Jabrill Peppers Junior Highlights

Newly Offered: Reilly Gibbons

• Ohio State has offered '15 GA OL Mitch Hyatt (Highlights on Hudl)
• Mississippi State & Buffalo offered Elisha Shaw
• Oklahoma State offered Brandon Simmons
• UCLA, Louisville, Tennessee, NC State & West Virginia offered Marshon Lattimore
• Boston College offered Kyle Berger
• Bowling Green offered Mikel Horton
• Indiana offered Johnathan Lloyd
• Michigan State offered Mike Weber & Jayru Campbell
• Ole Miss offered Dallis Todd
• Mississippi State offered Kevin Mouhon
• South Carolina offered Chris Godwin
• Arkansas offered George Campbell Jr & Mason Cole
• Maryland offered Nic Weishar
• Southern Mississippi offered William Ulmer
• Purdue visits LJ Scott
• Mark Dantonio from Michigan State visits Mike Weber & Jayru Campbell
• Shane Beamer and Scot Loeffler from Virginia Tech visits Elijah Hood
• Cornelius Elder officially visits Auburn
• Nick Glass will visit Alabama for their Spring Game (April 20th)
• Coach Coombs visits Cass Tech HS (Damon Webb, Mike Weber, Jayru Campbell, Deon Drake), Martin Luther King HS in Detroit (Avonte Maddox, Carl Fuller), Grand Rapids Christian (Drake Harris) & Southfield HS (Lawrence Marshall)
• Coach Coombs unable to stop in on LSU pledge Chris Hardeman today due to weather that adjusted travel plans. Will reschedule soon he says.
• Coach Meyer & Coach Hinton visits Montgomery Bell Academy (Alex Bars), Brentwood Academy & Ensworth (Corn Elder)
• Ohio State visits Gaffney HS (Shaq Davidson)
• Keita Bates-Diop rated 98 by 247Sports (Given a 5th star)
• Jaquan Lyle rated 98 by 247Sports
• Justin Jackson rated 98 by 247Sports

BG$--Visit Still on for Carrington? '13 CA WR Darren Carrington

• Darren's father says they are trying to figure out where they stand now that Corey Smith has committed. He is still committed to Oregon. 

Rivals$--Morgan at 17 offers and counting '14 IL LB Nyles Morgan

• Nyles has 17 offers and has every school even. Distance will not be a factor for him.

Rivals$--Westphal checks out Illini '14 IL DB Parrker Westphal

• Parrker enjoyed his visit to Illinois and says continuing to play with teammate Aaron Bailey is appealing. He is not sure of a decision date but would like to start winding things down.

Rivals $ - Bars talks PSU offer '14 TN OL Alex Bars

• From BWI...PSU offered via phone last week...brother is a RS junior at PSU...also has a brother at Michigan and will attend both spring games. 

ESPN $ - 2014 TE Blazevich hosts several coaches '14 NC TE Jeb Blazevich

• Coaches from Ohio State, Ole Miss, Clemson & Nebraska have visited recently. Says he's down to Notre Dame, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Ole Miss & Alabama.

Scout $ - Son of NFL TE coach seeing interest as TE '14 IN WR Austin Roberts

• Stanford, Ohio State & Florida stand out. Visiting Indiana this weekend.

Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/30 - Dontre Wilson visiting Texas, Cameron Hunt eliminates OSU

2013 JUCO WR Corey Smith committed to Ohio State yesterday, giving the Buckeyes' class of 2013 23 total commitments as of now. Smith is the 10th best JUCO prospect in the country, the fourth best JUCO WR and third best prospect in the state of Mississippi for the class of 2013 according to 247Sports. This keeps the Buckeyes' hold as the third-best recruiting class in college football tight and gives them a little bit of momentum as we head into National Signing Day one week from now. When the 247Composite rankings are recalculated in the next several days, it's even possible we see a shift up to the second overall spot for the Buckeyes.

Not a bad 24 hours for Urban Meyer and his staff. While many fans continue to unfairly dog Ohio State wide receivers coach Zach Smith, Smith definitely showed some real recruiting gumption in helping secure Smith. Not only did they help solidify a position of need, but they also managed to keep Smith from a potential visit to Tennessee this weekend that may have complicated matters further. On top of that, it sounds as though the addition of Smith (and the Buckeyes' subsequent messaging to the other targets still on their big board) hasn't hurt their chances those players one bit.

There remains a small group of elite level athletes that are still considering Ohio State. Names like '13 S Vonn Bell, '13 RB/WR Ryan Timmons and '13 WR James Clark are still very much on the table. And despite possible trepidations that adding Smith would effectively call it a recruiting cycle at one of the major skill positions for the Buckeyes, it doesn't sound like top talents like Clark are worried one bit about a little competition:

cont...

Ohio State recruiting: T-minus seven

We're just a week away from National Signing Day 2013 and boy is there a ton of ground to cover. Before we do, Landgrantholyland.com's Luke Zimmermann and Matt Brown touch on Tuesday evening's 58-49 win by the Ohio State men's basketball team over Wisconsin. It's always nice beating a burgeoning rival, but what are the short and long term implication for the basketball Bucks?

Then on to the National SIgning Day '13. We talk all things Corey Smith, Ohio State's newest commit from the junior college circuit. How does it impact the recruitment of Dontre Wilson and Ryan Timmons? And what happened with Donovan Munger and Trey Johnson's impromptu visits to other colleges? Any room for concern? Finally, we share our thoughts on where Vonn Bell and Ezekiel Elliott will end up when everything's said and done.

We wrap things up with a brief homage to Nebrasketball – we see Nebraska, and well, we're coming for you. Sorry? Tons of #hot #recruiting #takes, and our usual wit and candor. Come for the insight on how many Ohio State can actually take in the class of 2013; stay for us possibly sneezing on-air!

cont...

JUCO WR Corey Smith Makes 23 for 2013 Class

Leave it to Urban Meyer to make headlines out of nowhere. Just when news had seemingly gone dark with wide receiver Corey Smith, the junior college prospect made a sudden commitment to the Buckeyes on Tuesday.

With Ezekiel Elliott visiting Missouri over the weekend, Dontre Wilson is reportedly 50/50 between Ohio State and Oregon heading into National Signing Day. Recently offered Ryan Timmons was waiting in the lurch, but Smith came out of no where to become the 23rd member of Ohio State’s 2013 class.

Scout.com was the first to report that Smith was decommitting from Mississippi State in order to become a Buckeye. He was rumored to be closing in on a commitment after his official visit to Columbus earlier this month.

Now the i’s and t’s have been dotted and crossed the Ohio native is now slated to become a Buckeye instead of an MSU Bulldog where he would have played under one time Urban Meyer assistant Dan Mullen.

The 6-0, 185-pound wideout is no stranger to Ohio, having graduated from Akron Buchtel High School, where he was considered to be one of the top wide receivers in the state.

Former OSU running back Antonio Pittman, who played for the Buckeyes from 2004-2006, then in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints then St. Louis Rams and is currently with the Omaha Nighthawks, was also an Akron Buchtel product.

cont...

Ohio State adds juco wide receiver

Even if you only occasionally heard Ohio State coach Urban Meyer talk about his team last year, you most likely heard him address what he felt was the Buckeyes' biggest weakness: playmaking ability at wide receiver.

Devin Smith made some highlight plays early, and Corey Brown evolved into a very dependable wideout. But Ohio State still lacked speed and depth at the position and had a difficult time stretching the field with its offense.

Which is why Tuesday afternoon's news should be encouraging to Buckeyes fans. Junior-college wide receiver Corey Smith, who had been committed to Mississippi State, switched his pledge to Meyer and Ohio State . The Akron, Ohio, product had 51 catches for 733 yards and nine touchdowns for East Mississippi Community College last season. 

cont...

Ohio State adds former Buchtel WR Corey Smith as 23rd pledge in 2013 recruiting class

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State has added the extra playmaker that it was looking for in this 2013 recruiting class as BuckeyeSports.com and other outlets are reporting that former Buchtel receiver Corey Smith has decided to become a Buckeye.

Smith is coming out of East Mississippi Community College and had previously given an oral commitment to Mississippi State. He also played one year at Grand Rapids Community College. He will have two years of eligibility remaining at Ohio State.

“Corey has so much talent, it's scary,” said Ricky Powers, his coach at Buchtel and a former running back at Michigan. “On top of that, he's a hard worker. And to get to the point that he is right now, it's amazing that he's come back. I think he can come in right away and be a big-play guy. He has that potential. I'm not just saying that because he was one of my guys.

cont...

Elliott's official Mizzou visit sparks questions about Signing Day

hat will Ezekiel Elliott do? That is the question.

The area’s top prospect, the Burroughs senior running back has been verbally committed to Ohio State since April but took an official visit to Missouri last weekend.

“It’s one last look at Missouri and showing respect to my home school and to my mother and father’s alma mater,” Elliott told ESPN.com last week.

The 6-foot, 205-pound speedster hasn’t spoken with reporters since his visit to Columbia — he did not return a phone call for comment from the Post-Dispatch — and, a week before National Signing Day, isn’t giving any clues as to which school he will sign with. He is still committed to the Buckeyes, but his official visit to Missouri leaves open the possibility of a late switch.

cont...

Ohio State Football Recruiting: Urban Meyer Is Building Championship Foundation

Urban Meyer's coaching led a flawed Buckeyes team to an undefeated season in his first year as head coach, and now his recruiting skills are setting this program up to get even stronger. 

With 23 commitments, 247Sports has the Buckeyes' 2013 recruiting class ranked fifth in the nation. While that is a lofty ranking, it gets even better for the Buckeyes on other sites.  

ESPN (behind the Insider pay wall) has the Buckeyes' class ranked fourth in the nation. Ohio State's 2013 class is held with even more regard in Scout.com's national rankings where they are ranked second.

This class is stacked, and it includes 10 players rated in ESPN's top 150 recruits and another five in their top 300. Most importantly, the majority of these guys—14 according to Scout—are on the defensive side of the ball. 

The Buckeyes' defense desperately needs game-changers on defense. They are losing seven starters from last year's squad, and that unit left something to be desired to begin with. 

Ohio State was 32nd in scoring defense and 36th in yards allowed.

So now Meyer put his recruiting prowess to work on bringing in the kind of athletes that helped him showcase his groundbreaking offense on defense.

cont...