Talent raiders: Through the years, Buckeyes have recruited plenty of impact players from other Big Ten states
Count on it happening. At some point in tonight's Ohio State-Minnesota game, OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis will make the type of spectacular play that has become ridiculously commonplace for him, and some old buzzard decked out in maroon and gold will turn in his Metrodome seat and give his long-suffering wife a sideways look. "How did we let that boy get away?" he'll say. "Why couldn't he have been a Gopher?"
Seeing a player as special as Laurinaitis -- the pride of Hamel, about 10 minutes up the road from the Twin Cities -- wearing scarlet and gray has to pain the Minnesota faithful. Gopher Nation can take comfort, however, that Minnesota has mostly escaped Ohio State's recruiting raids of nearby states. Hall of Famer Sid Gillman, who played from 1931-33, was OSU's last scholarship player from Minnesota before Laurinaitis' arrival.
Here's a look at how the Buckeyes have fared in other Big Ten states. (A big old caveat: Many records of players' hometowns are incomplete, especially before the 1930s. Any omissions, glaring or otherwise, are inadvertent.)
Pennsylvania
• Names you know: DB Joe Allegro (1974-77); WB Brian Baschnagel (1972-75); RB Jaymes Bryant (1986-89); G Tom Bugel (1963-65); DE Jim Cope (1972-74); OT Scott Dannelley (1972-75); TE John Frank (1980-83); RB Eddie George (1992-95); RT Frank "Moose" Machinsky (1953-55); MG Nick Miller (1977-81); TE Rory Nicol (2004-present); TE Fred Pagac (1971-73); CB Tim Patillo (1991-94); DB Jim Peel (1987-90); DB Doug Plank (1972-74); OL Daniel Porretta (1962-64); FB George Rosso (1951-53); DB Vince Skillings (1977-80); P-K Tom Skladany (1973-76); SE Brian Stablein (1988-90); LB Lorenzo Styles (1992-94); E Jan White (1968-70); OG David Williams (1952-54); OG Scott Zalenski (1981-84)
• The skinny: Nowhere has OSU made recruiting hay in Big Ten country more than in Pennsylvania. Perhaps not coincidentally, the vast majority of blue-chips signed on for Columbus before Penn State joined the conference, in 1993. Eddie George tops them all, of course, but it's interesting to see how many cogs of OSU's machine of the early-and mid-'70s hailed from Pa.
Michigan
• Names you know: LB Randall Brown (1991-94); QB Greg Castignola (1976-79); DT Jerome Foster (1979-82); DE Vernon Gholston (2004-present); DT Ray Holliman (1983-87); LB Thomas "Pepper" Johnson (1982-85); RB Bobby Klein (1960-62); QB Craig Krenzel (1999-2003); LB Ryan Miller (1992-96); DB Bruce Ruhl (1973-76)
• The skinny: It's not even close, the disparate numbers of Michiganders who come to Ohio to play football compared with vice versa. The few who have made the trek, however, have made some noise. Craig Krenzel, who enjoys something akin to rock-star status for that 2002 run, tops that list.
Illinois
• Names you know: G-T Warren Amling (1944-46); HB Morris Bradshaw (1971-73); DL Winfield Garnett (1994-97); QB Kent Graham (1990-91); LB Eric Kumerow (1984-87); DB Richard McNutt (1999-2002); LB-DT Anthony Megaro (1977-80); RB Joe Montgomery (1994-98); FB Alex Rodriguez (1991-94); QB Mike Tomczak (1981-84)
• The skinny: Illinois, particularly the Chicago area, has been kind to the Buckeyes over the years, supplying a steady stream of solid contributors throughout the past few decades. Mike Tomczak is the most widely known of that bunch; Amling is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Indiana
• Names you may know: T Alan Fiers (1958-60); DE Tom Marendt (1971-73); OL David Templeton (1946-48).
• The skinny: It is safe to say Indiana is a basketball state when Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. are the best athletes ever to be imported from Hoosierville. Two current Buckeyes -- CB Donald Washington and DT Dexter Larimore -- are contributing this season.
Wisconsin
• Names you probably don't know: E Don Gunder (1945); C James Meckstroth (1971-72)
• The skinny: One hundred eighteen seasons of Ohio State football and not a single letter-winner from Wisconsin? Can that be true? Maybe it's not so hard to believe when one considers that OSU's 1957 national championship team had only one letter-winner -- Bob White -- who was not a native Ohioan.
Iowa
• Name you can't possibly know: HB Richard Haupt (1959-60)
• The skinny: Call him the Lone Iowan. Research reveals that Haupt was sixth-team All-Iowa for Sumner in 1956, that he wore No. 12 at OSU and that he never saw the field except for warm-ups. In other words, if there's a Laurinaitis clone out there from Waterloo, he can pretty much blaze his own trail.