Everything is bigger in Texas – including Ohio State recruitment

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The first thing you notice at South Grand Prairie High School, in the suburbs of Dallas, is not that of the huge high school, but rather the vast sports campus including a football stadium with three indoor practice that would make divisional I schools jealous.

As for high school football in Texas, everything is really bigger. And Ohio State seized on this talent and left Texas, Texas A & M and the rest of its Power Five schools helpless to the national appeal of OSU and its experience in the ranking of players in the NFL.

"Ohio State is a recruiting juggernaut, and if anyone could take [four-star and five-star prospects out of Texas] it would be a program like Ohio State, "said Jason Suchomel, who covers Texas football for OrangeBloods.com.

"It does not surprise me much. The class that they signed in 2017 when they had [J.K.] Dobbins, Jeffrey Okudah and Baron Browning [three of the top six players in the state]it surprised me that they could have swept away these three perspectives. I am very impressed by what the Ohio State has been able to do in Texas and in the Austin area. "

On Saturday night, OSU returns to AT & T stadium in Arlington, Texas for a first game against UTC 15, the third time the Buckeyes have played in Jerry World since 2015. They will be taking seven Texans, including five team of two depths.

The recruitment of football in the Ohio State has had a considerable national reach for decades. In a fun 1975 YouTube OSU-UCLA video clip, ABC reporter Jim Lampley told the audience, "The Ohio State has started recruiting many athletes from places they do not normally recruit. .

But the scarlet and gray pen rarely plunged into Texas ink on the national signing day. It was only when Urban Meyer arrived that OSU became accustomed to targeting Texas and its abundant resources. Ohio State signed three Texas players during Jim Tressel's 10-year career – Ashton Youboty, J.B. Shugarts and Kenny Guiton (Anthony Schlegel was a transfer). In the seven Meyer recruit classes, the Buckeyes have already signed 10 Texans, and others are on their way.

"Am I surprised he was effective? Look who he was hired, "said South Grand Prairie coach Brent Whitson, who coached Okudah in high school. "I know what kind of salespeople they are."

Meyer is familiar inside the Texas borders. He helped snatch children from Texas while he was an assistant at Colorado State and head coach at Utah. It was even a fertile breeding ground during his six seasons at Florida, where Meyer signed six Texans.

"The guys from Texas, I do not want to stereotype them, but they are usually very well trained," Meyer said in 2014. "They love football. [If you’re a] In Texas, you will probably play football. I've always loved going there. I like high school coaches. Part of the job description is to be able to pick up a child in Texas.

First of all, it's the assistant Tom Herman who did the heavy work of the Ohio State in Texas. When he became head coach in Houston, Tim Beck became the inescapable recruiter of Texas. Whitson said Beck's placement on the OSU coaching staff was a game-changer for the Texas efforts of the Buckeyes. Now Ryan Day, Kevin Wilson and Greg Schiano are regulars in Austin, Dallas and Houston.

"I know that Matthew Baldwin's decision to go to Ohio State started with a relationship created by Ryan Day," said Hank Carter, who coached OSU's freshman quarterback at Lake Travis High School in Austin. "It was the first person in the Ohio State to show interest in recruiting him. He did an amazing job being direct with our kids, their parents and the coaching staff. I was very impressed by him. Coach Day has been great to work with.

"Ohio State is one of the best university football programs in the country. When their coaches recruit our players, that means we have to have very good players. They are not there unless they know there are great players. "

There are few rock-star coaches in college football. Meyer is one of them. When he enters the door of a high school, it triggers a frantic reaction from secretaries to principals and teachers.

"It's the same as Nick Saban entering a school," said Suchomel. "Frankly, Texas has had this luxury for years. When Mack Brown entered a high school, everything stopped. Urban has this same type of respect, probably in any school of any state.

The Buckeyes already have a Texas assignment in the 2019 class – four-star catcher Garrett Wilson, the teammate of Baldwin High School. Elijah Higgins, another four-star receiver from Austin, and three-star athlete Peyton Powell from Odessa Permian of Friday night lights fame remains 2019 opportunities for Ohio State.

Ohio's incursion into Longhorn State coincided with Texas's slide into mediocrity. Since 2010, the Longhorns have lost at least four games per season. They have lost four times and lost six games or more in five of those eight seasons.

Texas A & M, TCU and Baylor all clinched and fell back in between, allowing schools from outside the state to attack their talents.

"It's smart to do it," said Suchomel. "The state of Texas is recruiting many more programs abroad than it was ten years ago. A & M leaving the conference opened the doors of SEC schools to enter the state. Ohio State is not stupid. They felt the blood in the water with Texas and A & M being up and down. They have been smart to be more aggressive in the state and they see the results. "

What attracts Texas players in cold weather in the Midwest? Winning signs and dollar.

Forty Buckeyes have been drafted since Meyer's first season in 2012 – a dozen in the first round. Five of the first-round selections are defensive supports, so when it's time for Okudah to make his choice, there's not really a decision-making process.

"If you are focused on the laser to make money and you are a defender, goodness, look at Ohio State," Whitson said. "Look at the defenders in the first round of the Ohio State in the last three years. It's a pretty easy choice. Many people have thrown figures at Jeffrey, but if you look at the last years at Ohio State, where would you go if you were a corner man?

"I heard one of Jeffrey's first big spring quotes at Ohio State. Greg Schiano said, "NFL scouts do not come here to watch you play. If I'm in a corner, you have just a million dollars in front of me. For those who are laser-focused, this is their first consideration, perhaps even more than relationships. "

Okudah said, "Their reputation really preceded them. When you see this, even while in Texas, it's interesting to be one of the next online. "

Contact Kyle Rowland at [email protected], 419-724-6110 or on Twitter @KyleRowland.