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Welcome back for another edition of “A-Deck” at BuckeyeGrove.com, presented by Infinit Nutrition, where I’ll bring you thoughts, what I’m hearing, inside scoop, tidbits, and more for Ohio State recruiting and team coverage, every Wednesday.
Last week’s A-Deck was the second part on BuckeyeGrove of my Behind The Scenes: National Signing Day feature, where I tell some of the "untold stories" and "behind the scenes" details on prospects the Buckeyes recruited during the past cycle. You can find Part 1 HERE.
Today, we bring you Part 3, the final piece of this three part feature:
Dallas Fincher/Reece Atteberry: Just wanted to call these two guys out as players that Ohio State definitely liked, but just didn’t have room at the inn for when push came to shove. The Buckeyes took on some commitments early, so when it came to the time these guys were ready to pull the trigger, OSU just had to be very selective and Fincher ended up at Michigan State with Atteberry at Michigan.
Tyler Baron: At one-point Tennessee was reeling and the buzz I was hearing was that Baron was looking to go elsewhere, with Ohio State and Kentucky being the top two candidates to land him. By the time Baron ended up making visits to Columbus and Lexington, the Vols, where his dad is on staff, started turning things around, and it once again became an uphill battle from there.
Bryan Bresee: Ohio State was a leader at some point, but Urban Meyer stepping down definitely played a big role in this recruitment for the Buckeyes. Meyer had a personal relationship with Bresee, and while the standout lineman didn’t hold that against the Bucks, there’s no doubt it hurt their chances. Penn State started to surge, with Clemson eventually stealing his heart (and commitment) after a visit last off-season.
Justin Flowe/Noah Sewell: Each of these players was rumored to be high on Ohio State and considering an official visit during the process. People inside the WHAC never bought it though. Their mentality was “if they’re willing to visit we’d love to have them”, but in reality they knew the chances were extremely low of either visiting, let alone coming to Columbus to play their college football.
Derek Wingo: Wingo was very high on the Buckeyes early on, and while Ohio State was intrigued by his potential as an athlete/quarterback turned linebacker, they needed to “ see more” before offering him a committable scholarship coming off an injury. Other schools were willing to roll the dice and Wingo didn’t want to wait on the Buckeyes (fair). He committed to Penn State last off-season, before eventually flipping to his home state Florida over the summer.
Jaheim Thomas: Long story short is that he never had a committable offer and didn’t want to come to camp to earn one. Ohio State liked him but viewed him as a tweener (LB/DE) and wanted to see him prove he was one or the other. That never happened and Thomas (probably appropriately) ended up at Cincinnati.
Elias Ricks: At one point early in the process, Ohio State looked like the team to beat. And when Ricks transferred to IMG, there was a glimmer of hope amongst some that the Buckeyes could still convince him to come to Columbus. But a visit to LSU last year and a bond with Corey Raymond made the Tigers “love at first sight” and hard to beat the rest of the way.
Clark Phillips: No back story. Simply felt comfortable with Jeff Hafley and had a strong bond there---the biggest reason he pledged to Ohio State. Once Hafley left, he didn’t feel as comfortable and needed to make a decision before enrolling early. Utah had been on him for a while, he loved the staff, and it was much closer to home in California. The rest is history and he’ll be balling for the Utes, not the Buckeyes, this year.
Henry Gray: At one point it looked like this one was going to happen, but it was another case of Ohio State liking, but not loving a prospect. I think the Buckeyes wanted to wait things out a bit when it started to get hot and heavy (not to mention some question marks), and Gray decided to look around himself too. He ended up favoring Penn State after things died down with OSU, but eventually landed at Nebraska.
Sam Adams: Ohio State really liked the speedy running back from the Seattle-area, and he was very high on them as well. The official visit went really well and his dad, NFL veteran d-lineman Sam Adams was very high on the Buckeyes’ staff. Push comes to shove, the younger Adams ultimately wanted to stay home, and thus, ended up at UW.
William “Apache” Mohan: He really liked Ohio State early on, and the Buckeyes were definitely interested as well. Part of what went wrong here was that OSU wanted Apache to camp when he came to visit in June, but he chose not to. His “offer” was never made committable, which meant he was never going to be a Buckeye. Part of Mohan not camping maybe was that he had other opportunities from programs that didn’t require him to camp. Michigan, where he ended up signing, was one of those. Outside of developing a good relationship with Anthony Campanile (now with the Dolphins), Mohan had heard a lot about the expectation to go to Ohio State from Brooklyn (NY) Erasmus Hall. It almost had an adverse effect on him, where he wanted to carve his own path and do “the opposite” of ending up in Columbus. I’m not saying he went ot Michigan to spite Ohio State, but I think the expectation that those in the area put on him to play for OSU had a negative effect on things when it came to the Buckeyes.
