National Signing Day 2013

""I promise you this. When I lay my head on the pillow at night, I ask myself one question — coach Meyer requires it: Did you beat Alabama’s corners coach today? If the answer is yes, good. Get up tomorrow and continue. If the answer is no, you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Why not?’ ""

-- Kerry Coombs

""Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answer isn't very important, it’s the meta-data. ""

-- Steve Jobs

Recruiting at Ohio State: long hours, even longer days. The staid smell of the same cabin interior for hours at a time. The jitters and bumps as you ascend and descend even in inclement weather to go to the same school you've been to a half a dozen times before – or one that looks and feels exactly like it.

And yet to a man, when the Gatorade (and maybe even champagne) is toasted later this evening in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, not one of them would tell you it wasn't worth it.

Since Urban Meyer first arrived in Columbus, he's brought with him a relentless pursuit of perfection in virtually all aspects of his program: on the field, off the field, on the road, and even just in the remedial aspects of day-to-day life. Challenging one's subordinates to be the best husband and fathers they can be seems trivial; heck, even in light of the way the previous administration conducted themselves during the Jim Tressel era, it doesn't even seem like a departure from what we've long since grown accustomed to.

But now there's this edge – something not quite the same – that permeates from the holdovers like Luke Fickell (and to a lesser extent Mike Vrabel), and on through the intense professional demeanor of an Everett Withers, or a Ed Warinner.

Meyer and his staff stepped into a situation last year where a 6-7 football team possessed a fringe top 25 recruiting class and sat on the precipice of setting Ohio State back half a decade or more. He didn't just take lemons and turn them into lemonade; he turned them into Antica Distilleria Russo limoncello.

Last season's consensus top-5 class set the table for what would turn into a 12-0 season. This season's even better one seems primed to raise the bar even higher. The really scary thought, however, is that for all the talk of this being the most complete class in Ohio State history, next season's might be even better.

The foundation for Ohio State's 2013 class started just over a year ago. During the afternoon of Jan.19, 2012, Trotwood, Ohio defensive back Cameron Burrows took the plunge, becoming the inaugural member of what was to be Urban Meyer's second-ever recruiting class at Ohio State. As a consensus four-star prospect, it certainly seemed like a momentous enough occasion in the moment, but long term, helped to set the tone for what would ultimately evolve into one of the nation's best group of incoming freshmen.

A little more than a week later, (then) 5-star athlete Jalin Marshall from Middletown, just north of the Cincinnati metro area, became the bellwether for the class of 2013. While Marshall stared at Middletown High at quarterback, he projected favorably to the next level at wide receiver. Though the early returns at Nike's The Opening 2012 over the summer in Eugene were a bit on the rocky side, Marshall looked 100% the real deal at the 2013 Under Armour All-American Game, standing out as one of the best receivers at event.

So too did later LSU enrollee Lewis Neal (who'd decommit after just 7 days), and a young man named Alex Anzalone, whose personal plight would include being photographed with what would be revealed to be a registered sex offender, leading to a decommitment to Ohio State and commitment to Notre Dame, and then an absolute last-second flip to Florida early in January. But his loaded arc necessitates almost its own deep dive.

A quiet May would open the door to a bustling end of June. Later NSD '13 decommit Johnny Townsend proved to be a surprising take in a post-Jim Tressel world June 19, only to be followed a week later by the electric, versatile safety Darron Lee, a New Albany native, and son of proud mom and local Columbus news anchor Candice Lee. Michael Hill, an understated (well, as understated as a 4-star 315 pounder can be) but gifted potential anchor in the middle of the defensive line, got on board at the end of the month.

July would see two of the more surprising additions to the class lend their name. Super sleeper 3-star athlete Taivon Jacobs from District Heights, Maryland, in the Washington D.C. metro area would commit July 19, but despite staying committed to Ohio State until National Signing Day, citing an infant daughter in the area and a brother on Randy Edsall's Maryland Terrapins team, would flip his commitment to the Terps. The other, Timothy Gardner, interestingly had changed his Twitter profile to reflect him as an Ohio State commit earlier in the summer, but it wasn't believed he'd even been fully evaluated by Ohio State's coaches then. After seeing all they needed to see at one of their summer camps, the versatile OL/DL's commitment was finally accepted, and he now enters next fall as a potential sleeping giant for the future of the offensive line.

"We make no apologies for winning or for aiming our entire program toward that goal."

With the first annual "Camp Meyer" taking its toll on Ohio State's current players, the recruiting Ferris wheel slowed to a stop, if but for a month and change. Four-star defensive end (and ultimate early enrollee) Tyquan Lewis celebrated Ohio State's 3-0 start on the field, by adding his name to the fold for 2013. Lewis hasn't gotten near the attention of the likes of a Joey Bosa or linebacker Mike Mitchell, but had offers from LSU and his home state North Carolina Tar Heels.

The rest of Ohio State's season would be quiet from a recruiting stand point (though the on-the-field product proved anything but). But something funny happened on the way to a perfect 12-0 regular season.

After playing host to a bevy of high-profile recruits at the game that would see, in dramatic fashion, Ohio State not only unseat their arch rivals, 26-21, but seal a perfect 2012 regular season, the Buckeyes had a budding movement on their hand.

The first spark would rear its head in the form of a Michigan decommitment turned Ohio State flip in the form of 4-star cornerback Gareon Conley. Some have called Conley the best commit in the entire class and pointed to his natural instincts at playing the ball from the cornerback position. Conley, whose cousin is current Ohio State wide receiver Devin Smith, realized the error of his ways, and instantly converted from ostensible foe to Buckeye evangelist. Four-star Florida State target (and some thought lean) Donovan Munger, another visitor to The Game, came aboard two weeks later.

December would later give way to the first commitment of what's long thought to be the target point for the donning of something really special from a talent sense with the 2014 class, but with the holiday season and the pending high school all-star games, the next moments for potential action wouldn't come until the annual Under Armour and US Army All-American Games.