Recruiting Matchup: OSU’s Advantage Over KU Not as Big as You Might Expect

Recruiting at Kansas is easy as 1-2-3 — so long as your last name is Self and first name is Bill.

The same success isn’t quite shared with the football program. Since 2015, the team has finished in the bottom three of the Big 12 in recruiting rankings, and losses in the league on the gridiron have been as easy to come by as blue-chippers on the hardwood in Lawrence.

So as OSU prepares to bounce back from a disappointing conference-opening loss to Texas Tech last weekend, it can do so knowing that, on Saturday, it has an advantage over the Kansas Jayhawks in terms of overall talent.

Though the gap isn’t as wide as you’d expect — and though last week’s advantage didn’t sway the ultimate outcome.

Let’s start things off with a look at OSU’s updated starting lineup on offense, in which the most noticeable change from last week is the replacement of Jalen McCleskey — who has decided to transfer — with former walk-on Landon Wolf.

Here’s how OSU’s starting unit ranked coming out of high school. (Note: As I did last week, unranked prospects have been given a grade of 70 to avoid completely torpedoing the overall average ranking of each unit.)

And here’s a look at KU’s starting lineup on offense by comparison, again, looking at high school recruiting rankings each player finished with before signing with the school (based off updated depth chart information from OurLads.com.)

What I found interesting when doing this was the blue-chip prospects on KU’s offensive two-deep. Mavin Saunders, a tight end (who transferred from Florida State) was a four-star talent out of high school. Right tackle Kevin Feder was the second-highest rated recruit out of high school — he’s slated to start at right tackle. Feder signed with Ohio State coming out of high school. Running back Pooka Williams was also a four-star.

OSU has the slight edge on offense — but again, it’s so slight, it’s basically a wash (in part because OSU’s starting unit has three unranked high school prospects, and KU has just one.)

Now let’s take a look at OSU’s defensive unit, which is unchanged from last week’s depth chart.

OSU has an edge on defense in comparison to Kansas, too. And by a lot. KU’s average ranking on defense is just barely over 80, which is a low, low three-star ranking. 79.99 is a two-star by 247’s standards.

Ultimately I’ve come to the conclusion that high school rankings matter, but they’re the most important when it comes to the premium positions — quarterback, running back, wide receiver. So yes, OSU has an overall talent advantage, but this game may be decided by who has the better day between the quarterbacks and which playmakers do enough on Saturday.