The Ohio State 2010 recruiting class has officially been signed, sealed and delivered to the Buckeyes.

OSU received letters of intent Wednesday from 18 high school seniors who will spend the next several years representing the Scarlet and Gray.

The Buckeyes’ 18 verbal commitments coming into the day all signed on the dotted line and officially ended their recruitment for OSU.

“It was a great day in Buckeye land,” assistant coach Nick Siciliano said. “We got 18 commits, nine of which happen to be defensive players, seven of them offense, one athlete and specialist.”

For the Buckeyes, however, it was a day of what could have been.

Several highly touted prospects were still on the board for OSU coming into Wednesday. However, none signed with the Buckeyes.

The biggest target left for OSU was one of the country’s top prospects, offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson from Minnesota.

Entering Wednesday, many analysts and reports were predicting the Buckeyes would come up the winner in the derby for Henderson. However, it wasn’t meant to be, as Henderson decided to venture out west to be a USC Trojan.

Earlier in the day, OSU lost out on Cincinnati St. Xavier lineman Matt James. James picked Notre Dame over the Buckeyes. It was believed that the Irish gained the edge after James took an official visit to South Bend, Ind. this past weekend.

Along with the two uncommitted prospects remaining for OSU on signing day, there was a feel that the Buckeyes were still in the running for a couple of committed players before they officially signed their letters of intent.

Offensive lineman Morgan Moses from Union Fork, Va., was a guy who several reports labeled as a possible signee. A verbal commit to Virginia, Moses did as he said and honored his decision to be a Cavalier by signing with UVA.

The last wild card of this recruiting class is Latwan Anderson, a blue-chip defensive back from Cleveland Glenville. The five-star prospect verbally committed to West Virginia at the U.S Army All-American Game, but never seemed firm in his decision. On signing day, with the lack of other prospects deciding to attend OSU it appeared that Anderson now had a spot with the Buckeyes if he wanted to sign.

Anderson didn’t make a final decision, and it appears that he will push his decision back until he is sure where he would like attend. Anderson said Ohio State, WVU and USC are his three finalists.

Ohio State may not have reeled in the big fish on signing day, but it did come up with some players that Buckeye fans can be excited about from Ohio and throughout the country.

“If you look at the whole group, nine Ohio kids and nine out-of-state kids,” coach Jim Tressel said of his class. “I think it is a good blend of guys, some of the out-of-state guys are so close that their parent’s can enjoy the experience just as well as the folk from in-state.”

Ohio State did get some players at positions of need, including depth at quarterback.

The Buckeyes signed quarterback Taylor Graham from Illinois.

“He is a big, strong-arm kid, very intelligent quarterback,” Siciliano said. “He has been very fortunate to have a coach in his life everyday. His dad does a good job of teaching him the game of football.”

OSU added another prospect from the Cleveland Glenville pipeline, defensive back Christian Bryant.

Special teams don’t usually get a lot of attention, but OSU added kicker Drew Basil from Chillicothe, Ohio. With kicker Aaron Pettrey graduating, it looks as if Basil could compete for playing time immediately.

The question of whether the 2010 recruiting class is of the same quality as past classes has often been raised because of 2010’s lack of an overall high ranking, but Tressel isn’t concerned about the group’s potential.

“I’m excited about this group. I hope they end up as good as these other groups have from a standpoint of what they contributed to Ohio State, which is what its all about,” Tressel said. “Statistically, who knows what they will end up being or doing, how soon or how late, or all those things. We probably stood here in February of ‘02 having no idea what Troy Smith would do, and there wasn’t one person in the room who raised their hand and said ‘Do you think he will have  a chance to win the Heisman?'”

“So who knows what they end up doing, it is what they decide to do.”