National Signing Day Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on February 4, 2015 at 6:00 am
Gareon Conley
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Well, it's here: NATIONAL SIGNING DAY. It's the first day 2015 prospects can officially sign with a school, but for reasons unknown to me, it's treated as the last.

After some hiccups during the stress test of the new server that went on during the Lord of Whispers' live thread last night, ElevenWarriors.com should be ready to ride out on its enemies. (If it doesn't... please remember I'm a mere janitor around these parts.)

ESPNU will be on 16 campuses — including Ohio State's — and while Urban Meyer will give an interview at some point, none of the prospects declaring on the network are expected to pick Ohio State.

BTN will also be airing a "Signing Day Special" at 3:30 p.m. that will analyze every B1G school's 2015 recruiting class. (Spoiler: Ohio State will win that derby.)

And yes, Porter Gustin spurned OSU for USC yesterday, but there are still two big fish in play for the Buckeyes today. Thankfully, we'll know early in the day where OL Isaiah Price (9:30 a.m.) and WR K.J. Hill (10 a.m.) are heading. (This is all without mentioning any NSD magic Urban Meyer could have up his sleeve.)

In mean time: It's always a good day to follow Birm on Twitter, but today is the best day.  (His final predictions can be found over here.)

GOD HELP US ALL. I lack the skills required to sufficiently express how much it bemuses me multimillion dollar programs around the nation will be sitting around watching fax machines today.

In an era where I can communicate with anyone around the world with a few flicks of my carnie-like fingers, I have no clue why all Earth's fax machines aren't currently wasting away in a Ghanaian scrap heap. Fax machines are about as welcoming to me as my grandma seeking a personal sponge-bath. 

Hell, I'm 28 and couldn't operate a fax machine without a Kinko's employee. GODSPEED ON THAT FRONT, #TEENS.

(Please, do not waste my time with tales of the fax machine's office utility. Offices make me ill.) 

WILL MIKE WEBER FLIP BACK TO MICHIGAN?  *backs away and lets the professionals handle this one*

RECRUITING IS BAD, ACTUALLY!!!!!!

... All kidding aside: I want Mike Weber in Ohio State's class. He is going to be a great running back in college. IF he flips to Michigan, I will never hate on a man hearing the call of his home state. 

And IF he flips to Michigan, remember, Ohio State fans: You're only telling on your pathetic life if you lash out at a recruit via social media. (And believe me, I will be waiting in the depths to tax that ass.)

THAT 2013 CLASS ENDED UP OKAY. May every class turn out as that 2013 class did.

From Austin Ward of ESPN.com:

Meyer offered his highest praise two years ago for the recruiting job former co-defensive coordinator Everett Withers did with the “octopus approach,” covering every conceivable angle and working relentlessly to help acquire a piece that was so coveted by Ohio State. And while that might have been the crown jewel Meyer mostly held up to celebrate the transition from what he called a “bunch of cowboys out there trying to find players” to a coaching staff completely in charge of the process, there obviously wasn’t a shortage of diamonds surrounding Bell either.

The Buckeyes had lured quarterback J.T. Barrett and athlete Dontre Wilson out of Texas. The buzz was already building for wideout Jalin Marshall's potential even if he would have to redshirt for a season before bursting onto the scene as an offensive dynamo. Eli Apple was already turning heads as an early enrollee at cornerback. 

And while Ohio State missed on a pair of linebackers that were breathlessly hyped two years ago, missing the mark on Mike Mitchell and Trey Johnson certainly doesn’t seem like much of an issue now thanks to Darron Lee’s emergence. 

Another thing to keep in mind: Any recruit Ohio State signs today is going to be a legend; any recruit Ohio State doesn't sign is going to be bad. (I love being a fan.)

REAL TALK FROM A REAL PARENT. I talk about hypothetical recruiting situations as if I were a parent. But, there might be some actual parents out there who will one day go through this process with their children, so today's guest speaker is someone who might know a thing or two about that:

If only every recruit had a mother as half as smart as Ms. Apple.

LET'S WATCH NATE CLEMENTS ALMOST DECAPITATE TOM BRADY. This Vine was floating around #OSUTwitter yesterday, and I'm pretty sure if Nate Clements hit Tom Brady like that in the High Definition Era he'd be sent to Guantanamo Bay:

(I bet Brady still has cold sweats about Clements.)

THOSE WMDs. For the Prickliest Patients, the "Cactus Doctor" makes house calls... Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the only egomaniac I will ever love... How Harper Lee lost the rights to To Kill a Mockingbird... The secrets of Twitter advertising... Watch these fascinating Vines taken by a prisoner in his cell... The creepiest things you can do on Facebook.

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