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Trotwood football talent on OSU's radar

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By Marc F. Pendleton, Staff Writer Updated 8:01 PM Monday, December 19, 2011

Ohio State University football coaches always have beaten a path to land the Miami Valley’s best players. Running backs Leo Hayden of Roosevelt High School (mid-1960s), Keith Byars of Roth (early ’80s) and Alter center Nick Mangold (early 2000s) are just a few that span the eras of some of the Buckeyes’ greatest teams.

For most Ohio high school football coaches, it gets no better than sending a player to Columbus. That’s why it stung so much when the Jim Tressel era (2000-10) didn’t include one of the area’s most successful programs, Trotwood-Madison.

“We always felt like if they wanted to get black kids out of Ohio, they went to (Cleveland) Glenville,” said George “Bam” Bradley, the Rams’ highly sought-after senior defensive back.

“It was like there was nothing down south. (Tressel) recruited the way he wanted to recruit. There wasn’t nothing that we could do about it.”

With consecutive appearances in the Division II state championship game and a 2011 state title, no area team has come close to what the Rams have done on the field the past two seasons. But the Rams haven’t come close to matching OSU’s area recruits the past decade.

Not counting Will Allen, who transferred from Trotwood to Wayne for his senior year, the Rams haven’t sent a player to Ohio State since tight end John Lumpkin (1996-98), who was recruited by John Cooper.

In contrast, Centerville has had five players at OSU in that time.

“It’s been something that I’ve wondered about, literally, for years,” said Columbus-based Duane Long of the recruiting service Bucknuts.com.

“I’ve asked people what they’ve thought; I’ve talked about it on the Internet and talked about it privately. Nobody could come up with an explanation why,” Long said.

That could change Feb. 1, Signing Day for football. Although uncommitted, Bradley took an official visit to OSU this weekend.

He’s already deleted Penn State from his favorites because of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Pittsburgh also was in his final four, but that was before former head coach Todd Graham announced via Twitter that he was bolting to Arizona State.

That leaves Bradley with OSU and Stanford, and the heat to verbally commit before Signing Day is on.

He said that he intends to announce his decision during the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl Game at Phoenix on Jan. 3. He’ll play for the East team and T-M coach Maurice Douglass will serve as an East assistant.

Sudden impact

Why the growing interest in Trotwood football? That’s easy. The Rams resemble an all-star team loaded with desirable Division I talent.

It didn’t take new OSU coach Urban Meyer long to connect.

“We talked the night before (the state championship game),” Douglass said. “He was reiterating the fact that they wanted to make Trotwood one of their main stops throughout Ohio and the nation. It’s a little different spin.”

Meyer landed three blue-chip Ohio players who had committed elsewhere during his first couple of weeks with the Buckeyes. Defensive linemen Se’von Pittman (Canton McKinley) and Tommy Schutt (Chicago) and running back Bri’onte Dunn (Canton GlenOak) all pledged their Buckeye allegiance after announcing otherwise or wavering on their OSU intentions.

Defensive end Adolphus Washington (Cincinnati Taft) expressed his desire to play for Meyer before the former Florida coach even landed in Columbus.

That kind of sudden recruiting impact that Meyer brings has put a pinch on available scholarships for the Class of 2012. So do possible NCAA sanctions above OSU’s recommended loss of five scholarships as the fallout from the tattoo scandal that cost Tressel his job.

“With Urban Meyer and the momentum he has on the recruiting trail, I don’t think that you can bet against (OSU) for anybody if they’re a major player,” said Josh Helmholdt, the Midwest analyst for Rivals.com.

“I think they have a great shot if they go hard after Bam and have him fill that strong safety role for them.”

Rams on radar

Bradley isn’t the only Ram coveted by the Buckeyes. Junior cornerback Cameron Burrows will be Scout.com’s No. 1 player in Ohio when its rankings are released this spring.

A unique combination of size (6 feet 2 inches) and sprinter’s speed, he fits the growing trend for big corners who can stay with tall, physical wide receivers.

“(Burrows) is an extraordinary talent and one of those rare once-in-a-decade type cornerbacks that we’ll get in the Midwest where they’re just big, long, fast and fluid and have the hips and the speed to stay at that cornerback position at 6-2,” Helmholdt said. “That’s rare.”

Douglass said Burrows received an offer from Tressel last spring. Current OSU coach Luke Fickell hit up Bradley last summer.

Tight end Brandon Moore, a 2008 Trotwood graduate, also received an offer from Tressel ... to play defensive end.

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Area players on Ohio State’s football roster from 2001-10 under Jim Tressel. The list includes scholarship and walk-on players.

John Adams, FB, Springfield Shawnee	2001-02
Will Allen #, DB, Wayne	2000-04
Jake Ballard, TE, Springboro	2006-09
C.J. Barnett *, DB, Northmont	2009-11
Michael Bennett, DL, Centerville	2011
Todd Boeckman *, QB, St. Henry	2004-08
Angelo Chattams, WR, Chaminade Julienne	2001-03
Kurt Coleman, DB, Northmont	2006-09
Todd Denlinger *, DT, Troy	2006-10
Zach Domicone *, DB, Beavercreek	2008-11
Matt Drummelsmith, LS, Northmont	2004
Donnie Evege *, DB, Wayne	2007-11
Marcus Freeman *, LB, Wayne	2004-08
Jackson Haas, LS, Sidney	2007
Tony Harlamert *, WR, Coldwater	2010
A.J. Hawk, LB, Centerville	2002-05
Jordan Hoewischer, TE, Sidney	2002
John Hollins #, WR, Wayne	2000-04
Adam Homan, FB, Coldwater	2009-11
Ross Homan *, LB, Coldwater	2006-10
Tom Ingham *, DE, Centerville	2005-08
Sam Longo *, OL, Bellbrook	2009-10
Nick Mangold, C, Alter	2002-05
Braxton Miller, QB, Wayne	2011
Mike Nugent, K, Centerville	2001-04
Steve Pavelka, RB, Springfield Shawnee	2001-02
Ben Person *, OL, Xenia	2004-08
Quinn Pitcock, DT, Piqua	2002-05
Chris Roark *, WR, Alter	2010-11
Brandon Saine, RB, Piqua	2007-10
Austin Spitler *, LB, Bellbrook	2005-09
Tim Trummer, OL, Fairmont	2011
Brent Ullery *, WR, Centerville	2003-07