Ohio State's rise under Urban Meyer can be directly attributed to recruiting and recruiting well.
According to 247Sports, the Buckeyes owned a top-5 recruiting class in each of Meyer's first three years (2012-14), while finishing with the seventh best group this season.
The result of such stellar recruiting is a surplus of young talent at almost every position. As the game of football goes, however, only 11 individuals can play at any one time.
With so much talent returning from the 2014 College Football Playoff National Championship team — just a total of eight starters are gone as a result of graduation — movement up the depth chart by young players is difficult.