A lot has been made of the fact that Ohio St. doesn’t have any members of the 2013 class. Some say its a whole year away and it isn’t a big deal others think the previous staff didn’t want to get any commitments knowing they wouldnt be the staff in 2013 and wanted the new staff to have a clean slate. Whatever the reason was the wait is over. Today at a highly publicized press conference at Trotwood Madison High School in Trotwood, Ohio OSU landed its first recruit for the 2013 class.

Cam Burrows a 6’2″ 205 lbs 5* DB has become recruit no. 1 in the class that will bring us back to a bowl game and to national prominence. Cam is considered the top recruit in the state of Ohio and is a five star recruit by every recruiting service. He is a ESPN 150 member and will no doubt be All-American as a senior next year. He won a HS state championship as a junior and can play either Safety or Cornerback at the next level. He had offers from every top tier school in the country and choose OSu over scUM and Bama and LSU and Tennesee and Wisky.

We are exactly 2 weeks away from National Signing Day of Letter of Intents and Coach Meyer is filling up his class with a fury. As was mentioned yesterday Coach Meyer knows where the team is lacking depth and is doing all he can to shore up those areas. Today he got a Linebacker he is in desperate need of depth at.

David Perkins a 6’2″ 225 lbs Athlete that played both RB and LB in high school in South Bend, Indiana has become commit no. 22 for Coach Meyer and Ohio St. He visited OSU this past weekend with 3 other recruits and of the 4 of them 3 are now OSU commits. He wanted to commit to OSU on Sunday but needed time to go back and talk to his parents and to let other coaches know he wasn’t going to chose them. Perkins is rated as the no. 2 recruit in the state of Indiana and is a four star recruit. Also Perkins who is from South Bend, In also was a former Notre Dame recruit who Urban flipped to OSU. He will come in to OSU as a LB who could see early playing time on STs. This is a really solid recruit and will just add to the awesomeness that has become this years recruiting class. Who would have thought 2 months ago that OSU would be sitting here with a top 3 recruiting class after all we went through last year. Not me that is for sure.

Coach Meyer knew he had needs the day he stepped foot on campus. He could see right away that the Buckeyes were sadly lacking in enough OLmen and LBers. He has put the focus of his recruiting on landing as many OL and LBs as he can for this years class and along the way he hasn’t cared one bit about whose feelings he may hurt in trying to flip recruits. He has taken recruits from Notre Dame and Michigan St. and seems to have a real affinity to the kids at Penn St. Today he managed to do both in taking a recruit who use to be a verbal commit to Penn St.

Marc Givler of Rivals has announced thatJoey O’Connor a 6’4″ 295 lbs Offensive Lineman from Windsor, Colorado has committed to Ohio State. O’Connor is a versatile recruit that can and prob will play every position on the OL from tackle to guard to center. If his hands are good enought he may line up as a tackle eligible receiver too lol. O’Connor is an ESPN 150 recruit and a 4 star rated as the best recruit in Colorado and the 15th best OT in this years recruiting class. His strength and speed are a plus and he is a beast at run blocking with a true nasty streak. He will do fine in pass blocking but does need to improve his hand placement to avoid too many holds. He will be a beast at Ohio State and will add to the hatred that PSU fans have for Urban Meyer and OSU right now.

As much good news as we have had lately and with the Buckeye mens team doing so well today it was bound to be saddened sooner or later. Jeremy Cash a sophomore to be at OSU who played on special teams this past season has asked for and been given his release. Dominick Clarke arrested this past week for OVI after having been arrested a few months back was also released due to his criminal charges and lack of judgment. Derjuan Gambrell a RS Freshman was charged with assaulting his girlfriend and holding against her will. All 3 players careers at OSU are over and that is a sad thing but Coach Meyer seems to be running a zero tolerance policy right now and is trying to rid the team of troubled players.

On a side note it also appears OSU has lost CB coach Taver Johnson to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Johnson was expected to remain on Urbans staff but Paul Haynes was recently named the Arky DC and has used his connections to lure away Taver.

Today may be a huge day for OSU hoops and OSU lady hoops and OSU Mens Hockey but Urban Meyer has been stealing their thunder all day. He was a guest on the CBS broadcast booth for part of the Bball game and then at halftime was introduced to the crowd and then he introduced his family and coaching staff. All this on the heels of hosting a huge recruiting weekend.

Well it seems the first recruit to drop for Meyer from this weekends visits is former Notre Dame recruit Taylor Decker. The 6’8″ 310 pound OT from Vandalia, Ohio is listed as a 4 star by both Scouts and Rivals. Scouts has him as the 14th best OT in the country and notes the positives in him as Aggressiveness and Tenacity as well as Flexibility and Size. He will need to work on his strength and power but that will be east to do under OSUs new S&C coaches and the weight room. Decker will fill a need for OSU since they are dearly lacking in true OTs.

Since being hired nearly a month ago I believe no less then the amount of people in India and China combined have been rumored to be joining the staff of Urban Meyer. From the stupidly insane Kirk Herbstreit to the awesomely delightful Chris Spielman. In the mean time about half the asst. coaches around the country turned rumors of interest by Meyer into huge pay raises and contract extensions at their current jobs. We here at Motsag hate the guessing game or rumor mongering so we will only update the coaches once OSU makes them official. So here is the list so far of coaches who are 100% hired and on the staff.

Tom Herman – Offensive Coordinator and QB coach. Herman is a young coach who has studied and used the spread offense to improve the offenses at Rice and Iowa St. He is a member of MENSA and seems to fit the role of a guy who has tons of energy and will recruit hard in Texas and the Great Plains.

Everett Withers – Co-Defensive Coordinator and Asst. head Coach. Withers is a defensive guru with experince coaching DBs in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans and did coach former Buckeye Donnie Nickey. He he is young and will recruit hard the Mid-Atlantic area like Washington DC and Virginia and Maryland and New Jersey.

Luke Fickell – Defensive Coordinator and Asst. Head Coach (as best as we can tell). Everyone knows who Fickell is and what he brings to the staff. Meyer said Fickell will call all defensive plays in the games. He will likely be our Lead Recruiter too and is well known as one of the best recruiters in the country.

Stan Drayton – Running Back Coach. Drayton was hired last year from Florida where he worked under Coach Meyer. He was hired here as the WR coach but was traditionally the RB coach before coming here. He moved back to his traditional job starting in January. Drayton will recruit the Florida and Georgia and South East like a mad man with tons of ties and relationships down there from his time at Florida.

Mike Vrabel – Linebackers Coach. The guy is Ohio State. After playing 14 years in the NFL he came home to his alma mater Ohio State to help his BFF Fickell and was retained by Coach Meyer today. He will recruit the North East and Ohio and will use the strategy look at my handful of Super Bowl Rings.

Taver Johnson – Cornerbacks Coach. Taver is also being retained from the Tressel era. He has been at OSU for 4 years and has ties to the Cincinnati area for recruiting.

**UPDATE** Zach Smith – Wide Receivers Coach. Zach Smith was the WR coach at Temple and Marshall and 5 years under Coach Meyer. he is the Grandson of Former OSU HC Earle Bruce. He will handle recruiting in PA and WV and MD as well as help in Florida.

UPDATE UPDATE Tim Hinton – Tight Ends and Full Backs as well as Recruiting Coordinator. Hinton has ties to Ohio and Ohio State. He is from Ohio and coached for years at the HS level before going to UC as an Asst. Coach he also was a Grad Asst at OSU the same time as Urban Meyer. He will play a huge part in getting the TEs and FBs involved in the passing game. As recruiting Coordinator he will be the go to guy for all areas of the country.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE Ed Warinner – Offensive Line and Co-Offensive Coordinator. Warinner is a career OL coach with success at every stop along the way. He will no doubt be a large improvement over the previous OL coach. As CO-OC he will be in charge of the running game. He has ties to Ohio and will handle the Cincinnati area for recruiting.

Mickey Marotti – Strength and Conditioning. Mickey is considered one of the best S&C coaches in the country and a master motivator. He is also one of Coach Meyers most trusted friends.

Brian Voltolini – Director of Football Operations. Voltolini will be responsible for the operation of the football program’s budget, scholarships, team travel, housing, camps and clinics. Pantoni will supervise all aspects of the program’s administrative duties for recruiting, including on-campus official and unofficial visits, budgeting, travel and database management. Basically the do it all and get no recognition guy.

Mark Pantoni – Director of Player Personnel. Pantoni will be in charge of everything recruiting related. He is a recruiting guru and will implement some awesome exciting events to lure kids to campus and sell the program. He will be the contact guy for anyone wanting to visit OSU and could be the most important hire so far for Meyer.

Ohio State is limited to 10 actual coaches the last 3 listed above aren’t considered coaches but are part of his non coaching staff. With Coach Meyer and all 10 asst coaches already named the staff is complete. Coach Meyer has named himself the STs coach. One thing is very evident with each confirmed hire it is obvious that Coach Meyer is hiring smart and young coaches with specific ties to certain geographical areas of the country for recruiting purposes.

Since being hired nearly a month ago I believe no less then the amount of people in India and China combined have been rumored to be joining the staff of Urban Meyer. From the stupidly insane Kirk Herbstreit to the awesomely delightful Chris Spielman. In the mean time about half the asst. coaches around the country turned rumors of interest by Meyer into huge pay raises and contract extensions at their current jobs. We here at Motsag hate the guessing game or rumor mongering so we will only update the coaches once OSU makes them official. So here is the list so far of coaches who are 100% hired and on the staff.

Tom Herman – Offensive Coordinator and QB coach. Herman is a young coach who has studied and used the spread offense to improve the offenses at Rice and Iowa St. He is a member of MENSA and seems to fit the role of a guy who has tons of energy and will recruit hard in Texas and the Great Plains.

Everett Withers – Co-Defensive Coordinator and Asst. head Coach. Withers is a defensive guru with experince coaching DBs in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans and did coach former Buckeye Donnie Nickey. He he is young and will recruit hard the Mid-Atlantic area like Washington DC and Virginia and Maryland and New Jersey.

Luke Fickell – Defensive Coordinator and Asst. Head Coach (as best as we can tell). Everyone knows who Fickell is and what he brings to the staff. Meyer said Fickell will call all defensive plays in the games. He will likely be our Lead Recruiter too and is well known as one of the best recruiters in the country.

Stan Drayton – Running Back Coach. Drayton was hired last year from Florida where he worked under Coach Meyer. He was hired here as the WR coach but was traditionally the RB coach before coming here. He moved back to his traditional job starting in January. Drayton will recruit the Florida and Georgia and South East like a mad man with tons of ties and relationships down there from his time at Florida.

Mike Vrabel – Linebackers Coach. The guy is Ohio State. After playing 14 years in the NFL he came home to his alma mater Ohio State to help his BFF Fickell and was retained by Coach Meyer today. He will recruit the North East and Ohio and will use the strategy look at my handful of Super Bowl Rings.

Taver Johnson – Cornerbacks Coach. Taver is also being retained from the Tressel era. He has been at OSU for 4 years and has ties to the Cincinnati area for recruiting.

**UPDATE** Zach Smith – Wide Receivers Coach. Zach Smith was the WR coach at Temple and Marshall and 5 years under Coach Meyer. he is the Grandson of Former OSU HC Earle Bruce. He will handle recruiting in PA and WV and MD as well as help in Florida.

Mickey Marotti – Strength and Conditioning. Mickey is considered one of the best S&C coaches in the country and a master motivator. He is also one of Coach Meyers most trusted friends.

Brian Voltolini – Director of Football Operations. Voltolini will be responsible for the operation of the football program’s budget, scholarships, team travel, housing, camps and clinics. Pantoni will supervise all aspects of the program’s administrative duties for recruiting, including on-campus official and unofficial visits, budgeting, travel and database management. Basically the do it all and get no recognition guy.

Mark Pantoni – Director of Player Personnel. Pantoni will be in charge of everything recruiting related. He is a recruiting guru and will implement some awesome exciting events to lure kids to campus and sell the program. He will be the contact guy for anyone wanting to visit OSU and could be the most important hire so far for Meyer.

Ohio State is limited to 10 actual coaches the last 3 listed above aren’t considered coaches but are part of his non coaching staff. With Coach Meyer and 7 asst coaches already named that will leave 2 more slots to fill soon. Most likely an OL coach and either a TE coach or ST coach. one thing is very evident with each confirmed hire it is obvious that Coach Meyer is hiring smart and young coaches with specific ties to certain geographical areas of the country for recruiting purposes.

This past Friday Ohio State coaches Urban Meyer and Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel all made a trip out to Hershey, PA to watch Noah Spence play in his High School State football championship game. Noah Spence team lost that game by a huge margin. After the game Noah Spence consoled his teammates and celebrated his high school career by getting on a plane and headed to Columbus, Ohio to spend the weekend on an official visit at The Ohio State University. Noah Spence is a 5 star player ranked as the no. 4 recruit in the country according to ESPN.

The 6’4″ 245 lb DE from Harrisburg, PA runs a 4.4 40 and is rated as the no. 1 DE in the country by every recruiting service. He is an all around solid DE in both Pass Rush and Run Def. He is an instant impact player and is the 4th highly rated DLmen to verbal to OSU in the last 4 weeks.

According to Bob Lictenfels a Scouts recruiting expert Noah Spence told Coach Meyer tonight “Coach I’m done, love it here and I want to be a part of the Buckeye Nation” #OSU.

Noah Spence was for biggest part of his recruiting time a strong lean to Penn State if not a silent Verbal to them. Following the PSU scandal and firing of Coach Paterno he opened his recruiting up more and with the hiring of Urban Meyer it didn’t take long for him and his family to find themselves members of Buckeye Nation. Spence becomes the 19th member on this years recruiting class.

Less than a month ago Ohio St. was struggling through with their toughest season in a while. Losing games and dealing with lots of distractions and injuries. Most recruiting “experts” made the declaration that Ohio St. was dead in the water for this years recruiting class. Then a rumor started floating around that Urban Meyer was going to be hired as the next coach at Ohio State. The story was broken by our friends at Eleven Warriors. Shortly after the rumors started OSU got verbals from two high ranking recruits. Then he was hired and quickly Ohio State applied for and received an exemption to allow Coach Meyer to recruit. If this was 1985 the phone bill OSU would have to cover all the long distance phone calls made by Urban and the rest of the OSU staff to recruits would be astronomical. Not only phone calls but gas from driving all over Ohio and plane tickets all over the country. Coach Meyer put an emphasis on recruiting the likes that we have never seen before at Ohio St or the B1G. He is calling high school coaches all over the country at places where there aren’t even any kids he is recruiting just to touch base and reconnect. He has called nearly every recruit on the planet whether they are committed elsewhere or not. He managed to Flip 2 high profile recruits from other teams. He also managed to keep Bri’Onte Dunn in this years class shutting the door on TTUN and their HC who was trying their best to steal him from Meyer.

All these new recruits and keeping this class together has taken a class that wasn’t in the top 25 of recruiting classes all the way up to 6th in 3 weeks time. Scouts has OSU ranked 6th and they have a higher player ranking avg. then TTUN that everyone said couldn’t be caught for best class in 2012.

Don’t for one minute think Coach Meyer is done either he is hosting several top recruits again this weekend including the no. 4 recruit in the nation 6’4″ 245 lbs 5* DE Noah Spence from Harrisburg, PA who runs a 4.4 40 yard dash and is an instant impact player. He is extremely high on Ohio St. and many expect him to commit to Coach Meyer over the weekend visit. Ohio St. is also heavily recruiting current Wisconsin Commit 6’5″ 315 lbs OT Kyle Dodson and also 6’6″ 300 lb OT Jordan Diamond. Ohio St. is high on the list of current commit of PSU recruit 6’1″ 210 lbs LB Camren Williams and Former Notre Dame commit 6’1″ 210 lbs LB David Perkins.

I am sure there are more recruits on the watch list who should be mentioned but those are the top ones in my eyes. Ohio St. will end up with a larger class then expected due to having so many unused schollies from last year and players enrolling early in January and current players leaving the program for one reason or another. If you are a fan of recruiting then there has never been a more fun time to be a Buckeye fan then right now. So sit back and enjoy the show and hope Urbans hair really doesn’t catch on fire.