First glance at NLOID; both in Columbus and elsewheres.
Buckeye 411
- Tress Talk– Video from today’s Signing Day wrapup, in it’s entirety. Our friends over at 11 Warriors have it broken down even better with individual athlete interviews.
- Stylin’ and Profilin’– Best dressed recruit award goes to Ron Tanner, styling the bow tie and braces.
- Injury Report- Here’s an argument against playoffs; Terrelle Pryor may be recuperating throughout the spring following his post Sugar Bowl surgery. Methinks it’s time for some Kenny G.
- Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics– In case you missed it, Ohio State has the highest winning percentage in college football since 1904. On the recruiting front, the Buckeyes signed 23 of the 30 student athletes who made official visits (76.7%). The 2011 class is ranked #7 (ESPN), #10 (Rivals), and #3/4 (Scout).
- Stylin’ and Profilin’, The Sequel– Best dressed coach award goes to rookie Stan Drayton, who was told by others on the staff that he should wear a tie. Of course, no one else did.
- Not All Fun And Games- The two stories of the day may have been the offensive linemen that Ohio State didn’t receive LOI from; Glenville’s Aundrey Walker is headed to USC (more on them later) and Cleveland’s Chris Carter (no relation) was unable to sign due to his incarceration for suspected sexual assault. In an interesting twist, though, a spokesman for Mr. Carter said that he won’t be charged (according to Ken Gordon), and there are reports that he was released without bond; that there wasn’t a strong case, and that charges may not be filed. We’ll keep you posted.
- Ah, Spring- In addition to the five 2011 Buckeyes already on campus, Akron’s Tommy Brown will be joining the team for practice leading up to the Spring Game.
- Tressel’s Komedy Klassic- We take this time to defer to one of the newest Buckeyes, Mr. Ryan Shazier
I got four good guys with me helping me stay warm. Wait. Not like that…
Elsewheres
- Just A Sprinkling Of Hoops- Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated takes Buckeye doubters to task:
Ohio State is far from perfect, but there’s no question the Buckeyes are playing better basketball than anyone could have reasonably expected to this point. They’ll stumble and lose a game or two, but it looks like they’re going to enter the NCAA tournament as the team to beat
- Oh, OK… Here’s Some More- At least someone knows who the real OSU is:
- Worked For Alonzo Stagg, So It Works For Me- Elsewheres in the B1G conference, Joe Pa did what Joe Pa does.
- There’s Uncomfortable, And Then There’s This- It’s good to see that Coach Rodriguez has landed on his feet, covering college… uh…
- Meanwhile, In Los Angeles- Sure, we’re not digging out from Snowpocalypse, but that’s not to say there aren’t issues in sunny SoCal. For instance, in the “karma” department, Southern Cal had a “lock” recruit snagged out from under them by Oregon in a “situation” that lasted much of the day.
- Off A Sinking Ship? Word today also emerged that Lane Kiffin’s stellar performance at the University of Tennessee can’t be undone by a move across country. Reports indicate that the NCAA will
… cite the University of Tennessee‘s football program with a failure to monitor a violation stemming from the short tenure of former head coach Lane Kiffin, multiple sources close to the investigation both inside and outside the university told FanHouse.
The violation is related to improper recruiting contacts by Vol coaches and by Vol hostesses in the since-disbanded Orange Pride program. What’s more, in a stunning development that reaches across the country and implicates another of the nation’s most-storied programs, the NCAA will also cite Kiffin, now at USC, with a failure to monitor charge
- Nevertheless- The Trojans continued their stellar recruiting, signing a top class of 31 student athletes. What’s that you say? You thought they had a recruiting restriction of 10 spots? Well, once you do the “early enroll” math, and realize that they had a smaller team (due to transfers last season), it all makes sense. As much sense as anything Southern Cal does, that is.
- Let The Healing Begin- So, of course, with all this stress it’s important to seek out a holistic way to find your center, and to share it with others. Mitch Mustain knows this, for realz.
S!E!C! S!E!C!
- Speaking Of USC- The “other” SC had an impressive haul today, bringing in 31 student athletes as well. Let’s do a little math, shall we? According to the great guys at Oversigning.com, they had 26 openings. Oh, and there’s that pesky “Houston Nutt Rule” limiting conference teams to signing 28 and enrolling 25… how will they get past that? Well, you let people know on LOI day that there’s not space for them, of course. Wonder who they’ll cut to bring Clowney in?
- What Sayest Thou, Nick? Saban chimes in on the greyshirting/oversigning strategy, although this juxtaposition says all that many need to know (courtesy Oversigning.com)-
- Are We Absolutely Sure- that this “problem” isn’t just due to really really poor math skills?
- To Be Fair- There are some SEC folks who see this as problem; Florida’s President (a Michigan Man) loathes greyshirting, and Georgia’s Mark Richt weighs in as well
One of the hardest things for us to do is to evaluate and nail down who you’re going to go after, especially in our own state. A lot of the out of state teams will just come in and just offer like mad. They’ll come in and just offer like candy. Quite frankly I’m not going to name names of schools, but a lot of them will do that just to get in the fight and if the kid commits too soon and they’re not sure they want, they’ll just tell them that’s not a committable offer. Whatever the heck that means? If we offer a kid in our state and he says he’s coming, we want to take him, OK? Sometimes we’re a little bit slower to offer maybe than some out of state schools. Sometimes that might hurt a kid’s feelings. Sometimes that might hurt a coach’s feelings. That’s not our intention. Our intention is to have integrity when we offer a kid and be able to follow through.
- Say What You Will About Kirk Ferentz- the annual “Big Ten coach of the year” understands the conference’s philosophy regarding this issue.
- Since You Put It That Way- When there’s stuff going on like the Floyd Raven situation, making sure you’ve got a full class makes a ton of sense.
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