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Bellbrook's Longo will play for Buckeyes
Offensive lineman joins Northmont's Barnett, Coldwater's Homan in 2009 recruiting class.
Is Jim Tressel the country's best recruiter?
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Bellbrook's Sam Longo is one of 24 athletes committed to Ohio State's 2009 recruiting class. File photoBELLBROOK — When Sam Longo hurt his wrist in last year's season opener, he knew right away that it was broken. He was less sure of how it would affect his recruitment.
The offensive lineman from Bellbrook High School did not have to worry for long as he missed just one practice and played the rest of the season with a cast. As soon as his season ended, the offers began rolling in.
Longo, who will be a senior this fall, eventually got the offer he was looking for and recently committed to play football at Ohio State.
"It didn't hurt me," Longo said. "I probably broke it at the right time. My wrist is 100 percent now."
Longo is the 24th player in Ohio State's 2009 recruiting class and the third from the Dayton area, joining Northmont defensive back C.J. Barnett and Coldwater linebacker Adam Homan.
"It's a big deal for me," Longo said. "I cut it down to two schools (Ohio State and Penn State) and kept going back and forth.
"I just thought if the offer closed up, could I live with it? I stopped worrying and jumped on it."
Longo, who said he had offers from 32 schools, including Penn State, Nebraska, Miami (Fla.), Cincinnati and Boston College, said the Buckeyes had basically written him off after he showed up to an OSU camp his sophomore year weighing 230 pounds.
With no OSU offer on the table, he began to look elsewhere.
After a track and field competition in California in June, Longo visited 16 schools in 16 days.
He was on his way to visit North Carolina State on June 25 when Buckeyes offensive coordinator Jim Bollman called him with the offer.
After more than a week of consideration, including talking with former Bellbrook linebacker Austin Spitler, who plays at OSU, Longo decided on the Buckeyes.
"(Spitler) was a great resource and helped a lot," Longo said. "The people and the coaches are the greatest guys in the world.
"I can trust them and at the end of the day, that's all that matters."
Longo said he is 6-foot-51/2 and weighs 276 pounds.
He projects as an offensive tackle in college.
"At Ohio State, you're going to play with the best," Longo said. "It is kind of scary playing with all the big guys, but it will only help me in the long run."
Longo's father, Gene Longo, was an outside linebacker for the Buckeyes from 1981-84 after transferring from Miami University in 1980.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0652 or modonnell@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Comments
By tj wilkins
July 30, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
jim tressel takes 3 star athletes and makes them all americans! pete has the warm weather and hot girls in his corner and he comes away with 5 star athletes year after year, but has he taken a 3 star athlete and turned them into an all american, or a 1st round draft pick? i can’t think of anyone. AJ hawk was a 3 star linebacker coming out of high school and by the end of his junior year with the buckeyes he was the best linebacker in the nation. And its the same way with jenkins and Laurinaitis
By tj wilkins
July 30, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this
jim tressel takes 3 star athletes and makes them all americans! pete has the warm weather and hot girls in his corner and he comes away with 5 star athletes year after year, but has he taken a 3 star athlete and turned them into an all american, or a 1st round draft pick? i can’t think of anyone. AJ hawk was a 3 star linebacker coming out of high school and by the end of his junior year with the buckeyes he was the best linebacker in the nation. And its the same way with jenkins and Laurinaitis
By tj wilkins
July 30, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this
jim tressel takes 3 star athletes and makes them all americans! pete has the warm weather and hot girls in his corner and he comes away with 5 star athletes year after year, but has he taken a 3 star athlete and turned them into an all american, or a 1st round draft pick? i can’t think of anyone. AJ hawk was a 3 star linebacker coming out of high school and by the end of his junior year with the buckeyes he was the best linebacker in the nation. And its the same way with jenkins and Laurinaitis
By tj wilkins
July 30, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this
jim tressel takes 3 star athletes and makes them all americans! pete has the warm weather and hot girls in his corner and he comes away with 5 star athletes year after year, but has he taken a 3 star athlete and turned them into an all american, or a 1st round draft pick? i can’t think of anyone. AJ hawk was a 3 star linebacker coming out of high school and by the end of his junior year with the buckeyes he was the best linebacker in the nation. And its the same way with jenkins and Laurinaitis
By ROB BOYER
July 16, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this
There is a great tendency to comcoursepare records for great college coaches. The natural course of action,however home field advantage is always condsidered,so that leaves out any bowl games as judgement, because USC never leaves home or a warm climate for one of theses games where great powers like MICHIGAN AND THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY always travel thousands of miles and must prepare for a completely type of climate than they have grown used to. COME PLAY IN OHIO JANUARY 8TH and we’ll see.
By Mick
July 15, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this
JT has neerly stoped the traders from Ohio to that state up north. Only 8 on the roster, and one of them may be transfering. OH
By Mick
July 15, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
JT has neerly stoped the traders from Ohio to that state up north. Only 8 on the roster, and one of them may be transfering. OH
By Victor
July 12, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
These guys are all good recruiters, The majority of these commemts are moot. None of us wrighting comments know the first thing about the ins and outs of recruiting.
By Jeff
July 10, 2008 8:52 PM | Link to this
JT. is doing an outstanding job recruiting across the country. What we should all recognize is what the program is doing with the kids once they arrive. Turning 3 star athletes into 1st round NFL picks tells us all the coaching is far above the rest. Including Pete’s program.
By Kelly
July 8, 2008 9:00 PM | Link to this
Anyone ever heard of Terrelle Pryor?
By Blessed Buck
July 8, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this
Tressel isn’t just a great recruiter, he identifies talent that others do not identify. Examples: Hawk, Jenkins, Laurinaitis, all were considered 3 stars or less. To me that makes him heads above all others, 3 cheers for him & his staff.
By Jeff
July 8, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Tressel is hands down the best recruiter. Kids come from all over the country to play for the Scarlet & Gray for good reason. Coaches are nothing but a class act and they expect nothing less of their players. Any problems that have occurred have been relatively minor and have been dealt with by Tress. This program is nothing but a class act and gives the kids the best opportunity to pursue careers either in football or through their education.
By RBrown
July 8, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this
Where Tressel has an advantage over USC’s better climate and coeds…In Columbus you are the celebrity (even the 3rd string kicker)and at USC you are only a celebrity if you’re one of the best on the team. Also scheduling teams like Youngstown State and Ohio U might help.
By OSUeyesFan
July 8, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
Hey John if you can look at rosters and determine who is better you must be a genius. Why don’t you look at the number 1 draft picks during the tressel-carroll era? My guess is the NFL is better evaluator of talent than you.
By Joe
July 8, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this
Tressel is better and that will be proven Sept. 13
By stelz
July 8, 2008 10:30 AM | Link to this
I would include Georgia and Alabama with Notre Dame, USC and Florida in the recruiting wars.
By Rick
July 8, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this
Not only can Tressel recruit as good as any coach in America, I recently read where his team has an average GPA of 3.2 Comparisons of Tressel & Carroll can only be assessed in relative terms.
By d-town
July 8, 2008 8:47 AM | Link to this
For Tressel to get the recruits he gets at a cold weather school, he IS the best. Carroll and Meyer have the warm weather and honies working for them. Carroll does do a good job out of state, look at McKnight and NFL draftee Fred Davis, hes from TOLEDO!!
By Chuck
July 8, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this
No…He’s the biggest crook.
By kurt
July 8, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this
Pete Carroll—-isn’t he a stunt man for Richard Gere ? Just another “pretty boy” With UCLA in the dumps,Carroll ought to clean up on the best picks ALL the time
By Bob540
July 7, 2008 11:05 PM | Link to this
Context, everyone. Recruiting in Florida or California should be a no-brainer. Texas is close behind. Then, Pennsylvania, Ohio and a few other big football-talent states. If Tressel coached in CA or FL, no question he’d get even better talent than he has now because of in-state advantage. Texas likely has more talent, year-in-and-year-out, but Tressel matches or exceeds. Tressel and company do an OUTSTANDING job locking down Ohio and getting top talent from across the country. He is great
By jsam
July 7, 2008 8:55 PM | Link to this
We will find out on Sept 13th that Jim Tressel is by far the absolute best.
By Priestman
July 7, 2008 8:05 PM | Link to this
“OSU” is the best recruiter, any coach who coaches OSU gets the cream of the crop. From Woody, to Cooper to Tressel. Only problem is they can’t win the big one, with those recruits. With that said, at least they are playing for the big one, not many programs can claim that. Better to play the big game and lose then not play the big one at all.
By Rob
July 7, 2008 7:03 PM | Link to this
Yeah, and if Jim lived in California he would have just the same, if not more
By VegasBurk
July 7, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this
Hey slurpeeman,
Not sure if you forgot, but Clarett’s stories were pretty much all shown to be lied. OSU did not get into any trouble because of Mo. Mo got into trouble himself - making excuses, taking cars and money from boosters and then the inevitable decline into booze, potentially drugs and of course, robbery.
I don’t recall Tressel getting ANY NCAA recruiting violations since he started.
By John
July 7, 2008 6:24 PM | Link to this
I haven’t seen where USC has been found guilty of any thing. Much the same way OSU was never found guilty over all that crap MC said
By chandler
July 7, 2008 6:04 PM | Link to this
Jim Tressel is hands down the best. I live in So Cal and if you check the roster for USC they are mostly home grown kids it’s not like Carrol is cleaning up around the country. He (Carrol) gets the ones he is supposed to get, Tressel gets the tough recruits.
By slurpeeman
July 7, 2008 5:11 PM | Link to this
Hmmm. Tressel isn’t as dirty a Carroll? He operates with “honor and integrity”?
Wonder what Maurice Clarett would say about that?
By Dan
July 7, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this
Well it’s pretty easy to see that Jim Tressel is the best recruiter in College Football. Pete Carroll has violated NCAA rules and regulations several times (Reggie Bush, Matt Leighter, Etc.) Jim Tressel is the only coach in NCAA football that has kept the high standards, and honor at his school. Ohio State is known as The School to play for, compete fairly with honor and integrity and win championships.
By Kurt Amen
July 7, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
It’s pretty easy to recruit by throwing wads of cash and new cars at high school athletes
By Scott
July 7, 2008 4:09 PM | Link to this
The best judge of who is a better recruiter is record. It’s not about who has more guys in the NFL because that’s not a college coach’s job. It’s about winning games. Carroll is 76-14 at USC with a 5-2 Bowl record and 6 Pac-10 titles. Tress is 73-16 at OSU with a 4-3 bowl record and 4 Big 10 titles. I’d say that’s pretty darn close. And the fact that Tress can’t use the weather and climate as a draw gives him a slight edge.
By Bill
July 7, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this
If you base it purely on high school rankings than yeah, Pete has been doing better. However, there isn’t a team in the nation with more NFlers on it than the Buckeyes right now. Tressell is dominating right now.
By Andrew
July 7, 2008 3:50 PM | Link to this
If you go off of who is where then yes Carroll and maybe Meyer are better, but where would you rather go to school in So Cal, Florida or in Columbus, Ohio.
I would say that Tressel is the best recruiter because he is getting kids to go to the land of frumpy sweaters during the winter instead of So Cal or somewhere warm.
By John
July 7, 2008 3:42 PM | Link to this
NO check out Pete Carroll and USC roster then look at OSU you will see that Pete is alot better