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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 12/31 - Latest on Tony Brown, Army All-American updates

The Buckeyes continue preparing for the Orange Bowl, but with the Under Armour and Army All-American games just around the corner, there's plenty of news on Ohio State's recruiting front.

By Ian Cuevas
'14 defensive back Tony Brown is making his decision soon, but do the Buckeyes have a shot?
'14 defensive back Tony Brown is making his decision soon, but do the Buckeyes have a shot?

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There have been a few rumors floating around the recruiting world as of late, what with the Under Armour and Army All-American games getting set to kickoff in but a few days. This sort of scuttlebutt is common around this time of year, but some of it does include the Buckeyes, and in a favorable light thus far.

'14 CB Tony Brown is set to announce his decision on where he plans to attend college for the next three to four years. Making his final cut of five teams are Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Texas, and USC. The 6'0, 188-pound cornerback has been in contact with Ohio State for some time now, but is said to be favoring LSU. As of Monday night, Brown's Crystal Ball has 98% of the vote in the Tigers favor. Ohio State holds a 2% margin in the voting, but there are rumblings that Brown could end up a Buckeye on Thursday.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but for now I'm sticking with my pick of LSU. The Tigers are the clear-cut favorites in my eyes, despite Brown's mother reportedly wanting Tony to commit to Alabama. The 5-star recruit is rated as the ninth-best prospect in the country, while being ranked third and first at his position and as a state prospect overall respectively. Brown also runs an eye-popping 4.35 40-yard dash, which would bring quite a bit of speed to the Buckeyes secondary.

The US Army All-American Bowl is being played this week, and plenty of Ohio State commits and targets are getting in on the action. Several future Buckeyes showcased their skills early on in the practices, and there were plenty of reactions for us to digest:

'14 ATH commit Curtis Samuel was a popular player to talk about on Twitter during the practice, and I found it interesting that Samuel was working at defensive back. A true athlete, Samuel has the capabilities to play multiple positions, but I wouldn't bet that's going to be the direction Ohio State's staff takes him.

After a slow start to the day, '14 WR commit Johnnie Dixon got things going pretty quickly again, and earned fairly high praise from different outlets on social media for his performance.

'14 OLB Dante Booker has been overshadowed a tad from the recent hype surrounding '14 LB Raekwon McMillan, but Booker is a legit linebacker that could end up having a solid career in Columbus. The more you hear about these commitments performing well, the more excited you have to be for the Under Armour and Army All-American games. We'll get to see what these recruits are really made of on a big stage, not to mention the possibility of '14 ATH Marshon Lattimore and '14 S Erick Smith joining the fold.

Keep checking back all week as both the Land-Grant Holy Land and SB Nation recruiting teams will work to bring you more news from both the Under Armour and Army All-American games.

The Land-Grant Holy Land recruiting team is doing a Mailbag. If you have any Ohio State football or basketball recruiting based questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them to our Twitter @LGHLRecruiting. Thanks

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