ALL EYES ON MILLER COME SPRING TIME, MUST BECOME MORE VOCAL

Braxton Miller (5)
The Buckeye Times/Darla Dunkle-Hudnell

Ohio State sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller will be under a microscope once the Buckeyes open spring practice in a little more than a month from now.

Especially from this writer.

During his freshman season in 2011, Miller showed flashes of brilliance, moments of heroism, while other times looking like the epitome of a true freshman. Being that Jim Tressel and the late Joe Daniels were no longer in the building, along with a first time head coach in Luke Fickell and a less than average quarterback coach in Nick Siciliano molding the young Buckeye signal caller, I gave Miller a huge grading curve when evaluating his overall performance as a freshman.

MEYER, SMITH DEFEND RECRUITING PRACTICES, SAY NOTHING ILLEGAL

Urban Meyer

COLUMBUS — New Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer has been known for the past decade as perhaps the best recruiter in the country. The two-time national championship winning coach seems to speak a language that young star athletes understand.

However, Meyer's relentless approach to bagging prepsters has drawn the ire from some coaches in the Big Ten, most notably Bret Bielema of the Big Ten champion Wisconsin Badgers.

SIGNING DAY: COACH MEYER GOT DEFENSIVE WITH HIS FIRST CLASS

COLUMBUS — Wrapping up his first signing day as head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Urban Meyer has to be gleaming with this batch of defensive recruits.

Highlighting the class are five-star defensive ends Noah Spence and Adolphus Washington and four-star defensive end Se'Von Pittman. Meyer, who addressed the media at the Woody Hayes Center on Wednesday, said the three defensive linemen were "the prize of the recruiting class."