The Front Row

Taylor Decker is a lost cause, no way he ends up anywhere, but Notre Dame.

I can tell you straight from the mouths of members of the Gator Bowl Association (I don't know the exact name, just that I know a bunch of people who go to the meetings regularly and are involved in the planning) that the hospitality industry in Jacksonville does NOT want the University of Florida playing in the Gator Bowl.

Some of you may be thinking "why"? Let me tell you. The hospitality industry (Hotels, Restaurants, etc...) want groups that travel and STAY. For as long as possible. Gator fans have too close of a proximity. They will travel to Jax and last minute and leave at earliest convenience.

The Gator Bowl is pushing HARD HARD HARD for OSU. They know we will travel and will spend money.

Here is the kicker. Even though the hospitality industry locally is weary of the Gators coming in and leaving, other Gator Bowl officials are seeing different dollar signs. TV ratings and hype over an Urban Meyer rivalry would be huge. And they like the headlines.

But the local community does not want this. This is from the mouths of GM's in the hospitality industry here in Jax. But without a doubt they want OSU and IF they can get us, they will take us.

One of the key focuses of the Ohio State coaching staff over the next two months will be landing some big-time prospects along the offensive line. The Buckeyes have been in good shape with Castle Rock (Colo.) Valor Christian lineman Alex Kozan for some time now. On Wednesday, the coaching staff made its first contact with Kozan since the hiring of Urban Meyer on Monday evening.

Kozan is still a key target for the Buckeyes.
"I talked to coach (Luke) Fickell today," said Kozan. "He just said that everything has kind of slowed down now and they are trying to look at everything and that they still like me a lot."

Kozan has built a close relationship with many of the coaches at Ohio State over the last several months and while the future of some of those coaches is still up in the air, he did speak positively about Meyer taking over the head coaching duties.

"I think it's good for Ohio State to get a big name in there," Kozan said. "I like coach Fickell and coach (Jim) Bollman but I think Urban Meyer brings a lot to the table, especially after all that has gone on."

Kozan said that all of the movement with the Ohio State coaching staff just sums up how quickly things can change in the world of college football and recruiting.

"It just shows how fluid this process is and how anything can change at any second," he said. "As far as my view on Ohio State, I really look forward to talking to coach Meyer and seeing what his plans are as far as from a coaching staff standpoint what he's going to do. I'd like to see his views of the future for this team as far as the offense but this is all stuff that I will find out at a later date so I don't have to make a decision right now or anything like that."

Kozan has had a hectic week already with three programs making in-home visits over the last few days.

"Colorado, Iowa, and then Michigan today (Wednesday)," he explained. "It was good to get the coaches to meet the family. It's interesting to see how everybody interacts. It's good for the coaches to meet everybody, it's really important for your parents to be comfortable with your decision too."

While Kozan continues to stay in contact with the schools that are recruiting him, his immediate attention is turned towards trying to capture a state title.

"Right now the biggest thing for me is that I'm trying to focus on winning a state championship on Saturday," he said. "At the same time, I still have to focus on recruiting. I've had some in-home visits this week so there's been a lot going on but I'm just going through everything and trying to setup official visits. I'm going to go to Auburn the weekend of the 17th (of December), other than that I don't have anything else planned."

Kozan and his teammates have been down this road before, as they are the two-time defending Colorado state champions.

"We have a lot of experience on our team," Kozan explained. "I've been starting since I was a freshman, it will be my 52nd game in a row starting. We have a lot of experience on our team and we're going for our third straight state championship. We all want to go out and play our best game ever and that's what we're going to focus on and hopefully it will work out for the best on Saturday."

Let the players play in the bowl game if it is against Florida or whoever. This is for the players not the coaches. This isn't Meyer's team till next year. Fickell is still going to be head coach and on the sidelines not Meyer in the bowl game. Makes no sense what so ever if they don't go to a bowl because of Meyer and Florida relations in the past. We have a Young core of players who need experience and playing in a bowl will give them PT and experience that we will need in the future.

Get the players some more reps PERIOD.

I'd rather be the waterboy for ohio state then the head coach at akron, good choice Luke!

By the way the hype for OSU Florida would be great, especially with Meyer there now. Made for TV can't turn that down!!!!

- Todd Charske

What if the Gator passes on the Buckeyes, then what other bowls might be a possibility?