Southward says goodbye Golden, hello UrbanThe loss of Dwayne Stanford to Oregon didn't linger too long. Just a short time ago we were able to confirm that Lakeland (FL) WR Ricquan Southward made the switch from his Miami (FL) verbal commitment and gave the OSU staff his verbal pledge.
Southward, a 4-star recruit in the class of 2012, had been committed to the Hurricanes for a while, but with the NCAA looming and Urban Meyer on the way to Columbus, the south Florida stand out decided he wanted to don the Scarlet and Gray for the forthcoming years.
An official visit the weekend of the Penn State game seemed to seal the deal for the wide receiver, who is listed at 6-2/185. He was recruited primarily by Stan Drayton, who is expected to remain on Meyer's staff next season. In addition to OSU and Miami, Southward had interest from Ole Miss, USF, Florida State, Mississippi State, Maryland, Florida, Texas Tech, Georgia, and others.
The commitment of Southward may be the first sign of the Meyer effort. Have to tip your cap to Drayton and the rest of the staff for closing this one out, but it appears the news of Meyer emerging as head coach of OSU may have definitely helped out here. Southward becomes the 16th member of the class of 2012 and the fourth wide receiver, joining Mike Thomas, Frank Epitropolous, and Roger Lewis.
Comments
Hell yeah, good decision Mr. Ricquan.
Did you know: Ricquan can't legally get hit on RICO charges? Double jeopardy.
Awesome!!
A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF YOUR RECRUITS ARE BELONG TO US
Taquitos.
Literally just laughed out loud.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
what movie is that from ? ("...are belong to us...") .... sound familiar - thanks
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Its an internet meme stemming from a poorly translated japanese video game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us
Time and change will surely show how firm they friendship... O-HI-O.
Damn, good shit!
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
Did Hoke go after him? He seems to be recruiting every junior and senior in high school from all 50 states.
Last updated on 11/27/11 at 6:00 AM ET:
2012 Team Rankings
#19 Ohio State
Five-starCommits - 0
Four-starCommits - 6
Three-starCommits - 8
scUM is #4
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/teamrank/2012/all/all
Michigan is ranked well ahead of us for the moment, but they're at their capacity for commits. They've got about 22 already, so they've gotta be at or near limit. We've got several slots left to fill, even with sanctions. And no doubt, need to go after some quality linemen.
"Woody would have wanted it that way"
yeah, someone smarter than me please explain. i'm guessing we get docked some more schollies by the ncaa. lets say with their additional numbers we get dinged 5 per year for a few years. what does that really mean? literally 5 each year, or 15 total less over a 3 year period? i'm all for fast offensive guys, but if we're gonna lose sig numbers we need LOADS OF HELP in depth and talent on the o line. now.
sfgoods
It's five total, over a three year span. Not 15, and if the NCAA adds to the five Ohio State is self-punishing itself with I doubt they'd triple the amount.
ok, thanks. the each year, or total part was what confused me. i know we just docked ourselves 5. i could see the ncaa adding an additional 10 (over 3 years), punitive mafioso types that they are, but i will stay in your camp and hope for much less, if nothing additional at all.
sfgoods
Lets remember that Smurf State received a LOIC and got a schoolie reduction of 9 over 5 years. I doubt tOSU will get much more than they self assessed.
On the wall guarding the North Coast from all Weasel invasions.
I'm glad to see us poaching recruits from other teams, but we need offensive linemen a heck of a lot more than a 4th wide receiver. Who is recruiting the big uglies?
Real fans stay for Carmen.
Right on there. Any chance Meyer can get Kalis to jump back?
do we really want him though? I understand the need at OL, but do we really want him?
-The Aristocrats!
Seriosuly? He is probably the second best player in Ohio.
We want him. He's just disillusioned and confused.
Hopefully both Kyle's see the (Urban) light: Kalis & Dodson, Inc.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
Dodson is the one who committed to Wisconsin right? Isn't he a bigger get than Kalis?
Kalis was the bigger get. And unfortunately I feel like prying an O-lineman away from the O-line factory that is Wisconsin will be much harder than prying Kalis away (which will be a hard task in and of itself) from scUM.
Time and change will surely show how firm they friendship... O-HI-O.
I just thought people were more upset about losing Dodson than Kalis going to Michigan. Like the ceiling was much higher for Dodson was the consensus. Either way if one can change their mind it would be great, if both would it'd be awesome.
Kalis is a guard at best at the next level.
In my mind, yes. Higher ceiling.
Could also use a few stud LB's.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
Boom.
Southward has not been on our radar as far as I know. What I wonder is whether he's a kid who has been known to Meyer, and vice versa. The first Urban Meyer recruit?
We are not at our limit, although the exact number isn't certain yet.
(Sorry this was supposed to be a reply under toledobuckeyefanjim above.)
It's a Lakeland Kid, Pouncy bros and Chris Rainey's alma mater - this is for sure a Meyer recruit.
Lakeland is about 45 mins east of tampa on I-4. Its a football factory. This is a huge get. Urban is going to bring alot more florida kids stay tuned.
Great start for Meyer! Lakeland is always a strong program and if OSU can snag it as a pipeline it would represent a bigger impact in the recruiting game then I think we could have hoped for. Imagine some of the players coming out of there (Pounceys, Demps, Ahmad Black, etc.) coming up here instead of going to UF
Armwood would be another school to grab some talent from down in this area. Urban is going to take Ohio state to the next level if he can lock up Ohio and bring some talent from florida, and its not like the cupboard was empty. Pumped for the future.
I would be all for this...OSU could really use a Glenville South
SOMEBODY is butt-hurt :
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AuZWSCDSswkxW_Peatn15cMc...
Pat Forde is an unconscionable douche.
Urban's coming to Ohio State... that now makes him the top target for sports writers looking to criticize someone.
Oh, no doubt, but Forde is particularly douchy - even amongst the national sports media.
Well thats 30 mnutes of my life I'll never get back...(10 minutes reading it and 20 minutes to take a shower to get the stink off).
...never did like that guy.
Buckeye born and bred. Buckeye til I'm dead.
Only guys from the south are athletic with speed according to that douche. I think the good ole boys in SEC cuntry are getting nervous.
Thank God people like Pat are around to judge others on their life / career decisions.
I was just thinking the SAME EXACT thing. Who is he to know what is really going on in Urban's head? If Jim Tressel never gets fired or stays 5 more years at OSU and retires I see Urban staying retired as long as Chip Kelly and Jim Tressel stay at Notre Dame and Ohio State respectively. The clause in his contract at Florida allowed him to opt out if the job at Ohio State or Notre Dame ever opened up. Through some wicked turn of events the Ohio State job was up for grabs and Urban wasn't about to let it slip past him.
I can't say that I'm aware of the details of Meyer's Florida contract. But it was his contract with Utah that had opt-outs for three schools; Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan.
http://m.clickorlando.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=325&nid=3493035106&cid=1...
starting to fill in the gaps. Reason for the delayed announcement?
Hard to imagine that Meyer would demand Gene Smith out immediately but if he did I want Urban Meyer that much more! Smith is terrible and really needs to go
Agree. Meyer's a good judge of talent if he wants Gene Smith gone. And if we lose out on a star like Meyer because we insist on keeping that boob Smith around, that would be the worst decision in the history of OSU athletics.
Interesting. Who are the AD candidates if Smith is gone?
Jim Tressell....
I would support that 1,000%.
In time, he may be the perfect AD -- but Tatgate is way too recent for that to have any chance of coming to fruition. The NCAA probably would view that as worse a "F-U" than U$C hiring Kiffykins as HC after Carroll went to Seattle.