Buckeyes Lay Waste to UM Recruiting

Michigan fans have been busy congratulating themselves for a bevy of verbals from undersized slot guys. But in the midst of this brave new world of Wolverine recruiting, one thing hasn't changed - Ohio State is stomping them in head-to-head competition for elite talent.

We blogged about this last year, when Ohio State garnered a great class with a number of notable prospects that were also pursued by Michigan. Would things change with The Rod replacing LLLLLLoyd Carr? Nope. The Detroit Free Press recently published an article about how Jim Tressel is "crushing" Rodriguez in the recruiting game. New Michigan, pretty like the Old Michigan.

The article cites seven direct wins for Ohio State: WR James Jackson, DE Melvin Fellows, LB Dorian Bell, DB/WR Corey Brown, RB Jordan Hall, OT/DT Adam Bellamy, OL Corey Linsley. Jackson in particular stung the Wolverines, being a Michigan native at a position of need for UM. The lone exception to the list is S Justin Turner, a highly rated Ohio safety that committed to Michigan.

But even this list doesn't give an indication of how strong Ohio State has been in this area the last few seasons. The Buckeyes have gotten so proficient in nabbing early commitments from blue chip recruits that Michigan is constantly shifting to second tier players. UM showed strong interest in players like CB C.J. Barnett, DT John Simon, TE Reid Fragel and WR Duron Carter. And don't forget about Michigan legacy Zach Boren, who choose Ohio State once brother Justin made the unthinkable transfer.

Michigan fans have little to say on this topic, as evidence by the disappearing act by our Wolverine blogger. They will claim that Michigan has successfully raided Ohio talent over the past few seasons. But only Turner and TE Kevin Koger actually had a Buckeye offer; the Trotwood bunch and players like Isaiah Bell and Taylor Hill were never going get OSU offers.

You might also hear that Michigan wasn't really "invested" in some of these players because they didn't focus their "resources" on them. This is insane troll logic; if an elite player has interest from a big-time program and commits elsewhere, it's still a loss. Recruiting fans tend to measure the importance of the recruit by how long it drags on and how much publicity they receive. This may be true in some cases. But for players like Beanie Wells or Mario Manningham, just because the decision was early doesn't alter the impact.

There are a handful of players left on the board that are still looking at in both programs: RB Jamaal Berry, OT Marcus Hall and S Vladimir Emilien. Will be interested to see if Michigan can win any of these battles, or if the Buckeyes will continue to dominate.