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Entering the first day of the Early Signing Period, the Ohio State Buckeyes were seen as a main contender for Ohio’s top prospect, offensive tackle Jackson Carman. There was also stiff competition from USC for the five-star from Fairfield, too.
However, as Carman made his announcement at around 11:30 a.m. ET, it was neither the Buckeyes nor Trojans who would get the OT. It was the defending national champions, the Clemson Tigers, who got Ohio’s best prospect.
But how did they do it? Well, it looks like the recruiting spin was of a negative variety toward Ohio State.
Dabo Swinney told Jackson Carman during his recruitment that Urban Meyer is on the back end of his career in terms of years left. “It wasn’t a major factor, but it was an underlying one,” Carman said.
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) December 20, 2017
It’s no surprise that negative recruiting occurs. Especially when it looks like a coach may be on his way out, or if a school is under the watchful eye of the NCAA, expect other programs to pile on and do what it takes to convince a prospect to look at their school.
The shocking thing here is how quickly it was divulged that negative recruiting occurred. Carman had just made it known that he’s going to Clemson, and then told the media what was said by Dabo Swinney during the recruitment process.
Recruiting is a wild ride, and these types of things do happen, but Swinney’s approach is weird. He beat the Buckeyes last season, but, according to the tweet by Ari Wasserman, still resorted to telling Carman that Urban Meyer was on the back end of his career. If that’s what it took to get Carman, instead of just showing him the Fiesta Bowl film from last season, that’s an, uh, interesting thing to do.
What do you think about negative recruiting? Sound off in the comments.