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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/21 - More on Brady Taylor, Soloman Thomas drops OSU

The Buckeyes picked up another commitment on Monday morning, flipping Brady Taylor from Virginia Tech. Ohio State also found themselves on the outside looking in for Soloman Thomas, while offering two more recruits.

By Ian Cuevas
Ohio State offered '15 safety Ben Edwards on Monday.
Ohio State offered '15 safety Ben Edwards on Monday.

Quite an eventful Monday for Ohio State's recruiting staff, as the coaches finished off landing a flipped commitment from '14 OT Brady Taylor. Taylor, who was previously committed to Virginia Tech, is the 22nd member of the Dream 14 and the fifth offensive line recruit to give his verbal pledge to the Buckeyes.

Taylor's commitment doesn't come as a surprise to anyone at this point because of the rumors swirling that Taylor may flip to Ohio State during his official visit this past weekend. Still, things weren't solidified until coach Urban Meyer met with Taylor on Monday morning, where Taylor would then give his verbal to Ohio State. When Land-Grant Holy Land asked about his mindset going into the meeting, Taylor had this to say: "The plan all along was to commit, but I wanted my whole family to be there and I didn't do it Sunday because my mom was out of town with my sister at a volleyball tournament."

As for how coach Meyer felt when he found out about the commitment? "Coach Meyer was very excited, he joked "no more free steaks, it's time to get to work." When asked about how Taylor felt being able to stay home for college: "I mean, growing up in Columbus, I really dreamed about playing for Ohio State. Other than that, it's just the sense of greatness around the football program. You can see the drive and hard work surrounding everyone involved with the team."

Taylor went on, "It's awesome just having family and friends from here, I feel like the whole city is on my side. It's also nice that all be able to come home for dinner with my family sometimes." On whether he will redshirt or not: "The plan right now is to redshirt next year, but if I come in and perform really well early, I might play next year. If I redshirt, it will definitely be good to get a year in the weight room, get used to the campus environment, and I'll also get another year of a free education, which will be important for when I'm done playing football."

Current offensive lineman Pat Elfein is another Ohio State redshirt, and Taylor talked with him about the redshirting process: "Yeah we talked about it a lot. We're both very similar being from Columbus and also being underrated three-star recruits who are coming in with a chip on our shoulder." Finally, Taylor talked about preparing for next year: "Being from Columbus I have a huge advantage because I can go watch the team in spring pracitce and go to their workouts to see what they're doing. I can also stay with the players on campus when I want as long as I pay for my own stuff."

One recruit the Buckeyes were still targeting in the class of 2014 was '14 DE Soloman Thomas. Unfortunately, Thomas is not targeting Ohio State. At least, not anymore. After the Bucks made the previous cut, they fall behind Thomas' top three schools in Stanford, Arkansas, and UCLA.

If any of you that follow recruiting were hoping for Ohio State to flip '14 TE Mike Gesicki from Penn State after Bill O'Brien's departure from Penn State, it looks like those chances went from slim to non-existent. Gesicki tweeted out on Monday that he's going to be a Nittany Lion. I can't say I'm too shocked by this, considering the hiring of James Franklin, but one can always dream.

Ohio State offered '15 WR Jalen Guyton on Monday. Guyton is also a teammate of '15 QB Kyler Murray (another Buckeye target with an offer, and my personal favorite quarterback from the class of 2015). I'm curious if this is one of coach Meyer's recruiting tactics in hopes of gaining some momentum with Murray. Guyton is 6'0, 180-pounds and not yet ranked in the 247Composite. Perhaps coach Meyer simply wants another "Guiton" on the team.

Another recruit offered yesterday was '15 S Ben Edwards, who is supposed to be committing to a school in about a week. All signs were pointing the hard-hitting safety to Auburn, but as you can see above, Edwards tweeted out that Ohio State's offer is shaking things up "big time" so it's worth keeping a close eye on his recruitment the next couple of days.

QUICK HITS:

– Urban Meyer & Luke Fickell will be at Central Valley (PA) tomorrow to check in on 4-star CB Jordan Whitehead

– This was a pretty cool moment from newest Buckeye Brady Taylor and family:

– 2015 5-star QB Torrance Gibson to 247's Luke Stampini:

"Urban Meyer said I was his #1 guy on his 2015 recruiting list."

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