Our Honor Defend

I know Brian at MGoBlog made note of this, but Alabama has a severe scholarship problem on account of its recruiting shenanigans, though the Alabama blogs threw a hissy fit because Nick Saban is the third coming of the Bear¹. Jimmy Johns — one of Alabama’s umpteen scatbacks, and probably their best one, though he made the move to linebacker in light of another disciplinary problem on the team — opted to save the day for the Tide and was just busted on cocaine charges.

Yep, cocaine.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns was arrested on felony drug charges Tuesday and kicked off the team, the latest in a string of off-the-field problems for coach Nick Saban’s squad.

Johns, who moved to defense for his senior year after playing running back and receiver in 2007, was “pretty wide open” selling cocaine to students on and around the University of Alabama campus but tried to hide what he was doing from teammates, police said.

In response, Saban tossed Jimmy Johns off the team, and thus off scholarship.

Saban dismissed Johns from the team almost immediately.

“This type of behavior obviously will not be tolerated (so long as we have that 85 scholarship threshold to satisfy) — [OHD edit] and he is no longer a part of our program,” he said in a brief statement.

I’m not sure if they ever kicked off that redshirt freshman dude for robbing a few of those students. Maybe that’s tolerable behaviour. But this should be exciting to watch Alabama make it below the 85 limit. Should be a photo finish!

Oh, and…

Authorities who searched the apartment found about 10 grams of cocaine and ecstasy pills.

Damn, son. If you’ve been dealing for this long, why haven’t you hooked me up dammit. I think cocaine is the only thing that can make my work trips to Tuscaloosa interesting.

Parole Tide Parole!

1. remember Tide fans, how Stallings was supposed to be the second coming? Until you ran him out of town for winning 70 games in 7 years? Remember? Remember that? [↩]

Just minutes after Corey Brown’s verbal went public, Brad McDougald (Dublin Scioto HS) continued the commitment parade by issuing his verbal to Ohio State. The commitment gives the Buckeyes 22 prepsters with the end of June still more than a week away.

For Brad, Ohio State was the dream school. When he received his offer on May 20, in what I think is continued fallout from Darrell Givens’ switcharoo to Penn State, Brad remarked how Ohio State was probably his dream offer. He remembers being on site and watching Ted Ginn Jr return a punt for a touchdown against the Nittany Lions and affirming to himself then and there that being a Buckeye was his highest goal for football.

Fast forward to a little over a month later and Brad has certified his intent to follow through with that dream. After the advanced camp over the weekend, Brad felt that everything was just right and there would be no point in stalling any further. After taking the weekend to talk things over with the folks and reaffirm that he was behind his decision 100%, Brad called Jim Tressel and committed. Ohio State offered the 6′1 190lb Dublinite as a safety, though Brad plays a lot of tailback for his HS team. His versatility, burst and aggression project well for the position.

Brad chose the Buckeyes over the likes of Michigan State, Wisconsin, WVU and Iowa, among many others.  Highlights of Brad can be seen courtesy of ScoutingOhio.

The good news won’t stop for Ohio State recruiting as the Buckeyes’ staff continues to rake in their prime targets at the clip of an impulsive shopaholic. Corey Brown (Monroeville, PA), a defensive back/wideout prospect and teammate of Buckeye commit Dorian Bell, has just become the 21st verbal in the 2009 class.  The news of the verbal was delivered at an impromptu presser just moments ago.

Corey Brown received his offer in the second week of May amidst the fallout of Darrell Givens’ decommitment.  Immediately after receiving word of the offer, Corey Brown put the Buckeyes at the top of his list and almost assuredly made it known, if implicitly, he would be joining Dorian Bell at Ohio State in 2009.  For those unaware of the broader story of the offer, there were several indicators that Corey would be joining Dorian at Ohio State.  First, in the buildup to the Spring Game, Dorian was talking less about whether or not he would be attending Ohio State and more about the possibility of Ohio State eventually offering Corey.  Further, when Dorian committed to Ohio State at his presser, Corey was holding up an Ohio State flag in the background.  And further, when Corey finally received his offer from Ohio State, he noted it was the offer he coveted the most.  An impromptu presser was pushed forward to today, with Corey publicly revealing what had been a long time coming.

Corey Brown is a tweener at the moment, but it looks like he will end up as a defensive back, where his 6′2 size figures to give him an advantage going forward.  Interestingly enough, Corey appeared to have made wideout his preferred position, leaving me to suspect he would get an offer if something fell through with James Jackson or Duron Carter.  However, Jim Tressel visited Corey during May and confirmed to him they want him as a defensive back.

What makes this offer even more intriguing is that Corey Brown is one of the fastest rising recruits on Rivals.com’s Rivals100 list for 2009.  All rankings are subject to change, of course, and Corey might be another victim of the unfortunate Rivals.com Buckeye bounce (where highly-prized recruits tend to get knocked down a few notches in a stochastic manner on the Rivals.com rankings after committing to Ohio State).  However, Corey Brown really impressed at the State College Nike Camp awhile back, where he dominated at both wideout and defensive back and was named MVP of all the defensive backs.

Further, with current rankings, the Buckeyes now have an outstanding 8 in the Rivals.com Rivals100 at the moment, counting Corey Brown.  On the list: Dorian Bell (#23), Jamie Wood (#26), Melvin Fellows (#28), CJ Barnett (#56), Jordan Whiting (#57), Justin Green (#67), Corey Brown (#73), and Chris Fields (#95). Nobody else has any more than 5 (USC being that school).

This might be the golden age of Buckeye recruiting, with all things considered.

It might be the understatement of the year to say that recruiting has been going well this weekend for the Buckeyes. Having secured commitments from Duron Carter on Friday and Carlos Hyde earlier this morning, Justin Green decided to throw his lot in with the other committed Buckeyes. He becomes the third commitment of the weekend, the 20th overall and the second Buckeye legacy of the weekend as well. Justin Green is the younger brother of Marcus Green, a former defensive tackle for the Buckeyes.

To be honest, Justin Green, of Louisville, KY, was not an offer I predicted, but he was the beneficiary of an offer and renewed interest in the fallout of Darrell Givens’ decommitment. He more than proved his worth during camp, however, as some reports from the advanced camp this weekend had him pegged as the fastest player at camp. Such speed credentials come from his participation in track and field. Therein, Justin was the Kentucky state 100m champion as a sophomore, repeated the feat as a junior, but also added state titles in the 200m, 300m and 400m. It’s this SEC-caliber¹ speed that earned him offers from Tennessee and Alabama among a host of others.

Justin projects as a defensive back in college and will most likely play there, though his quick feet might have Darrell Hazell lay down the hammer and put him at wideout, according to Justin. Lord knows Hazell has done it before with Anthony Gonzalez and Ted Ginn, both initially slated to be defensive backs in college. The difference for Justin was the legacy factor. Justin was just a grade schooler when he was introduced to the program through Marcus and grew up as a Buckeye and grew up with the Buckeyes. It was the offer he always wanted and only recently got. Justin opted to waste no more time.

As with Duron, there’s always a warm, fuzzy feeling we get when Buckeye legacies create their own legacies at Ohio State.

1. sigh… how college football discourse has been so remarkably dumbed down these past few years… [↩]

Update: It’s official. Just as Kurelic noted last night, Hyde made the call today and issued his verbal.  The reasons for the verbal remain the same, though apparently Dick Tressel got the news as he was in the middle of moving furniture and was ecstatic over the commitment.

The second Florida prepster domino appears ready to fall. All recruiting eyes were on Columbus in anticipation of the possible tidal wave of commitments that may follow from the advanced camp, further considering the shrinking number of spots in the class. Duron Carter, as expected, secured his spot. Another heavy Buckeye lean, Carlos Hyde, looks ready to do the same tomorrow.

Bill Kurelic brings the news from his contact with Carlos Hyde. Hyde, originally from Cincinnati, had been in Cincinnati for the past week to visit his family. He grew up idolizing the Buckeyes, but moved down to Naples, Fla to be with grandma. Hyde had the Buckeyes practically at the top of his list when they offered, and may have committed earlier in the week if not for the delays in actually taking a tour of campus. Indeed, by spending a whole week in Cincinnati, he was in no particular rush to make it to Columbus. Hyde felt he had seen everything he needed to see upon finally making it to campus, specifically remarking how Tressel takes care of his players. He noted he would talk about it with his family, and since everyone agreed to Ohio State as the top choice, Hyde says he set to commit tomorrow. He explicitly stated he wants to let Jim Tressel know before heads back to Florida.

Carlos Hyde has a lot of people excited, myself included, over what he could bring to the table. The Buckeyes didn’t take a tailback in 2008 in the fallout of DeVoe Torrence, and with Beanie a possible candidate for entry into the NFL and Rasta Wells losing his eligibility after this year, the Buckeyes appear to have their sights set on two more backs to compliment Jordan Hall, who is arguably more of a receiving threat than rushing threat. For all intents and purposes, the Buckeyes only have two targets, with Hyde being one of them. I’ve encountered a lot of comparisons of Hyde, who Scout.com has listed as the number one fullback prospect in the country. These comparisons range from Jamal Lewis to our very own Beanie, which I don’t think is particularly accurate nor fair to Hyde. Hyde doesn’t have the breakaway speed of either and Beanie is Jim Brown incarnate, but Hyde shows a nimbleness of footwork and power running style that compares favorably with PJ Hill of Wisky fame. If Hyde is the power back of the two targets, Jaamal Berry is the home run hitter/lightning in a bottle target. I’ve been calling for a Dr. Berry and Mr. Hyde tandem in this class for awhile, and it looks like a very real possibility. With Mr. Hyde ready to enter the fold, the Buckeyes are one step closer to such a tailback tandem in 2009 to compliment other studs like Brandon Saine and Boom Herron.

The embarrassment of riches that comes with being a Buckeye these days.