Months before Urban Meyer was officially hired as Ohio State's football coach, rumors swirled about his arrival in Columbus. Nearly immediately upon accepting the Buckeyes' offer, the school had a waiver that allowed Meyer to recruit and build a new staff while interim head coach Luke Fickell prepared the 2011 OSU squad (3-5 Big Ten, 6-7 overall) for the Gator Bowl.
By the time National Signing Day rolled around Wednesday, Meyer had turned in a star-studded recruiting class and plucked some players that had previously verbally committed to Big Ten schools including Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State. The Nittany Lions had an exodus of recruits after the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke and the late head coaching legend Joe Paterno was fired.
For the Badgers and Spartans, though, the reaction-particularly this week-has been less than welcoming of Meyer and Co.
Kyle Dodson, a touted offensive line recruit that originally gave a verbal commitment to Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema's program, officially signed his letter of intent with the Buckeyes Wednesday. Bielema said Dodson and fellow line recruit J.J. Deman, who committed to Rutgers after being committed to PSU and UW at different points, "were never really committed to us. The were just a spot on the wall with a scholarship next to them."
Bielema also said he talked to Meyer about concerns he had with recruiting in the Big Ten.
When asked about Meyer's impact on Big Ten recruiting, Bielema said, "There's a few things that happened early on that I made people be aware of that I didn't want to see in this league, that I had seen take place at other leagues, other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal."
"I actually reached out to Coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him, and the situation got rectified."
However, Thursday, Sporting News reported that Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez would meet with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney to discuss Meyer's recruiting tactics.
Bielema is not the only Big Ten coach to take issue with Meyer. After the highly touted Se'Von Pittman bailed on the Spartans to join Ohio State's 2012 class, MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi implied he thought Meyer was wrongfully poaching.
"[Former OSU coach] Jim Tressel and [current Michigan State coach] Mark Dantonio would never call or talk to each other's commitments," Narduzzi told the Canton Repository Jan. 31. "People coach Dantonio knows well don't come in and take players away. When you do, you lose friendships over that."
Meyer's recruiting class was ranked No. 4 in the country by Rivals.com, No. 3 by Scout.com and No. 6 by ESPN.com.
