Could Braxton Miller‘s devastating season-ending injury actually have a positive impact on the recruiting trail for Ohio State? That could very well be the case.
As a fourth-year senior who had yet to use his redshirt season, 2014 was set to be Miller’s final year of eligibility. The shoulder injury -- or reinjury as the case may be -- changed all of that, with Miller vowing to come back from the non-contact injury and return to the Buckeyes in 2015.
In tandem with that, Torrance Gibson, a top 2015 quarterback recruit, currently has OSU as his top choice of myriad interested schools. The fact that Miller would likely be around if/when Gibson arrived in Columbus next year? That appears to have done nothing but further cement OSU’s positioning as Gibson’s leader.
“Being mentored by Braxton Miller, that’d be pretty awesome,” Gibson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer‘s Ari Wasserman during a telephone interview shortly after the announcement on Miller’s injury. “Being mentored by one of the best quarterbacks that ever came to Ohio State, man that would be something. It would be great if I decided to go to Ohio State.”
Gibson is rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and is the No. 6 quarterback in that class according to Scout.com. He is expected to announce his verbal commitment Oct. 20.
In Late May, Gibson released a Top Seven ($ link) that consisted of Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Miami and UCF. Tennessee and Auburn were his two favorites at the time.
However, a visit to Columbus in July ($ link) flipped his order of preference, with Ohio State jumping to the lead. That’s where they’ve stayed the past couple of weeks -- and where they’ve apparently solidified themselves on the strength of the Miller gloom and doom.
“Nothing has changed, Ohio State is still the leader,” the player told the paper.
(Photo credit: Rivals.com)