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Dave Thurman (4:14 pm)

It is raining Buckeye commitments, and the flood continued today when Camren Williams verbally pledged to Ohio State.  In fact, Williams was so excited that he sent out the following tweet.  In a week of big commitments, Williams may wind up being the biggest yet.  Not only is he an excellent athlete and football player, but when Drew interviewed him at the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in Phoenix, he told me that Williams was most impressive - a young man who spoke with poise, focus, intelligence and humility. 

The 6-foot-2 and 215-pound Williams prepped at Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, Mass., and registered 119 tackles with two interceptions playing middle linebacker during his senior season. Williams is rated as a 4-star prospect by Scout, Rivals, and 247 Sports.  He is considered to be an outside linebacker at the next level. 

Buckeye fans are hopeful that Williams' high school teammate, Armani Reeves, a 4-star cornerback, will follow suit, and it is certainly possible, as he supposedly came away from his Ohio State visit impressed.  In the meanwhile we take time to celebrate commitment number 23 in the class of 2012.  Team Urban is on a major league roll, and Buckeye Nation glady welcomes Camren Williams!

You can view Williams' highlight flim after the jump.
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Dave Thurman (8:47 am)

Almost lost in the Urban Meyer recruiting onslaught is the fact that Ohio State once again has a nationally ranked basketball team that has a legitimate shot at a Final Four run.  Standing at 16-3 (4-2 in the  B1G), and ranked sixth in the nation, the Buckeyes have stumbled over a couple of speed bumps, but also had some very impressive outings.  One third of the way through their conference schedule, it seems like a good time to analyze their strengths and weaknesses and take a stab at how they will finish.

Quick Recap:

Some may be concerned with the fact that Ohio State has already lost as many conference games as they did last year, when they finished 16-2 in the B1G.  However, don't count me in that crowd.  For one thing, the B1G is really tough from top to bottom this year, and nobody is going to waltz their way to an overly impressive record.  Every road game is a war, and even the top teams can't take a night off when they enter an opponent's gymnasium.  In addition, I look at the two OSU losses, and can't be too critical.  Sure, the team had a great chance to win both games, and didn't make the plays down the stretch as they needed.  But they were defeated by teams that played incredible basketball.  Indiana is a bear at Assembly Hall, possibly the toughest venue in the country.  Their home court is worth about 15-20 points to the Hoosiers this year.  And as for Illinois, they rode the hot hand of Brandon Paul who simply was in the zone on the night the Buckeyes came to town.  I'm not sure anyone could have shut him down that game, and sometimes those things happen.  Hats off to both teams, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over either contest. 

On a positive note, Ohio State has played very well at home, as demonstrated by their impressive dismantling of Duke back in late November, 85-63.  Outside of Florida nobody has given the Buckeye hoopsters much of a challenge at the Schott. That is important, because if this team can hold serve at home, and pull out some road wins at places like Nebraska, Minnesota, and Northwestern, they will have a chance to win the conference again.  Personally, I think they have the potential to win every game from here on out.  Trips to Madison, Ann Arbor, and East Lansing will all be tough, but each is winnable.  More on that in a minute.
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Drew Thurman (5:17 pm)

Just moments ago Cameron Burrows announced his decision to commit to the Buckeyes at Trotwood-Madison High School, making him the first player to jump on board in the 2013 class. He chose the Buckeyes over Michigan, Alabama, LSU, Wisconsin and Tennessee.

Burrows is a 6-2 195 pound cornerback, and possesses the rare combination of size, speed, and physicality at the position. He is highly regarded as well, being ranked as one of the best two or three players in the state next season by almost everyone. Rivals ranks him as a five star prospect, while Scout and 247Sports rank him at a four star, but all three view him as a Top 100 type player. Burrows will also be playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl next January.

Burrows said during his announcement presser that "Urban Meyer is everything you'd want in a coach." Further proof of how quickly Meyer has built relationships and made impressions. This is also big because there were rumors of tension between Jim Tressel and Maurice Douglass (head coach of Trotwood-Madison). The Buckeyes under Tressel showed very little love to their program and overlooked several of their players in past years. This will no longer be the case. Urban Meyer has already worked hard to build a strong relationship with Trotwood-Madison, and it very clear he sees the major talent emerging from the school in recent years. 

Make no mistake about it, this is a huge commitment moving forward. Not only is Burrows a big-time player at a position of need, but being ranked as of the best players in Ohio, is an important get for Meyer and company. They plan to once again lock down the best players in the state and leave other programs fighting for the second tier guys. With Jalin Marshall announcing at the end of this month and rumors of the Buckeyes being the favorite, that statement may just get louder. You can check out Burrow's junior highlights after the break.
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Michael Chung (8:31 am)

“Well we moving on up, to the top.”

Excerpt from theme song of 70’s and 80’s sitcom, "The Jeffersons"

It was November 20, 2011.  Ohio State had been marred in a recruiting "crisis of confidence."  The once prominent B1G team, who had a fence around Ohio was lacking in star power from their home state as well as nationally.  Bill Kurelic believed Ohio State was not in the top 20.  

But things have changed and have changed in a hurry.  The number one player in the state of Ohio, Adolphus Washington, committed to play for Ohio State and mentioned he would like to play for Urban Meyer, whose hiring happened a week later.  

What has happened in less than two months?  Ohio State has been “moving on up, to the top.”  Scout.com currently lists Ohio State at #4 behind Alabama, Texas and Michigan.  Look for Ohio State to move up to at least #3 in Scout within the next two weeks and maybe #2.  247.sports also have Ohio State at #4 behind the same three teams.  Again, look for Ohio State to move into the top 3 within the next two weeks. 

ESPN has Ohio State the lowest of any list I have surveyed.  Currently, Ohio State is at #11 and many of their recruiting experts felt it would be difficult for OSU to crack their top 10 so there was an existing bias in their reporting.  They also only list 19 commits as of January 17, 2012 so they have not factored in Taylor Decker, Joey O’Connor and David Perkins' commitment. (Editor's note: So much for ESPiN being the Worldwide Leader in Sports!)
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Perkins picked OSU over Cal and Illinois.
The hits just keep on coming. The Buckeyes have received even more momentum from their big recruiting weekend, as David Perkins committed, becoming the 22nd member of the class of 2012. This is the third commitment in four days.

The 6-2 210 pound linebacker (who some report is now up to 230) hails from South Bend, Indiana (Washington), and was originally committed to Notre Dame, but after opening up his recruiting again was considering Ohio State, Oregon, Illinois, and California.  He comes to Columbus as a linebacker, and the young man nicknamed "Boom" totaled 103 tackles including 24 stops for loss and seven sacks. He also forced eight fumbles, recovered five and intercepted two passes.  Perkins was equally impressive on the other side of the ball as a running back where he rushed for 1311 yards and 15 touchdowns, and also caught another 19 passes for 275 yards and 3 scores.

As for rankings, Scout has him as a 4-star, and the 22nd best OLB in the nation, 247 Sports says he is the number 16 outside linebacker and number 177 prospect overall, and Rivals has him as the 11th best OLB in America and the second best prospect in the state of Indiana.  In a position of limited depth, Perkins should have the chance to play immediately. 

You can locate Perkins' highlights after the jump...
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Offensive line commits from 2002-2010 (Via Rivals)
Ken Kohl (5:27 pm)

[Ed. Note] This is the second part of Ken's inside look at Jim Bollman and the offensive line issues at Ohio State. The first part can be read here.

“It was the best of lines, it was the worst of lines..”
- my sincerest apologies to Charles Dickens. 

In this case, the two cities are not London nor Paris, but Columbus and Iowa City. This is a follow up, as suggested by reader TexasBuckeye comparing the development of offensive linemen at Ohio State and the University of Iowa. I’d like to acknowledge data for the “inputs” from Rivals.com and for the “outputs” from The Football Cube. These were the sources for college recruit rankings and NFL draft rounds.

For the college recruiting years of 2002 - 2010, Ohio State recruited 22 linemen while Iowa recruited 24 linemen. Obviously, the schools had additional linemen on their rosters (walk-ons) but these numbers represent the higher profile recruits. You know, where coaches actually identify a need. Above is a table that shows the Rivals ranking and number of recruits for each school during this period. As expected, Ohio State has been bringing in higher quality linemen, according to Rivals. 

What did the NFL think of all this?  For the NFL portion, I used the drafts of 2007-2011 since they closely aligned with the 2002 - 2010 recruiting classes. OSU had 4 draftees and they averaged being drafted in the “4th and a half round”. Iowa’s five draftees averaged being drafted in the 4th round, so they fared slightly better
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O'Connor picked OSU over Cal and Iowa.
Less than 48 hours after receiving an offer from the Buckeyes during his official visit, offensive lineman Joey O'Connor has committed.

The 6-4 290 pound product from Windsor, Colorado, had originally committed to Penn State, but decided to part ways with the Nittany Lions after the scandal broke. In recent weeks he had narrowed his list to Cal, Iowa and Ohio State, and despite not having an offer, made the trip to Columbus for a visit. He received the offer he was looking for, and has become an important piece to the 2012 recruiting class.

He is the fourth offensive lineman in the class joining Taylor Decker, Jacoby Boren, and Pat Elflein. He is slotted to play guard or possibly center for the Buckeyes, and helps provide quality depth at a spot of desperate need. Meyer and the staff will still be looking to add one more tackle, likely either Jordan Diamond or Kyle Dodson in the coming weeks.

You can find O'Connor's highlights after the jump...
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Michael Chung (1:53 pm)

Ohio State has two brand new coordinators for offense and defense.  From the looks of their resumes, they are two top-notch coaches.  Both have had a lot of success and Buckeye nation is hoping that their expertise will contribute to a National Championship.  

I recently sat down with someone who knows and has worked with both of them.  Anthony Ceder was a graduate assistant at the University of Texas during the time that both Everett Withers and Tom Herman were on the staff.  Withers was the defensive backs coach and Tom Herman was also a graduate assistant.  A third person perspective could prove very enlightening about two of the new coaches for the Buckeyes.

Everett Withers:

Q: I am not going to ask 20 questions, flat out, what kind of coach is Ohio State getting?

AC:  They are getting a tremendous coach.  Withers is an ace recruiter, very bright. He's a great teacher of fundamentals.

Q: What are his strengths?

AC: To sum up Everett’s strengths, he is incredibly bright, very organized and detailed, tough yet inspiring.  Professionally, a secondary coach is one of the hardest jobs on a staff.  Passing schemes and new offenses are making it very hard on secondary coaches because they must adjust to it all.  With all the innovative offenses and passing schemes, one better have a coach who has mastered the details of how to be a defensive back and Everett has.  

Everett goes out of his way to make sure his players are prepared.  He was known to have extra 6am meetings with his players above and beyond the normal team meetings.  He is highly professional and a master of the defensive back position.  He knows technique inside and out and has the ability to teach it to others.

Q: You mentioned he was inspiring; can you give me an example?

AC: I believe it was after the Red River Rivalry of 2000 when we lost to Oklahoma 63-14.  Everyone was down in the dumps, including myself.  Not only had we lost to one of our biggest rivals, our secondary was decimated. Josh Heupel must have thrown 5 or more TD passes and we came into the locker room as dejected as we could be. Everett walked in the room to talk to his secondary. Everett told us that football is an unforgiving game and that we have to turn it around. The only way to make sure football does not destroy us is through toughness and resilience in the midst of challenge.  He asked us who was scared today and some raised their hands.  He apologized for putting them in a tough position as some were true freshman and told them he should not have played them. He was able to comfort our fragile confidence and inspire us to overcome our horrid situation.  I believe that year; we went on to win 7-8 straight games.
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Decker's new look. (H/T Alex from 11W)
Drew Thurman (7:10 am)

It seems you can't click the refresh button quick enough these days, as Buckeye football news is just pouring in. Again yesterday, we got major news pertaining to what this team will look like in 2012 and beyond, both good and bad. Buckeye Nation not only can welcome some new faces, but also has to say it's goodbyes to several players and coaches. Let's take a look at the additions and the unfortunate attrition.

Addition - Taylor Decker

There arguably isn't a bigger need left in the 2012 recruiting class than offensive tackle. That void got smaller as Vandalia Butler offensive tackle Taylor Decker committed to Buckeyes yesterday.

Decker originally committed to Notre Dame back in March, and seemed to have little interest in Ohio State in the midst of all of the turmoil. Meyer's hiring in November seemed to peak Decker's interest and at least made him evaluate his options again. Then when Notre Dame coaches Tim Hinton and Ed Warriner joined Meyer's staff, Decker's public shock made most believe the switch was imminent. His visit this weekend sealed the deal.

Decker is the 20th member of the 2012 class and the third offensive lineman with Jacoby Boren and Pat Elflein. He's listed at 6-8 315 pounds, and is ranked as a four star prospect by all the major recruiting services. Between Kyle Dodson, Jordan Diamond, and Joey O'Connor the staff will be looking to add at least one more offensive lineman in this class. O'Connor was the only one of the three without an offer, but he finally got that offer extended this weekend on his visit to Columbus.

Attrition - Jeremy Cash, Dominic Clarke, and Derjuan Gambrell

The Buckeyes have lost a lot of depth in the defensive backfield in the last 48 hours. First news was released that safety Jeremy Cash is seeking a transfer. Cash played in five games last year as a freshman, and it appeared he had a bright future. While no reason has been given as to his motivation to transfer, the combination of a new coaching staff and the entire defensive backfield returning next season would seem to be likely explanations. No schools have been named as his possible destination. 
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Revenge. The Buckeyes host the Hoosiers (15-2, 3-2) hoping to repay the loss they were dealt on New Year's Eve, 74-70, at Assembly Hall. They will also be looking to rebound from a 79-74 loss at Illinois.

The game tips at 4:30 PM ET on ESPN, but the LiveBlog will get going at 4. Joining us will be Men of the Scarlet and Gray, Our Honor Defend, The Buckeye Battle Cry, Buckeye House Call, the Buckeye Blog, Scarlet and Game, and Fox Sports Ohio. LiveBlog after the break!
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