OSU Buckeyes

The “what if” scenarios regarding college football are a revolving door this time of year.

Boston College, Temple, Auburn, Kent State, Wisconsin and Tennessee are just a few schools hit with coaching changes in the last few weeks. Those changes could have an impact not just with players on the current team, but in recruiting as well.

Urban Meyer isn’t likely to go anywhere after Ohio State’s 12-0 season, but what if one of his assistant coaches left for another gig?

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If he were still the coach of Wisconsin, Bret Bielema might be a little upset with Urban Meyer again.

A year after the Ohio State coach flipped Kyle Dodson from the Badgers, Meyer offered another offensive tackle committed to Wisconsin.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A position-by-position look at a perfect season for Ohio State, continuing today by looking back at the playmakers in the secondary who made a habit of breaking up passes and nabbing interceptions on the way to a perfect season.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

• Most valuable player: Christian Bryant might have been underrated for the contributions he made at safety, somewhat quietly going about his business and offering a reliable presence in the backend. Travis Howard played the finest, most consistent football of his career and tied for the Big Ten lead with four interceptions. But it was redshirt sophomore Bradley Roby who was the indispensable member of the secondary, transforming himself from a talented but easily distracted cover guy into an elite competitor over the last 12 months -- and developing into a potential high-round draft pick in the process.
• By the numbers: For most of the season, the one game Roby missed with a sore shoulder didn't keep him from maintaining his spot atop the national leaderboard in passes defended. But without getting a hand on the football in the rivalry win over Michigan to close out the year and not getting a chance to play in the Big Ten title game, Roby's impressive total of 19 combined breakups and interceptions over 11 games didn't hold up as No. 1 in the country -- he had to simply settle for second.

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The official visit of Gareon Conley (Massillon, Ohio/Washington) is an interesting one, as the ESPN 150 cornerback will spend a whole bunch of time one-on-one with Urban Meyer and his coaching staff.

While most of this weekend’s heavy hitters --Mike Mitchell (Plano, Texas, Prestonwood Christian) and Donovan Munger (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Shaker Heights) are expected in town -- will make their official visits beginning on Friday, Conley will not.

Because of the ACT test Saturday morning and a boys basketball game at Canton Timken later that night, Conley’s official visit actually started Wednesday night and runs through Friday.

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Ohio State’s -- pardon the pun -- blitz for outside linebacker Mike Mitchell (Plano, Texas/Prestonwood Christian) hits overdrive this weekend, as the 6-foot-4, 216-pound senior finally makes his way to Columbus.

The team has been trying to get Mitchell on campus for months, but his team’s success in the regular season and part of the postseason prevented the ESPN 150 prospect from coming to Columbus. Finally, Ohio State will have Mitchell all to its own on an official visit, as he'll be in town Friday through Sunday.

The Buckeyes have been no stranger to Mitchell, as assistants Tom Herman and Luke Fickell were in Plano last week to check in on the No. 121-ranked player in the country.

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Ohio State has led for Cleveland Heights (Ohio) receiver Shelton Gibson, but that does not mean the ESPN 300 receiver is committing anytime soon.

Gibson plans on taking at least a few official visits, and his first went to West Virginia the weekend of Nov. 30.

“It was great. I got a chance spend some time with the players and coaches and went to a great game,” Gibson said.

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The big four coming on official visits to Ohio State this weekend is now just three as David Dawson (Detroit/Cass Tech) had to change plans at the last moment.

The top-ranked offensive guard in the Class of 2013 was scheduled to join Gareon Conley (Massillon, Ohio/Washington), Mike Mitchell (Plano, Texas/Prestonwood Christian) and Donovan Munger (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Shaker Heights) as well as eight Ohio State commits for what looked like a big weekend.

Now, Dawson will have to find an open date that works with the Buckeyes.

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For the second time this week, the Oregon Ducks offered a star defensive recruit from SEC country. While trying to improve at the linebacker position, the Ducks continue to venture into the South in an effort to expand their recruiting reach. Early this week, the Ducks offered fast rising LB Zach Cunningham (Pinson, Ala./Pinson Valley).

Today Oregon wide receivers coach Scott Frost stopped by (Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett) and left after offering one of the elite defenders in the state. LB Trey Johnson (Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett) will be honored at a ceremony on Thursday to recognize him as the region's defensive player of the year.

The former Auburn commit will have to decide if the late offer from Oregon is enough to get him across the country for a visit. Ohio State appears to be in a good spot for Johnson, but -- as always -- if the Ducks get him on campus, they could potentially become a player for the four-star LB.

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Malcolm Cook (Fork Union, Va./Fork Union) hasn't officially decommitted from Virginia following the firing of four assistants, but the safety said he's re-opening his recruitment.

In the last 48 hours, the prospect has received 11 offers and entertained visits and phone calls from the likes of Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and USC. He planned to speak with the Trojans after basketball practice Wednesday, and he chatted in-person with Penn State assistant Charles London on Tuesday.

"It doesn't really matter to me about other schools looking at me," he said, when asked whether this new attention was a consolation. "The reason I committed to Virginia was because of the defensive coordinator, Coach [Jim] Reid. So I was really hurt by Coach Reid not being there.

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TYRONE, Ga. -- ESPN Watch List wide receiver Demarre Kitt has been popular over the last 10 days. A number of college coaches have stopped by Sandy Creek (Ga.) High School to check in on the 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior who sports offers from 11 major programs such as USC, Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson.

Kitt was verbally committed to Georgia for a few months before reopening his recruitment. The Bulldogs had three coaches, Rodney Garner, Kirk Olivadotti and Scott Lakos, at his game Friday night. While their attention was focused mainly on Georgia commit cornerback Shaq Wiggins, Kitt was happy to see them.

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Raphael Gaglianone is taking his recruitment into his own hands.

The kicker from Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor told ESPN that he is sending recent highlights from his junior season to several schools, including Stanford, Southern California, UCLA, Florida and Florida State.

Several other schools have already begun recruiting the 6-foot, 200-pound prospect, including Nebraska, Brigham Young, Duke, Ohio State and LSU. Gaglianone visited Ohio State this fall and said it was the best visit he has taken to any prospective college.

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From expert recruiter to a wizard with the numbers, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has to be creative because of scholarship restrictions handed down by the NCAA.

The key number to look at is 82 -- that’s the bottom-line number and the maximum amount of scholarship athletes the Buckeyes are allowed to have on their roster.

It’s a number Meyer has become quite good at maintaining for the past year after NCAA sanctions. While spots come at a premium at Ohio State right now -- that 82-scholarship limit will be in place through 2014, while other schools are allowed to have 85 -- Meyer is keeping things in check, though there will be a couple of players he’d love to have that he can’t sign because of it.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A position-by-position look at a perfect season for Ohio State, continuing today by looking back at an up-and-down season for the guys at the second level of the defense, a group that took off after a surprising midseason addition.

LINEBACKERS

• Most valuable player: There's not any question that Ryan Shazier was the most outstanding player at linebacker, and his numbers and various contributions might well give him a case that he was the one defender the Buckeyes couldn't live without. And while Zach Boren didn't play a full season at the position, didn't have anywhere near as much statistical production and still looked more like a fullback for a couple weeks after moving over to the defensive side of the ball, the senior's willingness to make the transition stands out by itself as invaluable to the team dynamic. But on top of that, the way he willed it into a success to stabilize a position that was already thin before getting wiped out by injuries will go down in Ohio State lore.
• By the numbers: The math is pretty easy, given the even split of the season for Boren, who moved over to linebacker during a Tuesday practice just before the seventh game of the year and never went back. It also helps to have a nice round number, and Boren's 50 tackles would have put him on pace to be the only defender aside from Shazier to hit triple digits if he'd spent the entire season chasing the football instead of occasionally carrying it at fullback. Considering how quickly he zoomed through the learning curve and how well he was playing at linebacker by the end of the season, perhaps Boren's stats would have looked even better over a full slate. But at the rate he produced over six games, a 12-game Boren might have looked like this: 100 tackles, seven tackles for a loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two recoveries.

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After crunching the numbers yet again, there might be room for seven more commits in Ohio State’s 2013 recruiting class.

But BuckeyeNation is sticking to its guns and staying with six. Why? Because there’s just too much that needs to happen for that number to increase, so we’re staying conservative.

The list looks a little different than last time, but here it is -- with reasons why instead of why not.

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Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is looking for a little help from his friends, and not just his assistant coaches.

That’s why the two-time national champion and first-year Buckeyes coach isn’t resting on his resume this weekend.

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