• Kalvarez Bessent rated 90 (4*) by 247Sports
• Nick Chubb rated 90 (4*) by 247Sports
• Missouri offers Jacob McCrary
• OL Dylan Wiesman will OV Ohio State on Jan. 11th
• Jeb Blazevich ‏@JebBlazevich Great talk with Coach Meyer got so much respect for that man
• According to Edwin Freeman's coach his early top 5 is Ohio State, USC, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma
• Damon Webb will visit Ohio State in January
• Mike Farrell ‏@rivalsmike Hearing #Sooners and #oregon are biggest threats to #OhioState for Mike Mitchell but #buckeyes feel good

BN$--OSU Trending Up With 4-Star Stevens '13 FL WR Tony Stevens

• Coach Chip Gierke thinks FSU and Texas A&M are Tony's leaders but he is pretty sure a visit to tOSU will happen in January. 

Scout $ - Fogle with a strong finish '13 KY ATH Cameron Fogle

• Waiting on his first offer...has preferred walk-on offers from OSU and Ball State.

Scout$--Sanders Makes the Call '13 JUCO LB Tommy Sanders

• Texas A&M. Good luck Tommy.

Rivals$--Brown sets top 8, talks Clemson '14 GA OL Orlando Brown Jr

• Orlando says he wants to get to 325 and will attend the UA Combine.

Scout $ - Junior DE Talks Clemson Offer '14 NC DE Kentavius Street

• From Clemson site....Claims offers from Duke, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Ohio State, East Carolina, Maryland & North Carolina. Says Clemson & Virginia Tech are on top right now.

Scout Video $ - Conley Interview

Part I
Part II

• Talks about how he has progressed since his Junior year and his love for football. Said Ohio State felt like home on his visits and once again refers to himself as an Ohio boy. Raves about Coach Meyer & Coach Vrabel and said he committed to Urban before the 12-0 celebration. 100% Buckeye and won't be taking any other visits. Talks about his expectations for the UA Game, where he will be playing Corner. Doesn't have a preference where he plays at OSU & will report in the summer.

Meyer laments missing practices (ESPN)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The bowl experience will be missed, no question.

And obviously not having had the chance to compete for a national title will sting when that game finally rolls around and Ohio State is watching it play out on television.

But Urban Meyer had plenty of time to come to terms with the postseason ban and what it meant for the Buckeyes in his first year leading the program, and he didn't waste any time or energy worrying about that on the way to an undefeated record.

In the back of his mind all along, though, was something Meyer seemed to have a much harder time accepting. For somebody so accustomed to an annual bowl routine that includes 15 practices that can be quite beneficial for developing younger players, missing that launching pad for another potential run at perfection didn't go down quite as smoothly.

"Terrible," Meyer said two days after polishing off the year with a win over rival Michigan. "That's a major concern. Concern No. 1 is recruiting. Concern No. 2 is the fundamental development of our players that takes place during bowl weeks. We won't have them."

That loss wasn't a surprise for the Buckeyes, of course, so Meyer had already been planning well before it arrived for a quieter month of December for his coaching staff in terms of hands-on work with the roster.

The typical offseason program of strength and conditioning started right away, with players who didn't contribute in the win over the Wolverines reporting for their first workout roughly 38 hours after the celebration at Ohio Stadium ended. And while the work in the weight room doesn't figure to have changed much due to Ohio State's circumstances, while the rest of the bowl-eligible teams were doing football-specific drills in advance of their final game of the season, Meyer was counting on his guys to do the same types of activities without his instruction to help set the table for spring practice and beyond.

"We'll lose all that for the bowl practices, we'll lose them," Meyer said in November. "Fifteen, minimum of 15 practices, that's not right. That's hard for us to recoup that. But you can't just say those are gone. Somehow you've got to recoup them.

"See? It's so hard, the coaching staff is not allowed to throw with these guys until spring practice. So it all falls on the players."

The throwing, in particular, had most of Meyer's attention as he started transitioning from his successful debut season into planning for an encore.

The Buckeyes were dramatically more dangerous on offense with Meyer, averaging nearly 13 more points and throwing for 54 more yards per game in Braxton Miller's second season at quarterback. But they still finished just No. 101 in the country in passing offense, and there seems to be little doubt about what Meyer would have preferred doing this month when the coaching staff wasn't out on the road.

"That was probably the most unprepared group I've ever been around, as far as to throw the ball from here to there and to know how to get there to catch it. It was awful," Meyer said. "Those areas have improved, but we're still not very good at that.

"Pass game, I'd grade a C to C-minus. I guess that's up a little bit from what it was the year before, but still nowhere near what we want. Not even in the same hemisphere as far as what's expected, so that has to change -- and change fast."

For the first time since starting his head coaching career at Bowling Green, those improvements around the bowl season have to be done without him around to lend a hand. And Meyer is clearly not planning to have to deal with this problem again.

Varsity football: Eastern star Woodard graduates early, headed to Ohio State (Courier Post Online)

The senior trip is no longer on his agenda.

Putting on a tuxedo for the senior prom and wearing a cap and gown on graduation day in June? Well, that’s still up for discussion.

But for Eli Woodard, life as an Eastern High School student-athlete has officially come to an end.

“I graduated this morning,” Woodard said Tuesday afternoon. “I guess you can say I’m an alum.”

Woodard, an All-South Jersey defensive back, will begin taking classes at Ohio State on Jan. 7 — just a few days after playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. He received a full scholarship to play Big Ten Conference football for the Buckeyes and coach Urban Meyer.

Robert Thompson, a wide receiver/defensive back from St. Joseph who was injured a good part of this past season, also will graduate early. The Gloucester Township resident is headed to Old Dominion.

Woodard said several players at Ohio State did the same thing at this time last year and it paid big dividends. After getting all the necessary information, he took summer classes to accelerate the process. He only needed to take two gym classes prior to the holiday break to clear the final hurdle.

cont...

Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 12/19 (Land Grant Holy Land)

After looking like Sander's decision was down to South Carolina or Ohio State, he surprised everyone by committing to Texas A&M (Except Me)

Offers and visits and calls, oh my! Recruiting season might technically be in a "dead period" but for Ohio State, they don't have to do much to get a recruit's attention. Coach Meyer and company work around the clock to bring the greatest athletes to the 'Shoe.

The recruiting battles are a constant fight throughout the season and the offseason periods. Anything can happen at any point in time. News hit late last night that the number one JUCO linebacker in the country, Tommy Sanders, had committed to Texas A&M. This decision was met with a little bit of shock from recruiting gurus as the fight for Sanders' services seemed to have come down to Ohio State and South Carolina. In fact, Sanders was supposed to announce at his school on Wednesday, but word leaked out that the Aggies had nabbed one of the better defensive prospects in the class of 2013.

That puts the Aggies at an eye-popping 34 commitments in the class of 2013. Oversigning, indeed. There's no need to worry for Ohio State, though. 2013 linebackers Mike Mitchell and Trey Johnson still are the big uncommitted prospects that Coach Meyer and his staff would love to have. Here's more official word on Sanders':

According to Tommy Sanders' father, it's official, his son will sign with Texas A&M tomorrow. They just spoke to Coach Wallerstedt.

— Taylor Hamm (@TaylorHamm247) December 19, 2012

2014 wide receiver Lonnie Johnson was expected to announce on Friday after telling the media he would do so. Widely expected to be the Buckeyes' first commit of the '14 class, Johnson has postponed his announcement until after his teammates from the class of 2013 decide where they want to go. In my opinion, this shows a little bit of class the fact that he doesn't want to hog any of the spotlight from the rest of his teammates, but you can make your own judgement:

After talking with my coaches I have decided to wait till my 2013 team mates have made there decision it would not be fair for me .

— _Im dream chasing(@lonniejohnson20) December 18, 2012

According to Camden HC Jeff Herron, 2014 DB Kalvarez Bessent has been offered by #OhioState and #OleMiss

— Jake Rowe (@JakeRoweRivals) December 18, 2012

As you can see above, 2014 defensive back Kalvarez Bessent was offered by Ohio State yesterday. The Buckeyes weren't quite done in that category as they also gave an offer out to '14 RB Chris Williams. The coaching staff loves to have plenty of defensive backs in their pocket just in case a situation would arise where they need the extra depth. Both athletes are extremely talented, though, and are prospects that can only excite Coach Meyer.

Finally, '14 wide receiver Demarre Kitt is planning to visit Ohio State on February 10th, only a couple days before National Signing Day for the class of 2013. If you're wondering what kind of interest Kitt has in the Buckeyes, he's already showing quite a bit of excitement for his visit that's nearly two months away. See for yourself:

Can't wait to visit #ohiostate #Buckeyes

— Demarre Kitt (@D_ocho) December 19, 2012