September 30, 1999 Tight end Willie Roberts will be making his official visit to Ohio State this weekend. Roberts says that he knows two other schools that he definitely will visit, those being Georgia Tech and Auburn, unless of course he would end up committing to Ohio State before that. He said that the other school that he would probably visit would be Purdue and then he is looking at Miami as well. Roberts said he does not have a favorite right now, but as he put it, Ohio State in on the rise. He said "I like their program, I've liked them for a long time," and he added "The more I know about Ohio State, the more I like them." Also making his official visit this weekend is DE Nautyn McKay-Loescher (6-4, 245, 4.55) from Toronto, Canada. McKay-Loescher is considered to be the top overall prospect in Canada this season. There will be several players making unofficial visits to the Buckeyes' game with Wisconsin. As expected, running back Walter Reyes from Youngstown Struthers High School in Ohio told me last night that he is going to be at Ohio State for an unofficial visit this weekend to see the Buckeyes play Wisconsin. Reyes said that he has set up official visits to Indiana for December 3rd and Syracuse for December 10th. He said he definitely is also planning to set up official visits to Ohio State and Michigan State and probably Pitt. He said that the two other schools that he is considering are Tennessee and West Virginia. Reyes has been offered a scholarship by every one of those schools except Tennessee. He has rushed for 684 yards in five games thus far this season. He told me that his top two right now would be Ohio State and Syracuse, with Indiana number three. Another running back that the Buckeyes have offered a scholarship to is Chris Perry from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, and Perry is still planning to visit Ohio State and lists Ohio State as one of his two leaders. Ohio State and Michigan are still his top two choices. Perry is averaging 185 yards per game rushing this season and also is returning punts and kickoffs. In a game two weeks ago, he scored four times. Chris Perry's teammate, QB Sean Cassiday, is no longer being pursued by the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes have stopped calling Cassiday, so he is now looking elsewhere. Another top out-of state talent has scheduled to Ohio State. He is one of the South's premier wide receivers. Kelvin Kight (6-0, 185, 4.45) from Lithonia Georgia has scheduled an official visit to Ohio State for the weekend of October 7th. Kight has been offered a scholarship by the Buckeyes, and is looking at Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, Florida State, Florida, Vanderbilt, Maryland, Alabama, Tennessee and Notre Dame, and all of those schools except for Tennessee and Notre Dame have already offered him a scholarship. He has a 3.3 GPA and will take the SAT in October. He caught 52 passes as a junior and accounted for 12 touchdowns. He tells me that right now, he does not have a favorite. Kites says that he will probably also make an official visit to Florida State, but is not sure of any other of his official visits. The Buckeyes are also back in the running for LB Mike Goolsby (6-4, 225, 4.53) from Joliet Catholic High School in Illinois, and Goolsby is a tremendous talent that Ohio State would love to land. Goolsby told me two nights ago that he is still heavily leaning toward Notre Dame, but he said he is considering setting up official visits to Ohio State, maybe Miami of Florida, and perhaps Michigan State. All four schools have offered him a scholarship. He said that he is definitely still highly favoring Notre Dame, but he is aware of the allegations and potential probation that Notre Dame will have to deal with. He said that he is going to talk to coaches from Notre Dame to see how all of this might affect him, so certainly that could eventually work in the Buckeyes' favor. A couple of the top line prospects in Florida either will make an official visit to Ohio State or are considering an official visit to Ohio State. OL Roderic Eason (6-6, 290, 5.1) from Jacksonville Raines High School in Florida, the same high school as Maurice Harris. He has a 2.7 GPA and a 980 on the SAT. He has started at offensive tackle for Raines High School since his sophomore season. He is one of the top blockers in the state of Florida and he tells me that he is definitely planning an official visit to Ohio State. Eason is looking at Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, Virginia, Florida State, and Florida. He said that Virginia is the only one that has offered him a scholarship so far, but said that the Buckeyes have talked to him about an official visit and he definitely is planning to schedule one. However, he did say that Florida State is probably his favorite, and by the way, his teammate Maurice Harris is hoping to pass the test for college entrance so he can enroll at Ohio State in time for Winter quarter. OL Kevin Deaton (6-5, 290) from Merrit Island Florida will be an offensive guard in all likelihood in college. He has a 3.6 GPA and an 890 on the SAT and bench presses over 300 pounds. He also is a fine baseball player, playing first base and pitching, and he might want to give both sports a try in college. Deaton is well aware of Ohio State's reputation in both football and baseball. Deaton tells me that he is looking at Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Michigan State, Duke, South Florida and Central Florida. Deaton has scheduled on official visit thus far, that being to Duke for the weekend of December 3rd. On the east coast, one of the top running back prospects in the state of New Jersey is Malcom Postell (6-2, 200, 4.5) , and Postell is getting a call just about every week from the Buckeyes. He has a 2.4 GPA but does need to raise his SAT. He tells me that his top choices are Ohio State, Syracuse, Nebraska, Pitt, Clemson, Iowa, Rutgers, and North Carolina State. If he manages to raise his test scores, he is going to have plenty of scholarship offers. Another running back that likes the Buckeyes is Mitchell Marshall (6-, 195, 4.5) from Bowlingbrook, Illinois. He says that Ohio State is one of his top choices, and he is looking at Ohio State as well as Minnesota, Tennessee, Michigan and Wisconsin. He has set up one official visit thus far, that being to Minnesota for the weekend of December 3rd, although he said that is subject to change. Thus far all of the schools are calling him, but none have offered him a scholarship. Tight end is an important position in this year's recruiting class. As I mentioned, Willie Roberts is making an official visit to Ohio State this weekend and the Buckeyes have already hosted tight end Wil Svitek from California, and they already have a commitment from Jason Caldwell from Mentor, Ohio. Another tight end that the Buckeyes are interested in is Eric Butler (6-6, 235, 4.8) from Lexington West Davidson High School in North Carolina. He has a 3.3 GPA and a 1010 on the SAT. Butler caught 13 passes as a junior, but he already has 12 catches this season. He tells me that he is hearing quite a bit from OSU and he likes the Buckeyes as well as the four in-state schools, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke and Wake Forrest. He also is looking at South Carolina, Tennessee and Air Force and Army. Butler says the would like to schedule an official visit to Ohio State. Thus far, South Carolina has offered him a scholarship. Offensive lineman Ike Ndukwe from Dublin Kauffman High School in Ohio has committed to Northwestern. The Buckeyes had an interest in Nkukwe, but had not offered him a scholarship. DL Jordan Stockwell from Worthington Kilbourne High School was at Ohio State's game this past weekend against Cincinnati. Stockwell had not really been mentioning Ohio State as one of the schools he has been looking at, but when I spoke with him recently, he said he is definitely going to visit Boston College and Rutgers, and he is also looking at Sough Carolina and Purdue. Those four schools have offered him a scholarship, and UCLA and North Carolina are other schools that he is definitely considering. Stockwell did add that he is also looking somewhat at Ohio State, and that if the Buckeyes wanted him to make an official visit, he would consider it. while Ohio State is interested in Stockwell they have not offered a scholarship or asked him to make an official visit. September 27, 1999 DE Nautyn McKay-Loescher (6-4, 245, 4.55) from Toronto Central Tech in Canada also is making his official visit to Ohio State this weekend. He is the top overall prospect in Canada this year. He originally committed to Miami, however, his mother is from the United State and she wants him to look at other schools before he makes a final decision, so he now says he is not committed to Miami though they are his leader. He also has an official visit scheduled to Michigan when Ohio State plays Michigan, and will visit Illinois December 3rd and will make his official visit to Miami sometime in November. He also is looking at Nebraska, USC and Boston College for his 5th official visit. TE Eric Knott (6-4, 235) has begun to schedule his official visits. Knott, form Detroit Henry Ford High School, is without question one of the country's top tight end prospects. He has a 2.3 GPA and an 18 on the ACT, will make an official visit to Michigan State the weekend of December 3rd and is also looking at Ohio State, Tennessee, Miami, Florida State and UCLA. One school conspicuous by its absence is Michigan. For the second time in a row, Knott failed to mention Michigan as one of the schools he is looking at when I spoke with him. Knott says he is definitely planning to schedule official visits to Ohio State and Tennessee in addition to the one he has scheduled to Michigan State. All the schools that he has under consideration have offered him a scholarship. One of the top OL prospects in the state of New Jersey is interested in Ohio State. Justin Barton (6-6, 290, 5.2) from Vorhees Eastern High School lives in New Jersey now, but was born in Columbus, Ohio as his dad was a grad student at Ohio State when Barton was born. He told me last night that he is looking at Ohio State, Nebraska, Michigan, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Tennessee. He has set up three of his official visits. He will visit Georgia Tech December 3rd and North Carolina December 10th, and both of those schools have offered him a scholarship. He will then visit Tennessee December 17. If the Buckeyes as him to make an official visit, it's pretty certain that he would visit Ohio State as well. DB Antwaun Rogers (6-2, 155,4.5) from Middletown, Ohio tells me that he is definitely still looking at Ohio State. Rogers says that he wants to stay pretty open minded on his college choice, but among the schools he mentioned are Boston College, Purdue and Iowa who have all offered him a scholarship. He also mentioned Ohio State, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Indiana. He said that right now he is not sure who he really likes best, but if the Buckeyes would come up with a scholarship offer, I think Antwan Rogers would be very, very tempted to commit, but as of right now Ohio State has not offered him a scholarship. A player that says the Buckeyes have offered him a scholarship is WR Jerome Collins (6-3, 205) from Wheaton Warrensville South High School in Illinois. Collins tells me that he currently has a top five of Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA, Notre Dame and Miami of Florida, though he is also looking at Purdue, Michigan and Wisconsin. Collins said the Ohio State and UCLA have offered him a scholarship so far, but that he does not have a favorite as yet and that he is not sure on his official visits to this point as he has not yet begun to set any of those up. A running back in the state of Florida that the Buckeyes are very interested in landing if he qualifies academically is Alex Hanes (5-11, 200) from Orlando Evans High School in Florida. He rushed for 1700 yards and 18 touchdown last season, bench presses 300 pounds and has a 37 vertical jump. He has a 2.6 GPA but needs to raise his 15 on the ACT. He tells me that he is looking at Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Miami, Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Michigan and Notre Dame. He says that the schools in the South that he is considering have offered him a scholarship and that the schools such as Ohio State and Michigan and Notre Dame have told him that a scholarship will be available if he passes his test. In two games this season, he has rushed for 405 yards. On the other hand, an outstanding WR talent from Texas says he is no longer interested in the Buckeyes. D.J. Johnson, form Grand Prairie Texas, one of the country's top WR prospects, at one time had told me that OSU was among his top five choices, but now he says that Texas is his leader with Florida State second, Notre Dame third and Miami and Tennessee round out the schools that he still has under consideration. The Buckeyes had a number of recruits at the Cincinnati game last weekend, and probably the biggest name in attendance was super lineman Antonio Hall (6-5, 300). Hall's Canton McKinley team played in Columbus on Friday night where they were upset by Grove City and Antonio stayed overnight in the Columbus area and went to the Buckeyes' game. He told me that he is definitely interested in Ohio State and said that in fact he is pretty much decided on three of his official visits, and one of them will be to Ohio State. He is planning to make official visits to Ohio State, Michigan and Florida State, though he does not have exact dates for any of those visits yet. Much will depend on how far Canton McKinley goes in the playoffs, so he will probably not start visiting schools until at least sometime around the weekend of December 10th. Hall said that after Ohio State, Michigan and Florida State it is very hard to decided who else to visit, but that some of the schools he is considering are Penn State, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan State, Maryland and Notre Dame. Virtually every school that has been in contact with him have offered him a scholarship. Notre Dame has not because he has not gone through their admissions department. I think that in the end, his decision will come down to either Ohio State or Michigan. DL Jordan Stockwell from Worthington Kilbourne High School was also at the Ohio State win over Cincinnati. Stockwell had previously not shown much interest in the Buckeyes but he now is taking a look at Ohio State. He says that in all likelihood he will make official visits to UCLA, Boston College and Rutgers, and both BC and Rutgers have offered him a scholarship. He is also looking at Ohio State and Purdue as well as West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Purdue and South Carolina have offered him a scholarship as well. Travis Saylor, another lineman from the Buckeye state was also at the Cincinnati game, and three of the Buckeyes verbal commitments were also on hand, Andrew Lee, John Hollins and Darien Scott who made the trip from West Virginia to see Ohio State play. Also, two of the top juniors from the state of Ohio were on hand. What both of them told me is very encouraging for Ohio State. Gary McGee, a running back at Reynoldsburg High School, said that he is very impressed with Ohio State, and that is the main school that he is considering. Gary might be the top running back in the state of Ohio for next season. Also linebacker/tight end Chad Anderson from Canton McKinley High School was at the game and Anderson is very impressed with Ohio State as well. Anderson tells me that he is looking at Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh and Kentucky, but he seemed very, very impressed with the Ohio State program. DB Johanas Buchannon (6-1, 210, 4.5) from Atlanta Douglas High School is one of the top DB prospects in the South, and the free safety says that Ohio State is one of his top choices. He has a 2.4 GPA and an 820 on the SAT. Thus far in three games this season he has picked off three passes. He tells me that he is looking at Florida State, Ohio State, Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan and all five schools have offered him a scholarship. He said that those are the five schools that he is really considering highly at this point and that as right now he is planning on making official visits to all five. He is said he is definitely going to visit Florida State and the the Seminoles would probably be his leader at this point. Then he said Tennessee and Alabama would probably next on his list, but he is definitely interested in both Ohio State and Michigan and is planning to make official visits with both the Buckeyes and the Wolverines. Defensive back Jonas Buckles (5-11, 185, 4.5), a very good one from Texas, got a call last week from Buckeye defensive backfield coach Jon Tenuta, and Buckles said that Tenuta told him that he would love to see him come to Ohio State. He attends Houston Yates High School where he has a 3.2 GPA and has picked off two passes in the first three games this season. Buckles tells me that he is looking at Tennessee, Florida State, Texas A&M, Texas, Ohio State, Michigan and LSU. He said that all of the schools have indicated to him that they want him and that Coach Tenuta said Ohio State is definitely interested in him. He added that he is definitely considering the Buckeyes. Jonas Buckles is not the only prospect at Houston Yates High School that the Buckeyes are interested in. Jermaine Joseph (6-0, 225, 4.5) is arguably the top fullback prospect in Texas, and Joseph also has an interest in Ohio State. He has a 3.5 GPA and names Ohio State, Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas as his favorite schools. Of course Coach Jon Tenuta has also spoken with Jermaine Joseph. One of the top line prospects in the South is offensive lineman Carlos Joseph (6-6, 305, 5.1) from Miami Edison High School in Florida, and the Buckeyes have offered him a scholarship. Joseph told me last night that he is currently looking at Miami, Ohio State, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Auburn, Tennessee and Penn State. He said he is not really looking at Michigan any more. He said that all the schools on his list have offered him a scholarship. He made an unofficial visit to Miami to see both Penn State and the Miami Hurricane. He has a 2.5 GPA and scored a 20 on the ACT. He tells me that he is trying to narrow things down so that he can decide on who to make official visits with. Right now he is just not certain at all who he will visit. In Massachusetts, the top overall prospect in the state is interest in Ohio State. Diamond Ferry (5-10, 195, 4.45) from Everett Massachusetts plays both running back and defensive back and could play either running back or corner back in college. He has a 2.8 GPA and in looking at Syracuse, Ohio State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Nebraska and Tennessee. The Buckeyes are very interested in him though they have not yet officially offered him a scholarship and Ferry is not naming any one school as a favorite. September 23, 1999 An outstanding line prospect and tight end prospect from the state of Iowa says he is now interested in Ohio State. Jon Doty (6-8, 270, 4.9) from West Des Moines Dowling High School is one of the top overall prospects in the state of Iowa. He is playing tight end this season and has caught seven passes, but I feel he will end up as an offensive tackle in college and at 6-8, 270 he should grow into a mamouth offensive lineman. Doty told me last night that he is looking at Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Minnesota and Kansas, and all those schools have offered him a scholarship. Doty is also looking at Michigan State, Purdue, Northwestern, Syracuse, Notre Dame and he has now added Ohio State to his list. He said he will probably make official visits to Iowa and Kansas State and maybe Iowa State and that his last visit or two would be up for grabs at this point. DB Mark Dorsey (6-2, 190, 4.35) from Jacksonville Bowles High School in Florda is a fine prospect that went to Ohio State's football camp this summer. Dorsey intercepted five passes as a junior. He went to football camps this summer at Ohio State, Notre Dame and Kentucky and he is looking at Kentucky, Tulane, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Virginia, Alabama and Louisville at this point. Thus far, Kentucky is the only one of those schools that has offered him a scholarship. A line prospect that the Buckeyes are interested in from the State of Ohio is Garrett Bush (6-3, 260, 5.15) from Canton, McKinley High School, and Bush is looking at Ohio State.Bush starts at DE and offensive guard. He tells me he is looking at Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Purdue. Thus far only Michigan has offered a scholarship and Bush says that the Wolverines are probably his favorites, but he is interested in Ohio State and the Buckeyes are showing interest in him. Of course the Buckeyes are very interested in his teammate, Antonio Hall. Quarterback Rick McFadden from Youngstown Struthers High School is having a good season thus far. He has thrown for about 700 yards on four games. McFadden has not yet begun to schedule any of his official visits yet, but he is in the process of working on dates since he has to work around his basketball schedule. McFadden tells me that he will probably soon schedule official visits to West Virginia, Indiana and maybe Miami of Ohio, and all three of those schools have offered McFadden a scholarship. He is also looking at Ohio State, and says that the Buckeyes have indicated that between him and Bill Lieber, they consider those two to be the top two QB prospects they are interested in in the state of Ohio. McFadden says that right now, he does not have a favorite. In the state of Pennsylvania, offensive lineman Jeremy McCorkle (6-7, 295) from Freeport is a prospect that the Buckeyes are calling and he has now set up two official visits. He is going to visit Syracuse the weekend of December third and North Carolina the weekend of December 17th. McCorkle also is looking at Ohio State as well as Michigan, and both are still calling him. He is also looking at Indiana and South Carolina. So far Syracuse, North Carolina, Indiana and South Carolina have offered him a scholarship. In fact, 20 schools have now offered him a scholarship. Ohio University offered him just this past Tuesday night. He says that right now, he does not have a favorite. On Tuesday afternoon the Buckeyes landed yet another verbal commitment, and it came from another Ohioan when tight end Jason Caldwell (6-4, 265, 4.75) from Mentor, Ohio committed to Ohio State. Caldwell went out for football for the first time as a junior and then went to Ohio State's football camp in June as was very, very impressive. In fact, the Buckeyes seemed very close to offering him a scholarship at that point. However, the Buckeyes held off but he made an official visit to Ohio State this past weekend to see the game. Caldwell told me he talked on the line with Coach Cooper, Coach Conley and Coach Jacobs, and when they offered him a scholarship that he decided that it was time to go ahead and commit to Ohio State. Caldwell says that he just loves the atmosphere at Ohio State and just felt like it was the right place for him. He had also been considering Michigan, Kentucky as well as some other SEC schools as well as South Carolina and some MAC schools. Thus far in four games this season in four games he has caught 13 passes and scored three touchdowns. He will go to Ohio State as a tight end, but it is not out of the question that he could eventually move to the offensive line. He is getting bigger but has very good feet and he has a chance to really develop at the next level, though I do expect him to red shirt as a freshman at Ohio State. He has close to a 3.0 GPA and scored a 24 on the ACT. Tight end Billy Palmer (6-4, 255 4.8) has been offered a scholarship by Ohio State, and will soon set up an official visit with the Buckeyes. Palmer is from Orlando Lake Highlands High School in Florida and has a 3.1 GPA and scored a 960 on the SAT. Palmer's older brother, Jesse Palmer, is a quarterback for the Florida Gators. Billy Palmer is interested in Florida, but he says he is just as interested in Ohio State and will set up a visit with the Buckeyes. He is looking at Ohio State, Florida, Michigan, Miami, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Tech. Ohio State, Michigan and Georgia Tech have already offered him a scholarship. Palmer also plays defensive end. Michigan has offered a scholarship for the defensive side of the ball, but the Buckeyes have offered a scholarship as a tight end. Palmer says he has no preference as to what side of the ball he plays on in college. He is setting up official visits to Ohio State, Michigan and Virginia. Another prospect that is in the process of setting up official visits is DB Stewart Schweigert (6-2, 195) from Saginaw Heritage High School in Michigan. He is one of the top athletes in the state of Michigan and has been offered a scholarship by Ohio State and has set up two of his official visits. He will visit Michigan State the weekend of December 3rd and Purdue the weekend of December 10th. He is also looking at Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Indiana. He said that all of those schools except for the Fighting Irish have offered him a scholarship. He said, however, that he currently does not have a favorite. RB Tyrell Dortch (6-0, 190, 4.4) from Hoboken, New Jersey has been offered a scholarship by Ohio State and remains interested in the Buckeyes. Dorch told me that he has pretty well decided on his first official visit. He said hopefully his team will be playing for the state championship December 5th, and then he would visit Michigan State the weekend of December 10th. He is also looking at Ohio State, Tennessee, Boston College, South Carolina, Nebraska, North Carolina State and Florida State. All of those schools except for Florida State and Tennessee have offered him a scholarship. Dorch added that two schools that had offered him a scholarship, Michigan and Penn State, are now off his list and that he currently does not have a leader. Also in New Jersey, another prospect the Buckeyes have offered a scholarship to is wide receiver Johnnie Morant (6-4, 220, 4.5) from Parsippani Hills. He caught 39 passes and averaged 25 yards per catch as a junior. Morant says he has not yet begun to set up his official visits, but he is looking at Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Minnesota, Georgia, Pitt, Clemson and Syracuse. All of those schools have offered Morant a scholarship. He is no longer looking at Penn State, another school that at one point had offered him a scholarship. Morant said he is not sure who he will visit, but he did say that his two favorites would probably at this point be Clemson and Georgia. WR Rasheem Sharp (6-3, 200) from St. Paul Central High School in Minnesota is a very talented athlete, and if he qualifies academically could be offered a scholarship by Ohio State. Sharp is an outstanding wide out and a fine return man as well. However, he has a 2.0 GPA and a 16 on the ACT. He tells me that he is looking at Ohio State, Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan State, and those are his four favorites, and that all four have indicated that they may end up offering a scholarship if he passes his test. Linebacker Robert Reynolds (6-4, 215, 4.6) from Bowling Green Kentucky is another outstanding player that the Buckeyes would love to land. He is arguably the top overall prospect in the state of Kentucky, and one of the country's top inside/middle linebackers. Reynolds went to the Notre Dame/Michigan game at the beginning of the season and traveled down to Miami to see the Penn State/Miami game last weekend. He also has been to Purdue to see the Notre Dame at Purdue game and says he is currently looking at Tennessee, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Virginia, Texas and Florida, and has recently added both Texas and Florida to his list. All of the schools on his list have offered him a scholarship except Texas and Florida as well as Tennessee.The Buckeyes offered long ago and would love to land Reynolds. Now lets run down some of the biggest targets of this year's OSU recruiting effort. Two of the biggest targets for this year's recruiting class is certainly Antonio Hall, the outstanding two-way lineman from Canton McKinley and Michael Munoz from Cincinnati Moeller. D.J. Williams, the super linebacker from California is a huge target of the Buckeyes and Ohio State is certainly is in the ballgame with Williams as he continues to say that Ohio State is one of the schools he is definitely interested in. Also in California is tight end Wil Svitek, who made an official visit to Ohio State for the Ohio State/UCLA game as well as Alex Holmes, another tight end from California that is an outstanding prospect that the Buckeyes would absolutely love to land. Travis Johnson is another Californian that the Buckeyes would love to land, and all of those players continue to say that Ohio State in on their list, as does DB Matt Groetegood from California. Groetegood has not yet announced a decision and continues to say that he has Ohio State as well as UCLA, Michigan and USC in the running. Also, the Buckeyes would love to add a quarterback to this recruiting class, and Jon Van Cleave from Texas is perhaps at the top of the list. Van Cleeve will make an official visit to Ohio State, though he does not have an exact date. From the state of Michigan, Eric Knott as well as Chuck Rogers continue to look at Ohio State, as does Marco Cooper. All three players are definitely targets of the Buckeyes, and the Buckeyes have a shot at all three, though Ohio State I feel has the best shot at Marco Cooper. Also from Virginia RB Chris Perry from Fork Union remains a big target of Ohio State, as does RB Willis McGahee who visited Ohio State for an official visit the weekend of the UCLA game. From Texas, the Buckeyes would love to land tight end Brock Edwards and from New York, Shane Olivea is an outstanding offensive lineman who has scheduled a December third visit to Ohio State. He is one of the premier targets on Ohio State's list. The Buckeyes would also love to add DB DeShuan Carter from Louisiana, and Carter continues to have Ohio State on his list as well. As is usually the case, there were many recruits in attendance last Saturday at the Ohio University game last Saturday. All of the prospects were on unofficial visits. One of those players was an outstanding WR from out of state. Ronnie Rodemer (6-4, 190, 4.5) from Morgantown, West Virginia was at the game and seemed very impressed with the Buckeye's win. Roedemer has had an increase in interest in Ohio State lately, and that increase seems to be on the rise. In fact, Reedemer now says he is now going to make another unofficial visit to Ohio State, and says he will be back in Columbus to see the Wisconsin at Ohio State game. He caught 28 passes last season and is an outstanding wide receiver who has scheduled two of his official visits already. He will make an official visit to Tennessee on November 6th to see the Notre Dame at Tennessee game, and the following weekend he will make an official visit to UCLA. He is currently looking at Ohio State as well as Tennessee, UCLA, Michigan, West Virginia, Florida State, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Michigan State. Thus far, Tennessee, West Virginia , Syracuse, Notre Dame and Michigan State have officially offered him a scholarship, and Roedemer says that the Buckeyes are talking about offering a scholarship as well. He says he doesn't have any favorites right now, but definitely his interest in Ohio State is on the rise. As always, many Ohioans were in attendance at the Ohio State game last Saturday for unofficial visits, including DL John Lumpkin from Warren Harding. Lumpkin is a fine prospect that the Buckeyes are very interested in, though they have not yet offered him a scholarship. He was impressed with OSU's win and continues to say that he is looking at Ohio State as well as Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Syracuse, and all but the Buckeyes have offered him a scholarship. Lumpkin says that probably Michigan and Indiana are his top two. Also at the Ohio State win over Ohio U. were kicker Josh Huston, the top specialist in Ohio, DL Keenan Johnson, QB Nathan Poole and his teammate TE Matt Hines, DB/WR Jamie Cooper, Lineman Kevin Galinski and WR Bobby Long. Several underclassmen were also in attendance including Maurice Hall from Columbus Brookhaven High School and Eric Fritz from Dublin Kauffman High School. September 17, 1999 The Buckeyes play Ohio tomorrow at Ohio Stadium and there will be as always recruits at Ohio State for unofficial visits with the Buckeyes. As of right it doesn't look like there will be any players on official visits to Ohio State on Saturday, but nonetheless it's still very possible that players could commit to Ohio State on unofficial visit tomorrow as happened with Andrew Lee last weekend when he committed to Ohio State the day after making and unofficial visit to the Ohio State/UCLA game. DB Matt Groetegood (6-0, 200) from Santa Anna Mater Dei High School in California still has not announced a decision. Groetegood had said at one point that he would like to announce the decision by the end of August. He then said that he would like to announce the decision before school started, then once school started he had said that he would announce any time, however, that has not yet happened. There have been plenty of rumors going around that he would select either UCLA or Michigan, but he says that all four schools are still under consideration, UCLA, Michigan, Ohio State and USC. Another prospect the Buckeyes have offered a scholarship to is fullback Dustin Picciotti (6-3, 235) from Doylestown Central Bucks West High School in Pennsylvania. He told me that he would say his decision is pretty much down to seven schools. Picciotti said the seven are Ohio State, Syracuse, Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Penn State and Boston College, and all seven have offered him a scholarship. He rushed for to close to 2,000 yards and scored 41 touchdowns as a junior. Picciotti tells me that he has not yet begun to set up any official visits and he has not made any unofficial visits to see any college games yet, and he mentioned that he is not planning to go to any games this weekend. Picciotti said that really he is more concentrating on the football season, but he said he has narrowed things down to those seven schools and would start to think about official visits later. LB Emmanuel Casseus (6-3, 230, 4.52) from Vieux Montreal in Canada would like to make an official visit to Ohio State. He is an outside linebacker who has a scholarship offer from Wisconsin and he also has offers from Buffalo and Temple, but says the school he really would like to get an offer from is Ohio State. He is hearing from the Buckeyes though Ohio State has not offered him a scholarship. Casseus says that he has given a tape to Ohio State as the Buckeyes were in Canada in May checking on him, and he said he is hoping to hear back soon from Ohio State about a possible official visit. He will graduate in December and will be able to enroll at whatever college he chooses in January. At one point it looked like he might be close to committing to Wisconsin since the Badgers had offered, but as of now he has not done so and he says he really would like to see what happens with Ohio State. Another player the Buckeyes would love to land is quarterback Jon Van Cleave (6-5, 210) from Arlington, Texas. Van Cleave tells me that Ohio State is one of this top three choices and he is planning on making an official visit with the Buckeyes. He is off to a great start this season, passing for almost 700 yards in just two games, completing 43 of 69 passes. He says that he is going to visit Ohio State, though he has not set up an exact date for that official visit. He currently has a top three in no particular order of Ohio State, Wisconsin and Louisiana at Lafayette. Louisiana at Lafayette used to be Southwest Louisiana. He is also looking at couple of other schools, including Tennessee and Florida, but that Ohio State is definitely one of his top three choices. He says he has never been to Ohio State so he is looking forward to making an official visit with the Buckeyes, he just is not certain when that visit will be. The Buckeyes would love to land an outstanding prospect from Canada, Nautyn McKay-Loescher (6-4, 245, 4.5), and McKay-Loescher says that he too will make an official visit to Ohio State. In fact, he has already scheduled an exact date. He is a defensive end from Toronto Central Tech High School in Canada. Louscher had at one point committed to Miami, but his mother, who is from New York says that she wants him to see other schools before he makes a decision, so he now says he doesn't consider himself a commitment to Miami. He says that Miami is still his top choice but he is planning to make an official visit to Ohio State for the Ohio State/Wisconsin game, and will make an official visit to Michigan for the Michigan/Ohio State game. He also has scheduled Illinois for a December 3rd official visit and will visit Miami sometime in November. He is also looking at Nebraska, USC and Boston College. The Buckeyes are still looking at kicker Josh Huston (6-2, 185) from Findlay, Ohio, and Huston says that Ohio State is his top choice. He said that he is planning to go to Ohio State's game this weekend against Ohio U. He says he is looking at Ohio State, Bowling Green, Cal, USC, and he said he would be open to others as well. He did say that his favorite right now is Ohio State, but the Buckeyes have not offered a scholarship so he doesn't want to lean too heavily on Ohio State eventually offering a scholarship, but if the Buckeyes do offer, it would be fairly safe to say that he would commit. The Buckeyes want dearly to land a tight end in this recruiting class, and one that they are now in on is Quinn Sypniewski (6-6, 260, 4.6) from Johnston, Iowa. Of course the Buckeyes hosted Wil Svitek form California on an official visit this past weekend and that fine tight end from the West Coast is very interested in OSU, but he did not commit to the Buckeyes. As far as Sypniewski goes, he is a tight end/defensive end that is looking at Tennessee and Ohio State now in addition to USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, Colorado, Purdue, Kansas State, Northwestern, Iowa State and Iowa. Every school that he is considering has already offered him a scholarship except Ohio State and Tennessee. Stepnewski says that he is not close to making a decision and that he want to go through the whole recruiting process as much as possible because he makes a decision because, he said it has been an enjoyable process for him. He said that since the Buckeyes have started showing interest in him, that he has added Ohio State to his list. In South Carolina, an outstanding big running back that likes the Buckeyes and OSU has offered a scholarship is Greg Jones (6-1, 235, 4.5) from Beaufort Battery Creek High School. Jones is a running back that could end up a fullback in college who rushed for 1500 yards as a junior. He has a 2.5 GPA and a 930 on the SAT. Jones says he is looking at Ohio State, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn, Tennessee, North Carolina State, Michigan and Michigan State. Every school on his list has offered him a scholarship, however he says that right now he does not have any favorites at all, and he is not sure who he will make official visits with. Another running back that likes the Buckeyes is Brian Odom (6-1, 205) from Ada, Oklahoma. Odom is an all-purpose running back who rushed for almost 1900 yards last season, and also passed for 750 yards as he played quarterback in a shotgun formation and running back in a running formation. He is looking at Ohio State as well as Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, TCU, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma State and Tulsa. Thus far, Missouri is the only one of those schools to offer him a scholarship. He says that he is pretty sure he will visit Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma, and he would like to take an official visit to Ohio State. Running back Willis McGahee from Miami Central High School in Florida made an official visit to Ohio State last weekend and things went very will, though he did not commit to the Buckeyes. He is, however, now saying that Ohio State is now definitely one of his top choices, and perhaps at the top of his list, but there is still a long way to go and McGahee seems nowhere close to making a decision. Another fine running back that is going to make an official visit to Ohio State is Jeramy Fairrow (6-1, 190, 4.5) from Evansville Central High School in Indiana. He is a very talented prospect with the only question mark being academics. Fairrow has a 2.1 GPA and won't take his test until this fall. He was named all state as a Junior as he rushed for close to 1700 yards and scored 26 touchdowns. He also is an outstanding OLB, and in fact he set a school record for tackles for loses. Fairrow will be either a running back or safety in college. He says that the Buckeyes and all the other schools are recruiting him as a running back, though Michigan State is recruiting him as a strong safety. He tells me that he doesn't really have a favorite right now, but that some schools that he has in mind are Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Illinois and Indiana, and that all of those schools have indicated that as long as he qualifies academically, he will have a scholarship with those schools. Farrow said that he has decided on two of his official visits and will visit Ohio State and Michigan in the first two weekend in December, though he is not sure which one will be first on the weekend of December 3rd, but he will visit Ohio State one of those two weekends. He mentioned that three different Ohio State assistant coaches, including coach Heacock, have phoned him and he is most definitely interested in the Buckeyes. RB Keith Kelly (6-0, 215) from Walter Rural South Carolina ran for 1907 yards and scored 27 times last season and the Buckeyes have offered him a scholarship. He has a 3.5 GPA and scored an 840 on the SAT. He is looking at Ohio State, Florida State, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Tennessee. He said that all of those schools have offered him a scholarship. Kelly said that a number of those schools have offered him in writing, and said that the other have verbally offered, with the exception of Florida and Michigan. He said he is most likely going to make official visits to Ohio State, Florida State and Tennessee, and right now he is not sure which school would be his favorite. RB Chris Perry from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia is another one of the country's finest running back prospects that the Buckeyes have a shot at. Perry continues to say that he has Ohio State and Michigan pretty much dead even as his co-leaders, though he also is still considering Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Of the four schools, North Carolina is the only one that has not yet officially offered a scholarship. I feel the Buckeyes, though, have as good or better shot as anybody else at landing Chris Perry. It certainly helps that the Buckeyes have had so much success recruiting Fork Union even though they have primarily recruited the post graduate program and Chris Perry is in the undergraduate program. Wide receiver Andrew Lee (6-2, 190, 2.45) from Columbus Brookhaven High School of course committed to Ohio State after his unofficial visit to Ohio State. He is one of the top athletes in Central Ohio. Lee has caught 7 passes in the first two games and averaged a spectacular 38 yards per catch. He committed to Ohio State last Sunday. The Buckeyes, he said, offered him a scholarship at the Ohio State/UCLA game on Saturday, but he wanted to talk things over with his parents before notifying the Buckeyes on Sunday that he was ready to commit to Ohio State. One player the Buckeyes hosted on an official visit last Saturday was offensive lineman Jonathan Colon (6-7, 275) from Miami Central High School in Florida, and Colon was very impressed with his visit and now says that Ohio State is his leader though he did stop short of committing to the Buckeyes. He is also considering Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Auburn and West Virginia. Ohio State and Florida have offered him a scholarship thus far. Also visiting last weekend was TE Wil Svitek (6-6, 235) from Newberry Park, California, and though he would not say that Ohio State is necessarily his favorite following his visit, but he was extremely impressed with his official visit and that Ohio State is definitely one of his top schools. He says he is likely to make an official visit to Washington and he is also still considering UCLA, Stanford and Arizona. All but UCLA have offered him a scholarship. He does say that he might make a decision in the next month or so, and that he is going to make an unofficial visit to UCLA and Stanford and that after those two unofficial visits, he might end up making a decision sometime in the near future but the Buckeyes are very much in the running. The Buckeyes also hosted many other prospects on unofficial visits at the UCLA game on Saturday night, including OL Michael Munoz from Cincinnati Moeller, who continues to say that his decision is still down to the same five schools, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, Florida State and Texas, and he says he has no favorites still, but I think his decision will ultimately come down to either Ohio State or Tennessee, and I feel pretty good about the Buckeyes' chances of landing Michael Munoz. I also feel pretty good about the chances of the Buckeyes landing RB Walter Reyes from Youngstown Struthers. Reyes seemed very impressed at Ohio State on Saturday, and he continues to say that Ohio State, Syracuse and West Virginia are his three favorite schools, though in no particular order, and all three have offered him a scholarship. September 11, 1999 Svitek is looking at Stanford, Arizona, UCLA and Washington, and all but UCLA have offered him a scholarship. Sweetech does not have a favorite but he says this is going to be a very, very important official visit as he has never been to the Midwest and he is looking very much forward to his visit to Ohio State. McGahee has a 2.5 GPA and an 850 on the SAT. He ran for 1004 yards last sesaon and averaged 8.5 yards per carry and has run a 10.9 100 meters and 22.9 200 in track. He is also looking at Florida State, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee and Miami, and all of those schools have offered him a scholarship. One player that will not be making his scheduled visit to Ohio State this weekend is WR Jeramy Battier from Detroit Country Day High School in Michigan. He decided against taking his official visit the weekend because he had a game last night and felt like he wouldn't have enough time to take a good official visit with the Buckeyes this weekend, so he has postponed the visit. In fact, he has decided to postpone all his official visits until after the season, but Battier says that he is planning to reschedule his Ohio State visit. Duke and Stanford remain his top choices, but he is also considering Ohio State, Penn State and North Carlona. North Carolina is the only one of those schools that has not yet offered Battier a scholarship. A number of players are of course going to be on unofficial visits with the Buckeyes to see the big UCLA game tonight, and one of them to particularly keep in mind is WR Andrew Lee (6-2, 190, 4.45) from Columbus Brookhaven High School. If the Buckeyes were to offer Lee a scholarship tonight, I think there would be a very, very good chance that he would commit to Ohio State, and the Buckeyes are very interested in Lee, though they have not offered him a scholarship officially just yet. It is not out of the question, however, that that could happen tonight or soon. Lee has Ohio State, Purdue and Notre Dame as his top three choices, though he is also looking at Pitt some. Purdue has already offered Lee a scholarhip. Also on an unofficial visit tonight will be super lineman Michael Munoz and his father, Anthony. I don't expect that Michael would commit to Ohio State as he has steadfastly said that he is going to take official visits before making his decision, but none the less the Buckeyes are hoping to impress both Michael and Anthony tonight. Lineman Lonnie Simmons from Columbus Northland is going to be at the game tonight as well. He's certainly a possibility for the Buckeyes to offer a scholarship as Ohio State is very interested and Simmons has offers from Notre Dame and Michigan State, so it will be interesting to see perhaps the Buckeyes would offer Lonnie Simmons a scholarship either tonight or in the near future. There will be many, many other outstanding prospects at the Buckeyes' game tonight, including RB Brandon Joe from Westerville South and ther will be some outstanding out of state prospects at the game as well, including wide reciever Chuck Rogers from Saginaw Michiga, as will QB Bill Liber. A number of the Buckeyes' verbal commitments will also be at the game tomorrow night, including Alphonso Townsend and Terry Pogue. Also in attendance will be a number of the top juniors in Ohio will be in attendance for the UCLA game. One of those is DL Neshaun Gottard (6-5, 245) from Dayton Dunbar High school. Gottard will be among the top prospects in the state of Ohio next season. Looking ahead, the top prospect in Canada is going to make an official visit to Ohio State to see the Ohio State vs. Wisconsin game. Nautyn McKay-Loescher (6-3, 245, 4.55) from Toronto Central Tech is a great defensive end prospect. Michigan offered him a scholarship last weekend when he was at the Michigan/Notre Dame game. He has verbally committed to Miami, but none the less he is going to visit Ohio State and also plans to make official visits to USC, Nebraska and Miami. If he takes a fifth official visit, it will likely be to Michigan or Illinois. Linebacker John Andrews (6-0, 225, 4.5) from Atlanta Douglas High School in Georgia has Ohio State as his top choice. He made 110 tackles last season including four sacks. He has a 2.5 GPA and will take the SAT in October. Andrews tells me that he is looking at Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Purdue and Tennessee and that those are his top five. He also is looking at Wake Forest, Louisville, Georgia Tech and Nebraska. Thus far Alabama and Wake Forest have offered him a scholarship, but he says that Ohio State is his leader. He likes the Buckeyes' program, the tradition at Ohio State and he likes the fact that the Buckeyes have been turning out so many great linebacker prospects. DB Brian McFadden (6-1, 180, 4.45) from Hollywood McArthur High School in Florida is a cornerback prospect that has been offered a scholarship by Ohio State and remains interested in the Buckeyes. He tells me he is looking at Ohio State, Florida State, Miami and Syracuse, and all fo those shools have offered him a scholarship. He is also considering Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia and Georgia Tech, though those shcools, while they are showing interest, have not yet offered. McFadden took in the Miami Hurricane game last weekend but he has not yet set up any official visits. |