The Buckeyes have been cruising through the early 2009 recruiting period, pausing only for the Justin Turner speed bump. But in the first real setback, top cornerback Darrell Givens (MD) de-committed and offered his verbal to Penn State at this weekend's NIKE camp. I know this is shocking, since Ohio State and Michigan rarely lose anything to PSU these days.
What to make of this...first, if you didn't have some doubts about Givens staying with OSU, then you're either naive or not paying attention. We flagged the possibility of Givens "wavering" when we initially discussed his commitment, though I wouldn't have guessed it would happen this quickly. Givens was overly positive about every place he visited, and his verbal was a surprise at the spring game. Add it all up, and you have a young player that may have been caught up in the moment.
Ohio State doesn't usually get those kind of "emotional" commitments, which has the upside of far less potential de-commitments. This is also a risk of national recruiting, where players are potentially less loyal and have less ties to your program. Buckeye fans reap the benefits of big out-of-state players like Mike Brewster and Dorian Bell, but they must also be prepared for these kind of disappointments from time to time. And if anyone really wants to complain, keep in mind the Buckeyes have Melvin Fellows, who was a de-commit from Illinois.
What does it mean for the team and the class? Hard to say, but no one should be too crushed. Givens was persuaded by the argument that he could play earlier at Penn State, which is probably the truth. Penn State, in honesty, is not an elite school as far as football talent anymore. And there are plenty of experienced players (Donald Washington, Andre Amos, Chimdi Chekwa) and rising stars (James Scott, Donnie Evege, maybe Devon Torrence) that he would have to compete against. Some top recruits know they're going to have to compete everywhere and welcome the challenge; others look at depth charts and try to pick a place they feel they can make an early impact. I can't really argue with either decision. But it is mildly amusing that another top cornerback prospect, Corey Brown, just called the Nittany Lions out for the their inability to produce NFL-caliber corners (see King, Justin).
Even in this class, the Buckeyes already have C.J. Barnett, a top 100 cornerback rated higher than Givens. They will continue to pursue D.J. Hunter, Brandon McGee and other defensive backs to fill that slot. But it is very unlikely that Ohio State will continue to recruit Givens, who could very well end up somewhere other than Penn State. I'd be shocked if he didn't end up on an official visit to Miami (FL), which made the Centre Daly Times headline so ironic to me.
One positive to take away is that this happened early in the process, and Givens actually called the coaches to let them know, which I respect. Now Ohio State can regroup and replace Givens. Contrast that to last year's Josh Jenkins fiasco, where his half-assed West Virginia commitment and reported silent verbals to OSU paralyzed the offensive line recruiting. No matter though, as the prospects of getting Jack Mewhort, Corey Linsley and transfer Justin Boren on the interior are very exciting. For top programs, every recruiting miss can be turned into something good the next season.
What to make of this...first, if you didn't have some doubts about Givens staying with OSU, then you're either naive or not paying attention. We flagged the possibility of Givens "wavering" when we initially discussed his commitment, though I wouldn't have guessed it would happen this quickly. Givens was overly positive about every place he visited, and his verbal was a surprise at the spring game. Add it all up, and you have a young player that may have been caught up in the moment.
Ohio State doesn't usually get those kind of "emotional" commitments, which has the upside of far less potential de-commitments. This is also a risk of national recruiting, where players are potentially less loyal and have less ties to your program. Buckeye fans reap the benefits of big out-of-state players like Mike Brewster and Dorian Bell, but they must also be prepared for these kind of disappointments from time to time. And if anyone really wants to complain, keep in mind the Buckeyes have Melvin Fellows, who was a de-commit from Illinois.
What does it mean for the team and the class? Hard to say, but no one should be too crushed. Givens was persuaded by the argument that he could play earlier at Penn State, which is probably the truth. Penn State, in honesty, is not an elite school as far as football talent anymore. And there are plenty of experienced players (Donald Washington, Andre Amos, Chimdi Chekwa) and rising stars (James Scott, Donnie Evege, maybe Devon Torrence) that he would have to compete against. Some top recruits know they're going to have to compete everywhere and welcome the challenge; others look at depth charts and try to pick a place they feel they can make an early impact. I can't really argue with either decision. But it is mildly amusing that another top cornerback prospect, Corey Brown, just called the Nittany Lions out for the their inability to produce NFL-caliber corners (see King, Justin).
Even in this class, the Buckeyes already have C.J. Barnett, a top 100 cornerback rated higher than Givens. They will continue to pursue D.J. Hunter, Brandon McGee and other defensive backs to fill that slot. But it is very unlikely that Ohio State will continue to recruit Givens, who could very well end up somewhere other than Penn State. I'd be shocked if he didn't end up on an official visit to Miami (FL), which made the Centre Daly Times headline so ironic to me.
One positive to take away is that this happened early in the process, and Givens actually called the coaches to let them know, which I respect. Now Ohio State can regroup and replace Givens. Contrast that to last year's Josh Jenkins fiasco, where his half-assed West Virginia commitment and reported silent verbals to OSU paralyzed the offensive line recruiting. No matter though, as the prospects of getting Jack Mewhort, Corey Linsley and transfer Justin Boren on the interior are very exciting. For top programs, every recruiting miss can be turned into something good the next season.
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