The Raw Score: Talking Buckeye Football with John Pentagon, The Greek, and Coach Bart (2/24/2012)

I was recently the featured guest on The Raw Score, a great new sports talk show on TalkRadio99.com that airs nightly from 6-7PM.

The show was founded by the same guys (John, Joe and Bart) that brought you TheBestDamnPoll.com. If you're looking for the best forums on the web to talk college football, get over to the TBDPITL forums now!

We hit on several topics — including new head coach Urban Meyer, Braxton Miller's future, recruiting, and the renewal of the greatest rivalry in sports, Ohio State/Michigan.

Check out the show right here, then post your thoughts and feedback on Twitter, or right here with LIVE, REAL-TIME commenting from Livefyre!



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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, DE Noah Spence

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

The already solid Buckeye defensive line got even stronger with the addition of 5-star DE Noah Spence, out of Bishop McDevitt HS in Harrisburg, PA.

The 6-3, 240 pound Spence is a pure rusher with great hands and an incredible burst off the line. He's a disruptive force in the backfield, but can also pursue and close on a mobile QB, or chase down a speedy RB practically anywhere on the field.

In addition to being listed as the No. 1 DE in the nation, Spence is listed as the No. 4 overall player in the nation regardless of position for 2012.

The following excerpt from Sporting News sheds some light on just how the Buckeyes were able to pluck Spence out of Pennsylvania.

Two weeks ago, Noah Spence told Sporting News he’d been in contact with new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. Apparently, Meyer is saying all the right things, because Spence is a Buckeyes commitment following an official visit to the school this past weekend.

“I’ve never met him, but I’ve talked to him,” Spence told Sporting News a week ago. “He’s a great guy, real down to earth and he wants to win.”

Spence also had considered Penn State, Florida, Notre Dame, Maryland and LSU, among others.

Spence hadn’t even met Meyer in person until recently—but by Sunday night, he had a picture of himself and the coach as his Facebook profile shot, with Spence wearing a mock Ohio State jersey.

“I’m so happy. I just felt so comfortable,” Spence told The Patriot-News in Pennsylvania. “It was all beginning to be too much. I’m more happy than relieved. I found what I was looking for at Ohio State.”

My favorite highlight in the video below is at 4:43. Watch as Noah overpowers and shoves two blockers aside on his way to the quarterback — Beast-mode, activated!




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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, OT Taylor Decker

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

With several key losses from the 2011 offensive line, signing some of the nation's best o-lineman was clearly on the mind of coach Urban Meyer and his staff.

We've already profiled Kyle Dodson and Joey O'Connor. The Buckeyes also made a huge addition to the future o-line with the signing of 4-star OT Taylor Decker from Butler HS in Vandalia, OH.

The 6-8, 310 Decker will be a literally huge and essential part of a rebuilding offensive line under coach Meyer. He's as strong, intense, and physically and athletically gifted as they come at his position.

Decker was previously committed to Notre Dame, but ended up at Ohio State when all was said and done.

The following excerpt from the Chicago Tribune sheds some light on just how the Buckeyes were able to "steal" Decker away from the Irish.

Urban Meyer plucked two of Notre Dame's assistants for his new staff at Ohio State. Now he's pilfering Irish recruits, too.

Offensive lineman Taylor Decker has switched commitments from Notre Dame to Ohio State after the Vandalia, Ohio, product took an official visit with the Buckeyes.

Decker had been committed to the Irish since last March, but Rivals.com reported that the move of Irish assistants Ed Warinner and Tim Hinton to Ohio State contributed to Decker's flip.

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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, OG Joey O'Connor

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

With several key losses from the 2011 offensive line, signing some of the nation's best o-lineman was clearly on the mind of coach Urban Meyer and his staff.

He and the Buckeyes made a significant addition to the o-line with the signing of 3-star OG Joey O'Connor from Windsor, Colorado.

The 6-4, 295 O'Connor is tenacious, hard-nosed, and just the type of player needed in Columbus if the Buckeyes are to have continued success up front in the trenches against the rest of the Big Ten.

Originally a Penn State verbal, everything changed when the Jerry Sandusky scandal and subsequent firing of Joe Paterno unfolded.

While O'Connor says he will always love what Penn State used to be, he's very happy with his choice to move forward at Ohio State.

A little bit about how his journey was forged from Windsor, CO to Columbus, OH can be found in this excerpt from the Denver Post.

Joey O'Connor found exactly what he was looking for in a recruiting trip to Penn State last June.

Then, On Nov. 5, a Saturday, the O'Connor family was watching TV when they noticed a crawl across the bottom of the screen making reference to child sexual abuse and the Penn State football program.

Within a week, O'Connor would decommit, his world turned upside down, not sure who he would be casting his lot with come Feb. 1, national signing day. He would eventually land at Ohio State, but not before his reopened recruitment exploded.

In late November, Ohio State hired Urban Meyer, the former Florida coach. Within a week, he was on phone with O'Connor. It was the one coach O'Connor had been waiting to hear from.

Meyer told O'Connor the Buckeyes coaching staff loved the way he played and would be going after him hard. A few days later, a member of Meyer's staff came for a visit.

A week after that game (the 2011 Under-Armor All-American game) he took his official visit to Ohio State. His only other visit had been to Penn State. And, when O'Connor went there last September, Joey was already committed - so, in a sense, he wasn't being wooed. At Ohio State, he was wooed.

More importantly, he found a comfort level with Meyer in a one-on-one breakfast during his visit to Columbus, Ohio.

The academic piece also aligned nicely: Ohio State has a top-tier criminal justice program, and O'Connor wants to go into law enforcement.

"What Penn State used to be will always be my No. 1. Always," O'Connor said. "So I felt, when I was (at Ohio State), that this was the closest I'm going to get to what my No. 1 was. So I figured, why look anywhere else.

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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, LB David Perkins

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

Coach Meyer said the linebacker position was the team's biggest area of need.

He and the Buckeyes made a significant addition to the linebacker corp with the signing of 4-star LB David Perkins from South Bend, Indiana.

Perkins is a physically gifted athlete and as you can see from the excerpt below out of the South Bend Tribune, he should make an impact on the field for the Buckeyes sooner than later.

"Now that recruiting is over, now it's time for the preparation
stage," Perkins said. "I'm going to get (to Columbus) as many times as I can before I'm officially down there and get acquainted with all the players and get down all the things that I need to know, so I'll be ready to come in and assume my role."

That role will be at linebacker. Many recruiting services has listed Perkins under the "athlete" category, but new OSU coach Urban Meyer has Perkins ticketed for linebacker.

"I remember him talking to me about that and I remember him talking to me about how big of a piece I am in this class and for the team because they're short on linebackers," Perkins said, "so me coming in as a freshman, it's not like a redshirt, or just do special teams this year. He said I'm coming in and I will be playing. There's no time to waste."

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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, LB Camren Williams

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

Coach Meyer said the linebacker position was the team's biggest area of need.

In West Roxbury, MA 4-star linebacker Camren Williams, that need was addressed.

Williams joined his HS teammate, CB Armani Reeves, as a package deal in pledging to play for the Buckeyes.

Both had previously been committed to Penn State, before the Jerry Sandusky scandal and Joe Paterno's dismissal.



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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, CB Armani Reeves

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

Coach Meyer said the linebacker position was the team's biggest area of need.

That may be true, but with only three returning cornerbacks on scholarship — Travis Howard, Bradley Roby and Doran Grant — after the release of both Dominic Clarke and DerJuan Gambrell, Reeves was a significant addition to this class, and he'll have a legit opportunity to find himself in the two-deep of Ohio State's defensive backfield sooner, rather than later.

Armani Reeves, a 4-star CB and kick returner from Catholic Memorial in Roxbury, MA joined his HS teammate, LB Camren Williams, in pledging to play for the Buckeyes.

Both had previously been committed to Penn State, before Hurricane Urban made landfall in Columbus.



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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — 2012 Buckeye Commit, OT Kyle Dodson

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

Coach Meyer said the linebacker position was the team's biggest area of need. That may be true, but the needs on the offensive line had to be a close second.

The future of the O-line was shored up with the commitment from 4-star lineman, Kyle Dodson.

His commitment video was pretty cool, but his highlight video is even better!



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Ohio State Post-Signing Day — "Ridiculous" 2012 Buckeye Commit, LB Jamal Marcus

One by one, we will be video-profiling each member of the Buckeyes 2012 recruiting class.

Coach Meyer said the linebacker position was the team's biggest area of need, and they certainly made a significant pick-up with today's commitment of 3-star LB Jamal Marcus from Durham, NC.

Feast your eyes on him below, and scratch you head as I did while trying to figure out just how the recruiting services "only" rate him as a 3-star prospect.

Of course, we've all seen this before — AJ Hawk or James Laurinaitis anyone?




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The Urban Effect: LB David Perkins Latest OSU Class of 2012 Commitment

And then there were 22...

Ohio State's 2012 recruiting class is nearing capacity fast.

Since coach Urban Meyer began recruiting in late November, Ohio State has received verbal commitments from WR Ricquan Southward, TE Tommy Schutt, DE Se'Von Pittman, DE Noah Spence, OT Taylor Decker, OG Joey O'Connor, and now Perkins (pictured at right).

Ohio State's class — which was barely ranked in the top 20 — is now currently rated as the No. 4 overall class in the Scout.com team rankings.

With the recent dismissals of Dominic Clarke and DerJuan Gambrell, there are approximately four to six slots, max, left before this class is full (remember, this is NOT the SEC where oversigning is the "in thing" to do).

Camren Williams and Armani Reeves could be the next two dominoes to fall, and there's still room (for now, anyway) for a couple more elite O-linemen like Jordan Diamond and Kyle Dodson to join the fold.

Jim Tressel was often criticized in his recruiting efforts for not being able to close as NSD came and went.

As of now with two weeks to go until NSD 2012, Meyer appears to be the anti-Tressel, and as much as Buckeye Nation loved Tressel, finishing his recruiting classes on a high note was his Achilles heel — as much or more as his neglect for being honest with the NCAA when it came to issues of compliance — but those days are in the past, thus, I digress.

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Urban Meyer, Ohio State Land Nation's Top Defensive Lineman

by Nick Weaver - BlockONation Contributor

The recruiting genius that is Urban Meyer has done it again!

Urban landed 5-star recruit Noah Spence today (both pictured at right), bringing his total to three 5-star prospects in as many weeks.

Spence is the No. 1 rated DE in the country and for those keeping track, that is yet another highly-touted defensive lineman to join the Buckeyes since Meyer was hired.

Spence is 6'4 and weighs in at 245 lbs. He is a defensive end from Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He will be joined on the ends by Adolphus Washington and Se’vone Pittman.

Spence was recently considered a Penn State lean -- as recently as two to three weeks ago Ohio State wasn't even on Spence's radar -- but with the Jerry Sandusky sex-scandal still in the news, it looks like the Nittany Lions troubles (and Urban Meyer) may have pushed Spence to OSU.

Noah was impressed with the guys as much as the coaches on his recent visit to Columbus. He blessed his twitter followers with the news. Here are some of his comments:

“I wasn’t really into them a whole lot, and as I got to learn about the staff and what they’re trying to do and how close it is to my home, it felt right.”

It feels right to us to Noah, welcome aboard the championship train!

He also said, "everyone was talking about their families and everything like regular people, everything wasn’t about football." He said that made him feel comfortable.

Noah, wait until September when you get to meet the rest of the Buckeye family we like to call, “Buckeye Nation”!

Since November, this is Ohio State’s 4th ESPN top 150 recruit.

TE Jake Stoneburner also acknowledged Meyer’s recruiting prowess on his twitter. “I guess our coach can recruit, huh”.

I did say earlier there would be more presents under the tree for Buckeye fans!

Wonder what we will get to unwrap next?!

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Urban Meyer Landing Some Big Fish In The Ohio State Recruiting Net

by Nick Weaver - BlockONation Contributor


Urban Meyer is doing what he does best — setting fire to the recruiting trail.

A great movie phrase comes to mind here -- “If you build it they will come”.

Urban has built a great reputation with Florida and it has carried over to tOSU. I have to insert my props to Coach Tressel for building a super foundation that Urban can just step in and run with.

I know what you are thinking, what about Luke? I know many think he did a good job, but me, I am not so sure.

I believe with the structure that was set up anyone could have went 6-6 with this Buckeye team. Let me get back on point, however. Urban has swooped in and made an impact in recruiting in just a couple weeks.

Meyer has been robbing the cradles of the other power house B1G teams.

With the verbals received from Tommy Schutt and Se'von Pittman (pictured at left), both Penn State and Michigan State have already felt the intoxicating effects of Urban, while Wisconsin is next up to get robbed. I can't wait to hear Biliema's remarks afterwards.

Running back Bri'onte Dunn realized his future will be better at Ohio State instead of going up north to scUm, and reassured the Buckeye Nation that he is 150% Buckeye!

Meyer has been able to do all that along with staying in tune with the fight going on over the baby bearing Urban as his middle name in Florida. Urban has developed a simple pitch that he tells the recruits -- “Not a Big Ten championship, not a national championship, but multiple championships”.

I really believe there are several top-notch guys yet to change their allegiances out of the top 150. Urban has now locked in his coordinators and the two-week Christmas break could see a couple other Christmas presents under the tree for Buckeye fans.

The Meyer camp has already started to turn down WRs because the team is practically overloaded at the position -- Urban recently added a couple of height and speed guys to our already fast receiving core.

While many complain that it is unfair for tOSU to have two separate coaching staffs, I say rubbish! It's an NCAA rule that many other schools have been granted use of.

Over a few thousand dollars in tattoos, the NCAA launched an investigation that has almost totaled one-million dollars (in my Austin powers voice) in costs.

I didn’t hear those critics feeling sorry for OSU during the season, amazingly enough. I can’t imagine the bill to investigate the “U” when that gets going.

The way I see it, the NCAA owes Ohio State this much, seeing as how they came in and took our lunch and ate it right in front of us, i.e. Hall, Howard, Herron, and especially Posey (excessive) suspensions.

I know everyone is as excited as I am to see what will happen the next couple months right up until NSD in February. I have already talked to many folks that wish it were Spring, 2012 NOW!

It can't get here soon enough.

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