While the Ohio State football team is on a short break before heading out to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl and the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, the coaches were busy putting the finishing touches on the 2020 early signing class with 24 commits on Wednesday and two commits still to sign later (of course Ohio State has to hold on to them, one longer than the other).

While the 2019 season has been a special one to date, one with hopefully two more chapters left to be written, Wednesday goes a long way in securing the future of this program as Ryan Day sees another class of players set to leave at the end of the season and this program becomes that much more his as the ever-changing roster of 85 scholarship players undergoes another round of turnover.

There is going to be a heavy recruiting flavor to the 3-2-1 this week as hopefully the next couple will be focused on not only the Fiesta Bowl but also the CFP Championship Game if the Buckeyes are able to get past Clemson.

In this week's edition of the 3-2-1 brought to you by our friends at Hague Water Conditioning, we take a look at some of the special notes from this recruiting class as well as taking a cursory look at both the football and men's basketball teams.

All of that and more as we dive into the 3-2-1.

1 - This staff can still recruit with the best of them

While a national recruiting champion will not be crowned until the end of the late signing period, the Buckeyes have done more than carry their own weight when it comes to recruiting, not only from a conference level but also a regional level and as one of the nation's elite teams.

There assuredly will be some movement in the rankings as there is still one more update after the all-star games to account for as well as many schools looking to add a few more players (or for some programs, a lot of players) to a class that is already locked down.

The Buckeyes would be at 26 if both Clark Phillips and Cameron Martinez were both to stick with the Buckeyes (it is recruiting afterall) and while getting to 27 or even 28 might not be out of the picture, we don't really show any huge targets still on the board that would impact the rankings meter all that much (Qian Magwood would not result in much of a points change whereas Jahmyr Gibbs could move it a little bit more).

The point being, Ohio State has around a 700 to 800-plus point gap on anyone else in the Big Ten as it stands as of Tuesday evening. After you count out Michigan (2nd), Penn State (3rd) and Nebraska (4th) the Buckeyes dwarf the rest of the conference with their 2,941 points (this is still without Phillips if the Buckeyes are able to sign him here in the early period) with Maryland checking in at 1,634 in 5th place and the Terps are the only other program in the conference to hold a five-star signee when Rakim Jarrett flipped on Tuesday morning.

Of the top-10 of the recruiting standings as of Tuesday evening, Ohio State is the only B1G team in that grouping, while Clemson is the only ACC team in that last along with Oklahoma being the lone Big 12 team. The other seven spots all belong to the SEC.

Now, people may say there is a bias in the rankings towards southern kids, or that Mike Farrell hates Ohio State or that the latest conspiracy theory holds true. The simple fact is that while Urban Meyer upped the ante in the Big Ten when he arrived to the conference in 2012, the conference has not held up its part in terms of recruiting as Ohio State remains to recruit among the top teams and everyone else is just trying to hang on.

It would have been easy for Ohio State to take a big step back with a first-year head coach, going through his first 'true' recruiting cycle where it was largely his from day one to the final day (Ohio State did have some 2020s already in the can under Meyer). But to Day and his staff's credit, the Buckeyes did not give up any ground and in some ways made some strides forward in its own right.

The Buckeyes are not going to end up with the No. 1 class in the nation, I can pretty much assure you of that., But this class checks off all the boxes and once again shows that the power of the Ohio State name reaches from coast-to-coast and the Buckeyes will be in good hands for years to come.

2 - Maybe Duane is more important than even given credit for

Yes, the Buckeyes miss Duane Washington.

Sure, Washington is the 2nd leading scorer on the team with 11.4 points per game, 52.1-percent shooting from the floor and 53.7-percent from three. But he also gives the Buckeyes a shooter that forces teams to not clog the middle and allow the Buckeyes to drive to the bucket.

When he is out, like he is now with a rib injury, the Buckeyes lose a lot of flexibility out there.

The Buckeyes shot 38.3-percent from the floor against Minnesota in a game that was never really close. The Buckeyes were sloppy with the ball committing 14 turnovers in that game. Ohio State had 21 against SEMO.

No, Washington is not a primary ball handler and no you can't put all of those turnovers right on that but Washington does have some responsibilities on the ball and when he is not out there the Buckeyes have to press and that creates some sloppiness that would not normally be there.

Yes, there are plenty of other weapons out there and Kaleb Wesson really is going to be the focal point of the offense when it comes to the Buckeyes and people will gravitate to him just because of how imposing he is on the court.

But let's just take a second to consider how important that Washington is to the product as well.

Get well soon, Duane.

3 - Everyone is sleeping on the Buckeyes

At risk of repeating myself from the past or what I will write next week (I never know what I am going to write from week-to-week) it just appears that everyone is ready to write off Ohio State in the upcoming Fiesta Bowl.

Two-points is not a huge line and the ESPN FPI (for full disclosure, we have railed against the FPI all season long) has Ohio State as a favorite in this game. As does the SP+ and the Sagarin Ratings.

Why do all of the experts feel that Ohio State is not in the same class as Clemson?

We have talked about the fact that Clemson has been there before, Clemson has won this thing more recently than the Buckeyes have. Hell, Clemson has scored a point in the playoff much more recently than the Buckeyes.

But it almost seems en vogue to pick against Ohio State in this one. Sure, we know that the Desmond Howard's and the Danny Kannell's won't dare pick the Buckeyes and that is to be expected. Television is supposed to be entertainment and regardless of what they really think about this game, Kannell is an ACC homer and Howard just never picks the Buckeyes.

It goes well beyond that. We are not going to call out any other writers or publications but you will be hard-pressed to find many people picking the Buckeyes in terms of the national crowd.

It is not quite as bad as former Columbus Dispatch writer Tim May being the only person to pick hometown Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson all of those years ago but if you listen to the 'talking heads' on television, you might be best saving your money and skipping this game.

Fuel for the fire?

Only time will tell.

1 - How will the Buckeyes respond to the few days off?

By the time that we write another 3-2-1 the team will have had its three days off to go home and traveled to Arizona by that point.

We know what a couple of Oklahoma players allegedly got into with some time on their hands and now they won't be playing in the bowl game.

It is always a fear and everyone holds their breath when the team gets some time away and players get a chance to see old friends that may not have as much going on or certainly on the line as their more athletic counterparts do.

There is one thing to be wanting to get rest for guys like Justin Fields, Damon Arnette and Shaun Wade but there is a whole other thing when you have to figure that Ryan Day will be saying a nightly prayer for an uneventful couple of days out of the nest for his team.

Amen.

2 - Will the Buckeyes hold on to Clark Phillips?

We skirted around this earlier in the piece but I guess it is time to make the pick.

The wait should not be too long with a decision expected to come out here on Thursday.

I just don't have a good feeling about this one. Of all the players, the loss of Jeff Hafley hits the hardest on this one.

I am going to say that Ohio State does not land him and if the Buckeyes are able to pull it out, the hope will be that you all have short memories and it will be lost in the celebration.

Sorry.

But still a great start to a class.

Why?

Why not.

Sure, we are not sure if Duane Washington will be a go and we saw what Ohio State looked like without him at Minnesota and even struggled for a half against SEMO earlier this week.

But there is just something about this Ohio State team, there is something about this Kentucky team? It all just seems to fit.

Kentucky almost came back against Utah in a game where the Utes put together a solid lead before a 27-10 run by UK tied it up and then the Wildcats could gain no more ground. I know that the Wildcats held their previous four opponents into the 50's in four straight wins, but this game is not at Rupp Arena. This game is in Vegas, just like the Utah game.

I think for all the concern we have had about the Buckeyes over the past two games, it will all blow away in this one as Ohio State has one of those "everything goes right" types of games.

The last time out in this CBS Sports Classic, the Buckeyes beat UCLA but 14, I don't think that we see that kind of game but I am just having a hard time not picking Ohio State in this one.