Texas WR David Boston, like Katzenmoyer, came in and started from day one. Illinois DB Mike Burden, a USA Today All-USA pick, had off-the-field issues and was gone after one season at OSU. Likewise, Dublin Coffman RB Nick Goings also lasted for a couple of seasons before transferring to Pittsburgh.
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2 prospect in Cincinnati Colerain OL Jefferson Kelley, although Kelley never quite lived up to his billing and left the program after two seasons. Nobody had worn that number in the 20 years since Griffin had won his second Heisman Trophy … and nobody has worn it since. How important was Andy Katzenmoyer? Cooper went to Archie Griffin to get his permission to let the latest Buckeye prodigy wear his uniform No. He played on a pair of teams that won the Big Ten championship and finished ranked No. He was a three-time All-Big Ten pick and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker in 1997. Katzenmoyer rarely disappointed, too, as he came in started every game in his three-year career. 26, 1995, to let the world know he would stay home and play for the Buckeyes. But he convened a press conference at his school on Oct. Katzenmoyer did consider Penn State as well as Nebraska, Michigan and Boston College. There was concern he might follow in the footsteps of former Westerville South star Ki-Jana Carter, who became an All-American running back at Penn State. There were comparisons with Chris Spielman, an Ohio-bred All-American linebacker from a decade prior. His name had been on everybody’s mind since he was identified as one of the nation’s top 1996 prospects during his junior year at South in 1994. The linchpin was home grown linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer, a prep All-American from Westerville South. Ohio State pulled out all of the stops to bring in the nation’s best class in 1996. That group was among 15 Ohio players in the class.īelow, we take a look at how Ohio State’s highest ranked recruiting class of the last 30 years came together in 1996. Ohio State landed eight of Ohio’s top 10 prospects for 1996, including the biggest fish of all with USA Today All-USA first team linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer from nearby Westerville South. This probably the smoothest class we’ve brought in here from the standpoint of identifying who we wanted early, offering scholarships and getting commitments.” The best thing we did was get on these players early. “I think our coaches, starting with Bill Conley, our recruiting coordinator, did a hell of a job this year. “There are a lot of happy faces over here, including the head coach,” Cooper said. He is very organized and very thorough.”Ĭooper was beaming on national signing day 1996 as the rankings came in from one analyst after another. I think Bill Conley is an outstanding recruiting coordinator. “I also think having Bill Conley solely in charge took care of some of the confusion they had there last year. “The coaching staff was meeting for four hours a week to discuss and coordinate its recruiting efforts almost from signing day last year on.
“Number one, John Cooper put a priority on recruiting from Day One after national signing day last year,” said Bill Kurelic, then the editor of The Ohio Football Recruiting News (and now with ). The Buckeyes lost out on a ton of top prospects, including future Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson who ended up at Michigan. That happened in 1996 as head coach John Cooper, recruiting coordinator Bill Conley and the rest of the coaching staff brought in a 26-man class filled with blue chippers at nearly every position.Īs was noted in our 1995 class analysis, there was uncertainty a year earlier with no clear cut coordinator running the class. 2 in the country.īut only one OSU class in the last 30 years came in as the nation’s No. Six of those classes have been ranked as high as No. And in all of that time, Ohio State has signed roughly 20 classes judged among the top 10.
ANDY KATZENMOYER SERIES
We continue our series looking at Ohio State recruiting classes over the last three decades. 1-ranked football recruiting class for the 2020 cycle. We hope you enjoy these lookbacks at some great recruiting stories over the years.Īs things stand, Ohio State has an early and commanding lead in the race to sign the No.
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We will look at classes over the last 30 years.
ANDY KATZENMOYER PROFESSIONAL
EDITOR’S NOTE – With college and professional sports on a hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we will spend time during the month of April looking back at past Ohio State football recruiting classes.