The class of 2013 for Ohio State currently sits at 20 total commitments after Friday's Under Armour All-American Game, where '13 4-star LB Trey Johnson announced his intentions to play for Coach Meyer and the Buckeyes. By the end of Saturday, that same class of 2013 could have grown to 22 total commitments. With the Army All-American Game comes two announcements, '13 4-star LB Mike Mitchell and '13 4-star WR James Quick. The Buckeyes' head man has stated many times during the course of the season that the wide receiver position was one in dire need of help, and was nowhere near the level of expectations that Meyer himself had placed on them (though they admittedly finished way better than they started).
James Quick may yet prove to be a cure all for the long term health of the position, but Ohio State is not the only player in the mix for Quick's services. The Louisville Cardinals enter Saturday as the home team (both literally and figuratively) for Quick, who was raised in the Bluegrass State and have been the historical favorites in the race to land Quick's talents. As of late, rumors have swung to favor the Buckeyes after Quick told the media last Sunday that Ohio State currently led in the two-horse race.
With Louisville's success in the Sugar Bowl, where they upset No. 3 ranked Florida, Quick might be thinking hard about revisiting the prospects of staying at home. While the program on-the-field success parallels don't match up, Ohio State has had other high-profile wide receivers elect to stay with what's comfortable as recently as last year, when Stefon Diggs elected to stay in-state and play for the Maryland Terrapins. This time around, Ohio State may have an advantage having just gone 12-0 during the regular season with Urban Meyer at the helm.
It's been no secret to this point that Quick has been hanging out with Buckeye commits almost exclusively with his time spent at the US Army All-American Bowl, and one can only imagine what those commits are saying to him. The race has gotten even tighter than before, with Quick bouncing back and forth between the two programs almost all week. On December 12th, Quick named Louisville his leader. But as mentioned prior, he would later audible and give a hat tip to Ohio State as having a slight edge. Even the Ohio State coaching staff, however, seem to be feeling pretty good about their chances today:
@coachzachsmith Quick... Name all the 1st round draftees at WR from THE Ohio State university. I said QUICK!!! Lets go!!!!
— Tom Herman (@CoachTomHerman) January 5, 2013
Swish!!!!!!Lights out like Jordan!!
— Zach Smith (@CoachZachSmith) January 4, 2013
One thing is for certain – nobody except Quick (who likely didn't even decide for sure until late this week) knows where he will be attending college next year. As everybody makes their predictions, the recruiting world can only watch as one of the top wide receivers in the class of 2013 makes his final decision. Quick is ranked by the 247Composite as the country's No. 10 receiver and No. 82 prospect overall. In leading his team to a state championship as a senior, he caught 85 passes for 1,416 and 16 touchdowns.
So where will Quick land? If you take the OSU assistants and their pun game at face value, you might be inclined to make them ever so slight favorites. If you value momentum and the whole of the race, Louisville almost has to be your choice. This one is about as close to a toss up as you'll get. I guess you'll just have to tune in this afternoon at 1 PM to the US Army All-American Bowl and see.