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For all of the recruiting junkies out there, the best time of the year has arrive – National Signing Day. The long, grueling process of the day has begun. Each player holds letter of intents from every college they've been recruited by and the final stage is putting the pen to the paper. After that, the athlete and their families will fax their NLOI in and from that point on, they are officially a college football player.
This 2014 class differs from 2013 in the way that last year, the Buckeyes were chasing multiple big-time targets all the way up to their announcement such as Vonn Bell, James Clark, and Ezekiel Elliott, though the threat of Elliott swaying to Missouri was a long shot to begin with.
As for this year, Ohio State has two players up for grabs. One of them was Jamarco Jones. Jones' recruitment became dicey when he decided to take a visit to Michigan State last weekend. Even before he pledged to the Buckeyes last June, the Spartans were a legitimate threat to land the unanimous four-star offensive tackle. With the offensive line being the biggest need for this Ohio State class, losing Jamarco Jones would have definitely put a damper on this class no matter what else happens on signing day. With that said, on Tuesday night, Jamarco reaffirmed his commitment to Ohio State and should be all Buckeye today when the faxes are being sent in.
The next, and final, target Ohio State is in on today is Malik McDowell who is currently uncommitted, but choosing between Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, and Florida State. If you've followed the McDowell process at all, you know what kind of roller coaster it's been up to this point. At one point, looking back a year ago, McDowell was deemed a Michigan lock by most. However, like we all know with recruiting, things can change in a jiffy and they certainly did. McDowell's parents have stated several times that they want their son out of the state of Michigan, so one would figure it would be a Buckeye-Seminole race, right? Ohio State was the last visit McDowell took for his recruiting process and the odds are high that this could be another "Urban Special" that we have seen throughout the past couple of years.
Who
Malik McDowell (6-7/290) DE - Southfield H.S., MI - - 9:30 a.m. EST
How to watch
ESPNU - Quite possibly the biggest coverage of any channel for the day, ESPNU will begin their Signing Day coverage at 8 a.m. eastern time and will run through 7 p.m. eastern time. "National Signing Day" will feature multiple announcements from some of the remaining top prospects in the country and break downs of which conference and which teams had the most success.
Big Ten Network - BTN will launch a program called Big Ten Football Report which they are calling a "Signing Day Special." It will air at 4 p.m. eastern time and will have updates on every Big Ten team and how they fared on National Signing Day.
CBS Sports Network - CBSSN will feature two live programs today, the first one starting at 10 a.m. ET and the second at 3 p.m. ET. Each program has a running time of two hours. Like ESPNU, CBS Sports Network will offer live announcements and breakdowns of each recruiting class.
Fox Sports One - The first ever National Signing Day Special will air on Fox Sports One at 3:30 p.m. ET, but will only run for a 30 minute period. There is likely to be no announcements, however plenty of news and analysis, wrapping up the whole day.
Predictions
Malik McDowell - Ohio State has made up a big amount of ground on Malik the past couple of months. The parents want him out of Michigan, but I get a sense that they will eventually differ to his judgement. The kid definitely seems to like what Mark Dantonio has going on in East Lansing. Pick: