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Though it seems like it was a long time coming, 2013 3-star WR/ATH Ryan Timmons officially has an offer from Ohio State (which by every indications seems as though it's committable). This might say as much about what Timmons brings to the table as it does about where the Buckeyes stand in the pursuits of James Clark and Dontre Wilson.
On the upside in that regard, Urban Meyer was in Florida yesterday to try and talk Clark into taking an official visit to Ohio State after all, and by all accounts that seems to have been a riveting success ($). Clark is ducking Florida, and will instead head to Columbus this weekend for an official visit. With both the Gators and Buckeyes in on Clark and Timmons, you almost have to think one might land one while the other will be left with the other.
It's hard not to read a resume like Timmons' though and not be a bit impressed. This past season he had 2617 all-purpose yards, 1306 rushing on 83 carries along with 26 rushing touchdowns, and then 1004 receiving yards with 16 touchdowns in that regard. That's an insane 42 total TDs during his senior year. Kentucky and as previously mentioned Florida remain in on Timmons. It's expected he'll announce his decision February 5th, one day before National Signing Day 2013.
There were some murmurs that maybe Timmons would be offered a grey shirt, but he took to Twitter Wednesday evening to clear the air on that:
I never got offered a grey shirt! So people can stop saying that ...
— Ryan Timmons(@Rimmons_5) January 23, 2013
We also heard yesterday that both sophomore linebacker Connor Crowell and freshman lineman Joey O'Connor were departing the football team. While the Buckeyes are fairly set at linebacker in 2013 (Mike Mitchell, Trey Johnson) and honing in on the likes of Raekwon McMillan, Dante Booker, Clifton Garrett, Kyle Berger, and others, this either verifies the Buckeyes coaching staff's urgency of late in trying to add one more lineman or at least solidifies the need to do so. Current Tennessee commit Dan Skipper or Cal commit Cameron Hunt could ultimately fill that void. The Bucks probably want an answer from either sooner rather than later to figure it out if they have to move to a next best alternative. It's also worth noting that one of the other guides for Skipper this past weekend? Joey O'Connor.
Urban Meyer, Tom Herman, and company aren't the only ones dishing out the offers though. Thad Matta and the basketball Bucks officially offered 2015 Roselle Catholic (NJ) SG Malachi Richardson yesterday:
RT @thelifeofmali23 Just got ah offer from Ohio state , thankful forreal man 🙌🙏
— Charles Doss (@CDoss_LGHL) January 23, 2013
Richardson, a 6-5 195 lb 2 who also plays for Team Final on the AAU circuit, is a consensus 4-star amongst the major recruiting services. He's also received offers from Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Miami, Rutgers, and Seton Hall.
And in this week's panic theatre, word leaked out Wednesday night that 4-star RB Ezekiel Elliott would be taking an official visit to Missouri shortly, despite being a strong Ohio State lean. This resulted in a bevy of stupid tweeting both at Elliott and his mother (natch), and a rebuttal from Elliott on the subject ($):
Chill.
Sounds good to us. It's worth remembering that there was a bunch of secondary pressures on Elliott to consider staying home (he's a St Louis native) for his college playing career. You also have to think if you were in the same position, you'd probably take all the free vacations you could get, too.
Finally, in case you missed this earlier in the week, check out this absolutely crazy recruiting video that ESPN pulled in which recruits talk about the most lavish illegal benefits they were offered during their recruiting processes. Pretty nuts.