Great free article on McCoy's visit from Gary Housteau....
http://ohiostate.scout.com/2/328250.html
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McCoy more than impressed with visit to 'O-State'
By Gary Housteau
Date: Dec 9, 2004
With Tennessee still on the agenda for this coming weekend, Rico McCoy's visit to Ohio State this past weekend couldn't have gone any better and it cements the Buckeyes at the top of his list for now. Although he won't announce his official decision until January at the Army All-American Bowl, McCoy is likely to have his final answer by next week.
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Without any hesitation, <!--Default NodeId For Rico McCoy is 1161313,2004-->
Rico McCoy admitted that he had a great time on his official visit to <!--Default For Ohio State is to ignore-->Ohio State this past weekend.
“Yeah I had fun,” McCoy said. “I definitely enjoyed myself. Me and Doug (Worthington) and Andre (Mathis) and <!--Default NodeId For Walker Ashley is 1161825,2004-->
Walker Ashley had a ball I think.”
From the Nation’s capital to <!--Default For Ohio is to ignore-->Ohio’s capital city, McCoy’s weekend adventure certainly met the very high expectations that he had for it prior to going there.
“They did a pretty good,” McCoy said. “I was expecting a lot and I got a lot. They passed the test. It was all I expected and more at O-State.”
Spending some time with <!--Default NodeId For Jim Tressel is 1192476,2004-->
Jim Tressel was definitely a high point of his visit.
“There were a bunch of high points of the visits but I talked to Coach Tressel in his office and he showed me his championship ring collection. That was very impressive,” McCoy said. “That was really cool. And hanging out with the players was a lot of fun.”
<!--Default NodeId For Marcus Freeman is 1161164,2004-->
Marcus Freeman was McCoy’s host.
“He’s cool. He’s a real cool kid,” he said. “I got to hang out with him and the other recruits and we had a blast up there.”
McCoy spent some quality time talking to Freeman when he had the opportunity.
“We talked about playing together in the future, that would be sweet,” he said. “He’s playing Sam and I could be at the Will. It could be me and him at Sam and Will.”
Being in Ohio Stadium was another highlight of his visit.
“We went there about 6:30 or 7:00 o’clock in the evening and we had dinner up in the sweet press box,” McCoy said. “They were showing the highlights from the <!--Default For Michigan is to ignore-->Michigan game when we stepped on the field so we got to see that up on the big screen. It was really impressive.
“I haven’t been to a game there but all of the players told me about the game atmosphere there. I can see it being packed with a bunch of screaming fans out there.”
McCoy felt very comfortable on his visit. He’s even more in the corner of Ohio State now than he ever was and it will likely take a knockout blow by <!--Default For Tennessee is to ignore-->Tennessee next week to change the way that he’s feeling.
“I would say I’m leaning more to O-State right now,” he said. “I liked the players and I liked the coaches up there, they showed me a lot of love. It’s always good to go where you’re wanted. I felt at home. It was a nice place. It felt like a good fit.”
And he was under no pressure at all during his visit to make a commitment to Ohio State.
“I didn’t feel like I was being forced or rushed into a commitment or anything,” he said. “Like they said, they were presenting themself to me, hoping that it was what I was looking for. And I think it was. I think it was a great fit. I told them that I’m going to take this visit to Tennessee and I ought to know from there where I stand. And I’ll probably be ready to make a decision, which I won’t make until the all-star game.”
Mathis, another top-rated linebacker, will join McCoy on his visit to Tennessee this weekend. Of course McCoy is excited to visit there as well.
“Everybody I’ve talked to said it’s a great place to go, too,” McCoy said. “Their coaches are telling me ‘we have great fan support here too and we have a pretty big stadium and you’ll love us just as much as you love them.' So we’ll see when I get down there. I’m serious about this visit.”
The Ohio State staff didn’t waste any time trying to impress McCoy after his visit.
“Yeah I’ve talked to the coaches this week,” he said. “Matter of fact I saw Coach Tucker today (Wednesday), he came to my school today. I talked to Coach Tucker for a couple of minutes and he headed back to O-State.”
There’s really nothing else the Buckeyes need to do now except wait for McCoy to make a commitment, be it to Ohio State or some place else.
“I’m straight with Ohio State right now,” he said. “I think I’ve seen all that I need to see, for real, from Ohio State. Right now I’m just making sure there is nothing else out there that’s going to top it. I’m just testing the waters now. I’m just going to see what else is out there but I think this is it.”
He mentioned that it was exciting to see some of the players already at Ohio State when he was on his visit.
“I saw <!--Default NodeId For Ted Ginn is 1166629,2004-->
Ted Ginn and I saw the quarterback (<!--Default NodeId For Troy Smith is 1171621,2004-->
Troy Smith). And I saw the receiver <!--Default NodeId For Santonio Holmes is 1200482,2004-->
Santonio Holmes,” McCoy said. “I took a picture with <!--Default NodeId For A.J. Hawk is 1196418,2004-->
A.J. Hawk. I can see myself filling his shoes when he leaves, me and Freeman holding it down. But I got to meet all of the guys up there and they were cool.”
McCoy’s family was thrilled with the trip. They made the seven hour or so drive to be there with him.
“They all had fun,” McCoy said. “My little sister hung out with the cheerleaders for a little bit, they came over to talk to her. She’s 12 and she’s a cheerleader here so that was real good for her. You know how she’s feeling now! And my dad was loving it up there. They all said that it looked like a pretty good fit to them.”
But McCoy was shocked at one point during his visit. In a good way that is.
“They showed me how much Michigan and Ohio State dislike each other,” he said. “You know we had lunch at a sports grill, I think, and they had the band play a couple of songs for us. And one of the songs shocked me. They just started singing, ‘We don’t give a damn about the whole state of Michigan...’ That shocked me man! But that showed me how big a rivalry that is and how fun it would be to play in that game when you got the band doing that. That’s crazy.” He even imagined what it would to be like playing in the Michigan game when he was looking at his jersey with the number 3 they had laid out for him. That’s McCoy’s high school number. “I can really envision myself wearing that jersey,” McCoy said. “Tell the fans that I can really see myself making some big plays right alongside Marcus Freeman and A.J. Hawk and all the other superstars that they’ve got up there. I think I would look really good in an O-State jersey."
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