Ohio State Recruiting Improves Slightly in Cincinnati Under Urban Meyer

Sep 13, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer reacts to a call by the officials in the game against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won the game 66-0. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Cincinnati is one of the biggest cities in Ohio and high school football in the Queen City is as popular there as any place in the country. Naturally, one would assume the Buckeyes’ recruiting pipeline would be filled with kids coming from southwest Ohio. You know what they say about assumptions…

Ohio State hasn’t had a stronghold in the region that it’s enjoyed in the rest of the state. A lot of that has to do with the Bearcats being a viable Division I program that produces NFL players. It’s easy for Akron alums to support Ohio State, because the Zips aren’t going to win anything, and few players play beyond college. There’s also a lot of UK and Louisville ties within Cincinnati. Buckeye fans exist, it’s just not an overwhelming majority, as it is in Cleveland.

With Urban Meyer’s ties to the area, the expectation was that Meyer would clean up in Cincy. But compared to Jim Tressel, who drew heavily on his connections to northeast Ohio, Meyer is producing only slightly better.

A June post from Fox Sports’ Marcus Hartman’s Cus Words Blog showed the difference between the two coaches when it came to landing big-time recruits:

"“From 2002-05, there were 15 four- or five-star recruits in Cleveland compared to only five in Cincinnati.But since then, the Queen City has made a comeback. From 2006-11, Cincinnati exceeded Cleveland in four- and five-star recruits, 23-20. Last year, it was 6-4 in favor of Cleveland, leaving Cincinnati one ahead over the past seven years.”"

Tressel was doing slightly better before he resigned following the 2010 season, but he mostly treated the area like Siberia. Hartman notes that from 2002 through 2011, Tressel “offered roughly as many players from one school in Cleveland (Glenville) as he did the entire greater Cincinnati area.”

In a July post, following the commitment of Cincinnati St. Xavier’s Justin Hilliard to Ohio State, Hartman compared John Cooper‘s, Tressel’s and Meyer’s Cincy recruiting record:

"“Meyer said he wanted to put a dent in the perception OSU struggles to recruit in Cincinnati, but so far the results are mixed. The sample size is admittedly small for Meyer, but Jim Tressel averaged 0.64 Cincinnati players in his 11 recruiting classes while Cooper checked in at 0.85. Expand it to the metro area and the numbers grow to 1.2 for Tressel and 1.38 for Cooper. So far, Meyer is at .75 for Cincinnati and 1.0 for the metro.”"

Meyer is only in his third year, and a sign the focus may change came when now junior defensive lineman Adolphus Washington committed in November 2011. Meyer wasn’t officially on staff yet, and Luke Fickell is credited with actually landing the five-star prospect. But Washington had to know something about Meyer’s future because the Cincinnati Public Schools product mentioned how he hoped Meyer would be his coach.