Buckeye Breakfast: Ohio State Football Pauses Recruiting

Rise and shine, Buckeye Nation! Each morning, we get you caught up on the latest news and information regarding the Ohio State Buckeyes and the college athletics world. Here is your headline for August 22, 2020.

Ohio State Football Pauses Recruiting

College football recruiting is 24/7/365. It's a high-speed train that never stops - frankly it's a lifestyle. College coaches have two seasons ... recruiting during the football season and recruiting during the off-season.

That's why the report from Lettermen Row's Jeremy Birmingham came as such a shock. Ohio State Football has essentially halted recruiting.

Ohio State, which has the country’s top-ranked recruiting class in 2021 and second-ranked class in 2022, is in a standstill. Sure, there are young men around the country still finding their way onto the Buckeyes commitment lists. But outside of perfunctory conversation and basic relationship maintenance, according to Lettermen Row sources, Ohio State has all but shut down its recruiting efforts for the time being.

“We took a little break,” top Buckeyes 2022 target Caden Curry told Lettermen Row this week. “So they could figure their season out.”

Clemson, preparing for their football season as usual, offered Curry on Wednesday.

This is obviously an unprecedented time for the Big Ten, certainly for Ohio State. The coaching staff, players, parents and team as a whole are rather angry at the lack of answers, transparency and communication they've received from the conference office.

Football teams at this level are well-oiled machines. Ones with good leadership operate with precision, under a very strict schedule and routine. At the moment, the Buckeyes are walking down a path that nobody has answers to.

No one knows what happens with eligibility. Or redshirts. Or transfers. Or signing periods or roster limits. Or anything else. That’s making it real difficult to plan or recruit with a new message.

Instead, the Buckeyes have just had to basically stop recruiting.

“There is no information given on how it’s going to work,” a Big Ten source said. “We’ve got no idea. None.”

The lack of dialogue from the Big Ten has led to what could be catastrophic consequences for everyone involved. It’s hard for well-paid, well-qualified people to justify working for inept leadership when others leagues are thriving. It’s hard to imagine how a league that could lose a billion dollars in revenue from a lost football season can require schools to pay for 15-25 more scholarships per school.

All questions. No answers.

We hope you have a great day - and remember ... time and change will surely show, how firm thy friendship OHIO!

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