UM and MSU Steal Recruits from Ohio

As the many allegations came out against Terrelle Pryor, Jim Tressel, and The Ohio State University football program, many Ohio native players have chosen to leave their home state to continue their football careers. The University of Michigan received 9 Ohio commits for the 2012 class, while Michigan State received 5. This is highly unusual because in past recruiting classes, most Ohio high school football players are OSU fans and biased toward their lovely fuckeyes-I mean, buckeyes (the 'b' is too close to the 'f').

I don't know about you, but I find it odd that all of these players decided on their rival schools. Perhaps it is because the U of M football program is the winningest in college football history, that its stadium is the biggest in the country, or that the rich maize and blue tradition runs wild every Saturday at the Big House. I suppose it's possible they also want to protect and block for the only quarterback in NCAA history to record 1,500 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards in one season. And maybe, just maybe, they want to be one of the wolverines that takes down the buckeyes and their cocky fans for once. Do Ohioans (Ohians?) get sick of seeing their fans obnoxiously arrogant and unhealthily hostile every Saturday?

And perhaps it is because of the recent success Coach Dantonio has brought to East Lansing. With an 11-1 record and their first share of a Big Ten Championship in 20 years, the Spartans ended the 2010 season ranked number 12 in the entire country. Losing only Greg Jones and Eric Gordon on the defensive end of the ball, MSU returns 9 of its 11 starters. Behind the senior leadership of underrated quarterback Kirk Cousins, the campus of Michigan State has much to look forward to in the future (Cousins is balancing a pre-med major along with a D1 college football starting quarterback job--genius?).

Whatever the reason may be-thanks to Pryor, Tressel, and others-big shot Ohio recruits are starting to see the light, and beginning to head to that territory to the north we like to call pure Michigan. And heck, maybe the ultimate reason is they want to be closer to the one and only Deeeeeetroit (I suppose now isn't the year to make a Pistons reference).

2012 Ohio Recruits:

Michigan

Joe Bolden, LB, Cincinnati

Pharaoh Brown, DE, Lyndhurst

Allen Gant, DB, Sylvania

Kyle Kalis, OT, Lakewood

Kaleb Ringer, LB, Clayton

Caleb Stacey, OL, Cincinnati

Tom Strobel, DE, Mentor

A.J. Williams, TE, Cincinnati

Jarrod Wilson, DB, Akron

Michigan State

Zach Higgins, OL, Alliance

Evan Jones, West Lafayette

Benny McGowan, OL, Centerville

Tyler O'Connor, QB, Lima

Se'von Pittman, DE, Canton