Ohio State Is Still In The Running For Alex Anzalone

The Buckeyes are still in the running

Friday afternoon was unpleasant for Buckeye fans as Alex Anzalone had announced his decommitment from Ohio State. Along with the announcement, Anzalone's father Sal Anzalone, had made some discouraging comments about OSU:

"You don't want your son to go to a place where there's a potential issue (like this)," Sal Anzalone said. "You expect the (football) staff to have some sort of control on how things are handled with recruits when they visit. This is ridiculous.

"I was concerned with what recruits do, and with them being allowed to visit these kind of places where it puts kids at risk. That's the issue. You entrust people (at the school) to do the right thing."

Media all across the nation picked up on Sal's comments criticizing Ohio State for allowing his son to come in contact with, and be photographed with, a known sex offender who is Buckeyes football fan. 

Now, though, Sal wants to clarify that he doesn't hold Buckeyes football coach Urban Meyer, his staff or the university responsible for what happened during Alex's recruiting visit to Columbus, Ohio, April 21.

"I want people to understand, I have no beef with Ohio State, at all," Sal Anzalone said. "My issue is not with Ohio State: It's a great institution, they have a phenomenal president, Urban Meyer is nothing but a class act to me.

"There's nothing wrong with Ohio State; it's a great institution. When I said there was something wrong with Ohio State, I was talking about the visit - there was something wrong with the visit, not with Ohio State."

Sal Anzalone said that Meyer called Friday evening, but did not wish to provide any details about that conversation.

After saying Friday that Alex would no longer consider attending Ohio State, Sal Anzalone said the Buckeyes are back in the picture, but that his son - an All-State linebacker and one of the top recruits in the nation - needs time to reassess the situation.

"With all the craziness, we want to slow down the process, calm it down a little bit," Sal Anzalone said. "There's no reason we wouldn't consider the Buckeyes. We love Ohio State. The academic opportunities there are tremendous."

As for right now, the Buckeyes are still in the running for Anzalone's talents. After the Lewis Neal decommit, this is a player that Urban would certainly like to have back. He's going to have some competition once again and just recently it has been Florida that has been putting the offensive front on Anzalone, making sure that the Buckeyes don't get the linebacker easily.