Urban Meyer call-in show quotes

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is on 97.1 the Fan right now. Here are some notable quotes (keep updating the page to see the latest at the bottom):

(While this is going on, the talk online right now is that punter/kicker recruit Johnny Townsend is flipping from Ohio State to Alabama. This is what National Signing Day has sunk to. Ohio State Director of Player Personnel Mark Pantoni notes on Twitter that the letter of intent from safety Von Bell has arrived.)

Meyer started his show crediting the Ohio State coaches on their recruiting effort. Meyer noted OSU has been recruiting Bell since last spring and credits coach Everett Withers with his recruitment.

Meyer on undefeated season helping: "There's perception, reality and flavor of the month. This is still Ohio State. You get to play for arguably the most tradition rich program in America. Reality is, we're good. We became somewhat of the flavor of the month. A lot went into having great momentum going into recruiting."

Meyer on defensive recruits: "Bosa is ridiculously strong." Says recruit Billy Price is the most likely defensive recruit to help immediately. "Billy Price is more physical than those other guys, so he should be the first one ready to play early."

Meyer: "We're not redshirting. We want guys to play right now. If you're good enough, you'll play."

Offensive coordinator Tom Herman is now on.

Herman: "Having the kind of morning we've had is exciting."

Herman on QB recruit JT Barrett: "Probably the most impressive thing about JT is no the physical numbers, it's his leadship, poise, passion for competitiveness." Says Barrett stopped a team workout to tell OSU playes why he chose OSU. "It was awe inspiring. You kind of got choked up."

Herman on Barrett: "He's a QB that can run. He's not a runner that can kind of throw. He fits our system extremely well in terms of making quick, accurate decisions with the football."

Herman: "The foundation has been set and the expectation level is there. The kids know what it's going to take to succeed."

Herman on WR recruits: "We needed that. We were down on numbers last year and will continue to be down this spring at the skill positions, especially on the perimeter. We were certainly thin in terms of playmaking ability. We've addressed pretty well this morning."

Herman on where players will play: "I'd love to have any of thos DBs. I think what you read is where it stands in terms of what position those guys will play."

Herman: "We're gonna get the best players in the state of Ohio. That's our job at Ohio State. If there's 25 of the top 50 players in the nation in the state of Ohio, we're getting those 25 players." Herman talked about the importance of recruiting Texas and Florida.

Herman on recruiting Texas players: "Getting three guys we got out of Texas can't do anything but help."

Commercial break right now. Kicker/punter Johnny Townsend has pushed his press conference back to 4 p.m., according to Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch. Rumors continue that he'll flip from OSU to Alabama.

Defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, with a hoarse voice, is now up.

Fickell: "It's nice to see it all come together. We worked our butts off the last year on these guys. We've addressed a lot of different issues we've had. Couple linebacker guys we got can come in and have a chance to hold up if they can handle the mental side of things."

Fickell says Joey Bosa can hold up and play now because he's physically ready. May need to catch up on mental part of the game.

Fickell on linebackers Mitchell and Johnson: "Mike Mitchell is a guy physically that won't have a problem. Trey Johnson is probably not going to have a problem fitting in. He's a guy that's got a knowledge of football you can't teach sometimes. It's not how physical or fast, but do they understand football. You've gotta understand the guy of football and that's where Trey Johnson excels."

Fickell sounds more impressed by Johnson than Mitchell. Said the numbers will provide competition. Fickell said linebacker Curtis Grant will stay at middle linebacker in the spring. Said he's looking for linebacker Joshua Perry to step up this season.

Hosts Paul Keels and Jim Lachey are now back with Meyer.

Meyer on recruiting staff: "Recruiting I think we did a good job. But evaluation, we'll find out in two years." Meyer said one out of three recruits is "a hit." He wants it to be three out of three.

Meyer said some recruits met with OSU greats Archie Griffin, Eddie George and Troy Smith. Meyer admonished Keels for referring to Michigan as Michigan. "We refer to them as the team up North."

Meyer said he takes recruits to stadium, workout and football facilties, the dorm area but also the student union, "just to get them around campus as much as we can."

Meyer strongly indicates he wants Ohio State to play more night games instead of mostly noon games. "We play a lot of noon games, and I'm not quite sure why. The one thing about noon games is that if he's out of the state, he's not going to get here. Nebraska (night game) was a home run. Noon is fine, but you can't play all noon games. Some people say that's not the way we've done it, but may we should reconsider that. That's just one man's opinion."

Note: That'll do it here. My Internet decided to stop running the online stream of the show. Sorry!