Archives for February 2013

The Buckeyes completed a very successful national signing day with 24 signed letters of intent, five of which were early enrollments and the other 19 faxed their LOI to Columbus throughout the day. It was a long day for Urban Meyer, the entire coaching staff, the recruits, and the thousands of Buckeye fans that were glued to social media waiting for the next prospect to sign. Joey Bosa, the four- star defensive lineman from St. Thomas Aquinas High School (FL) started it off around 7:30 a.m., and Ezekiel Elliott, the four- star running back  from Saint Louis, Missouri finished up the night by announcing his decision to become a Buckeye around 5 p.m.

The majority of the prospects that faxed their LOI  today were committed to Ohio State for a while now, but there were a couple that were a nice surprise  After losing out on WR James Quick last month to Louisville, tight ends coach Tim Hinton recruited James Clark, a speedy four- star WR away from his home state of Florida. Clark chose Ohio State over the Florida Gators. In an even bigger surprise, the Buckeyes lured Vonn Bell, a five-star safety out of Georgia, to Columbus. It was thought that Bell would commit to Tennessee but it was made clear today that Urban can close better than anyone. These two prized recruits were magnificent finishing touches on Urban Meyer’s first true recruiting class at Ohio State.

“I’m pretty good at this.”

Rankings:

ESPN: Ranked 3rd; 1 five-star, 18 four-stars, 6 three-stars

Rivals: Ranked 2nd; 2 five-stars, 16 four-stars, 6 three- stars

247 Sports: Ranked 2nd; 1 five-star, 19 four-stars, 5 three-stars

Scout: Ranked 1st; 4 five-stars, 17 four-stars, 4 three-stars

Positional Breakdown (From 247sports):

All Purpose Backs: Ezekiel Elliott, Dontre Wilson

ATH: Darron Lee, Christopher Worley

CB: Eli Apple, Gareon Conley, Cameron Burrows

DT: Billy Price, Donovan Munger, Michael Hill

DE: Tyquan Lewis, Tracy Sprinkle, Joey Bosa

ILB: Trey Johnson

OLB: Mike Mitchell

OT: Timothy Gardner, Evan Lisle

QB: JT Barrett

S: Vonn Bell, Jayme Thompson

TE: Marcus Baugh

WR: Corey Smith (JUCO), Jalin Marshall, James Clark

*P: Johnny Townsend

*(committed but no LOI)

Usually I wouldn’t redo a recruiting post but Ezekiel committed to OSU nearly a year ago and since then he and his family have become favorites of Buckeye Nation on Twitter. A few weeks back Zeke as he is known made a visit to his home state school and the Alma Mater of both his parents. This ruffled the feathers of some OSU fans and made most of them nervous. I never really bought the whole thing and just felt like he was enjoying the process and free trips. In the end he proved me right and today he confirmed to the world he is 100% Buckeye.

EZKEIEL ELLIOTT

Ezekiel Elliott is a 6’1″ 210 lbs RB from St. Loui, Missouri. Big Zeke is a scat back at heart. He isnt small by any sense of the word but has elusiveness and shiftyness that will fit so well in Urbans system. He has great hands and will be a threat to catch the ball a lot and make plays out wide. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and 84th best prospect in the country. ESPN ranks him a 4 star and 109th best recruit in the country. Scout ranks him a 4 star and 9th best RB in the nation. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and 70th best recruit in the country. Below you can view his highlight reel.

No one knew who Vonn was going to pick or even where he was leaning all year long but quietly OSU was always his leader according to former Vols coach Derrick Dooley. Even with Bruce Feldman of CBSsports telling the world that Vonn Bell was going to pick UT I had my doubts. Urban Meyer is a closer and he is just that good. So Vonn Bell went to his ceremony and without further drama choose Ohio State proving Urban to be the recruiter we all believed he could be.

VONN BELL

Vonn Bell is a 6’1″ 190 lbs Safety from Rossville, Georgia. Vonn is a big time Safety who has a knack for finding the ball and will hit you like a mack truck. He will get plenty of time in his first year to get some playing time on Special teams for sure and learn from Bryant and CJ. Rivals ranks him a 5 star and the no. 32 best recruit in the nation. ESPN ranks him a 4 star and the 50th best recruit in the nation. Scout ranks him a 5 star and the 2nd best Safety in the country. 247sports ranks him a 5 star and the 29th best recruit in the country. Below you can watch his highlight reel and see why he is a 5 star recruit.

As of 1 week ago most OSU fans were fretting over whether Urban was going to be able to land his much needed WRs and playmakers to the class of 2013 he so desperately needs… You can put that talk to rest with the additions of Dontre Wilson, Jalin Marshall, and now….

JAMES CLARK

James Clark is a 5’11” 175 lbs WR from New Smyrna Beach, Florida. James is a true WR that OSU has been chasing and has the speed and deep threat capabilities that OSU needs. He is a barn burner with great hands and great route running he does need to build up his size a touch though. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the no 45 WR in the nation. ESPN ranks him a 4 star and the no. 49 best WR in the nation. Scout ranks him a 4 star and the no 30th best WR in the nation. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and the 174th best recruit in the country. Below you can see his Highlight video which is of course super impressive.

Here it is folks a day full of excitement and heart break. Ohio State has a top rated class but will they be able to keep everyone in the fold? That is the major question for all day today. As each Letter of Intent is faxed in I will update this post with the info. Mark Pantoni is the man on the spot manning the archaic FAX MACHINE all day long.

Already enrolled at Ohio State and not faxing a LoI today- Eli Apple, JT Barrett, Cam Burrows, Tyquan Lewis and Tracy Sprinkle.

Shoutout to @jbbigbear on being Buckeye #1!

— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) February 6, 2013

Buckeye #2 is @goldmoments_21 – Gareon Conley

— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) February 6, 2013

Buckeye #3 is @richielisle – OL Evan Lisle

— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) February 6, 2013

Buckeye #4 is @dleemg8 – Darron Lee

— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) February 6, 2013

Buckeye #5 is @b_price54 – Billy Price

— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) February 6, 2013

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In case you missed it is Men of the Scarlet and Gray’s semi-weekly look at items that would interest the casual and hard-core Ohio State fan, be they news items, interesting blog posts or funny memes you probably saw on Reddit last week. It’s all here and it’s all for you. Have a tip that should be included in the next ICYMI? Send it our way!

WE STILL LOVE YOU TED GINN: Ted Ginn’s punt return in the third quarter of the Super Bowl almost went the distance but still factored hugely into San Francisco’s furious come back Sunday night against the hated, detested, deplorable Ravens. Teddy Ballgame rewarded all the loyal Buckeye fans after his run by throwing up the big O for all to see (via sportsMonkey’s Twitter feed):

YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE ALL THE TIME: But this time, it sure seems like Ohio State didn’t please anybody with the latest update of their logos. The Ohio State seal received a minor face lift, opting for a block O in the middle of the seal instead of the legacy circles, but you would have thought the new “Athletic Logo” had set people’s houses on fire, the way people were talking about it on Twitter. I’m personally not a fan, but I guess I’m in the “I only hate it a little” minority.

SHUT YOUR EYES, MARION!: For whatever reason, Michigan will be unleashing these nightmares on the viewing public tomorrow night. EGADS.

JORDAN HALL, NEW MAN:

Can’t wait to throw that 2 on this year

— Jordan Hall (@JordanHall_2) January 30, 2013

IF PHIL SAYS IT, IT’S TRUE: This is an ESPN Insider link ($), so I won’t quote all the good bits, but I’ll just add this to the pile of preseason love that the Buckeyes are going to be getting. This time it’s Phil Steele, ranking them an early #2 for 2013.

ETC: For some reason, I think these deer antler spray stories are going to be coming out more and more…

When the rumors started that Chip Kelly was considering jumping to the NFL rumors started swirling that several of the Oregon commits could be flippable and that Coach Meyer would pounce on them all but in reality he only had his mind focused on one of them and after Chip took the job in Philly he pounced. Landing the 24th prospect in the 2013 class tonight.

Dontre Wilson is 5’10” 175 lbs RB/WR from Desoto, Texas. Wilson who has been a commit to Oregon since last May has been wavering on his commitment since Chip Kelly was rumored to be heading to the NFL. Once that actually happened he full on started taking visits to other schools. He has visited Ohio State and his home state school Texas in the past few weeks. Dontre is the epitome of what Urban Meyer has been looking for to fill his Percy Harvin role. He is a RB who can play slot receiver run jet sweeps and be a part of the pistol package as a RB. He is a burner in the speed dept. and has the kind of moves that breaks ankles. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the no. 100 recruit nationally. ESPN ranks him a 4 star and the 55th best recruit in the nation. Scout ranks him a 4 star and the 10th best RB in the nation. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and the 113th best recruit in the nation. Below you can see his highlight reel.