Four-star 2017 recruit decommitted from OSU because Urban Meyer didn’t recognize him

What is it about Ohio State and weird, odd recruiting stories this offseason?

Quite the kerfuffle and/or brouhaha was kicked up early last month when Kentucky signee Landon Young directed some rather pointed comments at Ohio State generally and head coach Urban Meyer specifically. The OSU head coach responded to the criticisms by publicly chastising his coaching staff while also lamenting how his football program was portrayed by the recruit’s comments, while the recruit himself clarified and apologized for his “treated me like crap” comments.

Jump to the here and now a month later, and Meyer’s at the center of another recruiting situation.

Bruce Judson is a four-star 2017 recruit who is rated as the No. 37 player at any position in the talent-rich state of Florida. He committed to Ohio State in January of 2015, becoming one of the first commitments for OSU for the 2017 cycle. In October of 2015, Judson abruptly decommitted from the Buckeyes.

Why? Generally speaking, there was a lack of communication, at least in Judson’s eyes, between himself and Meyer post-commitment. “Coach Meyer contacted me enough to get my commitment,” Judson said, "[b]ut after a couple months, he just stopped talking to me.”

Specifically, however, there was one incident that seemed to lead to the decommitment. From an interview Judson did with SECCountry.com:

Long story short, I was walking in the hallway about to go to the indoor field and work out. He was like, ‘Hey.’ I looked around. ‘Come here.’ He was like, ‘How you doing, you like your visit?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ Then he’s like, ‘What up Richard LeCounte? Are you showing this guy (Judson) around?’ I was like, ‘Coach, I’m showing him around.’ He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ I told him Bruce. He said, ‘Oh, Bruce Judson from Florida. The speedy guy.’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘I’m glad that you’re on board and glad you got up here.’ After that, I knew I was de-committing.

Well, at least an OSU assistant didn’t put a recruit on Twitter blast, so Meyer has that going for him. Which is nice.

That said, 247Sports.com still gives OSU a 33-percent chance of landing Judson, although Florida, at 67 percent, is the favorite.

The LeCounte mentioned in Judson’s quote is a Georgia commit who corroborated the urn of events, although, the website writes, the four-star safety “thought it might have been a joke and Meyer purposefully didn’t recognize Judson because he had on a dark blue shirt (Michigan colors).” According to the offended one, however, it was no joke and Meyer “should’ve known who I was.”