• Dareian Watkins names Illinois his leader
• Jamarco Jones offered by Nebraska
• Ole Miss offered Clifton Garrett
• West Virginia offered Jonathan Hilliman

Scout $ - Gibson Gives The Latest '13 OH WR Shelton Gibson

• By The Bank....Says Ohio State is still his #1, but admits he's not focused on recruiting right now. Plans on taking all five officials & deciding near National Signing Day.

BN $ - Buckeyes Impress Stud Receiver '14 AZ TE/WR Mark Andrews

• By BK...watched some of the OSU game and keeps in touch with Coach Herman...OSU likes him at WR.

Rivals $ - Davis seeing early interest '14 OH LB Jamal Davis

• Hearing from Ohio State, Akron, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan...grew up with and looks up to Se'von Pittman...talks about his teams outlook for 2012.

24/7 $ - Notre Dame Offers Hurd '14 TN ATH Jalen Hurd

• Still wide open to everyone but top three of Alabama, Ohio State and Vanderbilt...has a trip planned for The Game in Columbus. Beast

Another Haden Ready to Play for Meyer? (The Ozone) jonathan haden

The Haden name is no stranger to the college or pro football world.

Oldest brother Joe Haden was a star corner for Urban Meyer at Florida, where he helped the Gators to a BCS National Championship in 2008. Haden had 10 tackles and three pass breakups in the Gators' 24–14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners and was eventually named National Defensive Player of the Year by the Sporting News.

Today, Haden is a starter with the Cleveland Browns, who selected him No. 7 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Now there is another Haden on the national radar.

Jonathan, the youngest of five, already had five scholarship offers before his freshman year of high school. With a long lineage of football players, coaches know that the Haden name carries with it excellence in football.

He is a running back at Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington D.C. and believes that is the position he will play at the next level. Possibly at Ohio State.

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Glenville Junior Lineman Impresses (scout) Marcelys Jones

One of the key factors in the Cleveland Glenville 40-17 win over Solon was the play of the massive offensive line. Junior tackle Marcelys Jones played at a high level for the Tarblooders.
Over the course of four quarters last Friday, the Cleveland Glenville offensive line managed to wear down the smaller Solon team, as the Tarblooders won 40-17 in Ohio high school action.

Junior offensive tackle Marcelys Jones was one of the keys to the win, as the 6-foot-4, 325-pounder helped control the line play for Glenville.

"I think I played really well tonight, especially my run blocking," Jones stated. "I tried to be the attacker and get into my man right off the snap of the ball. I tried to lock him up right away and not let him get off my block."

"Our whole line played great, and we needed this win really bad after losing last week," he added. "I need to keep listening to my coaches and learning what they expect from me. I also need to get in better shape, and I'd like to lose some weight, so I can go both ways. I'd love to play defensive tackle, because I love hitting quarterbacks and runningbacks." 

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The exciting, daunting world of top recruits (Lima Ohio) Darius West

Athletes gifted enough to have college football talent are rare, and they are prized to say the least.

The world of recruiting, especially at the highest level, has spiraled wildly from its days as a fun, quiet chore to a massive entity. From college coaches to the players to the chat rooms and the media, the subject of college football recruiting could fill up volumes of books, depending on how much a writer wanted to delve into the process.

We in the Lima News sports department, ahem, don’t have that much time.

However, this article takes a look at three local athletes at different stages of the recruiting process. LCC junior Darius West jumped in head-first to the process this summer while Elida senior Quentin Poling choose to continue his career at Ohio University. Meanwhile, Waynesfield-Goshen standout Joe Horn has gone through all stages of the process — from high school through college and into the pros.

Today, we look at each one’s respective paths through football recruiting.

Darius West, LCC junior

It is 79 miles from Lima Stadium to Ohio Stadium in Columbus. One hundred and 29 miles to Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. and 139 miles to Michigan State in East Lansing.

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Joey Duckworth will take unofficial to OSU  (espn insider)

Ohio State has clout, especially when it comes to drawing big name quarterbacks for unofficial visits.

Joey Duckworth (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) will make his way to Columbus this weekend to watch Ohio State play the University of Central Florida in a noon kickoff.

“It’s Ohio State, I’m expecting a fun game and a great atmosphere,” Duckworth said. “I’ve been there before when I was little, but never like this. I’m sure it will be fun.” 

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2014 Florida Speedster Likes Meyer, Buckeyes (The Ozone) Johnnie Dixon

Standing 5-11 and 175 pounds, wide receiver Johnnie Dixon is one of the most sought after recruit in the Sunshine State for the class of 2014.

A product of Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Garden, Fla., Dixon already holds offers from a number of top schools around the country, including Alabama, Miami, Florida and Florida State. He is the 9th-ranked player in the state of Florida for the 2014 class and No. 97 nationally according to MaxPreps.com.

Despite his gaudy list of offers, Dixon is still a little bit under the radar as far as recruiting hype goes for the current junior class. That could change in a hurry, especially if his reported 4.39 40 time is accurate.

Dixon already holds an offer from Ohio State, and the-Ozone’s Michael Chung recently caught up with him to find out where the Buckeyes stand with this speedster from Urban Meyer’s old stomping grounds. 

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