Shugarts won’t have much time to relax

SAN ANTONIO - Klein (Texas) and Ohio State offensive line commit J.B. Shugarts is one of a handful of players in this year's U.S. Army All-American Bowl that will enroll early at his respective school and begin classes in January.

So what that means for Shugarts is immediately following Saturday's Army All-American Bowl, he'll hop on a plane and fly directly to Columbus on Sunday to begin classes at OSU on Monday.

Shugarts said all of his stuff, including his car is already in Columbus, so he's excited to take part in Saturday's game before taking the next step in his career.

"It feels great and I'm really excited to be here," Shugarts said. "I can't wait to start playing. Just being here and looking around at the pictures at all the great players that played here makes me feel honored. I'm really excited and I can't wait to get out there."

Shugarts said he's also excited to get a chance to watch the Buckeye's play next Monday for the BCS National title against LSU.

"Ohio State is one of the nicest places I visited," Shugarts said. "The coaches are great. Coach Jim Tressel is a class coach and they are the No. 1 ranked team in the country right now. They're going to play for the national championship for the second year in a row, so being at a school like that is really cool."

Maybe the biggest storyline brewing in San Antonio for the Buckeyes this week revolves around the nation's No. 1 ranked player Terrelle Pryor.

Pryor has yet to make his decision, but it has been widely speculated for quite some time that Ohio State could be the team to beat. Shurgarts said on Sunday that he'll continue to do his best to recruit Pryor to the Buckeyes.

"Me and Terrelle are good friends," Shugarts said. "My dad and his guardian Teddy are really close. I talk to Terrelle just about every day. I'll be hanging out with him a lot, but I'll be talking some trash to those East guys as well since I'm with the West.

"He's mentioned Michigan to me before, but he's never been there before. I don't want to say anything bad about them though, because it is a really good school with great tradition. I don't want to start the Ohio State vs. Michigan talk until I get there."