Ohio State recruiting: Will Buckeyes take two quarterbacks in 2020 class?

Have a question about Ohio State recruiting? This is the place for you, five days a week. Submit your questions on Twitter or on the Lettermen Row forums. Check in daily to see what’s on the mind of Buckeyes fans all over the country. Monday’s question talks the 2020 quarterback position and how Ohio State could attack that position in the new recruiting cycle.

Ohio State Recruiting Question of the Day

There is no way we can take 2 QBs in 2020….or is there?

— Jerm (@jerminator06) February 10, 2019

In the event that you spent the last four days disconnected from social media and sports outlets all over the world, here’s a refresher on some big news that happened for Ohio State last Friday.

Justin Fields was ruled immediately eligible by the NCAA and will be able to take the field for the Buckeyes this season. As the highest-ranked recruit ever to enter the program, Fields changes what the Buckeyes are able to do between the lines this year and on the recruiting trail. Ohio State now knows it will enter the spring with three scholarship quarterbacks set to compete for the starting job, and it is now likely to stand pat at the position heading into Ryan Day’s first year despite a desire to always have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster.

The Buckeyes may end up reconsidering their stance on quarterback numbers and settling on three for the 2020 season as well. Fields and Matthew Baldwin should each still be on the roster, and they’ll be joined by Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral High School’s Jack Miller, Ohio State’s 2020 quarterback commit.

But recruiting is inexact. It’s challenging to predict the thoughts, actions and motives of teenagers, especially those that are turned into premature public figures because of the spotlight that internet-era recruiting has shined on them.

Danny Clark committed to Ohio State in December of 2013 and was a verbal pledge for almost three years. Emory Jones was committed to Ohio State for more than a year, and Dwan Mathis was the only quarterback really talking to the Buckeyes for almost six months in this past cycle. None of those players ever took a snap in Columbus.

I’m in no way suggesting that a similar outcome awaits Miller. He’s on record that he’s “100-percent committed” and not talking to other schools, and he’s been trying to recruit his peers in Arizona as hard as he can. There’s no reason to worry about his commitment right now at all.

https://twitter.com/cocoabeach_28/status/1094311889620787200?s=20

Right now, I think it’s likely that Ohio State focuses on Miller alone in 2020 rather than risk disrupting their relationship with him by adding another name into the mix. Fields and Baldwin should be the Ohio State quarterbacks until 2022 at least, and Miller is a natural fit to replace them at the start of his redshirt sophomore or junior seasons. If everyone remains on the roster, stays healthy and develops as expected, there may not be any reason at all to look at another 2020 quarterback.

Miller is a top-60 player nationally and a perfect fit for Ryan Day’s offense. There’s no real reason other than an arbitrary commitment to the numbers to add another player who could end up doing nothing but taking a scholarship that could be more valuable at another position – like the offensive line.

But recruiting has shown us over and over again that things can change unexpectedly. The answer to this question could change six months from now.

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