Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/31 - OSU target announcement schedule and more

We're officially less than a week away from National Signing Day 2013. While some questions remain up in the air (like where Dontre Wilson's surprise visit to Texas came from, supposedly just weeks after he told them "thanks, but no thanks"), others, such as when certain commits are going to announce where they'll be playing their college football, are rapidly becoming clearer and clearer.

In the last few days alone, we've gotten clarity on when WR/ATH Ryan Timmons would be tipping his hand, when Buckeye target WR James Clark would make things official, and even when Ezekiel Elliott, he of having just visited Missouri two weeks before Signing Day (and Ohio State commit), would be making things officially official. Of course, there are are plenty of unknowns out there too: how far is Urban Meyer willing to push the bar from a roster sense under the pretenses he'll have (or be able to help create) additional churn? Can the Buckeyes make do on the offensive line if they aren't able to replace Joey O'Connor in the 2013 class? And will Kerry Coombs and Mike Vrabel get the long overdue Red Bull endorsement contracts they so sorely deserve?

We'll start with something we got a few emails about in the last day or so, and that's clarifying what the next six days will look like in terms of who's committing and when. These are all certainly prone to change at any moment, but as of now, this is what we know specifically about which 2013 Ohio State targets will commit:

Tuesday - 2/5/2013
Ryan Timmons (5-11/180) WR/RB | Franklin County H.S., KY - - 1 p.m. EST

Wednesday - 2/6/2013
James Clark (5-10/170) WR | New Smyma Beach H.S., FL - - 9 a.m. EST
Vonn Bell (5-11/180) S | Ridgeland H.S., GA - - 10:05 a.m. EST
Ezekiel Elliott (6-0/212) RB | John Burroughs School, MO - 4 p.m. EST

Current Oregon commits Dontre Wilson (UPDATE: Wilson announced early and is a Buckeye) and Darren Carrington (UPDATE: Carrington isn't going to wait; he's already announced he's honoring his Oregon commitment) expect to make their decisions known on National Signing Day '13 as well, but there's no indication they'll do so in a formalized ceremony fashion – at least not yet. Since both guys have already announced their commitments, unless they want to pull an Elliott, they'd be more announcing their changes of course, than anything like we've grown accustomed to.

And speaking of Carrington, we should know no later than today ($) whether or not he'll be visiting Columbus this weekend. From the sounds of it, it's all system go (though he and his father were also sort of non-committal).

Another name you might've been looking for that we omitted was none other than Cornelius "Corn" Elder. While Elder might've fit into Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes' plans at one point as a contingency plan (in the event they struck out on Smith, Wilson, Clark, et al.), it's becoming increasingly likely that he'll be pursuing an opportunity to play basketball at the next level, as opposed to football. Elder yesterday added Memphis to the list of schools interested in his services on the hardwood. Of course that didn't stop Urban Meyer from giving it the old college try one last time:

S/O to coach Meyer for stopping by the school today

— Corn Elder (@AIR_CORN23) January 30, 2013

It still seems unlikely he'll wind up in scarlet and gray, but stranger things have happened.

Hitting the TSUN really hard again Saw the sun rise in Grand Rapids will see it set in Detroit. Painting all points in between scarlet&gray!

— Kerry Coombs (@OsuCoachCoombs) January 30, 2013

Ohio State defensive backs coach (and infamous emphatic speech giver) Kerry Coombs was back at it in That State Up North on Wednesday afternoon. We know two sport star '14 WR Drake Harris was one of the targets of his trip, but who else did the fiery DB coach check in on?

'14 DE Lawrence Marshall told our Charles Doss Coombs stopped by his school yesterday. He also told us that he's planning on visiting Ohio State February 9th for an unofficial visit. Coombs didn't stop there, as he went on to swing by Cass Tech, home of '14 DB commit Damon Webb and a number of other high profile class of 2014 Ohio State targets including Jayru Campbell, William White, and Mike Weber. We got the low down straight from the horses mouth on how the visit went:

The visit went well. Usually Coach Coombs comes and talks about working hard in the classroom and in the weight room. Coombs said that [Webb] is his top corner and that they'll keep "recruiting" him right up through National Signing Day '14. Webb and his father might get back down to Columbus February 15th just to hang out for a day or two.

The Buckeyes covered plenty of ground beyond The Mitten Wednesday, as they checked in on 2014 WR Shaq Davidson. Meyer's coaching staff also offered 2014 OT Reilly Gibbons on Wednesday as well. Gibbons is a 3-star 6-6, 270 lb OT/TE from the St Petersburg/Tampa area and could add to a prospective future offensive line presently not as deep as it could be.