Urban Meyer’s Best Recruit of the Offseason Is New DC Greg Schiano

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was less than one week ago that Urban Meyer’s staff suffered its biggest blow possible with Rutgers hiring Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash to be its new head coach.

On Friday, however, Meyer once again proved why he’s one of the best recruiters in America.

Having overhauled a defense that ranked 47th in the nation in 2013 into a national championship-caliber unit in 2014 and the country’s 10th-best defense in 2015, Ash appeared to be an irreplaceable piece on the Buckeyes’ staff.

Only adding to the damage done by Ash’s departure was the fact that no obvious in-house hire at Ohio State existed to fill his void.

But with Friday’s announcement that the Buckeyes have hired Greg Schiano as their new co-defensive coordinator (alongside Luke Fickell)—pending completion of a background check and approval from university’s Board of Trustees—Ohio State finds itself adding not only an established name, but an NFL-caliber head coach to its staff to replace Ash.

In retrospect, the Buckeyes’ interest in Schiano should have been obvious, given Meyer’s pre-existing relationship with the former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach. But the fit also would have seemed almost too ideal, considering that Schiano was in the running for head coaching jobs of his own this offseason.

That best-case scenario for the Buckeyes appears to have come to fruition, though.

“Greg Schiano is an excellent coach,” Meyer said in a team…

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