re: Top 20 College jobs for recruiting by 247s JC Shurburtt

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There's no way in hell that Ohio State has more of an advantage when it comes to recruiting than Florida, USC, Alabama, LSU, UGA, etc...

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I agree about USC. It's the premier West Coast college football program and located in the most populous state, specifically in a huge metropolis which has football heritage and is the world's entertainment capital.

But the others?

Georgia has already been covered.

Florida is competing with Florida State and Miami, not to mention other SEC teams, Lousville, Clemson, and other national programs that pull a lot of guys from Florida.

Bama fans have passion but little-brother AUburn has the potential to wrest away control every once in a while. Admittedly, it would take sustained incompentence for LSU to recruit poorly. Or any of these teams, really. But in terms of having unparalleled access to great football players, Ohio State has a very sweet deal. Ohio has for decades, through the present day, maintained a top-5 status on NFL rosters. Guys like Luke Kuechly, Roethlisberger, James Harrison, Leveon Bell, etc never come close to getting Ohio State offers. And, outside of Toldedo and the Catholic schools in Cinci (the NE Ohio ones have been mostly been brought into the fold), the state is firmly Ohio State to a remarkable degree.

Tressel eventually made headway in Cinci (and Michigan and Pennslyvania) and Meyer is doing the same by signing guys like Sam Hubbard, a 6'6 safety recruit who was set to play lacrosse at Notre Dame. Alongside the Irish, only Michigan has challenged Ohio State for top talent, apart from irregulars like Trey Depriest and Jordan Hicks. Ohio State has mostly won those battles, after Tressel took momentum from Michigan, who'd been signing recruits like Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard in the 90's (or even Paterno with Kijana Carter).

Regardless, Cooper cast a wide net and signed as many top 5 classes as anyone during the 90's and produced a ton of NFL talent. Tressel certainly maintained that (14 guys drafted in '04, umpteen first round picks). Now, after the Tat 5 and its accompanying dip in recruiting/nfl output, Meyer is reasserting Ohio State as a presence.

A few days ago, 2017 QB Danny clark committed on the spot when offered and yesterday 5-star McMillain committed, bringing Ohio State's average star level to #2, depending on the recruiting service. Over the past 20 years, I'd guess Ohio State's average star ranking has been top-5 at least 12 times, probably about 15. Cooper and Tressel each had two or three mediocre years, plus the year 'lost' to the Tat 5 scandal (even though it contained Braxton Miller and Ryan Shazier). That's it.

Egregious oversigning notwithstanding, no school on your list besides USC has consistently competed on a recruit-by-recruit basis. They're all top 8, though.