Snap Judgments: Signing Day thoughts as Ohio State signs Big Ten’s best class

From the Woody Hayes Athletic Center following Ryan Day’s press conference on national signing day, Austin Ward, Bill Landis and Jeremy Birmingham break down their thoughts on the Buckeyes 2024 signing class.

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A knee buckling start to the national Signing Day early signing period for Ohio State these are stap judgments they are brought to you by buyers Auto it’s Jeremy Birmingham not on his phone that’s Bill Landis and I’m Austin W we’re off to a flying start on Snap

Judgments Ohio State a mostly good to very good day for the buck as burm where do you put it in that scale I mean you had three things that you were worried about coming into the day you hit 67% of those things the one thing that didn’t

Go your way Jeremiah mcellen flipping to oron signing with Oregon like on the hierarchy of what was the most important that would have been third on the list and so like you signed or not yet here we sit at 152 Jeremiah Smith’s letter of

Intent is not in yet why I don’t know I guess fax machines work differently in South Florida who knows you can just you can just take a picture of it with your phone and send it so can you I wonder that yeah um and then edri Houston is in

And so that’s pretty big you get the number one player in the country you get uh a five-star defensive end who you have put a lot of time and resources into over the last couple of years out of one of the PowerHouse programs in the Atlanta area at Buford so there’s like

The extended value of that um and and everyone else signed without incident and you know it’s funny you have 21 kids coming into the day that you’re counting on 18 of them are signed immediately and like that should be something to be positive about but yet you know everyone

Here Waits on on pins and needles to hear the final answers from Jeremiah Smith and edri Houston we started Ryan day’s press conference at like 1210 and Jeremiah Smith was sitting in his gymnasium in at Shaman Madonna High School say it again shamad Mad sh shamama waiting for his opportunity to

Go and announce his decision and so like you could see the face of Ryan day when he walked in like it looked Sullen it it was um there was none of the rosy cheeked Hue there was a Rosy Hue Hue he was pale he was he was pretty pale from

Where I was sitting in the front but maybe maybe had had a bad Vantage for you know it’s cool for us I mean we don’t even those of us who have been around recruiting and in it for a long time you don’t often get to see like

That moment when it happens so kind of cool that to see thank God it was a person yeah I mean it would have been really grainy on a zoom call U I would have felt wouldn’t have seen his knees Buckle wouldn’t have seen him grab the podium like those are pretty cool moment

I would have felt bad for his wife and children if he was in New Hampshire like with them today I mean I know he want to see him but I I imagine like he would have been pretty much a bear to be around all morning right like

It wouldn’t have been fun hey Dad you want to go build a snow man no I can’t gotta watch TV you know like so I guess you know it’s good we get a got to watch TV I gotta watch the TV to see what the teens are doing you know like it’s cool

We got to see that in person so um finish is being a pretty good day for Ohio State and there’s still questions people are going to have and and and I tried to get like where do you go from here cuz he said we didn’t get the whole

Wish list but like then what’s on the wish list well the answer is the wish list will change depending on the other lists it it we’ll get to that stuff with uh current roster NFL decisions coaching staff we’ll get into all that on the podcast daily for Thursday want to keep

The focus on recruiting and guys that are in the class for Ohio State today on Snap judgments as much as we can but all these things are interconnected so you know that um outside of I guess now burn probably needing to add another wide receiver um I don’t think they do really you

Could do that through the portal if you want to or or not at all I mean again that depends on if AA abuka returns and you have Jaden Ballard returning you have Cojo anwi and Keon gr returning you have the four white outs in the class of

2023 all coming back you have the two that you signed to five stars in 2024 you don’t need it the loss of Jeremiah mlen is a plus Maran Whit plus de Marian Whitten who I mean I was told on Tuesday night when the conversation about Jeremiah M flipping to Oregon really

Began to solidify that oh State believes that there’s a chance that de Maran Whitten not only starts his career playing in like a a big slot tight end wide receiver role but because he doesn’t really have the frame to add those 40 pounds that you think a tight

End needs to uh that he may end up staying there and I’m going to tell you what like de Marian Whitten gets overlooked because he’s at Glenville and he was sort of positionist like wellio State thinks this kid is a superstar in the making so you might have it might be

One of those unanswered prayers where you’re like oh that’s it’s a blessing in disguise because the the there are a few guys in this class I mean obviously we can talk about jeremi Smith and the the generational label that gets attached but there are a few guys who I’ve heard more coaches glow

About than de Marian wi Bill what did you make of uh the class at this point yeah I think I think it’s good um I when Ryan Day walked in as B said when Ryan Day walked in as we’re all like staring at her phones waiting for Jeremiah Smith

To make his announcement known um I was like oh boy this is this is not going to go well because we had already thought at that point too that edri Houston was was uh trending excuse me toward Alabama we’re not expecting good news on on amaris Williams who who did flip from

Florida to Auburn was like this is they got their 18 but are they going to like Miss on the three that we’ve we’ve been waiting for and and obviously it turned out not to be the case so I think it went from a potential disaster to to a

Very good day for Ohio State like a day worth celebrating when you hold on to the best player in the country when you hold on to one of the best defensive lineman in the country when you’re you know competitive I think on the nil front which is what people want to see

From Ohio State is are trying to piece together their roster and and I think they were in both of those cases with Jeremiah Smith and edri Houston to make sure they they secured those um I I think it’s great there’s still work to be done like burm said but when I I

Think you take a the class in in total they did address a lot of needs with with this group and I think there’s a lot of players to be really excited about but you know starting with the two guys at the top that they kept today

Yeah you kept your two best players and and this is a results oriented business people are going to see the the recent losses of Jordan Lyall to Miami and the jeremi mlen flip and the Justin Scott but like all of those parts are pretty interchangeable and I know you look at a

Five-star defensive tackle like Justin Scott and say well how do you interchange that guy well you you get a fourth year from kyli Williams and that is better gives you a little Runway to make up for it now the question obviously for Ohio State and we’ll talk

About it on Thursday is like is all that going to happen and uh if that doesn’t happen but that’s why Ohio State’s already had Derk Harman the Michigan State transfer in here because you you have to be somewhat proactive but the group in general you get another five-star quarterback in a noan who

Doesn’t get talked about enough probably because I don’t I don’t know why he played in super high level competition in Georgia Big Time winner like he’s a he’s a CJ strad type of quarterback the ball placement guy the more he’s got some BPS more athletic than you think

Because he doesn’t play in an offense that asks him to run a lot but when he does you can see he’s he’s got some natural like movement skills and and I I was talking about it with Bo Bishop on 971 the fan on the way in today the

Difference between CJ coming out of high school was he was rising up and and people didn’t really know what he was but like Ohio state had a pretty good idea air is a known commodity but he’s also coming into a situation where there isn’t a Justin Fields there to guarant

So like there’s I’m not I’m not saying that Aaron Nolan is going to be Ohio State starting quarterback but I think it is folly to to just remove the possibility the door is as open as it has ever been yeah yeah Ry did try and and the breaks just

On that point a little bit that he’s still going to be a true freshman he’s still not taking a snap here and I’m not trying to throw any wet blankets on anybody you thinking that that could be a possibility but the the first guy at the head of that line is Devon Brown

Right now again we can talk about all that on Thursday but he did say there’s going to be a lot to learn and you can’t you can only take so much projection from high school and there’s a ton of it a lot of production a lot of time that

They’ve spent evaluating him and maybe part of the sperm with against High LEL high level competition that you know it’s still hard for anybody to go and do that right away it was hard for CJ it was hard for Justin Fields it was hard for Dwayne H Haskins it was hard for Joe

Bur it’s it’s hard for any true freshman quarterback to make that that’s not to try and diminish anything on national Signing Day or take any shine away from Aon Nolan but some of that that conversation about the quarterback specifically is probably tied into to what Ryan day has in the rest of that

Room that he he he’s not gonna stand up there and say ah well here comes air this is the huge deal he’s got we got the best one in the country coming in but the other part maybe where he doesn’t get that attention is because of the spotlight on the other guys and

Because he did after the Dylan rayola D commitment there was like No Doubt Ohio State seemed to shift all the chips directly to a Nolan they got the commitment and there was no I mean you tell me I don’t think there was a single point where you seem to express any

Concern that Aaron Nolan was wavering that he wasn’t going to be committed to Ryan day in Ohio State and once you shut down any of the outside Intrigue well then people move on to the other stuff well he’s a smart kid and playing quarterback for for Ryan day in Ohio

State has been a lottery ticket the last few years and somebody else had the lottery ticket and dropped it on the ground and he’s like oh cool I’ll pick it up and why you’re not going to drop it at that point and you know I think

That what we didn’t really get into a lot of the minutia of the class like Dynamic today because of all the other questions that are being asked but a Nolan was as integral integral in the signing of Jeremiah Smith or the eventual signing of Jeremiah Smith if

That happens by the time this is online um as anyone else in this class like the the bond that those two had Jeremiah Smith wanted to play with Aon Oland and wanted him as his quarterback and if you look at the debate that Jeremiah Smith

Had to have in the last few days between Miami in Florida State and Ohio State like the quarterback situation is probably one of the deciding factors other than Brian Hartline like where you look at it and go oh I’m more comfortable in that room than I am who’s

Miami’s quarterback I don’t know like that’s I actually don’t know right like they don’t have I know who’s not there right so you you go into that and that that’s a big part of this puzzle and recruiting isn’t what it used to be you don’t have the guys building like a

Super tight-knit class because nil has made people competitors almost in certain ways and um everyone’s too cool to talk to each other and that sort of stuff now but like th those few relationships those few bonds that were formed the Bryce West and Aaron Scott the Aaron noan and Jeremiah Smith like

Those things carry a big weight the Ian Moore with the Armstrong Twins and then you know those guys going after G CLE like that that’s that’s a big difference we didn’t again we didn’t talk about the class Dynamic today and I wish we would have a little bit more because I think

The Armstrong twins who get overlooked because they’re from Ohio and maybe they’re not five star tackles and guards but like those guys were hugely important in this class and it’s going to be a top five class in a world where people sit back and go oh damn it this

Class stinks and like it’s not it’s a top four class three right now isn’t it so it’s going to finish that way so like that it’s pretty good last year’s class finish in the to you know as number five in the country and a lot of the same objections because you look at

Individual things like did we get enough defensive line the answer to that is clearly no now what’s interesting is that there’s some scuttlebutt today about Ohio State and Dominick Kirks from Villa St Joe’s Villa Angelo St Joe’s up in Cleveland uh Washington commit who has not signed yet that maybe Ohio state

Is getting involved and asking him to delay a little bit let them re-evaluate where they’re at um maybe that maybe he signs tomorrow or Friday maybe he waits until February period but there’s at least an acknowledgement despite what was said at the podium like oh we’re fine we’re okay like it the actions

Speak clearly different because they were still cha chasing amaris Williams today now you have the Dominic Kirks conversation so there’s at least like an acknowledgement that there’s parts that need to fill so I tried to ask about that and I guess before I ask you this

Question bro I want to say like great job keeping edri Houston like they only have two but the two they have I think are pretty good and edri Houston is one of the best in the country so like I want to give credit where it’s due for

That um why don’t they recruit guys like Kirks and the way that I opposed the Ryan day was you you recruit a lot of and developmental is probably the wrong word but I think people know what I mean when I say that offensive lineman in the

Midwest and in Ohio and they just don’t really do that in for for defensive linemen and I don’t know why that’s the case what do you have a theory on that I I the theory is that there are traits that you look for in these guys in offensive lineman those traits are

Different those traits are he’s big he can move he doesn’t need to be explosive he doesn’t need to be long he you know like there there you you want those things certainly in an offensive lineman you want a guy who’s you know got a 84 in wingspan at tackle but you can work

Around it if it’s not there you can look at a guy like Luke Montgomery and go he’s athletic enough to be be able to put here if you are looking at a 6’5 230lb defensive end like Dominick Kirks who seems to lack a little bit of explosion that that you’re playing in

The bad part of Cleveland football right yeah if you’re not dominating on your tape and you have injury issues and you’re like H I don’t know like especially when you combine that with the fact that there’s no explosive trait there’s no like 44 speed there’s no Zach Harrison like athleticism there’s no

Jack Sawyer size there’s no uh jt2 Malo out get off like you’re missing some of those parts but to your point like you still have to fill the roster and yeah that’s that is the the question I think people should have but if you look at the rest of the recruiting class Brian

Harlin’s room um Tim Walton’s room it’s not like there were a lot of backup options for those guys either this is Ohio State they think they’re going to sign the players they recruit and they don’t waste a lot of time and energy just building relationships with guys

That they’re not interested in and and they believe I think ultimately hey we’re going to get to signing day and we’re going to win um and then if you don’t you’re better off finding a third year college defensive end and the transfer portal like let’s let’s do a

Hypothetical while we’re here was asked about it on the live chat of Ryan’s press conference would Ohio State go after Corey Foreman from USC right Cory Foreman was the number one ranked defensive lineman in the country coming out of high school in the class of 2021

Ahead of Jack Sawyer and ahead of JT T Malone he went into college as a 6 fo5 255 pound defensive end and US USC ruined him and had him lose 30 pounds and play linebacker where he couldn’t play are you better off recruiting Dominick Kirks or saying to a guy like

Cory Foreman hey we think you can still be that Elite defensive end that you were you have the trades where where where’s a better investment I don’t know the closest parallel to that in my mind at least recently for Ohio State would be going back to the Taiwan Malone

Recruitment and that didn’t happen and pay immediate dividends in one year either maybe maybe that’s what they expected that it wasn’t going to be you immediately go back into it maybe that wouldn’t be the case for Foreman or would be the I be because you’re taking a kid playing moving him into another

Position with tywan Malone is playing another sport like you you do have obstacles to overcome I I know I’m just trying to think of a parallel to help inform the answer because I don’t know what it is I mean I it’s those are the debates they have to have like I I don’t

Know not to say that they’re definitely looking at cor for and it’s just a strictly hypothetical but those are the conversations that these guys are getting paid a lot of money to sort out and I don’t know if you watch Dominic Kirk’s tape like I see a big lanky rangy

Defensive end Prospect who you think can be good but again he’s had injury issues and he doesn’t have the explosion you want or the dominance on tape that you want from a high school kid in Villa Jose St Joseph’s whatever Villa andilla St Joseph yeah that place David light’s

High School right like so so I can understand renamed it that I can understand the reluctance from Ohio State to go down that path but then you look at the fact that there’s you know you’ve got four top 250 ranked defensive linemen in the state of Ohio and you

Don’t go after any of them yeah that’s it’s that’s that’s a fair question it’s not merely a Kirk’s conversation for me it’s just like that that guy what change his name to whatever you want to change there’s the Brian Robinson there’s Ted Ted Hammond who signed with Michigan

Like there conversations I I just and it’s not like I’m not I’m not advocating for Ohio State taking players that they just believe won’t ever play here because I think they’ve done that a little too much on the offensive line uh as as I said the other day but I I do

Think maybe they can be a little more Discerning in how they go about recruiting the Midwest for for defensive lineman because you I think you want to as much as you can for Ohio State like bring in a couple of guys every cycle who aren’t going to be um disenchanted

By not having immediate playing time I might be willing to stick around for a couple years and develop with a guy like Larry Johnson and learn a defense and maybe it’s a three or four year proposition but as you go through that your room I think is just healthier and

And then you avoid a day like today where it’s like they signed two good defensive line but you’re still like I think they need more like I just think there’s way to Ryan Day told you like it’s a year-to-year proposition like you don’t know anymore so like to your point

Why would you be not more willing to be like hey this is a four-year guy and he’s going to develop he’s close to home doesn’t require much in the N Department like that is the type of player that I think you know we talked at at length on

Tuesday about the NFL feel of things now like that’s a scout team guy who like can develop into a potential player down the road and if you believe in your ability to develop Talent then sometimes you need to take that guy I think the only reason that we’re having this

Conversation I mean a it’s because there’s two guys in that class and you said you know the approach is probably the same at the the net his cats just as wide for Tim Walton you know other Tony Alford whoever uh they generally connect on those more they’re not winding up in

A situation where all five guys that they recruit let’s just use that number out of you know out of thin air well now we have too many good players like that hasn’t happened they they’re locking in guys and there wasn’t a lot of uh Jeopardy it seemed like with Bryce West

And Aaron Scott down the stretch like they weren’t sweating it but they so they didn’t probably ever feel the need to shift into a backup plan and the Ohio State defensive line class was like these eggs are in this basket and everything has to happen and there’s

Nothing else and that’s the FR I just looking at it from the outside I can see why that is frustrating well because those answers were known in August that’s the frustration the Ed Houston near flip to Alabama today not withstanding like all the other guys you were chasing at that position the Dylan

Stewarts the Maris light foots the booker picker who Ohio State really didn’t think could develop into the defensive end that they wanted all those guys were off the board months ago so there’s been plenty of time to evaluate and find someone else so the the question is did they explore all options

And decided no one’s good enough or did they say we’re fine with what we have because that I think is the is the actual Crux of of the AR argument like you couldn’t have known in September that there was a real chance for jt2 Mal and Ty Williams and Jack and Michael

Hall to come back y that being the case like there should have been a backfill in this class and there isn’t now maybe it works out in the long run because those guys all come back and it’s a moot point anyway but like it is a recurring

Issue in that group when you know Eric Mah kind of was that right he he signed in you know committed in September but he was offered in August yeah uh and that was because they wanted another defensive tackle thinking that they were going to lose Ty Leake Williams and

Michael Hall so you know if they didn’t move on him then what do you got yeah you know that’s the but you look at running back Tony Alfred makes the decision in April to pick Jordan Lyall knowing full well what happened with Mark Fletcher a year ago and then runs

Into the same problem now he was fortunate that he had Sam Dixon close to home and James peop also in the class and so maybe the third guy was a luxury all along but there was no other option there either so and that’s a guy who in

The last four years has had a pretty hit and miss um time on the recruiting show yeah his philosophy is very similar to Larry Johnson’s it’s all about that personal relationship I you are now my son and I am going to be your father figure and in a world where that means

Less and less like it is hard to see those guys adjusting fast enough I thought they did do a good job at some positions of of I having secondary options I guess that’s probably not the right way to describe them but like getting Leroy Roker contingency play

Like getting Leroy Roker at safety I thought was like a really nice pivot because he’s an under the radar guy but like is oozing with athletic traits that I think get you really excited and like gay vanle I think longterm my opinion will end up being like an upgrade over

Mark Nave if you consider him the replacement for Nave Nave in that class so it’s not like it’s not even longterm it’s shortterm shortterm he’s a better he’s a better Prospect too yeah so it’s like I I think maybe like the last couple of Cycles there were multiple

Positions where we thought like man they put their all their EGS and one basket didn’t hit on them and then were kind of screwed um that maybe did happen a little bit on the fensive line this year but I think some other spots where that could have happened they did a nice job

Of of covering themselves yeah I mean you look at linebacker you signed two that you really really love and Garrett Sil and pton Pierce you swung all the way through for Kingston vamasa he called the Ohio State staff on Tuesday night and said I love you but I’m I’m

Sticking with another Dame we’ll see you next year see you next year and and you know that’s that sucks but Ohio State also went out of their way in September to bring in Nigel Glover to alleviate that because again they knew in response that was a response to Kingston vamasa

Not picking Ohio State in the summer so like you see the willingness to Pivot in other spots and sometimes I think there are still a few guys on the staff who are a little stubborn in their way and when Ryan day is asked to evaluate how

Do you how do you judge your staff and he talks recruiting first it’s hard not to notice that there’s like 40% of the the staff that doesn’t recruit that’s that’s a that’s a you know that all that to say like you’re still finishing with the top three class

In the country so like imagine how much better it can be if that focus is directed in in the right spot I think that’s that’s been my primary point for the entire month of December is maximizing opportunities they in front of you they can be in any nature of the

Program but Ohio State should not have parts of their staff that you have to question at all we’ll get into more of that on Thursday on the podcast daily burm is also going to get a lot deeper into the Weeds on what this uh recruiting class looks like uh with some

Talking stuff later on with I’ll be live we’re thinking like eight o’clock I got to drive back home so live version of talking stuff so you can look forward to that there’ll be even more recruiting talk that’s coming later on the podcast but as we wrap up snap judgments brought

To you by buyer Auto uh I’ll start with you bill because I know burm will have probably way more to say about it yeah this signing class and the way that the beginning of the early signing period began for Ohio State means what for Ryan

Day for nil when we were in here on this day last year the entire second half of the show was money money money yeah philosophy philosophy philosophy approach aggressiveness what does it what does it say to you the way it worked out today I I think they’re in a

Better spot with everything now than they were a year ago right I don’t I don’t think there was an nil question asked of of Ryan day and I didn’t really feel I mean BM was asking sort of generally about like the direction this is all going which is a worthwhile

Question but like specifically like do you have enough money which is like some of the questions that were asked last year um was not asked this year and certainly you can always have more I don’t know that you’ll ever have enough but I think Ohio state is certainly more

Competitive in that space and and they need it to be and I think generally they did a nice job of of addressing some needs with with this class so I don’t know I I would feel pretty good about it we have we have to wait and see there’s

A lot of dominoes to fall here with exactly what this roster is going to look like and and one of the last things Ryan Day said was the goal is to have the best roster in the country by August and there’s a lot of different Avenues for Ohio State to get there including

Guys who are already on the roster um I’m sticking around it’s not merely the recruiting class but I think in terms of doing their part with the high school recruits and the effort toward getting the best roster in the country um for for next fall I think they did a pretty

Good job like did they bat a thousand no does anybody no not really but it certainly could have been far worse I think um with some of the way things were trending as we walked into the room talk to talk with Ryan day and I think

We came out of that room feeling a little better about things it’s hard to grade a top three class any other than an a yeah um but because the standard is so high at Ohio State people are going to find ways to to say hey maybe this

Could have been better maybe we could have improved here the the advancement in nil from a year ago to now is huge but the Buckey are not in that conversation on a recruit by recruit basis that Oregon is and that’s probably never going to happen right I mean like

You have to be fair about it like Nike has unlimited money and so unless unless you find people who are Phil knightes for that grow up and want to root for Ohio State and and have shoes that are Ohio State colors and all the things that Phil Knight does when he shows up

At Nike at Oregon’s campus sorry and is like hey do you want to be on a Nike I think was you want to be on a Nike commercial did you SCP that those are things that like I do have a question about I don’t want it to ra a

Conversation but like Ohio State’s a Nike school yeah Ohio State athletes have Nike contracts Phil Knight is very much invested in Ohio State I don’t TR he makes money off Ohio State he spends money on Oregon I they spend a a pretty big amount keeping Ohio State happy now

He’s not potentially he’s not showing up on Ohio State’s campus and saying you know what you should come to this school I understand that point but I don’t I don’t think the Ohio State versus Oregon ARG and I know that they just and I’m saying that after they just lost a

Head-to-head battle I don’t think that that’s as big of an issue for Ohio State specifically over the long haul that Phil Knight is at Oregon I just I I don’t I plus he’s like like 990s yeah he’s going to die eventually but someone else will rise in his place he’s

Probably got a CL got he’s got a hram but you know Ohio State wants to be elite and that will happen and it it’s frustrating to people because it takes a little longer than you’d want it to at a place like this but I I I know people will be mad when I

Say it like Ryan Day wants to win football games like the idea that he is in somehow in some way like not personally motivated enough is wrong he wants to win games he wants to be elite and the Buckey will find a way to do it now they

Would love to have some help from the NCAA creating some rules or the Congress creating a rule to make things easier but if that doesn’t happen like what we saw in the last 18 hours is a very good sign for what Ohio State’s willing to do

In the future yep you could see a couple opportunities there for Ryan day to take some deep breaths and compose himself Ohio State got through it um not perfectly but pretty close to it as they start the early signing period national Signing Day press conference and all of

That a wrap for the Buckeyes appreciate you joining us for some snap judgments they are brought to you by buyers Auto that’s Bill Landis Jeremy Birmingham I’m Austin Ward we’ll talk to you later