Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/15 - Coaches making visits in New Jersey, Terry Beckner update

We are now three days removed from Ohio State's national championship victory over Oregon, 42-20. Next on the agenda for the Buckeyes is National Signing Day 2015, which is less than one month away.

Not only will the coaching staff be in a battle to land some of the prospects on their board, but they will also have to hold off other programs going after current members of the Elite '15 class.

Dead period comes to an end:

Finally, the recruiting quiet period is over. Prospects and coaches are now allowed to make visits and communicate in person and the Ohio State coaches will waste no time getting things going once again.

Newly minted offensive coordinator Ed Warinner will join Urban Meyer as they head to New Jersey today, according to 247Sports' Alex Gleitman. The coaches will make several different trips to high schools in the garden state. One stop will be Don Bosco Prep to see '15 OT Kevin Feder, who has been committed to Ohio State since June. They'll also be at DePaul Catholic for recent Ohio State commit Kareem Walker and '16 WR Hasise Dubois, Paramus Catholic for '16 DT Rashan Gary and Bergen Catholic for '16 QB Jarrett Guarantano.

'15 OT Isaiah Prince from Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) is betting on the Buckeyes to be the first team to visit him coming out of the dead period according to Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports. The four-star lineman is primarily being recruited by DMV specialist and DL coach Larry Johnson. Prince, the nation's 6th-best offensive tackle prospect, is scheduled to make an official visit to Columbus on January 23rd.

Tigers on top for Beckner?

From the looks of it, the Buckeyes will have to jump one team, at least, to land five-star DT Terry Beckner Jr. from East St. Louis (IL). Ohio State is still looking to fill another spot at defensive tackle in this year's class. The only prospect currently pledged to the Scarlet and Gray is '15 DT Robert Landers from Wayne (OH).

According to Frank Cusumano of KSDK in St. Louis, Beckner's head coach Darren Sunkett currently believes that Gary Pinkel and Missouri are in the best position to lock up the 6'4", 293-pounder. Cusumano later tweeted that the Tigers' ability to produce defensive linemen is part of the reason why his head coach feels that way. However, the Buckeyes will still have an opportunity to change things when they host Beckner for an official visit on January 23.

Three-star CB wants Buckeye offer:

'15 CB Chris Williamson from Gainesville (GA) is hoping to add an offer from Ohio State soon, according to Keith Niebuhr. The three-star prospect is not as highly ranked as Buckeye fans would hope but he has seen his recruitment take off this month due to an impressive senior season.

As recently as the middle of December, Williamson only held offers from California, Northwestern, North Carolina, UCF, Virginia and a few others. But on January 7, things quickly changed when he landed offers from Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech. Since then, he has also been offered by Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Notre Dame. It's worth noting that Ohio State recently lost out on '15 CB Juwuan Briscoe to Mark Richt and the Bulldogs, so I would not be surprised to see an offer go out to Williamson. Stay tuned.

Hoops staff visits targets:

Not only did we get plenty of football recruiting news, we got some Buckeye hoops news. According to NextUpRecruits, Ohio State coaches were in to see JaQuan Lyle, a 2015 SG from IMG Academy in Florida. Also, assistant coach Greg Paulus was recently in Indiana checking out '16 C Joey Brunk, '17 PF Jaren Jackson Jr. and '17 SF Paul Scruggs according to Jeff Rabjohns of Rivals.com.