Meyer sums up his 2016 signing class

COLUMBUS, Ohio – National Signing Day 2016 is in the books, at least from Ohio State's perspective and it was a positive one as Urban Meyer signed another top class. Ohio State entered the day with the nation's top class according to Rivals.com and by the time that things settled, slid out of the top spot but still rank third overall.

Big Ten recruiting overall has seen new life for the class of 2016 with the Buckeyes coming in at No. 3, Michigan came in at No, 4, Michigan State was No. 18, Penn State was No. 22 and Nebraska was No. 24 to round out the top-25.

Five teams in the top-25 is all well and good but people want to talk more about Meyer versus Jim Harbaugh in what promises to be an entertaining contrast of styles on the recruiting trail. Harbaugh made waves by having a sleepover at a recruit's house, climbing a tree to impress a recruit and then having a star-studded signing day ceremony on the Michigan campus. How closely are Ohio State officials monitoring what is being done up north in terms of setting trends?

"We certainly monitor everything," Meyer said. "Not just them but the Eastern side is one of the most competitive conference divisions in college football. So we know everything that everybody's doing."

Don't expect Ohio State to change just for the sake of change however.

"We have to remain true to ourselves and who are we and who am I and who do I like to hire and how do we -- our focus is on real life Wednesdays and graduation life after football, and if you're blessed enough go on to the NFL and win some championships along the way. We're not going to stray from that," Meyer said.

Meyer was asked point blank if he would ever stay overnight at a recruit's house, like Harbaugh. As you can imagine, Meyer did not have much to say about that idea.

"No."

This is the third time since Meyer has been at Ohio State that he has hauled in a top-three recruiting class according to the Rivals.com rankings. The 2014 class was ranked No. 3 just like the 2016 class while the 2013 class was ranked No. 2. During that time the Buckeyes have not been able to nail the top class however, Alabama has held that title for four years and USC had the No. 1 class in 2015.

Ultimately, coaches do not use the rankings of recruiting services when it comes to making evaluations, they are plenty good at doing that on their own. But don't think for a second that they don't keep track of those numbers, even if they downplay them to a certain degree.

"I've just seen a couple of the rankings and rankings aren't important," Meyer added. "As long as you're keeping score, we like to do the best we can. What I look at, even more than the rankings, because some people have 30 in their class, some people have 25, is the average. I think that's kind of appealing to me to know that we're one of the top teams in the country as far as quality of player."

When it comes down to average star ranking, the Buckeyes move up to No. 2 overall, still behind Alabama however. The Crimson Tide have a class of 24, just like the Buckeyes (Drue Chrisman will grayshirt and not count in the class of 2016). Alabama has an average star ranking of 3.83 while Ohio State is second in the nation at 3.79.

Both classes are made up entirely of three, four and five stars but Alabama pulls ahead with an astonishing five five-stars while Ohio State has two. The Buckeyes make up for it with 15 four-stars while Alabama only has 10.

You just don't really know how the numbers sort out until these players have a chance to play. Meyer was quick to point out the case of Darron Lee, an under ranked athlete without a true position to play coming out of high school.

"Because you had a skinny-neck kid from New Albany that played quarterback that ended up being okay and he wasn't ranked very high," Meyer said.

The Buckeyes did not have a lot of drama on NSD with most of the class already in place. Ohio State did have to wait on two commits to make their intentions known on Signing Day however with Malcolm Pridgeon and Malik Harrison.

Harrison had quietly been rumored to already be in the Ohio State class for some time now but still wanted to go through with a NSD announcement. Meyer and the staff feel they landed a player with a high ceiling from nearby Walnut Ridge HS.

"He's one of those typical Ohio tough guys that we think is going to develop into something," Meyer said. "I can't tell you what position, he might be a hand down, rushing the quarterback some day like Sam Hubbard. He might be an outside backer like a Darron Lee or he might be a tight end/H-back. We don't know."

Ohio State does not often go to the JUCO ranks (last player was Corey Smith, who was announced on Wednesday to have received a 6th year of eligibility from the NCAA) but they did to land Pridgeon.

Ohio State already had a robust offensive line class for 2016 but Pridgeon was just too good to pass up when it became apparent that Ohio State could land the big left tackle candidate.

"I saw his size and watched the videotape, very impressive guy," Meyer said. "He has some work to do in the classroom yet. He came on his visit and stole everybody's heart. Everybody that met him, you guys will love him when he gets here. He's a 6-foot-7, 320-pound guy that's interested in culinary arts."

It is unknown how the line will shape up next year outside of Pat Elflein at center and Billy Price at guard with three open spots on the line. Meyer, Ed Warinner and Greg Studrawa will have plenty to sort through over the next several months.