Looking at Ohio State's 2013 Recruiting Class

National Signing Day for college football is just a few days away as coaches try to sway the last of the uncommitted recruits, and to keep the ones that other schools are going after. Last year, there was a big deal made when Urban Meyer came in after the worst football season in over a century for the Buckeyes and started calling recruits that changed their commitments after Jim Tressel resigned and the losing season that followed. Many Big Ten coaches were upset over what they felt was a "gentlemen's agreement" that was supposedly in force under Jim Tressel that you wouldn't go after another school's committed recruit.

Most notably, Urban Meyer convinced four star offensive tackle Kyle Dodson to recommit to Ohio State after he had chosen to switch his commitment to Wisconsin after the fallout from the Tatgate fiasco. This really irked former Badgers head coach Brett Beliema who accused Meyer of using "illegal recruiting tactics" during an interview with the media. Meyer also got five star defensive end Noah Spence in this time, when many people felt he was going to attend Penn State.

Ohio State's 2013 recruiting class is currently ranked #4 overall on Scout.com and ESPN. Scout.com has Michigan ranked #1, while ESPN has them currently ranked #5 as I type this blog post. Ohio State currently has 22 commitments in this class.

The class currently has three 5 star recruits, fourteen 4 star recruits, and five 3 star recruits (ranking provided by Scout.com). Also on Scout's website, only two Big Ten schools are ranked in the top 25 (Ohio State and Michigan). ESPN has three Big Ten schools in their top 25 (Penn State #25, Michigan #5, Ohio State #4).

There are only two soft verbals in the class. Trey Johnson, a 4 star OLB from Georgia; and Ezekiel Elliot, a 4 star RB from Missouri. These are the two that I am most worried about come National Signing Day because they are the most likely to be swayed to another school, and both are being rumored to possibly sign elsewhere on February 6th. And that's the thing about National Signing Day, nothing is official until they sign on that dotted line, tying themselves to Ohio State.

This will be the second consecutive Top 5 class for Urban Meyer at Ohio State as he brings in big talent to the Buckeyes. He plans to make this team in the image of an SEC team. Big and fast. This is the only way they will be able to defeat whichever SEC team they would face of they make the BCS National Championship Game. Meyer cut his teeth at Bowling Green and Utah, two schools that aren't exactly recruiting hotbeds. At Utah, he churned out a first overall draft pick in quarterback Alex Smith.

When he went to Florida from Utah, he had multiple top ten and top five recruiting classes. In this time he won two National Championships, two SEC titles (coinciding with the National Championships, three SEC West titles, and a Sugar Bowl. He produced many first round picks on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Tim Tebow.

Now there's no way to predict how this class will pan out in the end. But it's looking like it'll be damn good, making Ohio State a force to be reckoned with for years to come not only in the Big Ten but in the National Championship picture. O-H! I-O!