Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/465739
T H E B I G P I C T U R E S ometimes the rankings from Inter- net recruiting services can catch you by surprise. That is what happened with Ohio State on signing day. Despite the fact that Urban Meyer and his sta3 received signatures from the top o3ensive lineman in Atlantic Coast Conference country (Isaiah Prince of Greenbelt, Md.) and also from four-star wide receiver K.J. Hill of Little Rock, Ark., Ohio State fell from seventh to ninth in the country in Rivals' rankings. However, that decline shouldn't have any impact on the way Meyer feels about his class. As usual, the Buckeyes 2nd themselves atop the Big Ten leader- board. Ohio State signed 27 players on Feb. 4, 14 of whom received four-star rank- ings from Rivals.com. The Buckeyes re- cruited the third-best linebacker class in the country, as rated by Rivals. It fea- tures three four-star prospects, all of whom are from Ohio: outside lineback- ers Justin Hilliard of Cincinnati and Jerome Baker of Cleveland and inside linebacker Nick Conner of Dublin. Another strength of Ohio State's class is its group of defensive ends, which ranks fifth in the nation. It con- sists of Jashon Cornell of St. Paul, Minn., and Dre'Mont Jones of Cleve- land, both of whom are four-star prospects, as well as three-star prospects Joshua Alabi of Detroit and Rashod Berry of Lorain, Ohio. Ohio State also recruited some im- pressive players on o3ense, such as Mike Weber of Detroit, the second-highest- rated running back to sign with a Big Ten team this year and the seventh-best running back in the country according to Rivals. The two quarterbacks in this class are four-star prospect Torrance Green of Plantation, Fla., and "sleeper" three-star player Joe Burrow of Athens, Ohio. However, Ohio State's most impres- sive accomplishment on o3ense is its seven-member o3ensive line class. Ri- vals.com ranks it third in the country. In addition to Prince, it includes Kevin Feder of Ramsey, N.J., Grant Schmidt of Sioux Falls, S.D., and Matt Burrell Jr. of Woodbridge, Va. All are four-star prospects. In addition to this year's impressive haul, Ohio State has begun work on a Ohio State leads the way in conference B I G T E N O U T L O O K | WELCOME, MATT Flanked by Penn State recruits Sterling Jenkins and Tommy Stevens, Burrell visited Penn State last fall but ulti- mately signed with Ohio State. Photo by Bill Anderson