Tommy Kraemer- Class of 2016’s Best

5star_recruit_iconosuHelmetUrban Meyer does not have to travel very far in 2016 if he wants to recruit some of the best O-linemen in the country.   Standing 6’5 and weighing over 300 pounds, Tommy Kraemer is already physically ready for the college game, even though he’s just a rising junior at Elder High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Instead of growing up rooting for the Ohio State Buckeyes, he actually grew up a Michigan fan, something he told me he does not like to tell people often.  The ball has started rolling in terms of his recruitment with offers from some of the top programs in the country including Notre Dame, Kentucky, Louisville, and Ohio State.  He is rated very highly rated by both Scout.com and 247sports in their initial rankings of the 2016 class.  He is a composite 5* recruit on 247sports’ composite rankings.  Kraemer was excited about it but remained humble and hungry to get better.

“It is kind of nuts.  I was not expecting that at all.  It just shows hard work pays off.  It is exciting, but I’ll have to show that I deserve it,” Kraemer said of his high rankings.

Kraemer was getting interest from many schools during the season when Coach Coombs stopped in to see him in school.  He loved talking to Coach Coombs and because of that, he did more research on the program of Ohio State.  All of this research led to a visit to Ohio State, a visit which blew him away, and where he received an offer from Ohio State.

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“It was awesome! Me, a couple of friends and my dad went. We took a tour of the campus and the facilities, which were some of the nicest in the country.  After that Mark Pantoni brought me into Coach Meyer’s office and I was intimidated talking to him.  But he was awesome!  And then he offered me a scholarship to play football for The Ohio State University,” Kraemer said of his visit. “I have been close with them since my freshman year of high school.  I talk to Coach Warriner and Coach Meyer once a week.”Kraemer is very close with the whole coaching staff at Ohio State and he really has a strong relationship with them.  He admires Coach Meyer and the position coach for him, Coach Warriner a lot.  He thinks that Warriner is a good coach and he is hoping to sit down and talk to him more.  I think this will come down to Notre Dame because of their high presence in the Cincinnati side of Ohio, vs. Ohio State for a recruiting battle, but other schools could play a factor as well.

Kraemer has a busy summer with many visits on his agenda.  He visited Northwestern on Tuesday and Notre Dame today.  I did not talk to him about the Northwestern visit, but he told me the Notre Dame visit went well.  He is visiting Ohio State later in June and is staying overnight.  That is good for Ohio State as it gives Urban Meyer a chance to sway him to stay “home” for college.  In the upcoming season, he hopes to improve a couple of skills like his flexibility and lock on to the player, and dive him into the ground.  All offensive linemen need that meanstreak.  If he is not training for football, Tommy is usually doing some sort of outdoor activity like night fishing.  He tells me he loves most outdoor activities, but he loves to fish.

He wanted to say to Ohio State fans, “Go Bucks!”

Watch out for Tommy Kraemer as he is going to be an amazing player at the next level.

Here is Tommy’s 247sports page.

Highlights

And you can follow Tommy on twitter: @Big_TK75