Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 3/6 - Spring practice turns heads

It's a great time to be a Buckeye. Along with last night's huge win at Indiana's senior night for the men's basketball team, spring practice started earlier Tuesday, meaning only about a month until the spring game is here. Of course, the mention of spring football always brings up the topic of athletes planning on taking their visits to Ohio State. In case you happened to miss it, Charles did a job well-done on yesterday's State Secrets, and I strongly recommend that you take a look at the latest updates on recruits taking their visits.

Also mentioned by Charles in Tuesday's State Secrets, '14 OL Orlando Brown narrowed down his list to seven teams, which included Ohio State. To expand slightly on that, Brown went into some more detail about each of his "finalists":

Alabama: "They've won a lot of national championships, and they've got Coach Saban. I know they just lost their offensive line coach to Philadelphia but they just got somebody from Miami and he's a great coach. That's pretty good about them."

Arkansas: "They've got Coach Bielema. He was winning at Wisconsin with a powerful running game. He builds a lot of his teams around the offensive line. I know he's bringing that to the SEC."

Ohio State: "Ohio State has the No. 1 offensive line coach in the country, I guess due to polls and stuff like that, with (Ed Warinner). He's a great coach, and Coach Meyer is a great recruiter."

Iowa: "Coach (Kirk) Ferentz is a great coach, and I have a lot of coaching ties, as far as him coaching my dad when he played for Cleveland and the Ravens in the 90s. I know he's a great coach, I know he puts his offensive linemen in the NFL." Brown said he thought Ferentz, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick may have attended his parents' wedding.

Brown also has South Carolina, Michigan and Oklahoma in his final seven.

Yesterday, Ohio State sent an offer out west to California-native '14 S/WR John "JuJu" Smith (yes, his nickname is that sick). The 6'1", 200-pound Smith already has high-profile offers from some of the best teams in the country, including Notre Dame, Michigan, USC, Wisconsin and many more. Smith also clocked in at a 4.50 for his 40-meter dash, and can play both the safety position (where he is ranked as the fifth-best safety in the country) and the wide receiver role. This past season, JuJu had 51 tackles and six interceptions on the defensive side of the ball, while also posting 49 receptions for 752 yards and 9 receiving touchdowns.

Check out what JuJu can bring on the field with his highlights:

The Buckeyes are set at quarterback right now with Braxton Miller running the show and '13 QB JT Barrett enrolling at Ohio State. Coach Meyer and his staff are only looking to take one quarterback in this class, and no more. '14 QB and Clemson commit DeShaun Watson is a frequent mention, along with the likes of '14 QB Drew Barker and '14 QB Caleb Henderson as quarterbacks who the Buckeyes have shown interest in. Here's a new name you might not have heard of: '14 QB Kyle Allen. Allen hasn't received an offer yet - along the same lines as Barker and Henderson - but it's been reported that the coaching staff has taken interest in seeing more of what Allen can bring to Ohio State.

Allen has 14 total scholarship offers, the most recent being from Wisconsin. Standing 6'1", 185-pounds, Allen is ranked as the fifth best quarterback in the state of Arizona and in the 2012 season, threw for 3,200 yards with 36 touchdown passes to only seven interceptions throughout the course of the season. I would definitely keep my eye on this kid, as he too could be a player if things with Watson don't turn out for the best.

See what Allen's all about at the quarterback spot: