OSU FOOTBALL
Coaches work to keep recruits in fold despite recent troubles
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
If you want to know the score of Ohio State’s pursuit of its 2005 football recruiting class, here it is:
Coaches’ reassuring spiel 13,
Rumors of impending doom 1.
Barely three weeks before national letters of intent can be signed Feb. 2, coach Jim Tressel and his staff are having to ride herd a little harder to keep the players already committed in the corral while staying in the hunt for another five or six prospects.
The reason is obvious: The NCAA has been taking another look at the Ohio State program since former tailback Maurice Clarett stated in ESPN The Magazine that he received coach-arranged cars, money and benefits, among other things. And just when some of the furor was dying down, quarterback Troy Smith was suspended from the Alamo Bowl after admitting to taking money from a booster in the spring.
In the eyes of critics, including ESPN commentators, that gave further credence to Clarett’s claims and also signaled that the jobs of Tressel and athletics director Andy Geiger could be in jeopardy.
Then Geiger announced his retirement last week, and though his decision had been in the planning stage for six months, the timing was hard to explain away.
"They’ve painted a pretty ugly picture for Ohio State," Wes Williams said.
Williams’ opinion counts, because he’s the father of Ryan Williams, a defensive tackle from Mission Viejo, Calif., who was one of the early commitments. Ryan is still solid on his decision, his father said, even though high-school teammate Kevin Bemoll, an offensive lineman who committed last summer, has had second thoughts and is considering Oregon and California.
"In defense of Kevin, and I love him like a son, when he went back there to Ohio State in the summer, he absolutely fell in love with it," Wes Williams said. "But the ESPN things just kept chipping away and chipping away at him until he finally decided to look at some other schools."
It’s not as if the other commitments are oblivious to the news, but so far none have changed their minds.
"Recruiting is a hard enough job as it is, and any time you have anything negative it just makes the job that much more difficult," said Bill Kurelic, who has monitored Ohio State’s efforts for two decades with his Ohio Football Recruting News publication. "Now the OSU coaches have to allay the fears for any prospect."
Such as blue-chip defensive lineman Doug Worthington of Athol Springs, N.Y., who committed three months ago.
"Hearing those reports bothered me quite a bit, but going to Ohio State, that is my decision, and it is something I am going to run with," Worthington said. "I am not really worried about things."
A talk with Tressel and assistant coach Joe Daniels helped, Worthington said. It’s a conversation Tressel said he has not dodged.
"I want the student-athletes who are looking at us to address that and ask it," Tressel said. "I just left a home where I talked to mom and dad about it. It’s interesting to hear families’ and recruits’ takes on it. . . .
"The thing I’ve said to most of them is these (current) problems can keep us from having future problems and future pitfalls. If it can teach lessons a little stronger, it will have been worth it."
The talk helped in the case of highly regarded running back Maurice Wells of Jacksonville, Fla. If he opts to go to Georgia Tech, he said it won’t be because of the problems at Ohio State.
"All of that won’t sway my decision," Wells said. "What happened with Maurice Clarett and Troy Smith was unfortunate, but it happened. The NCAA has already done the investigation and hasn’t found anything wrong with the school, and it won’t find anything, I believe."
Although Worthington has committed to Ohio State, he still receives calls and visits from other coaches.
"Most of them, within the first five minutes, they bring up the situation at Ohio State," Worthington said.
Cleveland Glenville defensive back Jamario O’Neal, the first commitment to the 2005 class, said he is as solid as ever on his decision, but that it was natural for recruits to be curious. It helped, he said, that former Glenville standouts Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. have been around to answer his questions.
"Ted and Troy don’t think that anything really bad is going to happen, and I believe it," O’Neal said.
Wes Williams was asked for his take on it from a parent’s perspective.
"I personally don’t believe anything was institutionally directed, if that is the proper phrase," he said. "Do I believe that golden handshakes sometimes take place? Yeah. Do I believe they take place everywhere else? Yes. Can a coach control it? Maybe not. Does he know about it? Probably not.
"But will Ohio State weather the storm? Absolutely. And I told Ryan, ‘The national championship you guys are going to win in the next couple of years is going to be that much sweeter because of all of this.’ "
and anyone that wants to give a shout out to Ryan....feel free.....
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