Urban Meyer, Ohio State and the 'Unusual' Challenge to Hang on to Commitments From Recruits For More Than a Year

By Eric Seger on February 3, 2017 at 9:00 am
Inside what it takes for Urban Meyer and Ohio State to keep commitments from players that pledge to them more than a year in advance.
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Shaun Wade couldn't remember how old he was. That is how long ago it happened.

“That day, I was [in] 10th grade I think?” the five-star cornerback and Jacksonville native said on Wednesday. “Tenth grade, yeah. Long time ago.”

One of many crown jewels in Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class, Wade announced his intentions to be a Buckeye on Jan. 12, 2015 — hours before his future team took on Oregon in the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

It came as a shock to fans, reporters and to an extent — Ohio State.

“I didn't know him,” Meyer said on Wednesday. “I know his school very well, and traditionally players in that area will change schools about seven times to their commitments.”

Director of Player Personnel Mark Pantoni added: “Shaun Wade specifically, we have not had a great track record down in Jacksonville with kids who have committed to us, so give him and his family a lot of credit for sticking firm.”

Wade is the poster child to what Ohio State dealt with often at the tail end of this recruiting cycle. The Buckeyes had more than half of their commitments in the 2017 class by March of last year — getting those highly-rated, out of state guys to remain in the fray isn't easy.

“The in-state guys it's not uncommon to be able to hang on to them, but a kid from Florida, especially where he's from, I mean, that's tough,” Meyer said. “It's almost like when they commit to me, I put a 30 percent on — is that actually going to happen?”

“It's almost like when they commit to me, I put a 30 percent on — is that actually going to happen?”– Urban Meyer on Early Commitments

Wade's recruitment became a major point of interest with his ascension to the upper echelon of the prospect rankings his junior and senior seasons at Trinity Christian Academy. With more than 30 scholarship offers, Wade blossomed into a must-have five-star prospect. For him to leave the recruiting hotbed that is the south is rare.

Staying committed to Ohio State for more than two years is even more uncommon.

“I remember back home, people were saying I wasn’t supposed to go here,” Wade said. “They were saying it’s too cold or you just need to stay in Florida but I just knew that God would send me the right way.”

Wade said his biggest thrill throughout his recruitment was getting to see other top schools and what each individual program had to offer. He always felt the pull of Ohio State, though and "knew I belonged here."

“I just had to make sure,” Wade said. “There was other schools but I knew that I was a Buckeye.”

Ohio State encouraged Wade to take his visits like it does with other prospects that commit early in the process. With the train Meyer and the Buckeyes have rolling right now, most can't wait to get to campus.

That was especially the case for Miamisburg's Josh Myers, who pledged to the Buckeyes on Jan. 25, 2015. It is typical for an Ohio kid to jump on an Ohio State offer early and never waver on his commitment. Central Ohio natives Brendon White and Marcus Williamson are the same way; White committed on Oct. 2, 2015 and Williamson did six months earlier.

Others have a change of heart and want to stay home or go elsewhere — think about wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey for example. From Las Vegas, he was all Buckeye last summer but signed with Nebraska on Wednesday. There are rumors about why Lindsey decommitted from Ohio State and ended up a Cornhusker but what it boils down to is every recruitment is different.

But keeping someone like Wade for so long is as crucial as it frankly is odd.

“I don't have that in front of me exactly how many,” Meyer said, “but that is unusual to be able to hang on to an out-of-state guy for over a year because people just wear him out.”

Meyer also noted how a third of the early enrollees are from Texas and two of them — linebacker Baron Browning and running back J.K. Dobbins — stuck with their decision to be Buckeyes despite some shuffling at the power programs in their home state. Texas hired Tom Herman in December. Browning had been committed for more than a year before he enrolled, while Dobbins was part of the class for 10 months.

Browning, Dobbins

“The Texas kids have hung in there because there were some new hires in that part of the country, and they went after them now,” Meyer said. “And to be able to hang in there and get them here — I'm glad we got them here in January.”

Recruiting has constant moving parts. Ohio State's brand is shining brightly more than ever since Meyer took over prior to the 2012 season. A national championship and historic NFL Draft class are to be blamed for that.

Yet Meyer, Pantoni and the rest of Ohio State's coaching staff stress life after football with the players they bring into the program. Wade said that is what sold him on leaving the warmth of Jacksonville for the cold of Columbus.

“That was my biggest thing,” Wade said. “I had to find a coach that would help me and be truthful to me and help me after football. If I got hurt before the league, he’d help get a great job. That’s what he told me. He wants me to be one of those players that gets a great job working for Nike or anybody.”

That pillar of recruiting worked to land Wade and more importantly, make his commitment stick for more than 700 days. With a widely national class that the program is more than happy to promote — only seven of 21 members are from Ohio — each case is a different battle. But especially when you land a high-profile player when they are in 10th grade.

“Any time you get out of the — our eight-hour radius, the percentages go way down,” Pantoni said. “So those are the guys that we really have to focus on and you know we're going to be in a fight until that name comes through the fax machine on signing day.”

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