{"id":824,"date":"2015-01-27T11:36:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T17:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tfootballstg.wpengine.com\/?p=824"},"modified":"2015-01-27T11:36:34","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T17:36:34","slug":"ohio-state-recruiting-graph-thats-breaking-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandbutter.io\/beta\/trackingfootball.com\/blog\/ohio-state-recruiting-graph-thats-breaking-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ohio State Recruiting Graph that’s Breaking the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Plainfield<\/a>

Plainfield North HS Coach Tony Holler’s graphic used here with permission<\/p><\/div>\n

This graphic has generated almost 1,000,000 shares on Facebook and over\u00a018K retweets on Twitter, thanks in part\u00a0to a blog called High School Sports Stuff<\/a>. Kudos to that gentleman for bringing attention to this graphic and the\u00a0interesting topic of multi-sport participation vs specialization in high school sports.\u00a0But I would like to give credit where credit is due…this graphic was originally<\/strong>\u00a0created by Plainfield North High\u00a0School Coach,\u00a0Tony Holler<\/a>, in his attempt to get some football players to come out for the\u00a0track team this spring. That said,\u00a0he\u00a0obviously had no idea it would become so widely\u00a0popular and shared on social media.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Of course the beauty\u00a0of social\u00a0media is everything can be shared and communicated\u00a0immediately and this graphic is a great example.\u00a0 However,\u00a0as this graphic has made it’s way around\u00a0the commentary has become more negative and some of it is down right inaccurate.\u00a0 The\u00a0information for this graphic came from some data Tony\u00a0Holler and I were sharing\u00a0about Ohio State recruiting (he and I throw around a lot of track \/ football data).\u00a0 Below are the three tweets that Coach Holler\u00a0used\u00a0to\u00a0create his masterful graphic.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"TrackingFootball.com<\/a>

TrackingFootball.com tweets<\/p><\/div>\n

Almost immediately the accuracy of the data in the\u00a0recruiting graphic was called into question.\u00a0\u00a0The data from\u00a0Tony Holler’s\u00a0graphic dealt\u00a0with Ohio\u00a0State’s\u00a02013 and 2014 recruiting classes only – 47 players.\u00a0 Additionally, the track and\u00a0multi-sport\u00a0information suggested in the recruiting graphic\u00a0was\u00a0retweeted by Ohio State’s own Director of Player Personnel, Mark Pantoni<\/a>.\u00a0 So\u00a0the data used in the graphic was not fabricated.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Disclaimer:<\/a>

Disclaimer: The Ohio State University and Mark Pantoni in no way endorse this site or are affiliated with it in any way<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Mark<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea behind the recruiting graphic and the data in the above tweets was not to suggest multi-sport participation will make an athlete a better football player.\u00a0 It was done to suggest that high school athletes\u00a0CAN be multi-sport athletes and still receive football\u00a0scholarships to Ohio State and other Division I schools.\u00a0 By participating in other sports, athletes\u00a0can open up other athletic doors.\u00a0 They\u00a0even can get noticed by football recruiters for being\u00a0good basketball players or good sprinters or shot putters.\u00a0 It happens.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Certainly there is\u00a0nothing wrong with the specialized approach and 7vs7, the skill camps, the combines and specialized athletic training.\u00a0 It\u00a0is all fine.\u00a0 But\u00a0when\u00a0those in charge of the activities listed above tell parents and athletes\u00a0that other sports are bad for recruiting exposure and a distraction\u00a0is where I draw the line.\u00a0 That message\u00a0IS out there, loud and clear,\u00a0I have seen it and heard it many times.\u00a0Most involved in the athletic\u00a0specialization fields\u00a0are not pushing the anti-multisport\u00a0narrative but\u00a0enough are that it has created a problem in every area of the country.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Coach Holler speaks to this point very well here – 10 Reasons to Join the Track Team<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no data, that I’m aware of, that indicates specializing\u00a0solely\u00a0on 7vs7 or\u00a0professional strength training programs\u00a0during the off-season\u00a0is correlated\u00a0with receiving a football\u00a0scholarship.\u00a0 There is however a lot of data to suggest participating in multiple sports in high school, particularly at the varsity level, will NOT\u00a0harm ones chances of\u00a0receiving a football scholarship. <\/p>\n

There is a belief\u00a0that Ohio State’s recruiting data is not unlike virtually every other Division I recruiting class.\u00a0The thought is\u00a0Division I schools recruit the best athletes, right?\u00a0 So…Ohio State’s recruits probably have the same athletic background as all the other schools…what’s the big deal!? <\/p>\n

Well, the big deal is Ohio State’s recruits\u00a0DON’T necessarily\u00a0have the same collective backgrounds as every other school.\u00a0 Said another way, Ohio State has more track and multi-sport athletes on their team than most other schools.\u00a0\u00a0Ohio State simply has more prominent\u00a0players with verifiable<\/strong> <\/em>track\u00a0speed and explosive jump and throw event performances than other schools, particularly those in the Big Ten.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keep in mind each of Ohio State’s three\u00a0starting quarterbacks the past two seasons had athletic backgrounds in basketball and track and field.\u00a0 That’s right, Cardale\u00a0Jones<\/a>,\u00a0J.T. Barrett <\/a>and Braxton Miller<\/a> all played basketball and ran track\u00a0for their high schools.\u00a0 It didn’t necessarily make them better quarterbacks in terms of skill\u00a0but\u00a0it certainly didn’t hurt and maybe even helped\u00a0develop their leadership skills.\u00a0\u00a0Still, being three sport athletes did not harm their ability to get a scholarship or their development as quarterbacks.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Recruiting Class Comparisons:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013\u00a0and 2014 Ohio State recruited 48 players, according to various sources, and 33 of them had track and field backgrounds in high school.\u00a0 That’s 68%…and 42 of the 48 players (almost 90%) either participated in track, basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, wresting or some combination in high school.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

University of Michigan, recruited 43 players in 2013 and 2014 – only 18 were track and field athletes or 42%.\u00a0 Their overall multi-sport participation was below 70%.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indiana University\u00a0recruited 51 players in 2013 and 2014 – only 22 were track athletes in high school, 43%. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Florida State recruited 49 players in 2013 and 2014 – 24 were track athletes in high school, 49%.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alabama recruited 52 players in 2013 and 2014 – 28 were track athletes in high school, 54%. <\/strong><\/p>\n

So in the past two recruiting years Ohio State’s recruits do not necessarily resemble everyone else in terms of track and field participation and multi-sport athleticism.\u00a0 Urban Meyer and his staff deserve credit for obviously placing a premium on football recruits with solid track and multi-sport backgrounds.\u00a0 Clearly not every head football coach and recruiting staff does.<\/p>\n

I hope Tony Holler’s graphic continues to be shared and people continue to talk about this interesting topic.\u00a0 My purpose was to clear up where the graphic came from and why the\u00a0message is\u00a0important to high school sports and\u00a0athletes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This graphic has generated almost 1,000,000 shares on Facebook and over\u00a018K retweets on Twitter, thanks in part\u00a0to a blog called High School Sports Stuff. Kudos to that gentleman for bringing attention to this graphic and the\u00a0interesting topic of multi-sport participation vs specialization in high school sports.\u00a0But I would like to give credit where credit is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,40,34],"tags":[150,151,152,153,9,154,155,136,156],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Ohio State Recruiting Graph that's Breaking the Internet -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/brandbutter.io\/beta\/trackingfootball.com\/blog\/ohio-state-recruiting-graph-thats-breaking-internet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Ohio State Recruiting Graph that's Breaking the Internet -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This graphic has generated almost 1,000,000 shares on Facebook and over\u00a018K retweets on Twitter, thanks in part\u00a0to a blog called High School Sports Stuff. 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