The Oklahoman

Ohio State gets win for new coach on signing day

- BY RALPH D. RUSSO

Zach Harrison is one of the most highly touted recruits in the country and he goes to high school 15 miles from Ohio State.

Yet not until Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, did the 6-foot-6, 245-pound defensive end commit to become a Buckeye, giving incoming head coach Ryan Day his first victory as Urban Meyer’s replacemen­t.

“Huge,” Day said. “This was one of those ones we had to win.”

Harrison’s choice, streamed out over Olentangy Orange High School’s website, was maybe the most intriguing developmen­t of what can now be considered the new signing day. This is year two of the early signing period in college football and just like last year, most of the scholarshi­ps have been scooped up. The traditiona­l signing period in early February will mostly be for finishing touches

Alabama has already signed most of a class that was already considered the best in the country and added a couple more five-stars on top of that. Ahead of the Crimson Tide’s latest College Football Playoff appearance and national championsh­ip pursuit, coach Nick Saban has already locked up another recruiting title.

The Southeaste­rn Conference is primed to have the four highest-rated recruiting classes after the early period ends Friday. According to 247 Sports’ composite rankings of major recruiting websites, Alabama is No. 1, followed in order by Georgia, Texas A&M and LSU.

Oregon rounded out the top five, the one interloper amid the usual suspects in a top 10 that included Clemson, Oklahoma and Michigan.

Ohio State has mostly lived in the top five during Meyer’s remarkable seven-year run as Buckeyes coach. But after the uncertaint­y about Meyer’s future throughout the season, the Buckeyes had a smaller-than-usual class and trail both Michigan and Penn State in the Big Ten.

Meyer was suspended for the first three games of this season after the university commission­ed an investigat­ion into his handling of now-fired former assistant coach Zach Smith, who was accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife.

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