Jeb Blazevich Junior Highlights

Newly Offered: James Clark

Newly Offered: Drake Harris (Football & Basketball Highlights)

Newly Offered: Kyrin Priester

• Stanford offers Quincy Wilson & Jalen Hurd
• Larry Fedora from North Carolina visits Dante Sawyer
• Mike Sanford from Stanford visits Todd Kelly
• Mark Hagen from Indiana visits Nile Sykes
• Notre Dame offers Edwin Freeman
• @core6athletes #OhioState Tight Ends coach going to see 2014 TE prospect Ian bunting. 2014 LB Vontae Diggs @VDiggs5 may get a visit from Coach Vrabel. 
• @Derek11W A note I received last night. 2014 WR Lonnie Johnson will be visiting #OhioState the weekend of February 2nd.
• @LukeStampini Ohio State to visit New Smyrna Beach (Fla.) WR James Clark shortly 
• Lakota East LB Jake Chestnut commits to Notre Dame College, will no longer walk-on to Ohio State
• @Miles11W JuCo WR Corey Smith has NOT committed to Ohio State. @BillBankGreene said the Buckeyes were in good shape, but it's not a done deal. 
• Per Kurelic Urban and Herman will be visiting Wilson. He is still considering OSU and OSU is the only school besides Oregon in that category.
• @WGuthrieESPN Hearing Ridgeland's Vonn Bell has given #Alabama a "soft-verbal" commitment. Nick Saban visited Bell today 
• @Miles11W: Vonn Bell told me the rumor of giving Alabama his soft verbal is NOT true.
• @SWiltfong247 #OhioState offers 2013 WR & NC State commit Kyrin Priester 

BN $ - Is Gibson Closer To Being Buckeye? '13 OH WR Shelton Gibson

• His coach says he had a good visit and will take 1-2 more visits...he guesses the announcement will come on NSD. 

BN $ - OSU Sitting Pretty With 4-Star LB '14 OH LB Kyle Berger

• By BK...recaps his Sunday visit to OSU...spent time with Coach Fickell and is looking at going pre-med...also talking to MSU, Stanford and Tennessee.

Scout $ - Top Junior "Blown Away" By OSU '14 OH LB Kyle Berger

• By The Bank...says he and his family were really impressed with OSU...wants to commit before his senior season. 

BN$--Smith Thinking OSU After Official '13 JUCO WR Corey Smith

• Corey's Mom says he will possibly visit Tennessee and Cincinnati before deciding.

BN$--Buckeyes Offer Another 2013 WR '13 FL WR James Clark

• James was surpised by the offer and has already visited Purdue, Northwestern and Nebraska and has trips set to Clemson this weekend and Florida on the 25th. He likes tOSU's depth chart and will decide whether to visit Clemson or tOSU. 

Scout$--Stephens enjoying the process '14 FL WR Moral Stephens

• Moral has offers from many schools including Ohio State, Florida State, Clemson, Miami, South Carolina, and LSU. He is wide open and plans to enjoy the process. 

BG$--West has 'great experience' at Ohio State '14 OH DB Darius West

• Darius loved his visit and says Ohio State, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, and Louisville are his leaders. 

Rivals$--2014, 4-star receiver enjoys visit '14 IN WR Dominique Booth

• Dominique loved his TeTennessee visit and now has a top group of Tennessee Missouri, Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan and Mississippi State.

Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/14 - the latest on Vonn Bell

The Buckeyes had another big weekend as far as recruiting goes, grabbing one more commitment for the class of 2014. Ohio State also hosted some big names in the class of 2013, leaving plenty of interesting news to dissect.

It has been no secret whatsoever that the Buckeyes are putting every inch of effort they have into recruiting 2013 S Vonn Bell. For quite a while now, Ohio State and Alabama have led for the senior's services and they have been neck and neck to this point. Obviously, Bell would fill a large need at the safety position and with a commit would allow a little bit of wiggle room to move commits like '13 ATH Darron Lee into more of an offensive role rather than at safety.

Whether or not the Buckeyes actually land Bell is the real tricky question to answer. It's a situation similar to '13 WR James Quick, with Bell dragging everyone along and not hinting at any favorites in particular. What we did hear was sort of a mixed review from both Bell and his brother:

But on the other hand, we've heard reports of Bell having a great time on his visit. The Ohio State coaching staff is expected to be coming down sometime this week or next to give a couple more thoughts about the Buckeyes into Bell's head. Bell has a busy week, as Alabama head coach Nick Saban will be visiting his home as well. As of now, it appears Bell's decision will be made on February 6th, which is National Signing Day in the class of 2013.

The Buckeyes are continuing to search for another playmaker-type at the receiver position and may have set another target on '13 WR James Clark:

Just Got Off The Phone With Ohio State...Hmmmmm

— James Clark (@GotEmCoach2) January 13, 2013

The 4-star receiver had 49 catches for 1,112 yards and 8 touchdowns this season for his high school New Smyrna Beach, Florida. One could be wondering if maybe '13 WR Shelton Gibson is pushing the Buckeyes the wrong way with delaying his commitment or if he simply doesn't have the grades to attend Ohio State. If the stats didn't impress you (which they should have) here's a taste of some highlights from Clark:

#ohio state coming by tomorrow

— Demarre Kitt (@D_ocho) January 14, 2013

Ohio State is clearly very busy, as the staff is visiting 2014 WR Demarre Kitt this week while also visiting the aforementioned Bell and making some phone calls to other potential recruits. It might come down to Clemson and Ohio State for Kitt, and the class of 2014 seems like it will be a battle with Clemson for many of the recruits.

The Buckeyes also got a little boost on Sunday when 2014 DB Damon Webb committed to Ohio State after holding offers from schools like LSU, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio State, Michigan State and many other BCS-level programs. Webb clearly enjoyed his visit, taking the offer he held and running with it. Webb joins OL Marcelys Jones in the class of 2014.

This is a pretty surprising commit if you ask me. Webb comes from a Michigan pipeline (Cass Tech) that's similar to the one Ohio State holds with Cleveland-Glenville. We had heard that Coach Meyer wanted to start pursuing the Wolverines' pipeline, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. Look out Hoke, Coach Meyer isn't playing around. If you want some more on Webb, check out his highlight tape here:

James Clark has 'great' Nebraska visit; Ohio State enters picture; Florida visit upcoming

Not that it should be surprising, as it seems to be the case with most anyone who makes a football recruiting visit to Lincoln, Neb., but color James Clark impressed.

The New Smyrna Beach wide receiver, fresh off his third official visit, had a great weekend trip as a guest of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. His trip provides the remaining schools that will host the speedster with a lot to live up to in impressing him.

“It was a great experience. The campus was beautiful, the  coaching staff was great, the players were a great group of guys and the facilities are top-notch,” Clark said. “They just have the overall package “

But Clark, the No. 12-ranked player in the Sentinel's 2013 Central Florida Super60,  also said to not consider his comments as a strong indication of his intentions. He loved the visit, but he has two more trips to make.

“I’m still at the point where I’m not ready to pick a favorite yet,” said Clark, who has also visited Purdue and Northwestern and has already crossed Purdue off his list. “I still have two visits left and  anything can happen in next couple weeks.”

That was the case Sunday morning. Clark (5-foot-11, 170 pounds) received a surprising phone call from Ohio State assistant coach Tim Hinton, who then handed the phone to Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer.

“He said they wanted to know if I was interested or if they’d be wasting their time recruiting me,” Clark said of his conversation with Hinton and Meyer. “I told them, ‘Yes, I’m definitely  interested.’

 “It went well. It’s definitely something to think  about over the next couple of days.”

So Clark has a decision to make this week and it sounded like he’s probably going to end up in Columbus, Ohio, on official visit No. 4 on Friday instead of Clemson.

His final visit will be to Florida on Jan. 25. The Gators and Cornhuskers are looking for a player like Clark who can spread the field a bit and give them a big-play type of athlete, whether it be as a slot receiver, wideout or even kick returner.

Nebraska coaches talked in depth with Clark about what he could bring the ’Huskers program.

“They said I can bring a dynamic to the team that’s not there right now as far as speed,” Clark said. “We watched some film and they were showing me what their plans were for me if I were to go there.

“They look at me as a slot type of guy . They would look to get the ball in my hands and they wre showing me the different ways to do that, kind of like they do with Kenny Bell.”

Also on the visit with Clark was recently Nebraska commit Kevin Maurice.

“Yeah he’s been telling me I need to come up there with him,” Clark said of Maurice recruiting him. “It was kinda good having another Florida guy there to talk to and see how he feels about it.”

Clark has more than 20 offers, but his most latest one was from Florida last weekend during an unofficial trip to Gainesville.

“I guess you can say I was excited. It’s the big in-state school and they were able to finally give me an offer,” Clark said. “It’s a grea opportunity to go look at them the 25^th. They were saying that I basically bring a dimension to the team that it probably doesn’t have right now as far as stretching the field and making plays in open space. It’s definitely a great opportunity to come into.”

Crunching Numbers: Ohio State Roster Space Limited

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With a scholarship limit of just 82 again this season, Urban Meyer and his coaching staff will have to make some tough decisions over the next few weeks leading up to National Signing Day.

Meyer and the Buckeyes would love to add two more wide receivers and at least one more offensive line to a class that is sitting at 22 right now, but they are also going to hold a spot for 5-star safety Vonn Bell until the bitter end.

Bell took his official visit to Columbus this weekend, and our recruiting analyst Michael Chung said everything went well with him and his parents. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to be a Buckeye, however, because Bell still has an in-home visit from Nick Saban along with an official visit to Tuscaloosa.

The Buckeyes have to settle for those two receivers and a lineman to finish out the class if Bell decides to stay down south with either Alabama or Tennessee. The only problem with that is the fact Ohio State is actually right up against that 82 scholarship limit as things already stand.

We crunched some numbers on the current roster, and the Buckeyes have 66 scholarship players right now in Columbus, including the five new guys from the 2013 class who enrolled early. That leaves 17 more kids who are currently committed but won’t enroll at Ohio State until after Spring Semester.

Combine the two groups and Ohio State is sitting right at 82, although they don’t actually have to be down to that number until they open camp in the fall. A lot can happen between now and then, and indications are that at least one player on the roster (safety Jamie Wood) is headed for a medical hardship waiver because of his shoulder.

It could be two if Conner Crowell’s ankle doesn’t respond the way they were hoping it would, but there is also a good chance a few more players will follow Verlon Reed out the door this offseason.

Reed and Johnathan Hankins (NFL) are the only two underclassmen who have left the team this offseason, and all indications are that both Bradley Roby and Carlos Hyde will be back next season.

cont...

Will Ohio State Be Able to Fend off Alabama, Tennessee for 5-Star S Vonn Bell?

The Ohio State Buckeyes look to be be in great position to land 5-star safety Vonn Bell, but they'll have to be able to out-recruit Tennessee and Alabama on the home stretch to national signing day.

Urban Meyer is arguably one of the best recruiters in college football, but this is still going to be quite a tall order for the Buckeyes coach and his staff.

The good news is: Ohio State and Meyer seemed to have made a very good impression with the talented safety during his recent official visit. Brad Bournival of ESPN.com reports on the visit, citing Bell's high school coach Mark Mariakas:

When Bell met with Urban Meyer near the end, he laid out exactly what was next for Bell and his family in what has been an incredible -- albeit exhausting -- experience for the 6-foot, 190-pound senior. 

“Vonn told Coach Meyer today -- I don’t know if he asked him directly about what he liked the best -- but his answer was he liked Coach Meyer and what they’ve got going on because it reminded him so much about us at Ridgeland,” Mariakas said. “The personalities he and I have are so similar. He liked that relationship and environment. 

“That has been the one thing that has drawn him to Ohio State, other than it’s a great institution and great staff. They’re building a great program. That’s the variable that’s drawn him. It’s going to be a very tough decision for him.”  

With Alabama and Tennessee slated for visits in the next two weeks, Ohio State is going to have to hope that their good impression was a lasting one.

cont...

Clark to meet tonight with Clemson

WR James Clark of New Smyrna Beach, FL will have an in home visit tonight with Clemson recruiter Jeff Scott and will decide after that visit if he will make an official visit to Clemson or Ohio State this weekend. That's a critical decision because he has taken three visits and is set for Florida next weekend, so the team he doesn't visit will be out of contention. Clark met earlier in the day at school with his Ohio State recruiter. Clark said early this evening he was leaning towards visiting Ohio State this weekend. He has visited Nebraska, Purdue and Northwestern.

Meyer Goes For Huge “Flip”

One day after landing one of the country’s top 2014 cornerbacks, Damon Webb (Detroit, Mich./Cass Tech), Urban Meyer headed to Michigan to stop at Webb’s school. Meyer and OSU assistant Kerry Coombs also stopped at Detroit Loyola to check on defensive end Malik McDowell and Southfield to check on defensive end Lawrence Marshall.

Harris caught 91 passes for 2,016 yards and 23 touchdowns during his junior season.

But even more significant, Meyer also made a stop in Grand Rapids to check on super junior wide receiver and Michigan State commitment Drake Harris (Grand Rpaids, Mich./Christian).

“Coach Meyer flew in this morning to see me,” Harris said in a text message. “They gave me an official offer a couple of days ago.”

When asked if he has an interest in Ohio State, Harris replied, “yes, a lot.”

The 6-foot-4 and 180-pound Harris is a football and basketball star who committed to the Spartans for both sports near the end of June. His football offers at the time included Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Florida.

Harris led his team to a state championship and a final record of 13-1 during his junior season. He caught 91 passes for 2,016 yards and 23 touchdowns. His 2,016 yards broke the all-time state record.

Harris said he is going to visit Ohio State.

“Yes I am soon,” he said. “I’m going to set up something with coach Meyer and go from there.”

Harris left no doubt he is impressed with what Meyer did at Ohio State and the OSU football program in general.

“They are one of the best football programs in the country,” Harris said. “You have arguably the best coach in the country. The campus is great, and the fan support is crazy and the tradition there is just tremendous.”

Harris is the country’s No. 78 overall prospect, the No. 10 wide receiver and the No. 2 prospect in Michigan in the 247Sports rankings. He is a 4-star prospect.