Form: TheBigLead.com — In September, when Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes lost at home to USC, Ohio State fell to a troubling 0-6 in recent years against Top 5 opponents. Tressel’s conservative play-calling and the regression of star quarterback Terrelle Pryor roiled Buckeyes fans. Some of the fears were assuaged with a Rose Bowl victory over Oregon, but it didn’t take a month before a new problem enveloped Columbus: Not only is Ohio State’s recruiting class this year down a bit – 18th nationally, following two Top 5 classes – but the four best high school players left the State for the likes of West Virginia, Texas, LSU, and Nebraska. Three of the four players were offensive skill players.

Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel mentioned this last week, and the Plain-Dealer threw a log on the fire over the weekend. We’ll take it another step: Are opposing coaches using Tressel’s highly-publicized offensive struggles against him on the recruiting trail? Tressel can counter with the fact that he’s only 2nd to USC in producing NFL players between 2006-2009. Upon closer inspection, the breakdown is:

13 defensive players
4 offensive lineman
9 offensive “skill” players (QB, RB, WR)

The offensive players range from the impressive (Santonio Holmes, Super Bowl MVP) to the promising (Chris Wells) to the disappointing (Ted Ginn, Troy Smith).

Perhaps in-state recruits passing on the Buckeyes this….

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