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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/3

It's getting harder and harder to ignore the smoke that maybe, just maybe, the Buckeyes will make out like bandits this weekend and add WR James Quick, LB Mike Mitchell, and LB Trey Johnson to an already extremely talented class.

By Luke Zimmermann
The Under Armour All-America Game helmets sure beat Maryland's.
The Under Armour All-America Game helmets sure beat Maryland's.
@ToppsFB

There has been message board rumors all week citing everything from Louisville staff sources, Ohio State staff sources, and "sources" in general, but the more murmurs that keep making their way to the forefront, the harder and harder it gets to ignore the general scuttlebutt about James Quick potentially heading to Ohio State.

While we won't know for sure where 4-star Louisville, Kentucky product wide receiver Quick will be playing his college football until he announces this Saturday at the 2013 US Army All-American Bowl, it's becoming more far more difficult to stick to the conventional wisdom that Quick won't be able to zone out the pressures from home to stay in the 'Ville.

But even still, we've heard since basically day one, Quick was preordained for Louisville. Ohio State's being in Quick's ear is well and good and all, but the Cardinals were supposed to be just too tough for even expert recruiters like the Buckeyes' staff to overcome. Even Urban Meyer's taking over of his recruiting personally wasn't thought to be enough. Maybe we were wrong:

Of course that was before Louisville came out and produced the biggest Vegas point spread (14-point underdogs) upset in BCS bowl history, defeating Florida, 33-23.

Quick wasted no time reacting to what he was seeing:

Now, a reasonable man could state that it's likely Quick's already made up his mind and a single one off exhibition game shouldn't play any role in swaying what amounts to a major life decision. Then again, a reasonable man probably never covered college football recruiting. Sports fans have short memories; 18 year old sports fans have incredibly short memories.

We're certainly not saying that the biggest win in a school's history is enough to make one young man forget about months of personal conversations and visits. But it might be enough to give a young man genuinely torn some extra reason for pause.

If that wasn't enough, it increasingly sounds like Mike Mitchell will follow through with what the experts have long been projecting and choose Ohio State over Texas A&M this weekend. Mitchell's said to several this week that the size of A&M's staff and the number of linebackers in it would play a role in where he ultimately ends up. He's also said he plans to recruit his brother to wherever he ultimately ends up. The 6-7 Mickey Mitchell, a 4-star small forward in the class of 2015, was already said to be considering Ohio State.

But if you think merely landing two 4-stars was enough for Meyer and his staff, think again. The rich may wind up getting, well, really rich, if they ultimately are able to pull 4-star former Auburn commit Trey Johnson as well. By all accounts it also sounds good, and the likes of Tom Luginbill have lobbed high praise on Johnson this week saying he was even better than advertised. What a weekend it could be for Mark Pantoni and co.

Staying in Tampa, Joey Bosa's also getting his fair share of humbling accolades. Some have said he compares favorably to former Buckeye captain John Simon, and Bosa's looked the part so far in Under Armour All-America Game practices. Reportedly he really put it on Dorian Johnson (a Pitt commit and former Buckeye target), and also gave Michigan verbal Patrick Kugler all they could handle in practice Wednesday.

Finally, during Wednesday's Under Armour All-America Game skills comptition, Ohio State tight end commit Marcus Baugh somehow snuck into the OL/DL competition and naturally ran away with it:

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