R100 DB Taylor talks OSU visit

Over the weekend Rivals100 cornerback Garrett Taylor visited Ohio State. The Buckeyes were once considered the favorite for the Richmond (Va.) St. Christopher's star but limited scholarship could be too much to overcome.

"It wasn't too cold and I had a good time," said the 6-foot-1, 188-pound Taylor. "This was my first time up there. It was funny because it was like an unofficial official visit. The reason it wasn't an official visit was because of the numbers. We did pretty much everything I would have if it were an official visit. We got there Friday morning and we got to take a tour of the entire campus. We saw the academic center and the college of business. We sat down with some of the advisors and heard about the academics. After that we toured all of the football facilities, which were really nice. We pretty much met with everyone on staff and I got to sit down and talk football with coach Coombs."

The Buckeyes allowed Indiana to get off to a good start in the game but Taylor saw plenty that he liked.

"It was definitely interesting to watch them play," he said. "It was a lot closer then I thought it would be. Indiana busted a few runs. I thought the defense was really aggressive and the offense was definitely explosive. It was good to see how the cornerbacks played. I watch the safeties a little too. I definitely liked what I saw."

The number of available scholarships is making this situation difficult.

"When I sat down with coach Meyer he said that if I'm really interested in Ohio State then I should let him know so that he could try to figure out if there is a way he could make the scholarship situation work," Taylor said. "They're definitely tight on scholarships and as of now I don't know if they have room or not. Coach Meyer put the ball in my court a little bit. He told me that if I say I definitely have a lot of interest and I'm serious about Ohio State then I should let him know and he'll try to make something work. If not, we'll both go our separate ways because there's no point in me wasting his time and vice versa. That's where things stand now."

The Buckeyes aren't the only school Taylor is considering.

"This weekend I'm going up to Penn State," he said. "I'm expecting to see a good game. Penn State is in the rebuilding process right now and, with coach Franklin being there, I'm looking to see if he's going to able to do the same thing he did at Vanderbilt, turn the program around and be able to compete for conference and national championships in the next couple years.

"In terms of sitting down the with coaches, I've already talked with coach Shoop and I know he has a lot of football knowledge about putting defensive backs in position to make plays," said Taylor. "I haven't talked to coach Smith yet. I'm looking forward to that and getting to know him because, to me, the most important relationship is with the position coach because that's who I'll be spending the most time with. Getting to sit down and build that relationship is something I'm looking forward to."

Taylor also has an official visit to LSU set up for December 5.

"Everything is going great with LSU," he said. "I'm talking to coach Raymond about once every week. He hits me up on Twitter almost everyday so things are going well."

The Virginia Tech Hokies have been heavily involved in Taylor's recruitment since the beginning.

"Virginia Tech is still in the mix," Taylor said. "I know they have some official visit dates in December and January that we might look at but I've been there enough to have seen everything. The only reason I would take an official visit is spend time with some of the players and see if I would fit in there."

At this point it doesn't look like any other schools have a real shot at landing Taylor.

"Right now it's just these four schools, LSU, Penn State, Ohio State and Virginia Tech," he said. "I know I was talking about Tennessee and Miami a little bit but right now it's just these four schools right now."

Taylor, an Under Armour All-American, has been out for the entire 2014 season because of a torn ACL.