Urban Meyer did what many people considered impossible upon his hire back in November. The new Ohio State head coach obtained a national top-5 class ranking despite only two months on the road with an initially limited staff.

Out of the ten commitments that Meyer acquired, eight of those student-athletes were once committed to other schools. Much has been said of that lately-- some rival coaches complained that there used to be a gentlemen's agreement between coaches that prevented recruiting committed players. Meyer did not have time for niceties with coaches in the Big Ten as he saw an immediate need to improve on the quality of player that Ohio State was recruiting, and if it took going after previously committed kids, then he went for it.

However, Meyer did say that he always first asked kids who were committed if they were interested in Ohio State; if they said yes, he went forward; if they said no, he moved on. One of the first calls that Meyer made when he became the head coach was to Kyle Kalis, now a member of the Michigan Wolverines, who listened to Meyer but told him his mind was made up.

Meyer had this to say after the leagues coaches met in Chicago last week:"We had an opportunity to discuss a number of issues with each other and conference staff, including those that have arisen this week," he said. "It should be noted that my coaching staff is in full compliance with our recruiting efforts, and no one on this staff did anything illegal or unethical. We will continue to comply with NCAA rules and recruit with relentless effort, especially the great state of Ohio."

Meyer said in his discussion with assistant coaches that the most important needs were on the offensive line and the linebacking core. With that in mind, he went out and landed Taylor Decker from Vandalia Butler HS (previously committed to Notre Dame), and Joey O'Connor (previously committed to Penn State) from Windsor, CO before closing with a signing day bonus of Kyle Dodson from Cleveland Heights HS (previously committed to Wisconsin). This trio will more than help the depth on the offensive line along with earlier commits Jacoby Boren and Patrick Elflein.

At linebacker, Meyer went after David Perkins from Indiana (previously committed to Notre Dame) and Camren Williams from Massachusetts (previously committed to Penn State), and closed with Jamal Marcus from North Carolina who was deciding between Ohio State and East Carolina. They join Luke Roberts and Joshua Perry in a great linebacking class for 2012.

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NSD Press Conference video, provided by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Urban Meyer

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It's finally National Signing Day. 364 days of effort will lead to payoffs for coaching staffs across the country. For some, the day will end with dreams of national championships. For others, it will end with disappointment for what could have been. And every fanbase will live and die with the reports of 18 year old kids signing flimsy pieces of paper tying them to their school of choice.

The SportsBlog Nation platform is excellent for live-updating events like these, and we're using this page as a centralized hub for all Ohio State and national recruiting information that breaks. Ben will not be with us until later in the day, but I will be here as much as possible to pass along information and update the letter-of-intent table.

Please feel free to drop along anything you're reading and hearing in the comments section. Just below this you will find a chart that details each member of the class and their current status. We'll be updating it as soon as we hear where they've signed, or for current commits, when they've faxed in their letter-of-intents.

We want to consolidate the action in here, so there's no confusion over what's taking place.

A big thanks to Bud Elliot and Tomahawk Nation for providing the HTML code for the table.

Long thought to be a package deal to Penn State, Armani Reeves and Camren Williams decided to become Buckeyes instead. While Williams decided about a week ago, Reeves pulled the trigger yesterday three days before National Signing Day. Both players were once committed to Joe Paterno and Penn State, but amidst the turmoil surrounding the program, both opened up their recruitment.

While Williams visited way back in early December right after Urban Meyer was hired, both were on campus last week to take in Columbus and Ohio State. They came away impressed with the campus as well as the coaching staff. Both hail from West Roxbury, MA and attend Catholic Memorial High School. While Williams fills and immediate need at linebacker, Reeves also has the chance to step in and be an immediate contributor at defensive back with the losses of Dominick Clarke and DerJuan Gambrell to violation of team rules. Adding both of these four-star players helps boost a defense that needed some playmakers at these key positions.

Reeves had nothing but great things to say about the coaching staff, which he discussed with Bill Greene over at Scout, "Ohio State was the right place for me because of their coaching staff," Reeves stated Sunday night. "I've known Coach (Everett) Withers for a long time, and that relationship has been strong. Once I visited the campus, and saw everything, I knew it was a great place. Coach Meyer is a great coach, and I know he is going to do great things there. Everything just fit perfectly for me at Ohio State."

Also helping sway Reeves to Ohio State was his teammate from high school Camren Williams. "Cam and I have been friends since second grade, so it's great to be going to school with him," he explained. "I'm also friends with David Perkins and Tommy Schutt, and that's so great we are all going to be together. If I had gone to Michigan, Cam and I would still be friends, but when we played against each other, we would have been enemies. That would have been hard, but now we can go on and do great things together."

Williams, in an interview with ESPN, echoed the statements that his teammate Reeves said. On his second visit, "It was a great visit. We got to look at everything again. My mom came down for the first time, and I was really looking forward to just getting her on campus, and she could give me the input. I really liked it the first time (in December), so I just got to see what she thought of the school academically, athletically, what she thought of the coaches and everything. She loved it, I fell in love with the school again, and I knew it was the place for me."

On what Urban Meyer told him to expect, "He said it's going to be tough. Mickey Marotti is the highest-paid strength and conditioning coach in the country, and he's going to work you. He's going to get my body into the best shape that I could possibly be in, and really maximize my potential. It's going to be tough, but it's going to be a fun ride, and we're going to win a National Championship with the players that are around me, and the defensive linemen that are around me. So it's going to be a real good environment."

Beyond the jump we look at both players Camren Williams and Armani Reeves.

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On February 1st, the majority of high school athletes with scholarship offers will sign their National Letter of Intent and officially bind themselves to their school of choice. Some will delay their signing, either to create a spectacle around themselves or because they are genuinely confused about their college decision. As it stands today, Ohio State has 23 committed athletes who have, as far as we know, full intentions to maintain their commitment and end up Buckeyes.

With recent departures and medical redshirts, Urban Meyer has room to add an additional four to six athletes to the class. He may also gain an additional scholarship if Roger Lewis, a four star receiver from Pickerington Central, cannot raise his grades and pass NCAA requirements If Lewis cannot meet the NCAA minimum, he will head to a prep school for a year and play the recruiting game all over again.

Six names have been connected to Ohio State the most these past few weeks: Kyle Dodson, Jamal Marcus, Demetrious Cox, Bam Bradley, Armani Reeves, and Davonte Neal.

Dodson, a four star offensive tackle committed to Wisconsin, will make his college choice this Saturday. Odds are that he flips from the Badgers and joins the Buckeyes. Dodson's commitment would fill the last true need on Ohio State's roster, adding depth to the depleted tackle position.

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What was looking like a bleak offensive line class for the Buckeyes in 2012 has suddenly made a turn for the better with the commitments of Taylor Decker and Joey O'Connor. O'Connor is an offensive guard prospect from Windsor, Colorado who picked up his offer on his visit this past weekend. It did not take long for him to turn around and give Urban Meyer his verbal, as it seemed like once he was offered he was going to join the Buckeyes.

Previously a Penn State commitment before the scandal broke out, O'Connor reopened his search and made an official visit last weekend and loved what he saw. Bill Greene over at Scout had a chance to speak with him and he stated, "Ohio State is just an all-around great place, first off," O'Connor stated Tuesday afternoon. "I loved the guys, the coaches, just everything about Ohio State, to be honest. I would say it is just the right fit for me."

O'Connor joins Jacoby Boren, Patrick Elflein, and Taylor Decker in the 2012 offensive line recruiting class. With the loss of Mike Adams, Mike Brewster and J.B. Shugarts and the youth on next years offensive line, it was a key position that Urban Meyer addressed as soon as he was hired. Meyer knew that he was going to need some big athletic football players on the offensive line if he wanted to run his version of the spread offense in the Big Ten.

O'Connor decommitted from Penn State amidst the scandal that broke out with Jerry Sandusky in November of last year. He had offers from other big schools like Iowa, Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee and UCLA.

Read more about the 21st Buckeye in the 2012 class below the jump.

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Something that Buckeye fans have not seen before is becoming commonplace these days as Urban Meyer continues to poach recruits from other schools. Offensive tackle Taylor Decker joins future teammates Se'Von Pittman (Michigan State) and Tommy Schutt (Penn State) as the third member of this class to have pledged elsewhere before switching to the Buckeyes. It may not end here, either, as the Buckeyes are currently targeting other players who are or once were committed elsewhere in Camren Williams and Armani Reeves, who are both considered soft verbals to Penn State.

Decker pulled the trigger on his switch on Sunday after his official visit to Columbus this past weekend. He had a chance to sit down with Urban Meyer and discuss Meyer's philosophy and where he would fit in with Ohio State in the future. Decker is a big, strong offensive lineman, which the Buckeyes were in desperate need of with the departure of the "Brew Crew" and the recent struggles to bring in top linemen from across the country. Decker was recruited to Notre Dame by Ed Warinner and had also forged a close bond with Tim Hinton, Ohio State's new recruiting coordinator.. Hiring these coaches away from Notre Dame had to have played an important role in landing Decker, even though he insisted they were not the only reason he chose Notre Dame in the first place.

Decker was not originally offered by the previous staff, which left many Buckeye fans wondering why? He is a highly regarded prospect from the state of Ohio and was never even considered by Jim Tressel or Luke Fickell. That was all fixed with the hiring of Urban Meyer, who made it a point to go out and find quality offensive linemen, especially ones from the state of Ohio. Decker received his offer, although he said he remained 100% committed to Notre Dame at the time, and then decided to take an official to Ohio State last weekend.

Dave Berk over at Scout had a chance to speak with Decker after his commitment, and the reasons behind his change were not all about Meyer and his staff. "I would say there were several things in my decision,” said Decker. “The first was academics. Notre Dame is a very prestigious school and would provide me a great education. However, when I made my commitment I knew Notre Dame did not have my major and that bothered me." Decker plans on becoming a sports medicine and exercise major.

Learn more about the newest Buckeye, Taylor Decker, after the jump.

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Ohio State's official website confirmed today that six football recruits have officially enrolled at the university, including the coveted Bri'onte Dunn, who see-sawed between Ohio State and Michigan over the past year.

- Jacoby Boren, an offensive lineman from Pickerington, Ohio and Pickerington Central High School;
- Bri’onte Dunn, a running back from Canton Glen Oak High School in Ohio;
- Cardale Jones, a quarterback from Cleveland’s Glenville High School who spent last season at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy;
- Joshua Perry, a linebacker from Lewis Center, Ohio and Olentangy High School;
- Tyvis Powell, a defensive back from Bedford (Ohio) High School; and
- Michael Thomas, a receiver from Los Angeles who graduated from Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft High School and attended Fork Union Military Academy this past season.

Additionally, Ohio State's sports services department collected a few quotes from the athletes, listed below.

"I wanted to get started with classes and get ahead with the conditioning drills,"Bri'onte Dunn said. "Mostly I just wanted to get here though. I want to play."

"There are guys – teammates – all around who are willing to help you and give you a hand,"Michael Thomas said. "There always seems to be a guy to call if you need an answer to this or help with that. It really helps in getting a head start and getting adjusted."

"I wanted to learn the system, and there are lots of people here to help,"Joshua Perry said. "I also wanted to get a head start on the class work. The class load will be a little less [of a burden] down the road by getting started in classes now."

In Dunn's case, his early enrollment may give him the jump needed to play as a true freshman. With Boom Herron's graduation, and an unimpressive season from Jordan Hall, Ohio State needs a true tailback.