National Signing Day Skull Session: Ohio State (Still) Dominating Big Ten in Recruiting, Wyatt Davis Prepares for Winter, and Technology Changed the Game

By D.J. Byrnes on February 1, 2017 at 4:59 am
Ohio State's Mark Pantoni eyes some #teens for the February 1st 2017 Skull Session.
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Welcome to the least-read Skull Session of the year! It's talented #teen Christmas. 

Remain calm and remember what's important today, folks: Every player Ohio State signs is destined for Canton. 

 DIFFERENT YEAR, SAME RESULT. Alabama will probably hold off Ohio State for the No. 1 class in the country because quantity beats quality in rankings like those.

Back on the homestead, though, it's business as usual... Michigan trails Ohio State, and the rest of the Big Ten trails those two. 

From espn.com:

National signing day approaches with Ohio State and Michigan leading the Big Ten charge. The two rivals are both on track to finish in the top five of ESPN’s recruiting rankings, something no Big Ten tandem has done in the same year since the rankings began in 2006.

[...]

Meyer signed top 10 classes in each of his first five recruiting cycles in Columbus (2012 through 2016) and, including his time at Florida, his 10 total top-10 classes are the most signed by a head coach in the ESPN 300 era.

There could be some shakeup in the middle of the pack. Penn State is No. 3 in the conference, but Maryland and Nebraska are both poised to out-recruit Michigan State in this cycle.

Rutgers out-recruiting Wisconsin is probably a bad sign for the Big Ten West ever supplanting the East as the B1G's dominant division.

Also hard to believe talented #teens aren't flocking to a seven-loss Illinois squad coached by a guy who lost a Super Bowl a decade ago.

 DAVIS NEEDS A COAT. Sites that paywall recruiting information did their best to stir the pot with Wyatt Davis decommitment rumors.

Davis gave a hilarious interview with the Los Angeles Times, which dropped yesterday. I'm biased, but he sounds like a guy who will be in Columbus. 

From latimes.com (via OSUBuckeye134):

Why Wyatt? Why Ohio State?

Come on now. That’s the best program out there. And for me, I just felt like that’s the place I could truly reach my goals both on and off the field.

Have you been to Columbus in the winter?

No, I haven’t been up there in the winter yet, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to all the cold and being freezing out there. I love that.

Did you watch USC defeat the Big Ten champion — a team that defeated Ohio State — in the Rose Bowl?

I did watch them win the Rose Bowl, and you know I was happy for USC because I have a lot of friends that play there and it was good to see them beat the team that beat Ohio State, the greatest university on earth.

Good news, Wyatt: Our winters have been mild the last three years, though that won't save you from the initial shock of going from Southern California to 30-degree weather.

Wavy Dubb is one of my favorite recruits in the class, too. If he early enrolled I'd pencil him in as the second true freshman since Orlando Pace to start along the offensive line.

 TECHNOLOGY CHANGED THE GAME. Technology changed everything from how we date to how we find restaurants in weird towns we visit. It also changed the recruiting game.

From herdzone.com:

Pepe Pearson, the Herd’s running backs coach, was a highly touted recruit out of Ohio’s Euclid High School in the early 90s. He eventually selected Ohio State, where he still ranks ninth in career rushing yards. He had recruiting interest from coast to coast, but made it known to programs he wanted to stay close to home. That information, at the time, had to be disseminated by his high school coaches through telephone calls. There was no insta-alert system like Twitter for Pearson to quickly inform coaches outside of his region not to bother.

“Back when I was getting recruited in the 90s it was much different than it is now,” Pearson said. “You didn’t have all of the different websites. I think the computer world was just getting developed at that point. Recruiting was different and I would imagine it would be different for a college coach at that time too because you had to go out and see the players and go to games. It wasn’t all of this technology readily available for guys to locate players and see 4- or 5- or whatever star they are. You had to go out and evaluate talent. It’s much easier for us nowadays to locate who we want, who we’re looking at and get information based off of that. You don’t get so many diamond-in-the-rough type guys. Those guys are really out in the forefront. Back in the day you could find someone and it not be so public, a guy who could really be a difference-maker in your program. The camps circuit is so much different than it was back in the day, the exposure that kids are getting, the traveling to different camps around the country – all of that is different."

One of my goals is to become a recruiting coordinator who recruits strictly off recruiting service rankings. Pretty sure that's how Shane Morris ended up at Michigan.

 COACHES WILL EAT ANYTHING. Head coaches get all the praise for their recruiting classes, but assistant coaches are the ones who build the relationships and log the frequent flyer miles.

While on the road, recruits' families will often prepare food for a coach's arrival. Results vary.

From al.com:

The Southeastern Conference head coach was feeling sick but recruiting never stops, and that meant an in-home visit with a top target.

As the head coach met with the family of the desired player, he saw dinner had already been prepared.

Chicken curry.

He knew he had to eat it to avoid possibly offending the family, but it was the last thing he wanted at that moment.

"I needed that like I needed a hole in my head," he said laughing about the whole experience.

God, that reminds me of a time I visited a Montana University friend in Seattle. His dad owned a fishery, and brought home salmon pulled from the disgusting Pacific Ocean earlier that day. 

I was "in for a treat" they said. In reality, a microwaved plate of my brain would've looked more appetizing. I slathered that in an illegal amount of butter and needed about three beers to finish it.

It's honestly hilarious the lengths we go to not offend a dinner-maker.

 THAT DUDE DIVINE. In honor of NSD, here is my favorite high school highlight reel ever. 

It belongs to former West Virginia running back Noel Divine:

 THOSE WMDs. The best high school QB with no D-1 offers... London cabbies: "The Knowledge" is better than Uber and GPS... Why Penny Hardaway relates to Russell Westbrook's situation... Japanese train station built around 700-year-old tree... Dan Wakefield needs a ride.

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