Ohio State Football: What Charles Waugh Taught Us About Access to Recruits

Ohio State's strong 2013 recruiting efforts were derailed slightly when Wyomissing (Penn.) LB Alex Anzalone decommitted on Friday.

The reason—which has taken on a life of its own in recent days—was a photo that surfaced on the Internet (via SB Nation) of Anzalone with so-called Ohio State "superfan" Charles Eric Waugh.

Waugh, known on Twitter as @BdubsTriviaGuru before he shut down his account, was notorious for sending out mass amounts of tweets to Ohio State players, coaches and even prospective recruits.

As it turns out, Waugh was a convicted child sex offender in the state of Kentucky who is at the end of a five-year probation that he got as part of a plea agreement as opposed to jail time.

Anzalone decommitted days after the photo and story came to light, and the story of Mr. Waugh exploded all throughout the Internet.

Anzalone's father, Dr. Sal Anzalone told local paper the Reading Eagle just hours before his son's decommitment that the university and coach Urban Meyer needed to be more responsible for a situation that OSU compliance had been very active to quell.

Dr. Anzalone backtracked his comments several times since, making his opinion seem much less valid.

The real lesson from the Anzalone and Waugh situation is that thing that makes college and pro sports different—and no, it's not about the elephant in the room (money).

Access through social media makes college players and recruits much easier to communicate with than any other athlete in North America.

Anyone can get a Twitter account, and most college football recruits have accounts of their own.

Add in the crazed fans that tweet at these kids in an effort to help them come to their school, and you have a powder keg waiting to explode.

This is that powder keg.

It's arguably one of the more stunning developments in recruiting, a world where craziness seems to be the norm.

The NCAA has tried to create some early rules against tweeting prospective recruits, but there's only so much they can do.

Twitter doesn't do background checks, and you don't know if the fan that's taking pictures with a kid you want to go to your school is a convicted sex offender.

This type of thing could happen to any school, especially since modern technology allows non-boosters to contact players.

It's a dangerous predicament which could give any football program a black eye.

This could just be the beginning and should serve as a warning not only to recruits, but to all programs in college football.

Recruits need to be wary of who they take pictures with, and programs need to keep an eye on things such as this and be proactive about such matters.

Ohio State did that, taking care of a problem and handling it so much better than Tattoogate.

In the end, these kids are kids, and there should never be a circumstance where their personal safety is at stake.

As for Alex Anzalone, his direction is still unclear as of now.

He may come back to Ohio State, but his story should be a reminder of things to be wary of on the recruiting trail.

Follow me on Twitter @bielik_tim for the latest college football news and updates.