• Hokies emerging as, in my opinion, strong team to beat for 2014 no. 1 player Da'Shawn Hand after another great visit this weekend -Mike Farrell

Scout $ - Future Buckeye Runs Wild

• Video highlights of Zeke's opening game.
  

2014 5-Star Has Buckeyes on Top (the Ozone)

Recruiting is changing.

National Signing Day for the 2013 class is still half a year away but recruiting junkies – including Urban Meyer – are already turning their focus to the class of 2014.  

One star in the 2014 class is Raekwon McMillan, a linebacker out of Hinesville, Ga. who 247 Sports has already rated as the No. 14 prospect in the nation and a 5-star recruit for next year’s class.

He attended Ohio State’s Friday Night Lights camp last month and already has the Buckeyes high on his list. He has offers from almost every top school in the nation including Alabama, Auburn, Florida, USC, Texas and Notre Dame.

At 6-3 and 236 pounds, McMillan is already physical enough to compete at a major college program. He is busy with both recruiting and football but recently took some time to answer questions from the-Ozone.

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Ohio State offers TE-WR with a pedigree  (espn insider)

Austin Roberts (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) already has offers from Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Miami (Fla.), Northwestern, Purdue and Stanford.

On Sunday, Roberts picked up another big one when Ohio State offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-2, 195-pound tight end/wide receiver from the class of 2014.

“When I saw Ohio State for Friday Night Lights, it really gave me a great impression of how everything was,” Roberts said. “It’s amazing. These offers are gargantuan. For them to offer me, it’s extremely exciting.” 

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High school football: Elyria finishes off Amherst with a flourish (North Coast now)

ELYRIA — Maybe Elyria read all those press clippings pronouncing it a great football team before it had played even one snap of the regular season.

Perhaps the Pioneers felt all they had to do was show up to beat Amherst, a team they walloped by more than nine touchdowns a year ago.
But after getting a severe wake-up call in the first half, Elyria finally showed up and wore out the Comets in a 63-28 opening-night victory Friday at Ely Stadium.

“Defense didn’t play very well the first half,” Elyria coach Kevin Fell said. “If you look back over the game, there were a couple times where had we played our usual defense, we could have put them away.”

Amherst hit the Pioneers in the mouth right off the bat, scoring on a 52-yard pass from Eric Lamb to Kyle Kelley. While the Comets could do nothing offensively a year ago, Friday they scored on the third play from scrimmage.

“We came out slow,” said Pioneers senior Tracy Sprinkle, who had two sacks and a number of tackles. “We thought they would let us run over them. Amherst is a good team. We had to come back from a little adversity.”

“I have to give Amherst credit,” Fell said. “They were in there battling. They just ran out of gas.”

Turnovers finally swayed the game Elyria’s way. Amherst coughed it up five times — losing four — and threw one interception that senior linebacker Shawn Masterson quickly turned into a score. It was too much to make up for the gutty Comets, who won just one game last year.

“We had the lead at the half,” Amherst coach Chad DiFranco said. “Obviously, in the fourth quarter we wanted to put ourselves in a position to have a chance.

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Michael’s Sunday Recruiting Rundown (the ozone)

High school football has begun! 

This is typically a slower period for recruiting news as players gear up for the fall season. They are generally focused on Friday nights and winning football games, but that did not stop the-Ozone from trying to deliver some up-to-date recruiting information.

Tyquan Lewis (6-3, 225, DE, 2013, Tarboro, N.C.):

In last week’s Recruiting Rundown we discussed rumors Lewis could be a Buckeye around Labor Day. He was asked via text if this we true and his answer was no, but he seems pretty consistent that he will announce before October. On Weds, Aug. 22, it was rumored that he had already made a commitment, another rumor that proved to be untrue.
           
If Lewis does choose Ohio State, this would be a huge get. Nick Stevens of High School OT.com writes,  “Just how good could he be? Tarboro coach Jeff Craddock recalls listening to a conversation between Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and Lewis:

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QB Drew Barker to take unofficials  (espn insider)

There will be a big 2014 quarterback taking in the Ohio State game on Saturday as Drew Barker (Hebron, Ky./Conner) will watch the Buckeyes play Miami (Ohio) on an unofficial visit.

He will then travel to Louisville on Sunday to watch the Cardinals play Kentucky.

Barker camped at Ohio State’s Friday Night Lights on July 27 and walked away very impressed as did Ohio State coaches. 

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Cass Tech aided by Brother Rice errors in season-opening win (freep)

In the nine months since Detroit Cass Tech walked out of Ford Field holding the Division 1 state championship trophy, nothing has changed.

Cass Tech still rules the state ... and Birmingham Brother Rice still has problems kicking extra points.

Damon Webb forced a turnover that Joe Journey scooped up and turned into a 16-yard touchdown Saturday night and Rice failed to convert an extra point that helped provide Cass Tech with a 25-18 victory over defending Division 2 champ Birmingham Brother Rice before an overflow crowd at Wayne State.

This was the fourth game of the day in the Detroit Sports Commission Prep Kickoff Classic, and it began 52 minutes late. It was interrupted twice by commotions at the south end of the field.

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