COLUMBUS, Ohio – While it may appear that the Buckeyes had an inside guy on the recruitment of Noah Potter with his older brother, Micah, being part of the basketball team, make no mistake that dreams of playing for Ohio State predated big brother's arrival on the Ohio State campus.
The 6-foot-5, 247-pounder out of Mentor (Ohio) committed to Ohio State back in April of 2018 but the wheels had been in motion for a long time, at least according to his older brother who met with the media on Wednesday afternoon and is allowed to talk about his brother's recruitment due to having what the NCAA defines as a 'pre-existing relationship' with Noah.
"He wanted to be a Buckeye his entire life," the elder Potter said to the assembled basketball media. "Ever since he was five years old he had a paper up on his wall that said, 'Five-star recruit, Ohio State, NFL, Hall of Fame' he was five years old, it was his lifelong goal."
By all accounts, Potter committed early in the process to Ohio State with an April commitment date, but many watchers of Ohio State football recruiting were waiting impatiently for Potter to pull the trigger even earlier than that. The four-star defensive end held at least two dozen football offers including ones from Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State and Tennessee to name a few.
Potter was not going to be rushed in the process however and wanted to do things on his own time and Micah has some idea of why his brother may not have been quick to jump on with a commitment, at least at first.
"He kind of started to really enjoy the recruiting process and getting all of the attention from all of the coaches," Micah added. "Especially being like the third born and being behind two Division One athletes with my older brother and then me, he kind of was like the one who was left behind in a sense. So, he really enjoyed it."
Ohio State definitely held the upper hand over most of the other schools trying to come into the Buckeye state to recruit Potter and had the luxury of not having to apply too much pressure.
"His biggest thing was, and I was actually sitting in the meeting with him and coach (Urban) Meyer the day that he committed, and the biggest thing for him is he did not want the pressure from everyone else, he wanted it to be his decision," Potter said.
Potter has put a couple of years of basketball under his belt with the Buckeyes, but he admits that listening to Meyer's recruiting pitch got him pretty fired up about football.
"Coach Meyer, he had me ready to commit to play football in some of the meetings that I had sitting down with him and Noah and my dad," Potter said. "The way that the guy can recruit, he makes you want to go there."
Why is that?
"One, because Ohio State football is just the best in the country, everyone knows that," Potter said. "Then two, just the way that he genuinely cares about his players, regardless of… there are a ton of people on the football team and he cares about every single one of them and wants the best for every single one of them."
Micah watched his brother make visits without committing and did not understand how his brother could keep his cards so close to his vest, at least for a while.
"I was dumbfounded by how Noah was not just jumping out of his seat and saying that he wants to be a Buckeye," Micah said.
Potter said he did not put any extra pressure on his brother to pick Ohio State and even if Noah would have opted to go elsewhere that the family bond would always be there, and he would have supported him in his decision.
"I was going to love him regardless of where he went, he could have went anywhere in the country and been super successful," Potter said. "Obviously, I would have loved to have him here and I am really happy that he is coming."
