Just last week, 4-star linebacker Alex Anzalone was a solid commit for Urban Meyer and his staff. The talented prospect was one of the Buckeyes’ top recruits so far and seemed like a lock to be in Columbus next year.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, Anzalone decommitted this past Saturday after a disturbing run-in with a registered sex offender during his recruiting visit a few weeks ago. Of course, this is certainly not breaking news, but it left many questions on the table.
Luckily for OSU, no other 2013 commit jumped ship as a result of this disturbing fan. However, the Buckeyes were heavily criticized by Anzalone’s father on Saturday and the story of his son’s decommitment became national news this past weekend. Anzalone’s father told reporters on Saturday, “There’s something not right at Ohio State. It’s not for him (his son).” Clearly the recruit’s father was outraged and rightfully so, but it seemed a little unfair to blame the incident on the university or Meyer and his staff. Nonetheless, it seemed like the recruitment of Anzalone was completely out of the question now, right?
Not so fast.
This past Sunday, Anzalone’s father retracted his previous statements saying, “I have no beef with Ohio State, at all” and even said that OSU is a “great institution.” Despite saying they were crossing the Buckeyes off of Anzalone’s possibilities on Saturday, the recruit’s father declared that “There’s no reason why we wouldn’t consider the Buckeyes” on Sunday.
Clearly Dr. Anzalone was overreacting a bit on Saturday and is now seeing the situation for what it is. According to Eleven Warriors, Urban Meyer is still recruiting Anzalone hard and has even “pulled out the big guns” which includes a personal email to Anzalone’s parents from university president, Gorden Gee, himself.
As of now, it doesn’t seem completely out of the question to still see Anzalone in a Buckeye uniform next year. We’ve seen what Meyer can do on the recruiting trail and clearly Anzalone loved something about Ohio State, considering he pulled the trigger and decided to commit earlier this month. The product out of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania is slowing down his recruiting process and although he’s no longer committed to the Buckeyes, OSU still has a great chance.
