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KYLE ROBERTSON | DISPATCH

Although 25 players who signed with Ohio State include many four- and five-star prospects, coach Urban Meyer said time will be the ultimate judge of the 2012 crop.

Even though Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was pleased yesterday with his first recruiting class, one he turned from average to elite in two months, he wasn’t ready to stand pat or take pats on the back.

The 25-member class is replete with four- and five-star talent, especially on a defensive front led by ends Noah Spence, Adolphus Washington and Se’Von Pittman. The offensive line gained some much-needed bodies, led by big, athletic tackles Taylor Decker and Kyle Dodson, a signing day convert. And the Buckeyes also gained a convert at linebacker, Jamal Marcus of Durham, N.C.

“It’s solid,” Meyer said. “(But) it’s later to be determined, two, three years from now, how good it really is.”

And the Buckeyes have one more opening. National signing day is over, but the signing period remains open, and Meyer knows what he wants.

“Speed at the skill,” he said, referring to an offensive playmaker. “Some of the things we like to do offensively — you’re going to hear talk about how we want the defense to have to defend the length and the width of the field. And there is only one way (to make that happen). That’s flat speed.”

Two players that Ohio State and several other schools are waiting to hear decisions from are receivers Stefon Diggs of Olney, Md., and Davonte Neal of Scottsdale, Ariz. They are considered two of the better playmaking prospects still uncommitted.

Both are speedy, except when it comes to making a college choice. It’s possible neither will make up his mind until next week, though Ohio State is believed to be focusing its efforts on Diggs.

Few even knew Dodson was leaning Ohio State’s way until the tackle from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, made his announcement during his school’s signing ceremony yesterday. He called forward his teammates — who put the school in the state playoffs for the first time last season — and they went through an extended chant that ended with, “I got that feelin’ … Ohio State.”

Dodson had committed to Wisconsin months ago, but he reopened the process after Ohio State hired Meyer on Nov. 28. He also took official visits to Southern California and Michigan State.

“I think we had to have him,” Meyer said. “Where we’re at right now at offensive tackle and on the offensive line in sheer numbers, that was a must-have. I wouldn’t trade him for any other player we signed.”

Dodson said his reasons for the switch were “because of coach Meyer, and I believe that the coaching staff there will get me NFL-ready. And since I’m from Ohio, it’s closer to home.”

As for Ohio State’s postseason ban this season, Dodson said, “That didn’t bother me.”

When the penalty came down from the NCAA in December, “Everyone was taken aback,” Meyer said. But he said he put his staff on a two-week counterattack during which, instead of waiting for the questions to come from the prospects and their families, “we were proactive and extremely transparent, to let them know exactly what that means.”

It was during that time they elevated the class from middle of the pack to consensus top five in the nation, with commitments from Spence, Decker, offensive lineman Joey O’Connor, linebacker Camren Williams and cornerback Armani Reeves, among others.

But it could be Marcus, who picked Ohio State over East Carolina yesterday, who becomes the poster player for the class when, as Meyer said, it is evaluated in a couple of years.

“I invite you to watch the YouTube video of him,” Meyer said of Marcus, who had offers from at least 20 schools at one point, including Florida, Auburn and Notre Dame. “You will be impressed.”

Highlight reels for Diggs and Neal will bring entertainment value, too, and daydreams of what might come from the 2012 recruiting class.

tmay@dispatch.com