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Report: Zach Smith allegations came out as revenge over 5-star WR recruit’s commitment to Ohio State
By Andrew Olson
Published:
What might be the wildest insinuation yet in the drama surrounding the Ohio State football program has just been made by a Buckeyes insider.
Earlier Saturday, Ohio State journalism graduate and author Jeff Snook revealed on Facebook that he had identified reporter Brett McMurphy’s tipster as Texas coach Tom Herman. Snook has now published his full report to Facebook which states that Herman was motivated to expose allegations against Smith after Texas lost out on 5-star wide receiver recruit Garrett Wilson, who happens to play right in the Longhorns backyard (Lake Travis in Austin, Texas). Smith’s recruiters were – you can probably see where this is going – Ryan Day and Zach Smith.
Snook writes, “Zach Smith was the Buckeyes’ primary recruiter in getting Wilson’s commitment.” 247Sports’ recruiting profile for Wilson, on the other hand, has Day as the primary recruiter with Smith serving as the secondary recruiter.
In Snook’s post, the story goes that Herman has bad blood with Smith and sought to see him fired from OSU, tipping off McMurphy of the 2009 arrest at Florida, which also led McMurphy to find about the 2015 incident.
Herman was not on Meyer’s staff in 2009. He was at Iowa State from 2009-2011. Smith and Herman first coached together in 2012 as Ohio State assistants under Meyer. Herman left OSU to became the head coach at Houston following the 2014 season.
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.