LaMarcus Joyner shocked the recruiting world, more specifically the Ohio State Buckeyes recruiting world, by issuing a verbal commitment to Florida State on the very day Jim Tressel was supposed to be making an in-home visit. Ironically, it was a visit that prompted speculation that it would be the Buckeyes who ended the day with a verbal from Joyner. What happened?

If you have been coming to this blog regularly, you will recall that until recently I was a skeptic. One of the etched in stone recruiting rules is, recruiting is local. Look at the rosters of any college in the country and you will see that most of the players are from instate, and the vast majority from inside the region. Out of state recruiting is a very hard thing to pull off. Look at how few top players from the state of Ohio leave the state. When I offered skepticism about Joyner, fans countered with Joyners own words, that he loved Ohio State. My response was yes, but he loved Florida State too and Talahassee is a lot closer to home than Columbus is. I think once Bowden got out of the way this was a done deal. Bowden is a legend. His day is over. He was the only one that still believed he was the same guy that produced fourteen straight years with at least ten wins. He has had only one ten win year in the last nine. Three out of the last four years he has lost six games. The assumption was he would not want to get involved in the mess of a coaching change. It appears the coaching change was the thing that was in the way all the time. I doubt we would have ever seen Joyner on campus if Bowden had left after last year. I think Florida is now going to see more competition instate for talent.

It looks like Notre Dame is going to interview Randy Edsall from UConn. Recall Walt Harris and Glen Mason. Both made no bones about their desire to be the Buckeyes head coach. When that did not materialize they were both soon out at their respective schools. Brian Kelly might not like where he is right now.

It looks like the Akron and YSU jobs are now filled. Did any of the Buckeye assistants even get interviewed???

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Comments (9)

...
written by rwkosu72, December 10, 2009

What makes this REALLY strange timing, is the fact that Jimbo Fisher fired four more coaches yesterday. Joyner must REALLY want to go to FSU. As of now, there isn't a defensive coach on staff. It may be they are going to make a receiver out of him??

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by mab, December 10, 2009

I am not an insider so I don't know if this is true, but people are saying Tress canceled his in-home visit with LJ. Why wouldn't he try to sell the kid? At least make it appear like you care. Maybe he could have given LJ something to think about.

Furthermore, STA has a lot of talent on their team for years to come and we could have used the in roads. The more LJ talks about Tress and OSU with his teammates the better off OSU will be. Tress could have stopped by, given him a sales pitch and then personally wished him well. LJ telling this story to his teammates would sound better than "Tress canceled his visit with me". Just my opinion...again, I have no idea what really went down.

Lastly, good luck to LJ. He decided to stay home and play for his hometown and childhood favorite. I can't argue with that.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by JarheadBuck, December 10, 2009

Apparently Kelly will be just fine. Reports are he told his team at 4pm that he's inked a deal with ND for $3.5mil x 5yrs.

Maybe Edsell is the one not feeling real comfortable right now.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Da, December 10, 2009

All recruiting info leans solid etc should come with a disclaimer for entertainment purposes only. I reality a solid lean is only a litlle better than off the radar

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by Hilltopbass, December 10, 2009

Good luck to you LJ, I think Duane is right on the money, if the coaching change had come last year he wouldn't have even been a part of the recruiting talk here. I think the only shot we had would have come if BB had stayed another year. Best wishes to BB, he was a class act.
Tress cancelling the in home makes me think LJ gave him a heads up on his choice, Thankfully JT isn't a Urban Meyer type leaning on kids even after they verballed. I don't think it is an issue.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by pula, December 10, 2009

Joyner has known where he is going for a while. It was FSU and everybody else and he just happened to name OSU #2. Not sure why he felt he needed to inflate his interest in other schools. Why the need for all the window dressing.

Duane, are you as concerned about safety as I am. I am VERY skeptical that Anderson qualifies. We desperately need quality safeties at OSU. After all of the struggles of Anderson Russell, it says a lot that Ohrian Johnson, Zach Domicone, Rocco Pentello, and Nate Oliver did not even sniff the field. In fact, the staff moved CJ Barnett to safety. I don't like the fact the staff is going off the radar again for a safety prospect with Verlon Reed. Maybe it works, but with the track record of this staff, how could you be confident?

I love Bryant at Safety, but we needed at last 2 quality safeties, not a quality prospect and a reach. The staff needs to regroup in 2011 and change their safety recruiting strategy. I think safety is one of the positions that will prevent us from competing in the NC. However, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts Duane.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Pula
written by Kasino Royale, December 10, 2009

Pulu, you playing with D's emotions. Are you trying to get his blood pressure sky high again? The words Ohio State + Safety + Recruiting have put him in the hospital more than once. lol

My scenario is this: Moeller (knock on good wood) will be back in full health and mans the Star role. That allows Hines to focus on the Safety spot full time. Thus we will only be having one new safety back there. I think bowl and spring practice will be intense for Wood, C.Brown, O.Johnson and Barnett as they all battle for that lone spot.

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by pula, December 11, 2009

I am hopeful for Jamie Wood, maybe CJ Barnett stays at safety and performs well, but we don't want to move Barnett and Brown because that depletes our depth at DB. OSU should also just be able to recruit a safety who plays safety. Time is wasted learning another position.

The staff recruits well at so many positions, I just don't understand why they are so bad at recruiting safeties and OL. More upsetting is they don't do a thing to fix their flawed strategy. Duane I know is also frustrated with the recruiting at these positions. With so many advantages at OSU, you should be able to recruit better than the staff has at these positions. It boggles the mind.

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by RipsManifesto, December 14, 2009

Was on vacation during this. Very unfortunate to hear. But clearly we were hearing what we wanted to hear, and not what was clearly what he was thinking. Very unfortunate, and I'm disappointed to lose both Joyner and Shaw after both looked so good for so long. Hopefully Anderson qualifies and we get him and Bryant.

Good luck to Joyner I guess. If he is so firm on FSU that he'd commit when they have yet to hire a single defensive coach I kind of wish he would've just done it before the season so we spend our resources somewhere else. Who cares about Bowden being there next year or not if you're willing to commit to a team with zero defensive coaches? You're just committing on the hope they hire someone good that you mesh with.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment