The Heralded January 14th Visit List
There's been a lot of talk that January 14th will be the biggest recruiting weekend in program history.
Let's get some things straight.
First, there are only two 4-star athletes visiting (Todd Peat Jr and Viliami Moala). Of those two, one might be off the board and cancel his visit, as Peat is on the record saying he will announce a school before January 14th. So unless it's Oregon State, a school he will not have officially visited before then, you can forget about him. That leaves one 4-star athlete, Moala, who is now has OSU and Cal 50/50.
The rest of the list is okay, but the highest remaining players are 3-stars Byron Moore and Ryan Nowicki. Moore recently crossed Ohio State off his list. Nowikici has not raved about the Beavs as he has Penn State and others, but they're in the mix.
After that we're into the normal C-list guys. Marcus Peters, Walton Taumoepeua (grade issues), Vivii Teofilo (underrated prospect who should be at least 3-stars), Michael Thomas (another WR??), and Akeem Gonzales. While the C-listers are solid players, and I'd be happy with any one of them, they're the norm for OSU. What the team needs is the level of talent above these guys, and the odds of landing those blue chips looks low.
Two other blue chips in player are Stefan McClure and Torian White. White has soured big time on the UCLA turmoil, so I believe he commits to OSU following his official visit (January 21st). McClure has always loved UCLA, so he's going to have to find a reason not to sign with them. The turmoil might be enough to make that happen, but will he see through Rick's sales pitch?
The idea that all four Grant preps will sign at OSU now seems like a long shot. Sample isn't visiting with Moala, and he's looking to be a Washington lean with Cal in the mix. OSU is third right now. That ship sailed when their high school team advanced in the playoffs. Had they all visited for the Civil War, the odds of them all signing would have been high.
I guess my point is that while the weekend has a couple 4-star DTs, something the team desperately needs, there's also a lot of the standard talent. Biggest recruiting weekend ever? Maybe, but that says more about recruiting standards of the past than the current visitor list.