Wednesday's Buckeye Bits

Good morning, Buckeye fans!  I certainly hope this version of the basketball Buckeyes left a better impression than the one that faced TSUN over the weekend.  The Buckeyes welcomed Brandon Paul and the Illini into Columbus, and quickly sent them on their way, cruising to a 83-67 victory. 

After Paul went for 43 against the Buckeyes in Champaign, he was held to just 9 points on 2-9 shooting this time around.  Deshaun Thomas and William Buford led the Buckeyes with 19 and 17, respectively.  Next up for Ohio State is Wisconsin on Sunday in Columbus.  The Buckeyes beat the Badgers in Madison earlier this month, 58-52.

Now, on to the bits!

Zach Smith a good fit in Columbus.  Smith, the new wide receivers coach for Urban Meyer, has plenty of ties to Meyer and the Ohio State football program.  This is a nice article about how Smith shares his passion for Ohio State with his grandfather, Earle Bruce.  Yes, that Earle Bruce.  The 27-year-old has worked with Meyer for five years and has also spent time coaching at Marshall and Temple.

Monday's Buckeye Bits

Good morning Buckeye faithful, and welcome to your Monday edition of the Buckeye Bits. It's National Signing Day week, and that means the last couple of pushes, nudges, and full on shoves from coaches to recruits to sign with their school. As for the Buckeyes, they sit with 23 commitments, and hope to add to that number with a couple of big players.

I personally love the recruiting game. It's an interesting thing to watch a kid toy with coaches and fan bases with a simple tweet or even rumors that are started about said recruit which aren't true. Now all of that comes to the boiling point Wednesday, but might continue on for a couple of the recruits seriously enjoying the recruiting process.

Anyways, on to the Bits.

23 You Say? Not So Fast My Friend. As I mentioned above, the 2012 class stands at 23 commitments, but as we told you yesterday, wide receiver commit Roger Lewis is no longer a verbal to the Buckeyes, after not meeting the entry grade on his test. This opens up another scholarship, yes, but also puts on some serious pressure for Urban Meyer and his staff to lock down a commitment from another receiver. That can come in the form of Stefon Diggs or Davonte Neal.

'12 WR Recruit Roger Lewis Not Expected To Be A Buckeye

Pickerington Central's Roger Lewis

According to the Dispatch, 2012 Buckeye commit Roger Lewis might not be a Buckeye based off of what his high school coach has told the media. According to the coach, Lewis is not expected to sign his national letter of intent to Ohio State on Signing Day, due to not having the requisite pre-enrollment test scores and that he now is exploring other options.

Lewis's coach also stated, Lewis visited Ohio University this weekend, and said he also is considering Marshall and Bowling Green.

That leaves the OSU 2012 class, the first by new coach Urban Meyer, at 22 members, including the six players who enrolled at the start of the winter quarter.

Roger Lewis is a 3-star wide receiver commit, and with the recent struggles at wide receiver, the coaching staff made a priority of trying to get some athletes that can play the receiver position. While losing Lewis is not a huge deal, it does put a bit more pressure on Meyer to land either Davonte Neal or Stefon Diggs.

It sounds like Lewis doesn't have the test scores, and there's no chance anything can change. Especially coming from the coaches mouth, it looks like Lewis's time as a Buckeye commit will end short.