While the world watched Super Bowl XLVII last night, the Ohio State coaching staff was most likely hard at work trying to secure some of the best talent remaining in the class of 2013. National Signing Day is Wednesday, but '13 WR James Clark may have already made his decision as to where he wants to attend school.
Clark mentioned he wanted to try and give a silent commitment to either Florida, Northwestern, Clemson, Nebraska or Ohio State on Sunday. Clark took an unofficial visit to Florida on Saturday, but also recently spoke with the Ohio State coaching staff. The 5'11", 170-pound speedster, who caught 49 passes for 1,112 yards and eight touchdowns last season, says his family may know who Clark will choose, based off of what he's told them in the past. As far as Ohio State goes, Clark added "It was great," he said. "It was a great campus and a pretty good weekend."
Another key recruit in Ohio State's plans is '13 RB Dontre Wilson. Wilson recently visited Texas, but the Buckeyes have been there in recent weeks, pushing for a chance at getting one of the more explosive athletes in the country. Everything we've heard thus far has Ohio State leading slightly in this one, but with the recent visits mentioned above, some have speculated that the Buckeyes have fallen out of the lead. That, of course, may not be the case, as the Buckeyes are rumored by others to still be maintaining that slight lead for Wilson's talents. Another report is coming out that Dontre Wilson is expected to announce earlier than first thought, and should reveal his choice between honoring his Oregon commitment, defecting to Ohio State, or pledging to the late entering Longhorns later tonight. We'll keep you covered on the latest happenings with Wilson's story.
Big day at #LaMirada Friday with coaches from #OhioState #UCLA and #Stanford coming to see #LaMiradaFootball prospects. #HPT
— La Mirada Football (@LMMatadores) February 1, 2013
Ohio State assistant coach Tim Hinton was in California on Friday, checking in on a pair of 2014 recruits the Buckeyes have targeted. '14 WR Dallis Todd and '14 TE Tyler Luatua have been on Ohio State's radar for a little while now and have been talking with the Buckeyes about coming to Ohio State. With only a few days remaining until National Signing Day, it's clear that the staff has shown their interest in these pair of Cali studs.
The Buckeyes recently received a commitment from '14 JUCO WR Corey Smith and must have liked what the JUCO situation brought to them as Ohio State has offered '14 JUCO OL Chad Mavety. Mavety is a 6'6", 320-pound offensive tackle from New York, and has offers from Kansas, Ohio State Miami, North Carolina State, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech. Many more top programs are interested in the JUCO star, and this is interesting because not many JUCO players get this much interest early in the process. We'll keep an eye on Mavety in the future to see how he does at the junior college level.
Finally, Friday must have been a busy day for the coaching staff, as Mike Vrabel stopped by an Ohio high school to meet and talk with '13 WR Luke Vadas. The 6'2", 185-pound Vadas had a huge senior season. He caught 79 passes for 1,045 yards and nine touchdowns. While Vadas has only earned one offer (from Marshall) the Buckeyes are showing interest and could possible take Vadas on as a preferred walk-on type of player. This is an ideal get as a walk-on, because Vadas has recorded a 4.46 in the 40-yard dash, which is impressive no matter how many offers you have.