Is there anybody in Buckeye Nation who is not happy see the back of Ray Small? Once again this kid has put this football team in a bad spot. He is suspended for the Rose Bowl game. I have said time and time again that you will not find a more likable kid than Ray Small but this continued inability to do the right thing, to always always always make the wrong decision has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I cannot bring myself to smile about the personable young man that I remember from when he was being recruited.

The question now is, what does the staff do about replacing a solid third receiver, one with the potential to be star, and more importantly a top drawer kick returner?

We started the season with Taurian Washington as the slot receiver because of another incident of bad behavior from Small. That lasted a short time as Washington dropped more balls than he caught. He was given another chance later in the year where he again dropped an easily catchable ball. I have not seen him on the field since. Some are adamant that he will leave the program. Others say he is staying. The same can be said of the next guy on the list, Lamaar Thomas. I cannot recall the last time I saw him on the field other than special teams. With Duron Carter not an option, one of the two is going to be the third receiver in any set. A good game means he is likely to return, whichever one it is.

I wonder what is going to happen with Keith Wells. You have to believe the staff is ready to see him off too. They made a commitment to him. Redshirted him to put some distance between him and the stacked defensive end depth chart. I think they expected the arrangement to be a two-way street. Wells never had grade problems until he came here. He

We have a new Buckeye. Columbus Marion-Franklin quarterback Verlon Reed made it official with a verbal to the Buckeyes. Notice I did not say athlete. Reed is coming in as a quarterback. I think we will see him stay there. I have taken some time this morning to look over Reed. You can take a look yourself at ScoutingOhio.com:  http://scoutingohio.com/index.php/view-profile.html?task=userProfile&user=1656&name=Verlon.Reed

I will tell you what I see. I see a player who is clearly a pass first quarterback. Unlike so many athletic quarterbacks, Reed is as comfortable in the pocket as he is outside of it. In fact, when getting adequate protection he is content to sit back there. That means he is setting his feet and throwing the ball. Another thing I notice about him is the accuracy. I was looking at the much overrated Devin Gardner this morning too. He is not an improved player mechanically and his accuracy is mediocre at best. Another thing, Buckeye fans. The number

It has been awhile since we have talked about the size of this class. The immortal Holmes said, ".....when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." I made the point months ago that you can't recruit on maybe. They have to know, and I am going to show you why. First, I want to note that we are looking at a mimimum of 19. We have one announced transfer. There has to be at least two other players leaving the program to get to 19.

What we re seeing at three different positions shows why you have to know. Look at defensive tackle. We brought Hankins in. We would not bring him in right now knowing he is likely to verbal with Floyd still out there unless we could take both. The same goes with James and Henderson. There has been this buzz for the longest time that we would only take two OLs in this class. That boggles the mind, but that is not what this post is about. Henderson is more highly prized than James and things look good with Henderson. With Norwell onboard, if there was no chance to take three, the staff would try to push James until as late as possible. Get as good a read on Henderson as possible before bringing James in.

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

This has been as turbulent a recruiting season as I can remember. The board has changed so many time. The way it looks right now any Buckeye fan has to be looking forward to National Signing Day.

Who we have already qualifies as a top 15 class. I don't care where anybody else ranks us. I don't think several players are getting their proper respect like David Durham. I don't know how anyone can watch his film and not see a four-star player. How we finish this class should push us into the top ten for sure and I think there is an argument for top five should this class

What a weekend. I will talk about the games if I see enough interest from fans but I want to focus on the talent from this weekend.

The best player I saw this weekend was Dominique Brown. Before the season I said the best athlete in Ohio was Deron Brown from Akron North. He was the freak of freaks in Ohio this year. He is in such a bad situation gradewise that you have not heard much about him. I think we may have another contender. I saw Brown late in the year and was very impressed. Seeing him again showed a player that was even better. What he is can be, the sky is the limit. Big powerful kid with explosive speed and the attitude of a warrior. They were showing shots of him on the sidelines. The intensity of his smile was something that sent chills down my spine. Kinda like those Lawrence Taylor sidelines shots we see every now and then. Makes you wonder if someone should call security. He loves to play football. I see a safety who

The state finals are here. Two days of high school football nirvana. That has never been more true than this year when there are so many great match-ups.

The headline game for Friday is the division three championship game between Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (14-0) versus Columbus St. Francis DeSales. Some are not as excited about this match-up as I am especially after seeing Mooney run roughshod over a talented Steubenville Big Red team in the state semifinals. For a smashmouth guy like me it was a thing of beauty watching Mooney put on a clinic in offensive line play. They are big and have a great back heaeded to West Virginia in Braylon Heard. He lit up Steubenville last week. It was over 200 yards rushing and it might have been over 300. He picked up alot of it behind outstanding senior tackle Eric Franklin, a player I would not mind seeing a late offer to should

I am looking at next years lineup. We are all looking at a veteran battle hardened offense and getting excited. We need to take a hard look at the defense. That is where the concern is.

We are not going to miss a beat at linebacker. I think we will be better. The starters logged a lot of reps and Spitler is the only player we lose. His contribution gets overlooked. He has been a solid guy but the talent level at linebacker is off the charts. I think we are solid at corner. Torrence and Chekwa loaded up on game reps. I like the talent waiting in the wings. The bowl practices is where we see these younger players take a leap forward. I am scared out of my mind at safety but where the biggest problem lies is with the bigs on the defensive line.

We are deep as deep can be on the edge. I think Gibson is gone but that just creates an

Ever since the name Cardale Jones became a name that fans were familiar with, the question has been there, what if you could take only one? I came out and installed Jones as the number one player in the class. The question became louder, what if you could take only one? After Jones performance in the regional final against Massillon where he took over the game, the question has reached a crescendo, what if you could take only one?

First, I say you take both no matter what because the opportunity to improve the talent level at quarterback should always be one you take advantage of. If there is just no way to take both you have to look at Guiton and Graham next year very closely. Guiton supposedly had some moments as a passer early in fall camp. We need to see where he is. Can Graham overcome the loss of the better part of two years of reps due to injury? That is a crucial

I am back. I needed a few days to recharge the batteries. I never need a real vacation from Buckeye football but there are times I need to step away. A lot has happened.

First, if you know anyone that has had trouble in the past logging on to the site, tell them to come back and give it a try. I think we have found a fix.

So many coaching changes that could have an impact on our staff. Akron, Youngstown State, Louisville, Marshall, Virginia, and likely Notre Dame are going to be changing coaches. All those schools have some connection to Ohio. Akron and Youngstown State are likely to find the cachet of a Buckeye assistant as their head coach appealing. The name recognition could go a long way with recruits. Louisville, Marshall are always looking for talent in Ohio. Virginia hit Ohio hard once Al Groh came to the program. Notre Dame has