May’s second midweek madness gets existential. The big story of the day was the “discussion” about the future of our favorite sport- more on that after the jump.

Well, shoot.

Buckeye 411

• Sandman. Freak of Nature.  The guys at CBS Sports have taken a look across the college football landscape, and identified the physical specimen that we should keep our eyes on. tBBC Crush (seriously, I’m confident that he could crush all of us at once) John Simon makes the list for his tangibles and his work ethic; both of which are important factors in his leadership of this Buckeye team.
• Bar? Set. BBN Brother from another mother Grant brings the truth this week, including today’s look at why Buckeye Nation’s expectations for Coach Meyer are spot on- not only for the great program’s “rebound”, but based on his passion and track record-

But one thing is for sure – Urban Meyer will bring hardware back to Columbus with him before all is said and done. Gold pants, B1G titles and crystal footballs. For everyone who has piled on over the last twelve months – from those in Ann Arbor, Madison, and SEC country to those posted up at the headquarters of ESPN, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News – there’s simply no way around it. Urban Meyer wins, and he wins big.

The benefactor? THE Ohio State University.

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Tags: Alex Anzalone, Big lEast, Buzz Bissinger, Charles Eric Waugh, College Football, Cris Carter, E. Gordon Gee, EDSBS, Fans, FERPA, Head Injuries, Jim Tressel, Joey Bosa, John Calipari, John Simon, Kentucky, Mike Heuerman, Mike Leach, Mike McQueary, Nebraska, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, Playoffs, SBP, Urban Meyer
Categories: College Basketball, College Football, Humor, NCAA Investigations, Ohio State Football

“May you live in interesting times”- Ancient Curse

With news today that PA linebacker Alex Anzalone has both decommitted from Ohio State and is no longer considering the Buckeyes, it has certainly been an interesting week for Ohio State Football recruiting.

First, Lewis Neal acknowledged that his jumping on the Buckeye Bandwagon and that he needed to slow down and assess his future before making a solid commitment.

Anzalone’s change of heart was the second of the week, but could easily be seen as the third; since Buckeye “lock” Mike Heuerman decided instead to head to Notre Dame.

Interspersed in all of this was the story of Charles Waugh, a registered Kentucky sex offender who interacted with a number of Ohio State recruits on twitter and facebook; and even met up with several (Anzalone and Heuerman included) at the Spring Game.  For the most in-depth coverage of this, please see the work that Luke Zimmerman did over at Land-Grant Holy Land.

So, here are some things that are currently rattling around the ol’ brainbucket here at Mali Manor:

1. I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that these are NOT all connected. Heuerman chose Notre Dame because of their history of using the Tight End and the fact that he wouldn’t have to compete against his brother. Neal has not decided where he will be in the fall, but his getting interest from SEC schools had to open his eyes a bit to the totality of his options. Anzalone and the Waugh situation are, in my opinion, connected; I’ll get to that more in a bit.
2. “Is Bosa Next?” is the current level on the tOSU freak-out-o-meter. Who knows, given his being contacted by Waugh… but you’ve got to think that his deeper Ohio State ties will give him a different perspective.
3. As a part of a fanbase that takes slights (real and imagined) very personally and is advocating for ledge-jumping to be an Olympic Sport (think of all of the NCAA Directors’ Cups we could win!), it’s important to remember that it’s only May. The recruiting process has significantly accelerated, but signing day has not moved up at all.  Friday Night Lights is coming this summer (huge recruiting benefit for Ohio State), and the football staff are relentless evaluators and recruiters.  Things will be fine… and they don’t give out crystal footballs in May anyway.
4. That being said, Lewis Neal may actually be on to something. With the influence of media (social and otherwise) as well as the economics of college sports, there is more and more and more pressure to make commitments and decisions; both from the programs AND from those of us who get excited looking at stars and rankings and numbers in the recruiting game.  Perhaps slowing the whole thing down to make a wise decision, for everyone involved, is not a horrible idea.
5. I don’t blame Alex Anzalone, and support whatever decision he ends up making. If indeed this is due to the situation with Waugh, I honestly can’t blame he and his parents for being freaked out enough to make a change- you want your young adults to be safe when they choose an institution. Sure, it’s not fair to judge the University by the people who choose to unofficially affiliate with it, but that is the way that these types of things happen- and we fans do the exact same thing to other programs as well.  My hope, though, is that at some point the Alex and the Anzalone family will at least take the time to listen again to the OSU coaching staff and make a decision that’s less informed by this situation (again, if true).
6. I asked this last night on twitter (savor the irony): What level of contact should fans have with athletes and recruits?  Particularly given how accessible athletes and recruits are, and how many enjoy the contact and attention (who wouldn’t) that their “celebrity” brings (again we create and reinforce this), there should be a lot more questions asked and boundaries created than is often the case. And, for those of us who “work” on the interwebs; should there be a different level of contact?  Oh, and I know that there are “professionals” who do this for a living… the rest of us, for the most part, are fans first and foremost.
7. With that in mind, I thought I’d add this: The Buckeye Battlecry is not a site where you’re going to find the latest interviews or insight directly from student athletes or recruits. There are two reasons for this- A) There are other people who do this for a living and do it well and B) It’s just not something we’ve figured out how to do without the possibility of getting involved in something odd.  Again, your humble correspondents are fans first- we never want to do something that will harm the program, the young adult, or the other folks we write with.  This may change at some point, but not until we’ve thought it through really really well.

To be clear- this isn’t a comment on other sites’ decisions; several of the BBN do great work connecting with young adults. Rather, it’s more commentary that we haven’t figured out how to have these types of conversations as carefully as we’d like to, in spite of numerous conversations with the Ohio State Athletic Department.

“Ask before you act” is a great motto to have in this matter, and we’d rather be behind the news than make a huge mistake.

Oh, and believe it or not… It’s a GREAT day to be a Buckeye.

Tags: Alex Anzalone, Lewis Neal, Mike Heuerman
Categories: Administrative Whatnot, College Football, Recruiting

Buckeye Legend, and Legend To Be?

Sorry to be a bit late on this one… we were busy celebrating the Buckeye Spring Game victory/grieving the Buckeye Spring Game loss. As you can imagine, beverages were involved in both scenarios.

Anywho- Since Buckeye Hoops Nation grew by one today, it only made sense that the Football team bring one into the fold as well; and following the Spring Game Pennsylvania Wyomissing’s Alex Anzalone gave his verbal commitment to become the eleventh member of Ohio State’s 2013 recruiting class.

A rumored Buckeye lean for the past few weeks (given his mail, can you blame him?), Anzalone is one of the top rated outside linebackers in the country this year- a four star recruit on all three major scouting services. It might be easier to list the schools that haven’t offered him a scholarship at this point, since his list is a veritable “Who’s Who” of BCS powerhouses that might require Yakko Warner to adequately cover in totality. A short list: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Penn State, and Southern Cal. Michigan also offered him a scholarship, but I’m sure Wolverine fans will tell you they’d “cooled on him recently”.

A 6’3″ student athlete, Anzalone played both linebacker and running back for his high school- after the jump, you can see his athletic ability on display (as well as his team’s ridiculous looking helmets… can’t win them all). I’m most impressed with his work on offense, his speed is evident as he pulls away from folks on numerous runs, and he will deliver punishment running the ball equally as easily as he does on D.

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Tags: 2013 Recruiting, Alex Anzalone, Class of 2013, Linebackers, Recruiting
Categories: College Football, Ohio State Football, Recruiting