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Football
Flash Forward: OSU May Hold off on Tailbacks
By Brandon Castel

With a stacked running back class on the horizon in 2012, it looks like Ohio State will stay put in the class of 2011, especially with their currently loaded backfield.

Of the Buckeyes’ six Heisman Trophy winners, all but one have played the tailback position. It has been a while since OSU didn’t sign a running back in their recruiting class, but it looks like that might very well be the case in 2011.

After landing four tailbacks and two fullbacks in the last two recruiting classes, the Buckeyes seem content to fill spots in this class with more pressing needs, like offensive and defensive line.

They have only offered one running back in Orlando’s Demetrius Hart, but at 5-foot-8, he’s more of a scat-back who has a top three of Michigan, Alabama and Auburn.

Jim Tressel and his staff have taken eight tailbacks and three fullbacks in the last five recruiting classes and find themselves with unprecedented depth in the backfield heading into the fall. They added Carlos Hyde, who spent a year in prep school after committing to the Bucks in the class of 2009—during the spring and are hoping to stack the deck even more with the anticipated addition of Roderick Smith this fall.

Smith was supposed to be in Columbus last month with the rest of his class (minus Jamel Turner), but Tressel said he had to finish up some class work before enrolling in the fall. With Hyde and Smith in the mix, Ohio State goes seven deep in scholarship tailbacks this fall including a top two of Brandon Saine and Boom Herron.

Saine will be the team’s lone departure (other than transfers) after this season, which means the Bucks will likely target at least one, and more likely two, in the class of 2012. There should be plenty of options for Tressel—a big reason they’re holding off in 2011—including Warren Ball (Columbus St. Francis DeSales) and Brionte Dunn (Canton GlenOak) in Ohio and Keith Byars Jr. (Florida) and Rushel Shell (Penn.) out of state. Byars is the son of the former OSU all-American running back bearing his name.

Even if Rod Smith ends up at a prep school this fall, the Buckeyes probably won’t chase after anyone else in hopes that Smith will eventually make it to Ohio State at some point (presumably January like Carlos Hyde last year). The Buckeyes have plenty of depth at the position as it stands now, and the class of 2012 is deep enough that they won’t get burned by not taking a running back this year.

In our latest “Flash Forward” piece we take a look at how the running back position is shaping up for Ohio State in 2011-12.

Key losses in 2011: Brandon Saine

Projected 2011 Returning Depth Chart:

TAILBACK
1 Boom Herron (5-10, 202, RSr.)
29 Jordan Hall (5-9, 195, Jr.)
4 Jaamal Berry (5-10, 200, RSo.)
34 Carlos Hyde (6-0, 238, Class of 2010)
24 Roderick Smith (6-3, 220, Class of 2010)

FULLBACK
44 Zach Boren (6-0, 252, Jr.)
49 Adam Homan (6-2, 238, Jr.)
37 James Georgiades (5-11, 240, RJr.)

2011 Offers at Running Back: 1

2011 Commitments: (0)

2011 Targets:

Medium: Erick Howard (5-10, 210, North Canton Hoover)

Only two players have won two Mr. Football awards in the state of Ohio: former Buckeye Robert Smith (1988-89) and Erick Howard (2009-10). The Euclid star topped 2,000 yards on the ground in each of the past two seasons while totaling 61 touchdowns, which would have made him a lock to get an offer from the Buckeyes except he wouldn’t have been able to get in.

He worked hard to improve his grades, and picked up offers from Illinois, Colorado and Cincinnati in the process, but with no OSU offer in hand—and the others in question—Howard opted to sign with Akron in February. That was supposed to be the last of it, but Howard announced recently that he has plans of following Carlos Hyde’s route to Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia in hopes of getting his grades high enough to earn an offer from Ohio State.

It’s still a long shot at this point (the Buckeyes went 50-50 on the two signees who ended up at FUMA last season), but Howard is a solid tailback and linebacker wherever he ends up.

Running Backs in Last Five Classes

2010: Roderick Smith (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Carlos Hyde (Fork Union Military Academy)
2009: Jaamal Berry (Pinecrest, Fla.), Jordan Hall (Jeannette, Pa.), Carlos Hyde (Naples, Fla.), Zach Boren (Pickerington Central), Adam Homan (Coldwater)
2008: Jermil Martin (Cleveland Glenville)
2007: Brandon Saine (Piqua), Dan Herron (Warren Harding)
2006: Beanie Wells (Akron Garfield), Aram Olson (Columbia, S.C.)

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