Been on like a 3 day bender haha but back and ready for NSD. As Derek mentioned on twitter we're hearing good things coming from the staff regarding their confidence in landing Vonn Bell and Dontre Wilson. Not as much on James Clark though.
Definitely not "in the bag" yet but they feel very good about their positioning with those two. Enjoy the next few days and get excited for Wednesday as we're going to have some great coverage on this site.
You certainly don't have to apologize for taking a day off. Are they still confident on Zeke too?
I'm glad you're hearing good things about Bell. The haters are coming out here in TN. I'm getting VFL texts left and right.
Wasnt Bell supposed to inform the school of choice this weekend?
I'm with you Alex, I've been on quite the bender myself.....and I still have a Super Bowl party to go to tonight. I hope you're right about Bell and wrong about Clark ;)
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
YES!!!! Great news to start my Sunday. I understand its not 'In the bag", but its still confidence building
The prodigal son has returned
Alex: I saw where Zeke isn't announcing until 4:00 p.m. Do you think he's waiting to see what Wilson does?
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
He's not announcing he's signing at 4 p.m. and I would assume its probably because its after classes and that's what the school wants. I think the one thing everyone misinterprets is that he is having a signing ceremony, not a announcement ceremony.
It still seems odd to me that he would base his decision on whether someone else commits or not. You are going to have to compete with someone at Ohio State, why does it matter if they are in the same class as you or not?
upvote and a comment to show how much i agree
Upvote from me as well, i think Zeke is going to be a greeat player, but the confusion for me compounded upon finding out that it was made somewhat clear dontre wasnt going to be a pure rb like zeke is
Wednesday can't get here soon enough!
"Fate has cards that it don't want to show"
Wasn't Dontre's coach quoted as saying Dontre will make it public of his choice today. Im pretty sure he said that Sunday (today), after the Texas visit, that Dontre would publically commit to a school. If so I am so pumped.
Alex, no need to apologize. Thanks for the update, and I'm glad to read that all is well. If this class finishes out with 2/3 of Wilson, Bell and Clark, I may be off on a three day bender myself!
If the staff feels confident with their position on Bell and Wilson why are so many recruiting analysts not as optimistic. Many of them have been saying over the past couple days that its becoming less likely that OSU will get Bell and Wilson
I trust the staff much more than any fickle media "expert analyst", from Rivals or wherever. Same goes with the media in general. Whenever they all start to lazily agree on one thing, almost to the point of consensus - go the other way.
Alex, wonder if you are still feeling the bender...haha. Would LOVE bell but everyone says hes all tenn....Except you guys....good thing 11w is my standard! Fingers crossed
sfgoods
Actually, on Rivals they have a prediction area and 3/7 of their experts predict Bell to OSU, 4/7 to UT and 1/7 to Bama. Can't share link due to typing on my phone but I can try to put it here sometime Monday afternoon for you
Buckeye Nuthouse Member 2011-13 season
Block "O" 2012 season
"3/7 of their experts predict Bell to OSU, 4/7 to UT and 1/7 to Bama..."
So Rivals had 8 of 7 experts predicting? Man, they're on fire over there!
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
lol'd...HARD
I was typing on my phone at 3am. My visual and math skills aren't exactly the best they could be at that time.
This has changed though. 6/8 say UT, 1/8 OSU, 1/8 Bama. I hope he is just messing with the UT fan base but not sure.
Here is the link: http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1466495
Buckeye Nuthouse Member 2011-13 season
Block "O" 2012 season
I was just giving you some good-hearted crap, Lucky. No hard feelings.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
I know lol. I was just thinking after I went to find the link that there were 8 "experts" not 7. I felt like such an idiot when I realized it. The last two they say we have a chance on right now are Elliott (8/8) and Bell (2/8). Hopefully we end the class with Bell instead of a slot/WR player.
Buckeye Nuthouse Member 2011-13 season
Block "O" 2012 season
I mean OSU isn't going to win every battle they enter, and they may lose these 2. Without either, if we keep the class intact as is, we have a good number of playmakers and already a stacked secondary, where these 2 guys would be joining.
These guys are wants not needs IMO, and 2014 can fill them just as well if need be
Interesting to hear Wilson's more close to committing then Clark. I would have thought Wilson was out and Clark was in.
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
Ah yes, my crack dealer is back. Recruiting crack dealer that is. I was starting to get the shakes...
Thanks Alex. I'm starting to think we may not land anyone else, but intresting to hear we have more confidence in Wilson than Clark
Can you elaborate on these tweets please? I missed them.
Woot woot;-)
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
Thanks man
Sorry to burst the bubble here....but I just checked and Mike Farrell just updated his prediction to Tennessee.
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1466495
I really hope Derek, Alex and OSU Staff know a bit more here than Farrell.
Didn't he do that yesterday?
Yes
I can tell you that it doesn't seem like Bell himself knows where he is going at this point.
I can't believe you haven't been rained with up votes bc your point is spot on. No one knows for sure (not Mike Farrell, bc he also predicted Diggs to OSU...so his last minute switch is meaningless at least to me or anyone else really besides the recruits themselves).
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
No he didn't he actually predicted Diggs to Maryland
No...he said he was going to OSU...epic fail IMO.
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
Farrell predicted Diggs would pick Maryland
- link
I clicked on it... I regretted it immediately...
He changed the day of. A good example of how much can change in three days.
Exactly my point about him picking Bell toTenn after picking OSU the day before...he did the exact same thing with Diggs. I still think he could be right...but my point was why pick OSU in the first place if he hadn't talked to these ppl that changed his mind...??? I just find him unreliable at times...and still think Bell has no clue what he wants to do...so how does Farrell know or anyone for that matter. I'm still staying hopeful on Bell, Wilson and perhaps Clark too but I'd doubt all three.
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
The 11W guys are saying that Urban and the staff are confident about Bell. I think at the end of it all, Bell is a Buckeye. Bama isn't going to let him play safety, so they're out. I know UT is his childhood team, but he knows they don't have the pieces to win titles. The Buckeyes are trending up on the CFB stage. He will be in the 2 deep as a freshman and a starter as a sophomore. All the pros point to OSU.
Hell if he picks it up quick enough Bell or Burrows will likely end up our star which is essentially a starter.
Diggs announced on Feb 10. Farrell tweeted on Feb 8 that MD was leading OSU, and on Feb 9 that Diggs would probably choose the Terps. When did Farrell predict the kid would be a Buckeye?
(2/1 - 2/9 Google search, if that helps.)
I clicked on it... I regretted it immediately...
Mike Farrell just changed his opinion on Bell's committment back to OSU. Wouldn't be surprised if you were right on this one Buckeye85. He may not know and won't decide until after NSD (even though he is scheduled to announce at 10am) or he may know and just be keeping completely silent (which is hard for 17-18 year olds). Guess we will all see Wednesday
Buckeye Nuthouse Member 2011-13 season
Block "O" 2012 season
So Farrell has predicted Bell to each one of his finalists. Color me shocked but I think hes got a good chance at being right.
yes he does a 33.333 % chance lol
Yes, that is dated information. You are correct, yesterday...
"You're pissed because we went after a committed guy? Guess what, we got nine guys who better go do it again. Do it a little harder next time." -- Urban Frank Meyer -- I LOVE THIS DUDE!! :)
Alex, is Dontre expected to announce today?
I thought maybe you were going to inform us that you were changing your picture.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Thank you Alex for the update, well deserved break...
Getting two out of three remaining target will be a great finish to the class 2013 with 25
Yeah, Farrell updated his prediction yesterday, but the point was that he went from OSU earlier in the week to now the Vols....I hope that this one goes in the opposite trend that Quick and Diggs scenarios went.
Seems like everyone (recruiting insider-wise) is picking Bell to the Vols now. The thing we have to remember, though, is that 17-18 year olds tend to change their minds frequently haha. For example, apparently Robert Foster told almost his whole family that he was going to Pitt two hours before he announced for Bama.
You just never know. I'd love for OSU to get at least one of Wilson or Bell, though. I think they can be big playmakers for OSU almost immediately. Clark is bonus. Want OSU to keep Zeke, but I'm confident that will happen.
Thanks Alex. I hope we land one of three, that itself would be huge.
Not sure exactly when Wilson announcing as there have been conflicting reports.
I'm still hearing EzE to OSU.
And I still don't think Vonn Bell knows for sure where he's going.
always appreciate you and the staff. thanks!
Thanks for the time you spend finding out this info for us.
Seems all the info out there leads you to believe Bell likes OSU and the staff, however his parents are pushing for Tennesee.
How can we know who the OSU staff feels good about when they're not allowed to comment on unsigned recruits? It's all a mystery to me until NLOI day! As far as Florida slow playing Clark & now telling him what he wants to hear now, well, our staff could possibly be doing the exact same thing with Timmons if they feel they are gonna miss out on Clark. It happens everywhere. I'd be happy with 1 of 3.....Bell, Wilson or Clark.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly want Bell, but if we lose him I hope it's to tenn rather than Alabama. I would be very surprised if Bell would choose a rebuilding Tenn over pre-season top 3 schools like osu and bama. If he does good luck to him but I would be very surprised.
"I'll fire when I'm god damn good and ready! You got that?" - Pete "Maverick" Mitchel
The thing about Tennessee is that they were, not too long ago, a very powerful football program. They have plenty of history & Tradition. I guess my point is that I'm never too surprised by a kid that wants to stay home & it's not as though tennessee is a horrible program, their problems are fairly recent. That said, I'd love to see Vonn as a Buckeye, but wouldn't be too shocked if he stayed home.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Agree. If he's going to go somewhere else, I hope he goes somewhere where he is not likely to hurt us in the future.
I gotta tell you......This is making me nuts.............everybody hanging on every little word that everyone says .I have faith in the 11W staff to keep us informed to the best of their knowledge of whats transpiring, but there is no way im going to last till Wednesday hanging on every little possible wind change
Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates. Football is no different, the guys down in the trenches win the games, not the coach.
BIGBAD - I think this drives most of us nuts, what with the hanging on every word. I may be alone in this, but I find this to be extremely exciting. Even if we don't get any one else, I'd take January/February's like this over past years. We might as well get used to it, with Urban, this will happen every year now that we're hunting the biggest fish.
Carl Lawson just decided to stick with Auburn over Tennessee. A lot of TENN fans were pushing for Lawson heavy, thinking that'd help secure Vonn (if he saw that TENN was getting some talent to surround him) as well. Vonn mentioned in an interview several days ago when they asked him whether the idea of being the main piece in rebuilding TENN was appealing, that it "takes more than one person" to build a team, you need a lot of other big pieces to jump on board (paraphrasing). Hopefully he hasn't made his final decision yet! Marquez North was big, but if being surrounded by talent is important to him, hopefully he'll see that OSU presents him the opportunity to both be a big piece, and be surrounded by talent at the same time!
TENN "insiders" (I use that word loosely lol) were claiming that Vonn has been trying to recruit Lawson to TENN behind the scenes for the last week. If so, mission unsuccessful. The difference between TENN getting Lawson and Lawson passing on TENN could be big when it comes to drawing other talented players like Bell, you never know what's going on behind the scenes.
My friends who are big UT fans kept saying this kid (Lawson) was a lock. Even though Butch Jones has some momentum going, kids understand UT is a 4-5 year project. They're obviously way behind other teams in the SEC and a lot of elite programs across the country. I hope Lawson's decision has an affect on Bell and he realizes there isn't going to be much around him at UT.
I've been looking over at volnation for a couple of days. They are one delusional bunch.
They still think Trey Johnson is going to flip on signing day!
They just got the Internet last year, it will take them a while to figure out how to google things to discern reality from fiction.
Thanks Alex. Appreciate what you do.
"Because the rules won't let you go for three." - Woody Hayes
THE Ohio State University
Alex, what are our chances of landing this Leon Sandcastle fellow?......fingers crossed!...lol
Too late he was drafted by the chiefs. Too bad for us...
Thanks for everything you, Miles, and Derek do by providing the 11W recruiting coverage.
The next three days should prove to be quite exciting.
Hey Alex, If I had to follow the craziness of recruiting as closely as you I would also need a 3 day bender! Keep up the good work!
No relation to OSUFORLIFE...
Hope 11w does the streaming chat on the front page again thats was great!
Hardly home but always reppin
I think Tennessee and OSU both feel good about Bell, so a toss up.
As of Saturday night I was hearing Wilson to OSU and nothing has happened since and I've heard nothing since to change my stance.
Wilson announcing tonight at 9 p.m. central time (10 pm eastern time)
Think Clark goes to UF. Told me the staff that gets his signature is already aware.
Doubt Ezekiel Elliott is waiting on Wilson but, as always, its a possibility, but a doubtful one.
A lot of times when kids have afternoon or evening Signing Day ceremonies the fax has already been sent in that morning. Think Kyle Dodson.
So I do not believe Elliott waiting on Wilson was the plan, as Wilson was originally scheduled to make decision on NSD. However, with Wilson announcing tonight, Elliott does have that luxury.
The positive thing on Clark is we haven't heard anything out of UF about getting his commitment, so we could possibly be in the race. I think the OSU staff would keep it quiet also if he asked them to. I'd like to land Bell, Clark, and Wilson are 3... I'll take Wilson and Bell to finish out tho.