Ohio State Bowl Ban: Will 5-Star DE Noah Spence Re-Open His Recruitment?

Scandals are never a good thing to have when you're trying to run a college football program.

Not only does it tarnish your image and give your university a black eye, it also can really affect recruiting—especially when the NCAA takes scholarships away and bans you from participating in postseason play. 

That's exactly what happened to the Ohio State Buckeyes yesterday, when they were banned from playing in a bowl game next season. They also lost four scholarships for the next three seasons. This is coming off the tattoo scandal last year, in which players accepted tattoos in exchange for memorabilia.

Before this punishment was handed down, it seemed like new coach Urban Meyer was bringing in all of the top recruits. He was able to land two top defensive ends, a highly ranked defensive tackle and one of the top running back prospects.

This was all over the course of a month.

One of those top defensive ends is Noah Spence, who is one of the best prospects overall in this years recruiting class.

Before he recruited to the Buckeyes, it appeared he was on his way to become a Nittany Lion. He was going to be close to home, and it was a prestigious program that he could thrive under head coach Joe Paterno.

Then the sex scandal hit the university, and it played a big part in his recruiting decision.

Will this scandal have the same effect and force the 5-star recruit to second-guess his decision?

I don't think so. Here are a few words from Spence's mother on why he ended up going with Ohio State over every other school that extended an offer.

"

"My sister and I were praying on Thanksgiving that God would show us a sign of where was the best place to send Noah," explained Helen. "One morning, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and ESPN was on and I saw this man speaking at an Ohio State podium and I saw Noah's name scroll across the bottom of the screen. I don't know football, so I had no idea who the man even was.

"The next morning I asked my husband who was this man and he said that is Urban Meyer," She continued. "I thought Lord that was my sign, so I spoke to my sister and she said that we asked for him to show us a sign and I believe in my heart that this was the sign we were waiting for. There was this man (Urban Meyer), the podium (Ohio State) and my son."

"

Pretty powerful stuff.

It seems like the defensive end and his family are extremely happy with their decision, and he isn't going anywhere. And this isn't something that was a secret. We all knew about what was going on and knew the possibility was there that they could be banned from postseason play.

The recruits who have already committed to Ohio State should be safe, and that includes the 5-star recruit from Pennsylvania.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]