Dave Thurman (8:20 am)

Urban Meyer might be better with flips than the cook at IHOP.  A few hours after receiving a verbal from Tommy Shutt (who flipped to the Buckeyes from Penn State), the new head coach at OSU received another commitment from defensive end Se'von Pittman (flipping to Ohio State from MSU).  The 6'5", 245-pound Pittman hails from Canton McKinley and was a high school teammate of current Buckeye Steve Miller.  During a fine senior season he made 102 tackles including 20 tackles for loss and 8 sacks, forcing two fumbles and recovering one.

Pittman is rated as a top 100 national player by Rivals who has assigned him four stars.  Scout and 247 Sports also list Se'von as a four-star player, Like Adolphus Washington, Pittman is considered a weakside end and is being brought in to bring more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.  In addition to OSU and Michigan State he had received offers from Michigan, Florida, Alabama, Nebraska and others. He brings the number of verbal commitments in the class of 2012 to eighteen.

With two big commitments to begin the week, the question on everyone's mind is who's next?

Welcome home Se'von! 

Dave Thurman (8:11 pm)

Let the Urban Meyer recruiting era officially begin.  Since his hire two weeks ago, Meyer has been hard at work, and it began to pay off today when defensive tackle Tommy Schutt verbaled to the Buckeyes.  Schutt had committed to Penn State this summer, but the combination of the controversy swirling around Happy Valley, combined with the recent announcement of Meyer as the new head coach at OSU, caused him to flip to the Buckeyes. 

Schutt, who prepped at Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois,  is listed at 6'3", 285 pounds, although some say he is now up to 300.  Scout ranks him as the 5th best defensive tackle in the land, assigning him five stars.  Rivals and 247 Sports both have him as a four star player, although both list Schutt as one of the top 100 players in the nation.  

This past season Schutt registered 73 tackles including 27 tackles for loss and 14 sacks as Glenbard West finished with a 10-1 record. He also batted down 11 passes, had an interception and recovered three fumbes.

In addition to Ohio Sate and Penn State, Schutt had scholarship offers from Oregon, USC, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Duke, Boston College and others.

Combined with the recent verbal of five-star defensive end Adolphus Washington, Ohio State has bolstered what should be a deep and talented line, and Meyer may not be finished yet.  Welcome aboard Tommy Schutt!

Drew Thurman (11:21 am)

Since being announced as the Ohio State head coach on November 28th, Urban Meyer has made the Buckeyes the hottest commodity in the recruiting world. If his hiring wasn't already big enough to swing some recruits towards Columbus, he's been relentlessly contacting top tier talent from around the country. Those calls have made a big difference too, as the Buckeyes are set to host a handful of four and five star recruits the next couple of weekends.

His work over the last week and a half also shows that fans should prepare for a brand new era in recruiting. Tressel had his very own distinct style of recruiting, and Urban is quickly making a statement of what his will be during his time in Columbus. In fact, there's two big differences already to note.

First, Urban is showing he is going to pursue a lot more players and extend more offers than Tressel ever did. While Tressel was definitely a heavy hitter in the recruiting world, one of the criticisms of his style was that he got burnt at times because of not extending enough offers. The offensive line is a perfect example. The staff year in and year out singled a select few guys to pursue and on multiple occasions only brought in one lineman when things didn't go their way. More offers would have meant more yeses, even if the percentage was the same.

With Urban, fans won't be complaining about that at all. In fact, I've seen some fans questioning why Urban is pursuing so many prospects in 2012 with only possibly 6 more scholarships available in this class. Some of us are still used to the way Tressel conducted his business. This also helps keep things in perspective right now in the midst of all the craziness. Every hour or so it seems like a new recruit is jumping on the Urban bandwagon and is talking about a visit to Ohio State. Just prepare yourself that many of these players are Top 150 type guys that have other big time offers and will end up other places. I'm by no means doubting Urban Meyer or his woo, it's just a reality. That's why he's going after so many players right now. It is insurance. It's a great strategy and one that will yield a few big time players by signing day.