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.

With just 48 hours to go in the recruiting process for the 2013 class the Buckeyes are still recruiting hard and trying to finish out the class before going balls to the wall for the 2014 class starting this upcoming weekend. I thought there is no better time to take a last look at the guys still in play for and hoping to land. The truth is no one knows how many spots OSU needs to fill except OSU. So maybe all these guys will end up Buckeyes or maybe none of them will but these are the guys with the best chance of becoming Buckeyes.

EZKEIEL ELLIOTT

Ezekiel Elliott is a 6’1″ 210 lbs RB from St. Loui, Missouri. Big Zeke has been an OSU commit since April of last year but recent rumors and a visit has had some fans worried he is considering flipping to his home state school and parents Alma Mater Missouri. While I have never been convinced he is truly looking elsewhere the rumors were out there and He and his family haven’t completely quelled them although they have given some descriptive hints that he is still 100% Buckeye. 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.

My best guess – Ezekiel will be a Buckeye no matter what the rumors say.

DONTRE WILSON

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 and will announce his decision tonight. 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.

My best guess – All signs seem to be pointing to Dontre becoming a Buckeye tonight so I will go in that direction.

VONN BELL

Vonn Bell is a 6’1″ 190 lbs Safety from Rossville, Georgia. Vonn has been an enigma to recruiting analysts being quiet and not forthcoming into how his recruiting is going and who his leader has been for most of his recruiting process. Vonn will declare his choice on NSD and will be choosing between OSU, Tennessee, and Alabama. 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.

My best guess – This one is a crap shoot and all 3 fan bases seem to think they are landing him. Most of the experts are leaning towards Tennessee as of right now. I believe Bama is out of the chase due to a numbers game. My heart is saying he will go OSU but my head says he will go to his childhood favorite team UT Vols.

JAMES CLARK

James Clark is a 5’11” 175 lbs WR from New Smyrna Beach, Florida. James is the only true WR left of the bunch that OSU is chasing and has the speed and deep threat capabilities that OSU needs. He is down to a final 3 of Ohio State, Clemson, and Florida. 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.

My best guess – Florida has 5 WRs already in this class but that doesnt seem to bother Clark. Clemson seems to be the odd man out. Ohio State has the bigger need and quicker playing time for him but I am not sure they have the room if 2 of the 3 ahead of him on this post go OSU. I think he will go Gators.

No, we’re not talking that kind of motivational speeches. We’re talking about the kind of speech that gets the brain pumping whatever chemicals are responsible for motivation and drive. We’re talking the speech that would motivate you to punch out a horse or run through a brick wall. Kind of like the speech that hit YouTube last month of Ohio State assistant coach Kerry Coombs talking to some future Buckeye recruits, including Missouri running back Ezekiel Elliot.

So the other day the sportsMonkey and I were discussing our favorite motivational speeches. What we were trying to do is figure out where Coach Coombs’ speech ranks among those. So for this Friday’s Open Thread, let’s discuss some favorite Motivational Speeches.

(This post is video heavy, so hit the jump for the rest)
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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!

SCHEDULING CONFLICTS: The talk of the past couple days has been the possibility of a ten game Big Ten schedule. As with everything about college football, this is more about money than anything else. With just two non-conference games, big name teams are not going to play Big Ten teams in Big Ten country without a return trip to their place.

“Most of us need seven home games in order to make our local budgets,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said. “Is there a way to overcome that? I don’t know. We’ll have to look at that. The conference is aware that it’s an issue.”

BEST B1G IN THE BCS ERA: Tom Dienhart of BTN ranked the best B1G Teams of the BCS Era. Ohio State shows up in six of the twelve spots, including the top 3. Hard to argue with his rankings, but I think I would still have the 2005 Buckeye team in the list, probably replacing the 2007 team at #5 (after the 2005 Penn State team). I think we’re going to revisit this topic to ultimately decide how to rank all the Ohio State teams of the BCS era.

COME TO OHIO SHTATE: College football recruiting has never interested me at the level of other Buckeye fans. Our own Sylvester Yon-Rambo has covered the majority of our recruiting content here and he loves it. But one thing’s for sure: there’s never a dull moment when Urban Meyer is involved. But this year has been stranger than others, it seems. Maybe it’s Twitter.

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK: There’s chatter that Greg Oden, in a bid to return healthy to the NBA, has the Cleveland Cavaliers on a short list of teams he’s interested in. As a Cavs fan and an Oden fan I am very much in favor of this signing. He’s a low risk, high reward signing (since he will come cheap) and the Cavs need a big man in the worst way. He said last night at the Wisconsin game that he’s planning on returning next season after rehabbing and strengthening his injury-prone knees.

ET CETERA: Oh OBC, don’t ever change… Shame, shame, Alabama players, SI knows your name… We shared this on our Facebook page last night, but don’t forget to vote for Ohio State to be the school on the cover next version of EA’s NCAA football video game.

We are a week away from National Signing Day A.K.A. Christmas for CFB coaches and fans alike. Sure some people get better presents then others but none the less this is an exciting time for all coaches and fans of the recruiting process. For Coach Meyer and OSU fans it is the WR position that is needed most in those presents. You see OSU has most everything they need in life but a few play makers are what every one knows we need and want. Today, we got one step closer with recruit no 23 in the 2013 OSU recruiting class.

The news was broke by Bill Greene of Scout on his twitter….

Corey Smith is a 6’1″ 180 lb 4 star WR from Akron, Ohio. Corey is a JUCO guy who went to East Mississippi Community College to get his grades up to get back into the NCAA. Corey is a talented WR who also excels at Safety. There is no doubt he is a play maker in every sense of the word. He isn’t a barn burner with his speed but he uses his route running abilities to make the DBs look stupid and get things done. ESPN ranks him a 4 star. Rivals ranks him a 4 star. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and the no 9 JUCO player in the country. Scout ranks him a 3 star. Below you can see some of his highlights.

The B1G Conference is highly represented in Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. The conference represents the second most players in the game with 15, ranking second behind the 17 players that came from the SEC. Out of the 15 players that came out of the B1G, four players came out of The Ohio State University, right behind the five that rep the U of Miami. Donte Whitner, Ted Ginn, Alex Boone and Larry Grant all play for the 49ers and all of them played here under Coach Tressel. Three of them (Boone, Whitner, Ginn) went to high school in Ohio, while two of them (Whitner, Ginn) went to Glenville High School. We remember them all and it would be great to see them bring home the Lombardi Trophy.

Donte Whitner: Donte Whitner left the Buffalo Bills in 2011 to sign with the 49ers in free agency. Last year Whitner launched himself into the spot light by not only quarterbacking one of the league’s best secondaries, but also his knockout hit on Pierre Thomas in last years playoffs. Whitner was elected to his first career Pro Bowl this year after finishing third on the team with 83 total tackles. Watch for Whitner and fellow safety Dashon Goldson to wreak havoc on Baltimore’s receivers,  something that the Patriots did not do last weekend.

Ted Ginn: Ted Ginn is known as a first round bust but he still has the same blazing speed and big play capability that he showed while wearing the scarlet and gray. Coach Harbaugh rarely plays Ginn at wide receiver due to his inefficient route running and the 49ers depth at wide receiver but Ginn could make a game changing play in the return game during the Super Bowl.

Alex Boone: Alex Boone still brings the same nastiness to the 49ers offensive line that he brought to Columbus a few seasons ago. After only appearing in one game his rookie season, Boone appeared in all 16 games last season and started all 16 this season at right guard. He was named second team All-NFL by Pro Football Focus and led the way for Frank Gore’s 1,214 yard season. Look for him to create running lanes for the 49ers spread option and heavy ground attack.

Larry Grant: We will not be seeing much of Larry Grant next Sunday as he is mostly a special teamer and a back up linebacker to the league’s deepest linebacking core. Although he appeared in all 16 regular season games, Grant only recorded one tackle on the season.

John Simon the IV. Lover of ladies. Eater of quarterbacks.

Since his freshman year, John Simon has been a Buckeye fan favorite. He won fans over with his drive (remember him leaving the Toledo game to get an IV in him?). He never complained, always was positive and never seemed to play dirty. He just played really, really hard and probably played above his physical abilities. Hard work and putting in the time definitely paid off for Johnny Simon

He was a freak of nature and he was a freak in the weight room. That may have been what endeared him the most to a lot of us, myself included. I still think about This Dispatch article about his workout “hobby” and that time he talked to The Lantern about how he and his dad work out on Christmas morning and even our own SYR had this anecdote about the Simon’s love for working out:

My neighbor told me when you walk in the Simon house they have a weight room in their living room, not a couch and TV.

And finally there’s the coup de grace of quotes, the highest of praise from head coach Urban Meyer:

Because nobody likes two-a-days, except maybe John Simon.

To top it all off, Simon is an Ohio guy. Actually, being from Youngstown makes him the Ohio-est kind of guy there is. Hard-working, carry your lunch pail to work Youngstown (with a slight hint of possible mafia violence) is as Ohio as it gets. And we love Simon for it. He is going to be missed but he has cemented himself as one of our favorite Buckeyes. If nothing else, he’s an automatic lock for the 2010’s version of the Buckeye Mount Rushmore.

So let’s open for discussion: What are your favorite memories of John Simon?

For me, I think I’d have to go with his performance against Wisconsin in 2011. I still maintain that he is the single biggest reason why we won that game and has the performance of a lifetime to show for it.

(Things start getting good around the 2:20 mark)

What are your favorite Simon moments?

This Ohio State team going into this week is not the same team we saw this time last week.

Week in Review

1/8/2013: Ohio State 74 – Purdue 64 (12-3, 2-1 Big Ten)

Thad Matta picked up his 100th win as the Buckeyes bounced back from the butt-whooping they endured at the hands of the Illini. Humbled and maybe a little scared, the Buckeyes played a great game against Purdue on their home court. Deshaun Thomas had 22 and Craft 15 as the Buckeyes handled their business, not looking ahead to Sunday’s match-up against the hated, despised, putrid, awful disgusting Michigan Wolverines.

Oh, and Sam Thompson did this:

1/13/2013: Ohio State 56 – Michigan 53 (13-3, 3-1 Big Ten)

We talked about this one already, but let’s just recap again: Aaron Craft’s defense dominates Trey Burke’s offense, cementing Craft’s position as the best point guard of the two, for now and forever until Burke can beat Craft. The same goes for the rest of that talented team. Thad Matta clearly has Beilein’s number. Also: Mitch McGary is making a strong play to join my “most hated” Big Ten basketball team (current Mount Rushmore: Damon Bailey, Zach Novak, Chris Webber, Calbert Cheaney).

Oh, and Sam Thompson did this:

Week in Preview

1/19/2013 @ 6 PM (ESPN) Michigan State (14-3, 3-1) vs Ohio State (5-1, 0-0)

The only game on the schedule for the Buckeyes is a doozy. They travel to East Lansing to take on the Spartans, whose only test so far in the Big Ten has been against Minnesota, which they lost 76-63. But Michigan State is always tough at home and will be ready for a currently streaking Buckeye team. Matta and his staff should have plenty of time to get the Buckeyes ready for this one.