Recruiting fans always will remember the players that their favorite team landed but will also remember the ones who got away, sometimes even more vividly than team successes.
No matter how good the recruiter is, be it Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer or Ryan Day, there are going to be kids who get away, or at least it appears that they got away.
But with only one signing period for much of the run of this series (the first year of the December signing period went into place for the class of 2018), how do you really say that you “had someone” who may or may not have given you a verbal commitment.
It got us to thinking about some of the names out there that still bother fans, the ones who flipped, the ones who never answered the call and ultimately ended up somewhere else.
We are now entering the second week of July and let’s take a walk down memory lane and talk about a few of these names from the class of 2006 through the class of 2018. The jury is still out on classes from 2019 and beyond and my first year with the site was 2006, so that seems to be a good starting point.
Urban Meyer has been in Columbus for a couple of seasons, has the recruiting machine humming. That does not mean that they land everyone they want, even if Big Ten foes feel that Ohio State does in fact land everyone.
2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015
Setting the scene
The Buckeyes returned to a familiar place, back into the top-five of recruiting rankings with the No. 3 class for 2016, a typical 25-man class that held a pair of five stars at the top with Nick Bosa and Keandre Jones. While Jones would transfer out eventually, the younger Bosa was every bit as good as the older Bosa. This was another one of those classes where a couple of players at the bottom of the rankings would go on to show that stars don’t mean everything as Jordan Fuller (LA Rams) and Malik Harrison (Baltimore) are both having strong NFL careers. 11 players in this class would end up transferring out or giving up football with eligibility still on the table, a sign of things to come with the transfer portal.
If only…
Kareem Walker
Ohio State went out and landed one of the top running back prospects in the nation with Kareem Walker out of New Jersey but in modern recruiting, that doesn’t always mean you are going to end up with the player, in fact, Ohio State did not even get an official visit after Walker decommitted from the team in November of 2015. Insult was added to injury in the eyes of Buckeye faithful when he picked the Wolverines of all teams to land at. It did not end up being a great match as Walker never found his way in Ann Arbor (Mich.) and ultimately would transfer out as Michigan has not had a consistent back since the days of Mike Hart. Ohio State would land the services of Antonio Williams (who would eventually transfer as well) and Demario McCall (who has yet to find a role in the offense).
Tristen Wallace
If Tristen Wallace would have stuck around, Ohio State would have never had Dwayne Haskins. Does that mean Joe Burrow would have gotten a turn? What does that mean about Justin Fields, or guys beyond him now? You just never know.
Most players want to play quarterback, in the school yard there are fights as to who will be the guy. Wallace was a well-regarded signal caller and then just up and decided that he didn’t want to play the position any longer and moved to wide receiver. Once that happened, Ohio State knew that it was looking for a quarterback and Wallace no longer fit the need, so there was a parting of the ways. Wallace’s career would end unceremoniously with the Ducks after he was expelled from the school after allegations of sexual misconduct. Ohio State still was not ready to move on Haskins at this point, still enamored with Jarrett Guarantano, but when the New Jersey product was set on going to Tennessee, the Buckeyes moved on Haskins, flipped him from Maryland and that was that.
Damar Hamlin
Pittsburgh can be ground zero between Ohio State and Penn State when it comes to recruiting and even though it is in Pennsylvania, Ohio State can hold its own there. It was shaping up to be one of those battles for four-star safety Damar Hamlin out of Central Catholic high school. Ohio State, Notre Dame and Penn State all had their swings and it really appeared that this could go any direction but then hometown Pitt got the past visit and was able to keep Pittsburgh talent home, a disappointment for everyone else involved. Hamlin would record 290 tackles, 21 passes defended and six interceptions during his four-plus year career at Pitt and would go on to be a 6th-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 2021 draft. Ohio State did just fine in landing Jordan Fuller however.
