Archie Griffin. Chris Spielman. Troy Smith.
When looking at the brightest stars in Ohio State football history, many share a common bond as products of the Buckeye state. Griffin, college football’s only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, played his prep football at Eastmoor High School, just eight miles east of Ohio State. Spielman’s hometown is only a two hour drive north from Massillon, Ohio, and Smith—Ohio State’s most recent Heisman Trophy winner—hails from Glenville High School in Cleveland.
That’s why, year in and year out, Urban Meyer and Ohio State make it a priority to protect their backyard on the recruiting front.
Cities such as Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati are hotbeds of talent, and it takes relentless work to keep other schools from invading the Buckeyes’ inherent territory. And with a loaded crop of 2016 blue-chip prospects, that task will be even tougher for Meyer and Co.
But locking up that home-grown talent is only step one in Meyer’s recruiting strategy. The Buckeyes will, of course, reach up and down the east coast, into the SEC footprint and out west in search of stars—but it all starts in Ohio.
“We try to hammer Ohio the best we can, and we’ve done pretty well,” Meyer said of Ohio State’s recruiting, according to Ari Wasserman of The Plain Dealer. “Then we cherry pick around the country, but you have to make sure they fit.”
Hammering Ohio should yield a big reward for the Buckeyes in 2016.
There…
Continue Reading: Ohio State Football Recruiting: Blue-Chip Ohio Prospects Will Fuel 2016 Class
