There's been a whole lot going on at Ohio State since Urban Meyer's hiring just 19 days ago.
And amazingly, the most notable news has been in recruiting, where the Buckeyes were envisioned struggling trying to get the better players to come to Columbus with the black cloud of upcoming NCAA sanctions still hanging over their heads.
But the new Buckeye head football coach hit the ground running and, aided by his tag-team partner in former head coach Luke Fickell who Meyer retained, has apparently swayed some previous verbal commitments to other schools over to OSU.
Some call it ''poaching'' and I'm sure the schools losing recruits to Meyer's aggressive, take-no-prisoners style don't like it, but a verbal doesn't mean hands off because nothing is binding until the 2012 National Signing Day, and that's more than two months off yet on Feb. 1.
Let's take stock of Meyer's relentless recruiting efforts so far. Switching over to the Buckeyes have been defensive tackle Tommy Schutt, a five-star recruit who previously committed to Penn State, and defensive end Se'von Pittman, a four-star prospect previously headed to Michigan State.
Plus, now with Meyer in charge, other blue-chippers are showing renewed interest in Ohio State or considering it for the first time. Included in that group right now are four-star linebacker Cam Williams and five-star defensive end Noah Spence, both thought to be bound for Penn State, and five-star Florida State quarterback commitment Jameis Winston.
So it'll be interesting to see just how many more already-committed players the determined Meyer is able to pirate away for the Buckeyes in the next couple months by convincing them that everything is OK at OSU now and again headed in the right direction.
But coming up in just a little over two weeks for Ohio State is the Gator Bowl versus Florida.
The Jan. 2 matchup in Jacksonville, Fla., of a pair of 6-6 teams has not resonated real well at the box office.
As of Tuesday, both schools had sold only half of their allotment of tickets, Florida 7,500 of 15,000 and Ohio State 6,500 of 12,750.
Still, overall ticket sales for the 1 p.m. game on ESPN2 at 77,000-seat capacity EverBack Field have topped the 67,000 mark, with local sales in the surrounding Jacksonville metropolitan area totaling around 42,000.
A Cleveland Plain Dealer poll question Wednesday asked, 'Why should OSU fans watch the Gator Bowl?''
Of the three choices, ''Simply because the Buckeyes are playing'' won going away with an overwhelming 91.68 percent of the vote.
The other two possible selections were a far distant second and third, ''I won't watch'' with 4.81 percent and lastly ''To see if Urban Meyer will preview his spread offense'' at 3.51 percent.
Also, look for either or both former Arizona head coach Mike Stoops and this season's interim North Carolina head coach Everett Wiggers to join Meyer's new staff at OSU.
Stoops, fired during the past season at Arizona and already replaced for 2012 by Rich Rodriguez, previously served as Oklahoma defensive coordinator under his brother Bob, while Wiggers was the Tar Heels' defensive coordinator under Butch Davis before Davis was fired before this season and Wiggers put in charge of the UNC program.
Contact Steve Hemmelgarn at shemmelgarn@newsandsentinel.com
