Ohio State building potentially all-time best LB class in 2022
The linebacker tradition at Ohio State is one of the best in college football, with legendary gridders like Pepper Johnson, Chris Spielman and A.J. Hawk manning the position for the Buckeyes over years. There has likely never been a collection of talent coming to restock the position like the one Ohio State is compiling in 2022, though.
Ohio State’s addition of four-star Dasan McCullough on Tuesday means the Buckeyes have now taken three of the top four outside linebacker prospects off the board in the 2022 class. He joins a class that already has five-star C.J. Hicks and four-star Gabe Powers committed at the position.
Ohio State is also in a leading position to take the fourth, five-star Shawn Murphy, who is currently FutureCasted 100% to the Buckeyes. Murphy and the three current Ohio State linebacker commits all rank among the top 21 players in the just released Rivals250 for the 2022 class.
“What I really like about it is the versatility of (this group),” Rivals national analyst Mike Farrell said. “All of them bring different things to the table. It’s really unbelievable if they are able to put this together.”
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When talking about the greatest linebacker classes in the Rivals era, USC in 2005, 2006, 2015 and 2018, Miami in 2008, Florida State in 2010, Clemson in 2011 and Georgia in 2019 all merit consideration. If Ohio State can bring this group all the way through the finish line, though, it may stand alone atop the list of best linebacker classes of the Rivals era.
Ohio State’s top single-class linebacker haul in the Rivals era probably was the 2018 group, which featured five-star Teradja Mitchell along with four stars K’vaughan Pope, Javonte Jean-Baptiste and Dallas Gant. Mitchell was ranked No. 20 that year, though, and Pope was next closest at No. 100.
In fact, no team has ever signed three linebackers ranked in the top 25. Oregon’s 2020 class of Justin Flowe and Noah Sewell was close, with both ranking in the top ten. Alabama and Clemson both signed a pair of five-star linebackers in the 2016 class, and USC did it the year before with John Houston and Porter Gustin. Three in one class, though, would be unprecedented.
The rankings will evolve over the next 18 months as the class of 2022 develops through the final years of their prep careers, but as it stands right now Hicks is one of the highest-ranked linebackers of all-time.
Since former Florida State great Ernie Sims was the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2003 class, only four linebackers have ranked in the top four spots in a class. A unique athlete for the position, Hicks has played safety in high school because of his speed and athleticism, but is already the size of a collegiate linebacker.
There are just 14 prospects currently rated five-stars in the 2022 class, but that number usually grows to include around 30 total five stars in most years. Powers and McCullough are rated four-stars, but they are among the first seven four stars in the Rivals250 and knocking on that five-star door.
If one or both of Powers and McCullough can achieve five-stars and Murphy eventually joins this class, then the verdict would be pretty clear: this would be the best linebacker recruiting class of all-time.