -- including Glenville defensive back Latwan Anderson (Miami), Dayton-area linebacker Jordan Hicks (Texas) and the late Matt James, the Cincinnati lineman who chose Notre Dame before he was killed in a spring break fall in April -- the message is hitting home again in this class.
"There's not very many reasons to say no," said Centerville coach Ron Ullery, who saw his highly rated defensive tackle Michael Bennett pledge to the Buckeyes in May. "Whatever angle you look at, it's a tremendous place to be. They don't have to put on airs or figure out what a kid wants or a family wants. They can just be themselves and sell themselves."
It really has looked easy.
• Hayes was a lifelong Ohio State fan and eager leader of the class.
• The Buckeyes' typical stranglehold on Northeast Ohio has yielded six players, including Canton McKinley defensive end Steve Miller, Elyria defensive lineman Chase Farris and three big offensive linemen in John F. Kennedy's Chris Carter, Shaker Heights' Antonio Underwood and Firestone's Tommy Brown.
• Ranked first or second in the nation at his position, Dayton-area quarterback Braxton Miller, the cousin of former OSU receiver Dee Miller, was laser-targeted by the Buckeyes as a sophomore.
• Bennett hails from the same high school that produced past Buckeyes A.J. Hawk, Mike Nugent, Kirk Herbstreit and Ullery's son, Brent, a walk-on receiver.
When the Buckeyes are winning -- and they are looking for a sixth straight Big Ten title and BCS bowl game -- it's hard for Ohio natives not to notice.
"It definitely makes your decision a lot easier," Farris said, "because most people have to go a long way from home to be on a team that good. But we're all Ohio boys, and Ohio State is right in the middle, two hours from everybody."
The Glenville pipeline should yield at least one player from among lineman Aundrey Walker, linebacker Andre Sturdivant and receiver/defensive back Shane Wynn, though Tarblooders often wait until later in the recruiting process to commit.
Rivals' top player in Ohio, St. Vincent-St. Mary safety Doran Grant, remains in the mix. Recent recruiting classes had been trending toward an even split between in-state and out-of-state players -- the final count on enrolling freshmen should be 9-9. But there is a decent chance the 2011 class could include the most Ohio players since Tressel's first full class in 2002 counted 18 Ohioans among its 24 players.
"Last year was a fluky year," said Greg Ladky, the Midwest recruiting analyst for Rivals. "Talking to kids, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Ohio State's product or the efforts of their coaching staff. It was just one of those years. But this is an awfully good class. It should be one of the nation's better classes, and I have a hard time imagining it not being the best class in the Big Ten."
There's not much left to do, with 17 players on board and probably only five or six spots remaining. This is resembling the class of two years ago when, perhaps pushed by aggressive recruiting of Ohio players by schools such as Illinois, the Buckeyes had 22 oral commitments by July 4.
Especially in a good year for in-state talent, which most recruiting evaluators agree is the case in Ohio, this is probably the new normal for Ohio State. Get the best Ohio kids as early as possible, then troll for some big out-of-state hits before signing day. If that's the strategy, it's working once again.