The recruitment of Kyle Dodson is a little bit of a greek tragedy---with heroes, villians and lots of subplots.....
What makes this interesting--to me--is that I've been able to get USC's complete viewpoint on this---so we kinda have both sides...
This should have been a layup for Ohio State. Kyle Dodson is a kid who grew up an Ohio State fan---was raised in a pro-OSU environment---and dreamed about playing for the Buckeyes since he grew into his body, and saw football as an stepping stone to college.
Imagine his surprise when he was informed by his head coach Jeff Rotsky that Ohio State wasn't that interested in him. Rotsky(one of our heroes) is VERY pro-Ohio State....and unashamed in his respect for the program. He is also the head of the high net worth divison for Morgan Stanley--so this is no country bumpkin. Rotsky dug deeper with Ohio State and got back a series of excuses "they are still evaluating" "they have concerns about grades" etc etc etc But the bottom line, was "no offer for Kyle".
Enter Dontez Sanders---Dontez(brother of former OSU player Darnell Sanders) has never gotten over the fact that he wasn't recruited by Ohio State. Ever. He hates the Buckeyes, and never misses an opportunity to say a bad word about them(think Hooley). Dontez took this opportunity to inject Wisconsin into the mix. He took Kyle on visits up there, propped them whenever he could, and basically took great pleasure in the uncertainty that was swirling around OSU in light of Tressel's departure, and the interim status of Fickell.
Ultimately, OSU learned of Dodson's intention of commiting to the Badgers and rushed a last minute offer up to Kyle---but to no avail. Dodson was a Badger.
Immediately upon doing it, however, Kyle started having second thoughts. Maybe things weren't going to end all that badly for OSU(like Dontez was telling him) ? The Wiski assistant coaches even started dropping hints to him that they may not be long for the world, and that things weren't all that great up in Madison. At this point--and LONG before people knew---Dodson cooled on Wiski---and was NOT going to sign with them.
But where to go??? Enter USC....Ed Orgeron made initial contact and made a very compelling pitch for Dodson to take a look at the West Coast. Better weather. Beautiful girls. Success getting Olinemen to the league. Getting off probation. Aundrey Walker. It all sounded so good---and USC starting becoming a dark horse in the race.
Urban Meyer signing on with OSU swung everything back. Meyer is a rockstar. One of his first calls was to Dodson---"we want you" "we need you" "Ohio kids need to stay in state". The official visit with the other recruits was intoxicating, Dodson almost publically committed on the spot--but decided to hold off. But who would be the Oline coach?? so many questions....and USC was in his ear daily exploiting that uncertainty. Things were very confusing.
Then came time for the inhome visits. "In home" for Dodson meant at Rotsky's house---as Kyle lives with his grandma, and things are a little tight. The visit was an "11"--better than he could have ever dreamed. At one point Meyer looked him right in the eyes and told him how much he cared about him as a person. That REALLY resonated with Kyle.
The USC visit was different. Upbeat, exciting--but as Kiffen was leaving he said something in passing to the effect of "you matter to us, but at Ohio state your just another piece of meat". As soon as Kiffen said that he knew he had blown it. He told Orgeron on the plane, "I think I just screwed that up".
The next day Dodson decided to go down--one more time to Ohio State---just to be sure. He was.
Monday night he called all the coaches and told them of his intentions. He was nervous about it, but it felt right.
Wednesday he announced---in the most spectacular way possible---and all is right with the world.