2013 4-Star Outside Linebacker Alex Anzalone Decommits From Ohio State

Why the sudden change?

Linebacker Alex Anzalone made his third visit to Ohio State less than two months ago, when he attended the Buckeyes’ spring game on April 21. At that time he gave the Ohio State staff the good news that he was commitment No. 11 for Urban Meyer’s 2013 recruiting class.

The commitment did not last long.

“I de-committed from Ohio State,” Anzalone told Irish Sports Daily this afternoon. “Right now I'm digesting everything"

This is pretty dire news for Buckeye fans because when asked if he is still considering Ohio State, Anzalone said, “Not really.”

The 6'3" and 220-pound Anzalone had committed to the Buckeyes over approximately 30 other scholarship offers. Anzalone also said that he is considering five schools right now. Those schools are Penn State, Notre Dame, USC, Stanford and Florida.

As to why he is no longer an Ohio State commitment, Anzalone did not want to expound. Anzalone is the No. 4 prospect in Pennsylvania, the country’s No. 97 overall prospect and the No. 6 outside linebacker.

Anzalone's decision is very shocking to say the least. This decommit has come out of nowhere. I have to agree with Eleven Warriors on the subject of the recent "Eric Charles Waugh" case. Like they said, there's no evidence to prove that it was the reason for the changing of Anzalone's mind, but can't have helped the situation any. 

Now, with the recent Lewis Neal news that he is looking at LSU, it means the Buckeyes will need to get back to work recruiting linebackers for their 2013 class. They have gone from commitments from two outstanding linebackers to no solid commitments at the position at this point.

The only good thing that could possibly come out of losing two linebackers back to back would be to land one of the top linebackers in the country: Jaylon Smith

2013 3-Star OLB Lewis Neal Commits To Ohio State

Neal is the 13th commitment in the Class of '13

After landing a commitment from Alex Anzalone on Saturday and Joey Bosa earlier today, Urban Meyer has done it again as the Buckeyes’ boss has landed a star linebacker.

Lewis Neal announced on Twitter that he has picked the Bucks, making him the 13th commitment in the Class of 2013.

Neal committed to the Buckeyes earlier this afternoon, almost minutes after Joey Bosa had given his verbal commit to the Buckeyes.

After attending the Ohio State Spring Game on Saturday, rumors were floating around that Neal could commit to the Buckeyes before heading home on Sunday.

Obviously, it happened a little later than expected, but either way the Buckeyes have landed a solid player at the linebacker spot. Neal might even be considered underrated, while he's only 3 stars according to 247Sports, but he has started to shine at recent football camps.

The 6'2", 235-pound Neal has played mostly defensive end during his high school career. He played on the Hunt varsity during the second half of his freshman season. After a good sophomore season Neal was outstanding as a junior.

Despite missing three games, Neal made 88 tackles including eight sacks last season as Hunt finished 13-1 and made it to the regional finals.

Neal had ten scholarship offers before selecting the Buckeyes over Tennessee, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Clemson, East Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest.

Neal will most likely play linebacker for the Buckeyes. With Courtney Love committing to Nebraska over the weekend, this looks like a solid fill-in for Ohio State. 

Keep it at Inside The Shoe for the latest news, updates and opinions on Ohio State athletics. 

2013 4-Star Defensive End Joey Bosa Commits To Ohio State

Bosa is #12 for the Class of '13

It doesn’t get much better than the defensive end trio Urban Meyer signed for his 2012 recruiting class, which included Noah Spence, Adolphus Washington and Se’Von Pittman that Urban Meyer landed last recruiting season.

Now, though, Meyer may just be outdoing himself as the Buckeyes added a fantastic defensive end earlier this afternoon.

Joey Bosa, the country’s No. 2 strong-side defensive end in the 247Sports rankings, has tweeted that he has committed to Ohio State. This makes Bosa the 12th commitment to Meyer and OSU's Class of 2013.

Bosa made his decision while visiting Ohio State over the weekend and attending the Ohio State spring game on Saturday. However, he waited - for good reason - to make his announcement this morning.

Bosa is more familiar with Ohio State football than most high school football players in the state of Florida. Bosa’s mother is from Chicago and his uncle Eric Kumerow was a high school star there before heading to Ohio State where he became a star defensive end for the Buckeyes.

The 6'5", 260-pound Bosa played in every game during his sophomore season and started two for one of the country’s top prep teams. He missed four games during his junior season with a concussion, but still made 50 tackles including eight sacks. Bosa had 16 tackles for loss as St. Thomas Acquinas finished with a 10-3 record.

Bosa picked Ohio State over an impressive list of scholarship offers that includes Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Wisconsin, Michigan, Boston College, Notre Dame and Iowa.

In addition to being the country’s No. 2 strong-side defensive end prospect, Bosa is the country’s No. 24 overall prospect and the No. 7 prospect in the state of Florida.

This defensive line recruiting is just getting out of hand - in the best way possible. This a fantastic pick up for Ohio State and one that they really wanted to add to their class. Now that they have him, they can focus more on the other key recruits. 

Keep it at Inside The Shoe for the latest news, updates and opinions on Ohio State athletics. 

2013 3-Star Defensive End Tracy Sprinkle Commits To Ohio State

Sprinkle is #9 in the Class of 2013

Defensive end Tracy Sprinkle visited Ohio State eleven days ago with his mother and father and was offered a scholarship. As of yesterday, Sprinkle is a Buckeye.

Sprinkle picked Ohio State over a dozen offers including Michigan State, Arkansas, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, Indiana, Kentucky, Syracuse and Toledo. 

Sprinkle confirmed via Twitter that he had become commitment No. 9 for Urban Meyer’s 2013 recruiting class.

His final three were the Buckeyes, Michigan State and Arkansas.

The 6'4", 250-pound Sprinkle was a varsity starter at guard his sophomore season. He moved to the other side of the ball his junior season and played defensive end. Sprinkle made 80 tackles including eight sacks. He had a whopping 25 quarterback “hurries.”

Sprinkle has been recruited as a defensive lineman and will most likely be lining up on the outside as a defensive end. While only a 3-star, Sprinkle's commitment is very good for the Buckeyes in more ways than one. The first reason is that Sprinkle has only been playing on the defensive side for 1 year. 

Starting next season, you can bet that Sprinkle will be much improved after Urban gets a workout set up for him at his high school and you'd better believe that's going to happen. When it does, it would not shock me one bit if his ranking rose to a 4-star. 

The second reason is that Ohio State is limited to the number of players they take in recruiting classes and this particular offer was rumored to not be commitable.

The interesting thing about it, is that it might force another Buckeye recruit in Joey Bosa to make his commitment to the Buckeyes sooner rather than later because room is starting to run out. 

Be prepared for recruiting to heat up here for a little while as the space in the class of 2013 starts to narrow down to the main targets as more recruits make their decisions on where to play for school.

Keep it at Inside The Shoe for the latest news, updates and opinions on Ohio State athletics.