Our Honor Defend

With shooty hoops mostly in accessible to me at the moment, the football season over, and uploading stuff to the YouTubes being a time-consuming endeavor, I struggle for content in the void between college football and the process of better knowing incoming Buckeyes.  On that note, I thought I’d offer some disparate recruiting thoughts for this Friday to end the work week as well as think ahead to this coming Wednesday, when the fax machine at the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex will be getting quite a workout.  In the process, I do not pretend that what I say is gospel or inside information, just observations of what’s already being discussed publicly.

First, Jordan Hicks will be having a presser to announce his college choice.  His decision will go public at 12:30pm EST, for those of you that may want to put off lunch for at least 45 minutes.  Who is Jordan Hicks, you ask?  He’s a linebacker from Cincinnati’s Lakota West program and, per Rivals.com, the #2 prospect in the state¹.  He will enroll at one of the following, in alphabetical order: Florida, The Ohio State University, Texas.  As I mentioned, you may want to hold off on lunch for awhile to find out the news, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up thinking that Jordan Hicks may be coming to Ohio State.  Instead, I think he’s heading to Austin and most insinuations, other than from the Florida camp, seem to think that’s the case as well.  To be frank, I’d be thrilled if he ends up at Texas.  If God also told Urban Meyer to recruit Hicks as well, and Hicks obliges, there’d be serious smh on my part.  Serious smh.  I’d be doubly thrilled if he commits to Ohio State, but I just don’t expect it.  Further, I subscribe to the sentiment that no recruit is a “must have” and fans of schools that typically speaks of recruits in such a manner (see: how most Minnesota fans think of Seantrel Henderson and thought of Willie Mobley) are programs that are usually not in the best of shape.  We have plenty of young linebackers already on roster.  All else equal, I think the likes of Andrew Sweat, Dorian Bell, Etienne Sabino and Storm Klein might be young phenoms at most other programs in Ohio State’s vicinity.  If Hicks heads elsewhere, we’re still in really good shape at that position.  We’d just be missing out on having super-ridiculous depth for Luke Fickell’s experimentations.

I assume Fickell is a mad scientist.

If anything, I kinda begrudge border incursions.  You win some you lose some on the recruiting trail, but seriously, Florida and Texas: stay out of Ohio.  We raid you, not the other way around.  Keep your ugly goldbricking ass out of our beach community (that is The Great State of Ohio).  However, Hicks (potentially) eschewing the in-state school would not be totally out of the blue.  Cincinnati is a bit of a “city-state” in terms of Ohio State recruiting; the Buckeyes don’t command the attention of Cincinnati kids in the way they do from Canton, Dayton, Cleveland kids.  At least, that’s how it seems.  Further, Hicks isn’t “from” Ohio.  If I recall correctly, he’s the son of a former Notre Dame shooty hoopster, was born in South Carolina and ultimately settled in Cincinnati sometime in middle school.

Other things to consider, in bullet point format:

• Safety Demar Dorsey decommitted from Florida and may end up at Florida State.  Why is this important?  It opens up the possibility for that 11th hour recruiting onslaught that Urban and staff may put on James Louis.  I don’t need to rehash how James Louis’ commitment to Ohio State has been questioned in the past.  I think it’s too late for Florida and it may be a storm that never comes into fruition.  But, I thought I’d mention it.
• Kiffin just made his visit to Seantrel Henderson.  Miami will get the last visit, I think.  Other than that, don’t expect to hear too much from Henderson as NLOID approaches, mostly because he’s already grown weary of the process and has many other obligations that just aren’t amenable to engaging in lots of recruiting fanfare.
• Dominique Brown has eliminated Georgia Tech, which caught me by surprise.  He subbed in Louisville for Georgia Tech.  Initially surprising, but Louisville also wants him as a quarterback.  No clue how this one ends.
• The Buckeyes played host to a punter prospect from Aussieland.  His name is Jay Karutz.  He’s been out of high school awhile, playing rugby, but now wants to give American football a whirl.  He’s on the mother of all trips across the United States to visit places, but did leave Ohio State with a grayshirt offer.  If no one matches it with an outright scholarship offer, he might come here.  Then, I might finally get to absolutely plaster a BKAB post with copious references to Men At Work, Silverchair, Crocodile Dundee, Powder Finger, Savage Garden, vegemite, didgeridoos and Fosters, which is Australian for beer and English for absolutely undrinkable (I’d sooner drink Coors).  Seriously, I’ll go so over the top that the post will no longer be readable by time you get to the “Must Work On” section.  Whereas Mike Nugent had “Stranglehold” to play during kickoffs, it’d be safe to say the loudspeakers start playing “Who Can It Be Now?” when a 3rd down is not converted.  Oh hell, it’s the weekend…

Enjoy the Senior Bowl, everybody.  Watch for Kurt Coleman.

1. No. 1 is Latwan Anderson and I… don’t… think I agree with that. [↩]