OSU Buckeyes

There's no better way to begin a weekend than to win a national recruiting battle. Thad Matta's Ohio State Buckeyes found themselves in position to pop a cork Friday night when ESPN 60 guard D'Angelo Russell (Louisville, Ky./Montverde) popped for Matta's crew.

The Buckeyes edged Michigan State and national champion Louisville for the services of a versatile, highly regarded guard. Russell, known best for his catch-and-shoot effectiveness and scoring acumen for National High School Invitational champion Montverde Academy (Fla.), brings a dual-threat element to Matta's backcourt. He is ranked the nation's No. 24 overall prospect in the Class of 2014

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FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Part of a tight-knit family, Fairfield (Ohio) High School lineman Danny Burns would like to play in front of his mom and grandparents in college. But that won’t be a major factor in his decision.

So it is more coincidence, he says, that schools from bordering states Michigan and Kentucky lead for him.

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Editor’s note: Finding the Future is a RecruitingNation feature that will appear throughout camps and combine season, ranking prospects strictly on their on-field performance at the particular event. It does not reflect where each will land when the class is ranked by ESPN.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Nike Football Training Camp was loaded with top upperclassmen on Sunday, but a handful of 2015 prospects showed they could compete with some of the top competition from the Midwest.

1. OT Sterling Jenkins
6-foot-8, 295 pounds | OT | Pittsburgh Baldwin

Considering: Offers from Arizona, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Toledo, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and West Virginia

What we learned: With some of the top committed and uncommitted defensive linemen in the Midwest flocking to the NFTC, Jenkins certainly didn’t back down as he more than held his own against top-ranked talent.

“What I like about Sterling is he has the reach, the length of an elite tackle,” said former Florida State and NFL offensive guard Montrae Holland. “He’s young right now and has to get a better understanding of angles, but the overall tools are there. He has the raw material to be very good.”

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Urban Meyer is at it again.

The two-time national champion knows where the talent is and he’s not afraid to tap into Georgia time and again.

Ohio State went back to the Peach State late Wednesday night with offers to safety Kirk Tucker (Tucker, Ga./Tucker) and his teammate linebacker Detric Dukes, a Louisville commit.

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Jerome Baker (Cleveland/Benedictine) was told his recruitment would start blowing up after a successful sophomore season.

The 2015 running back/linebacker wasn’t expecting anything like this, however. And he surely wasn’t expecting the offers to come from such heavy hitters in the college football world, either.

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Mike Edwards (Cincinnati/Winton Woods) has more than a dozen offers, which is enough for him to start making decisions on which will be in his top group in the coming weeks.

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When Alabama offered Derek Kief (Cincinnati/LaSalle) three weeks ago, the junior receiver immediately scheduled a visit to the Crimson Tide. Kief was most looking forward to seeing how the Tide practiced considering they have won three of the last four national championships.

The 6-foot-5, 180-pound Kief got his chance to watch the Tide work last weekend on his trip to Tuscaloosa.

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This year’s NCAA tournament has been full of great stories, from Florida Gulf Coast’s Cinderella run to La Salle going from First Four to Sweet 16 to the Big Ten placing four teams in the final 16.

But what about the stories behind the stories -- the tales of how some of this year’s March Madness stars ended up at their eventual schools and helped shape this year’s tourney? To delve into those, this week’s top 10 looks at the 10 best recruiting stories from players and teams in the Sweet 16.

Top 10 Recruiting Stories From the Sweet 16

1. Trey Burke, Michigan
Mick Cronin is not going to want to hear this again, but it’s true. Burke was going to Cincinnati. It was nearly a done deal. But one last call to Michigan’s staff changed the fate of two programs. According to recruiting lore, Burke’s father called a final time asking Michigan if it was interested in Burke. If the answer was no, then Burke was going to Cincinnati. This was in late July of Burke’s pre-senior summer. Remember, it wasn’t like the now All-American was hot stuff then. He was good -- a late top-100 player -- but he wasn’t the player then that he has become. Ultimately, Michigan said it wanted Burke and the Wolverines landed him a few days later.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- For most high school players, the end of practice means they get a break from the incessant nagging and ceaseless instruction of their coaches. They go home, eat dinner, study and enjoy the respite until the whistles start blowing next time. For ESPN Watch List safety Quincy Wilson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./University School), that is not the case.

Wilson’s father is the defensive coordinator and the defensive backs coach at the University School, so Wilson jokes that he gets no respite.

“Oh no, there’s no break, there’s no break,” Wilson said. “Monday through Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Yeah, I get it at practice, before practice, after practice, in the car, at the dinner table ...”

The talented junior laughed about the nonstop instruction but he also credited his father with making him the player he is today -- one of the most coveted safeties in Florida.

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Urban Meyer was at it again Wednesday with yet another offer to a defensive lineman.

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Many high school prospects are evaluated for months or even years before a college program extends a scholarship offer. Highlights from sophomore seasons are compared to those of junior seasons to see progression and potential. Players who make a name for themselves as juniors are visited as seniors to gauge their possible impact at the next level. And then there are prospects like Joe Mixon (Oakley, Calif./Freedom) for whom the entire process takes three or maybe four days.

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In his words, his pursuit of the big one is over.

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It’s an offer the ESPN Watch List junior had talked about for awhile. Now, it has finally happened for the 6-foot-5, 254-pound offensive tackle.

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