Buckeye Recruiting Updates: The Only News Is Bad News

Sorry for the lack of updates. Drew recently graduated from college, and as a proud father, I will tell you he did so with honors. He has begun his post-college life in Phoenix, Arizona, having started a new job last week. 

Right now, he is in California on a work-related trip and has not had time to post any news. I was in Montana last week myself but am now back in the good old Midwest, trying to get caught up on all things Scarlet and Gray.

In this dead period, as far as Buckeye football is concerned, there has been very little in the way of news, but what has come out is not positive.

First off, we learned that Ray Small is having academic problems, and some have speculated that he is done at Ohio State. However, if he passes all of his classes this summer, he'll still be eligible in the fall.

Of course, Small was an academic risk from the get-go, so this isn't a huge surprise. 

Considering how well he played this spring, we have to keep our fingers crossed that Small will take care of business in the classroom and be on the field when fall practice begins. 

We also learned recently that some recruiting targets have been taken off the board, having committed elsewhere. The fact that Nick Montana opted not to go to Ohio State was not a shock, although few predicted Washington as his final destination. 

The loss of William Gholston hurts worse, in my opinion, for two reasons. 

First, he opted for a Big Ten school in Michigan State, which means we'll have to face him in the years to come. But it also hurts because I suspect we would have signed him if we had only offered earlier. 

The good news is that defensive end is a strong position in Ohio this year, and we have other options. 

Nobody knows for sure what the fate of Jamel Turner will be, and there is no guarantee that he will be a Buckeye, even though he verbally committed way back in December 2008. 

Supposedly, Turner has a lot of work to do in the classroom and has skipped school a great deal. In addition, he was kicked off the Ursuline basketball team at midseason and appears to be a bit of a headcase. 

Boy, we've never had any of those out of Youngstown, have we?

Maurice Clarett and Louis Irizarry immediately come to mind and make one wonder what will happen with young Mr. Turner. Here's hoping he gets his act together.

So the news hasn't been so great, and we continue to wait on another verbal, the last having been Scott McVey on Apr. 25. Like most fans, I am starting to get antsy and hope my next recruiting post is filled with good news instead of bad.

Until then, keep the faith, Buckeye nation!