How Urban Meyer Will Capitalize on Ohio State's National Title

COLUMBUS, Ohio — To those who interact with him regularly, Urban Meyer looked uncomfortable and sometimes even flustered while occupying the same seat that had recently been reserved for the likes of Donald Trump, Jamie Foxx, Meryl Streep and Sting.

But as soon as the first question left David Letterman's mouth, it became clear why the Ohio State head coach was sitting where he was.

"I'm told that you, sir, are already out recruiting young athletes to come to Ohio State," the longtime late-night TV host stated. "Am I right about that?"

Meyer sure was. In fact, he was currently in the process.

After leading the Buckeyes to a win in last Monday's College Football Playoff championship, Meyer almost immediately embarked on his own personal world tour, attempting to maximize the exposure of Ohio State's most recent national title. "We're back at work," Meyer answered with a smile.

After winning his third national title, Meyer claims to have taken two days off—one of which was spent traveling back to Columbus from North Texas. En route to his Thursday night Late Show taping in New York City, Meyer made multiple stops in nearby New Jersey, paying visits to some of the Garden State's top prospects.

In addition to Ohio State verbal commit and 2016 5-star running back Kareem Walker, Meyer made it a point to see a trio of Buckeye targets in Bergen Catholic 2016 4-star quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, Paramus Catholic 2016 5-star defensive lineman Rashan Gary and DePaul 2016 3-star wide receiver Hasise Dubois. The significance of the timing of Meyer's visit to New Jersey wasn't lost on Bergen Catholic coach Nunzio Campanile.

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"There’s always a buzz when guys like Urban Meyer are coming here for a visit," Campanile told JJ Conrad of The Record. "But especially right now."

Meyer's strategy is simple—to strike while the iron is hot. One of the 13-year head coach's favorite sayings is that in college football, momentum is everything, and there isn't a brand in college football with more of it than the Buckeyes at the moment.

That's why Meyer's tour has carried into the current week, with last week wrapping up with trips to see OSU commits Justin Hilliard and Joe Burrow and 2016 Notre Dame commit Tommy Kraemer. In addition to his nationally televised Late Show appearance, Meyer did multiple national radio interviews as well, including one with ESPN's Colin Cowherd.

After hosting a big recruiting weekend in Columbus that included visits from 2015 commits Alex Stump and Dre'Mont Jones, Meyer again hit the road On Monday, visiting with Canton McKinley 2015 commit Eric Glover-Williams.

That wasn't all Meyer had to do in Northeast Ohio, as he found himself back in the national spotlight as well, sitting courtside for the Cleveland Cavaliers' nationally televised win over the Chicago Bulls. The Ohio State head man even spoke to LeBron James and his teammates prior to tipoff, and was honored alongside multiple Cleveland-born Buckeyes during a timeout with a personalized jersey.

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

Meyer was back on the recruiting trail on Tuesday, visiting with Greenbelt, Maryland, 2015 4-star offensive lineman Isaiah Prince. Tonight he'll appear on HBO's Real Sports in a follow-up interview to a piece that the television magazine ran on him last September.

That will be the norm for Meyer between now and Feb. 4's national signing day—national media appearances sandwiched between relentless recruiting efforts. Having gone through this twice before, Meyer knows that he can expect tangible results from his most recent national title, as the Buckeyes have regained  what he once called "flavor of the month" status.

"It's a month of an infomercial about Ohio State," Meyer told CavsTV. "It's a testimony to what's been done there. And it's a testimony to what's going to be done in the future too."

With the Buckeyes set to sign what is currently the nation's seventh-ranked class in 2015 and five premier prospects already signed up for 2016, the rich only appear to be getting richer. And as the last week has shown, Meyer and Ohio State are already pretty rich.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com, and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.