Ohio State early enrollee Baron Browning is the highest rated Texan in the class of 2017, a class that has three member of the Rivals100 in its ranks out of four players who made the journey from the Lone Star State to the Buckeye State. Browning is ranked as the No. 9 player overall by Rivals.com and is only one spot behind fellow Buckeye Chase Young.

There has been a lot of buzz about how Ohio State made its push in Texas for the five-star linebacker as well as Jeffrey Okudah, J.K. Dobbins and Elijah Gardiner. Browning knew that Ohio State had a lot to offer but also knew that each player had to arrive at their own difficult decision on their own.

"I really can't speak for everyone else but as far as for me, I just wanted to go somewhere that I could play at the highest level while getting one of the best educations in the country," Browning said on National Signing Day from the indoor field of the WHAC as one of nine early enrollees for Ohio State.

Where Browning may end up on the field for Ohio State is still up for debate. With players like Jerome Baker and Chris Worley returning for their outside linebacker spots and Dante Booker coming back from an injury-plagued season looking like someone who could be in the mix to try and get back on the field, where are the coaches penciling in the five-star back?

"I know talking to coach (Bill) Davis that he plans on teaching us all three linebacker positions," Browning said.

The Kennedale (Texas) product is getting to know his new position coach after initially committing to Urban Meyer and Luke Fickell. Fickell is now with the Cincinnati Bearcats as the head coach. Browning felt that he was kept in the loop during the entire process and understands that coaching moves is just part of the business and there is nothing that can be done there.

There are limits as to how much interaction players and coaches can have during the winter workout period and that is just fine as Mickey Marotti is working with these early enrollees, and the entire team, as February work will pay off in October and November.

"We have not really been talking football," Browning said. "Coach Mick has been really strict on us about focusing on the workouts and the coaches know that, so they have not really been messing with us too much about football right now."

One of the best recruiting moments that will go down in the history of Browning's #Select17 class will be the joke that Browning played on Meyer and subsequent payback that Meyer got over on Browning. Recruiting is serious business and Browning considers himself to be a funny guy and caught his new head coach off guard with one of his jokes.

"I was kind of undecided (the night before I was supposed to announce) and then the next day I made up my mind, and my parents were (asking) if I would tell them before I tweeted it out," Browning recalled. "Coach Meyer was texting me and the coach from Alabama was still trying to do some recruiting."

Announcement day came and Browning reached out to Meyer before going to social media to let him know what the news was going to be.

"I already knew that I was going to come here, I just felt like messing around, that is the type of guy that I am and I like cracking jokes and having fun," Browning continued. "So I told my parents that I was going to Alabama and then I texted coach Meyer and coach Fickell and was like, 'Thank you for everything that you have done for me but I am rolling with the Tide' and it was just funny all around. It was funny."

It was not quite as funny in the moment for Meyer and the Buckeyes after spending a lot of time building relationships and becoming heavily invested in terms of recruiting the five-star defender.

"I remember looking, I leaned over, I said here it comes. Boom. I look down, and I can't remember if he called or sent me a text, and he said, I'm going to roll with Bama or something. I took my phone and threw it against the wall," Meyer said when asked about how this 'joke' went down."

Browning doubled down and did not follow up immediately, instead it was his father who reached out to Meyer.

"I did not even tell him, my dad called him and congratulated him and when he called him, he was just confused and was like, 'What do you mean? He just texted me and said he was going to Alabama' so my dad had to break it down to him," Browning said. "He was like, 'Oh my gosh, don't ever do that again'."

"He got me good," Meyer said.

Meyer waited for a perfect time to get Browning back.

"So there was all those rumors about the Los Angeles Rams, so I called his mom because she's great, and I said, Keisha, let's go get him," Meyer said. "She said, okay, what do you want to do? I said, I'm going to call -- because she teaches at the school, call him down there and let's put him speakerphone. I want to see his reaction. So we did it."

"I am just sitting there and looking and my mouth just dropped, I don't even know what to say because I am just speechless. I am mad, I am just listening," Browning said. " A few minutes pass and he is like, 'I am just messing with you'. And I was not laughing though, but he got me back. I was more mad because my mom was in on it, too. They planned it together. I guess I had that coming."

All joking aside, the entire class of 2017 is one of the best classes ever assembled in Ohio State recruiting and while Browning does not want to throw out and wild proclamations of future success, he knows that the blueprint is in place and good things could be coming down the line.

"If we just stick to the plan that they have here and just trust the process, great things are going to happen," Browning said.