Urban Meyer has a busy weekend planned.
Not only does Ohio State's head coach have his biggest game of the season Saturday when the third-ranked Buckeyes welcome No. 9-ranked Michigan State, he also has, by far, his biggest recruiting weekend of the year.
“This thing,” Meyer said Wednesday, holding up his cell phone. “Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.”
Eleven Warriors director of recruiting Jeremy Birmingham estimates there will be 50-plus prospects in attendance Saturday, some on official visits, others on unofficial ones. There will be recruits in both the 2016 and 2017 classes strolling the sidelines to watch college football’s marquee matchup of the weekend.
All the while, Meyer will be busy coaching his team in what’s essentially an elimination game from the Big Ten championship game and College Football Playoff. Sure, Ohio State can still make it to both with a loss to the Spartans, but it would no longer control its own fate with just one game remaining.
And that next game is exactly what makes things difficult for Meyer. The Sunday following a game is a day Meyer spends a good amount of time with recruits who are in town on their official visits. It’s a time he gets to hang out with some of his future potential players as well as an opportunity to build a relationship with their families.
If busy doing that, though, that cuts away from preparation time for the next week’s game. That, of course, is the annual showdown with archrival Michigan and first-year coach Jim Harbaugh.
“Tough when you have official visits on a Sunday, especially with what’s coming next, with where we’re at in the season,” Meyer said. “It borders on ridiculous if you saw our schedules.”
Eleven Warriors compiled a list of those expected to be on campus this weekend and there are plenty of big names. Antuwuan Jackson, Nigel Warrior and Daelin Hayes are just a few of the names to keep an eye on.
“The weather’s not going to be great, but it’s not going to be awful,” Meyer said. “It’ll be a good visit for the guys.”
Meyer’s sole focus right now, though, is game planning for the Spartans. He hasn’t caught himself thinking about all of the things he has to do yet to balance the game with recruiting. People do that for him.
“I don’t, but people are,” Meyer said. “It’s ‘Hey, I need you here, it’s your third breakfast today, coach.’”
If the Buckeyes come out victorious Saturday, Meyer will be more than willing to eat three times Sunday morning.
