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Thursday February 6, 2014 year: 134 No. 19

www.thelantern.com @TheLantern weather high 22 low 3 partly cloudy

Urban Meyer: ‘The closer’

thelantern the student voice of The Ohio State University

New direction for defense

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Band honors western roots

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2014 OSU recruiting class Brooklyn, N.Y. curtis samuel, H-B

Columbus Brady taylor, ol

Leesburg, Ga. stephen collier, QB

Detroit Damon Webb, cB

Lancaster, Ohio kyle trout, ol

Hinesville, Ga. raekwon mcmillan

Eric sEGEr Sports editor seger.25@osu.edu

Montclair, N.J. Darius slade, Dl

Cincinnati sam Hubbard, lB

Forth Worth, Texas Demetrius knox, ol

Sparta, N.J. noah Brown, Wr

Indianapolis terry mclaurin, Wr

West Palm Beach, Fla. Johnnie Dixon, Wr

Urban Meyer has done it again. Ohio State’s football coach reeled in yet another top 10 recruiting class this winter, culminating Wednesday with 23 National Letters of Intent from some of the best high school players in the country arriving in Columbus on National Signing Day. The class — ranked No. 3 by Yahoo! Sports Rivals.com — includes nine players from the state of Ohio, but Meyer also went across the nation to bring in what he calls “a great class,” picking players from Georgia, New Jersey and Texas among others. Meyer said it’s a class that could end up being the best he has landed since he arrived in Columbus. “I think we won today,” Meyer said Wednesday. “I made it clear to our guys, (I’m) very pleased with their efforts today. That was a good class, a great class.” It’s the third year in a row Meyer’s recruiting class is ranked in the top 5 in the country, but this year’s group could be a little different — with the losses of key players like All-Americans junior linebacker Ryan Shazier and redshirt-junior cornerback Bradley Roby to the NFL Draft, some of the young guys could be counted on early. Among those Meyer mentioned as potential candidates for that role

New Castle, Pa. malik Hooker, saF

Chicago Jamarco Jones, ol

Cleveland kyle Berger, lB marcelys Jones, ol marshon lattimore, cB Erick smith, saF

Lombard, Ill. Dylan thompson, Dl

Akron Dante Booker, lB Parris campbell, Wr

Norfolk, Va. Jalyn Holmes, Dl

source: OSU press release

Buckner, Ky. sean nuernberger, k

kayla BylEr / Managing editor of design

were the four linebackers in the class — Raekwon McMillan, Kyle Berger, Dante Booker and Sam Hubbard — who play a position the coach said was an “emphasis” on the recruiting trail. “Just so everybody knows, there’s no redshirt plans for those players at all. We thought about that during the recruiting process,” Meyer said. McMillan is the nation’s top-ranked player at the position, coming to Ohio all the way from Hinesville, Ga. With the player being from a warmer climate than Columbus, some have wondered how Meyer was able to convince McMillan to come to OSU. “(Meyer) is really a great recruiter. He crosses all the Ts,” newly hired assistant head coach and defensive line coach Larry Johnson said. “My first in-home (visit) with him was awesome, really awesome. You watch a guy go to work (and) he’s got it all going on … he covers all his bases, photo by ritika sHaH / Asst. photo editor

know the family, know the kids and that’s pretty awesome what he does. He gets that involved. You call it aggressive, but I think that’s his style.” Meyer did it while he was at Florida, too — signing six classes, four of which ranked in the top three, according to Rivals.com (the other two being No. 15 and No. 11). Getting the upper echelon of players is how a program thrives consistently, Meyer said, but getting them to buy into what the school is selling comes with assistant coaches successfully selling what he calls the “Ohio State brand.” “The brand is so strong,” Meyer said, referencing a time this offseason when wide receivers coach Zach Smith had developed such a relationship with recruit Jalyn Holmes that Holmes felt comfortable calling Smith’s son via FaceTime. “I usually walk in because I’m kind of the closer. There they set the groundwork, (and) I know where we’re headed when I walk in that home. And the number one thing without question is relationships being built.” Meyer puts such an emphasis on recruiting that he mentioned it being one of the first things he thought of when OSU arrived in South Florida for its Discover Orange Bowl matchup against Clemson. “Recruiting is what I first saw when I saw the Orange Bowl,” Meyer said Dec. 19. “The respect I

continued as Meyer on 3A

ESL students face barriers

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Some miffed OSU C-Bus stayed open DaniEl BEnDtsEn Senior Lantern reporter bendtsen.1@osu.edu Despite seeing the largest snowfall of the winter so far, classes went on at Ohio State’s main campus Wednesday, something that didn’t sit well with some students. “Class should have been canceled because I almost slipped like 10 times while coming to class,” said Shannon Gardner, a second-year in psychology. “This morning, I honestly felt like it was dangerous to walk.” Undergraduate Student Government President Taylor Stepp, a fourth-year in public affairs, said he was disappointed the university stayed open. “Even High Street was a mess, and the side streets were just terrible, and I think that’s very, very dangerous, especially when some of the snow had iced over,” Stepp said. “So I was very unhappy to see that we still were open. My inherent concern isn’t necessarily with the people walking, though there’s a danger in that too, but with everyone who had to drive.” In an email Wednesday afternoon, Lindsay Komlanc, OSU spokeswoman for Administration and Planning, said the university had received two calls about people who had slipped and fell on campus. One garnered an emergency medical service response, but Komlanc said the information about the call didn’t show whether the person was transported. Some professors took matters into their own hands, choosing to cancel their classes, and some students gave themselves a “snow day.” “I didn’t go to class anyways,” said Bobby Jubak, a fourth-year in health information management. “I just had one class this morning and my teacher said, ‘If you don’t want to come, don’t come.’” Jubak said the weather was severe enough to warrant OSU to close and said he stayed up until

continued as Snow on 2A

smokinG Ban at Ohio State Bus driver reported for menacing kayla BylEr Managing editor of design byler.18@osu.edu A traffic control officer reported aggravated menacing at the Schottenstein Center Jan. 29 during a men’s basketball game after the “Nut House Bus” driver threatened to “cut” the traffic control officer when he asked the driver to move his bus. The bus, which is a Campus Area Bus Service bus that takes student ticket holders from Ohio State’s campus to the Schottenstein Center for men’s basketball games, was blocking a crosswalk. The driver began arguing with the traffic control officer, gave him the middle finger using both hands and said, “I have a knife and I will cut you up,” according to a University Police report. The driver was said to be an OSU Transportation & Traffic Management employee in the report. An officer responded to the situation and spoke to the driver, who said he “lost his cool” and did not actually have a knife, according to the report. The traffic control officer did not press charges. There were 22 total thefts, two of which were thefts of autos, reported on OSU’s campus this week from Jan. 29 to Wednesday. Two men were arrested for stealing pretzels and other food from the Ohio Union food court. A 19-year-old male student was arrested for stealing a large pretzel and two chocolate milk protein drinks, valued at a total of $9.50, Jan. 29 at about 11:30 a.m. The next day, a 22-year-old man not affiliated with OSU was arrested for stealing a “gourmet meal,” a large pretzel and a Coca-Cola drink, valued at a total of $9.25, at about 12:30 p.m., according to a University Police report. In other incidents, a 33-year-old man and a 42-year old woman, neither of whom were affiliated with OSU, were arrested for criminal trespass at Doan Hall, located at 410 W. 10th Ave. and part of the Wexner Medical Center, Jan. 30 at about 2 p.m. A 22-year-old man not affiliated with OSU was arrested for possession of drugs near Woody Hayes

thursday February 6, 2014

OSU ban of e-cigarettes sparks disagreement HannaH cHEnEtski Lantern reporter chenetski.4@osu.edu Ohio State’s campus-wide tobacco ban includes at least one product that uses no tobacco at all, but its mimicked appearance has OSU officials asking students, faculty and staff to keep e-cigarettes off university grounds. About five percent of students at OSU have been affected by the campus-wide tobacco ban, according to Dr. Peter Shields, deputy director of Wexner Medical Center James Comprehensive Cancer Center. Shields said most of the questions the hospital, which has been tobacco-free since 2006, gets on the ban are about the enforcement of the ban and on e-cigarettes. “Electronic cigarettes are included in the ban. Actually, it’s any tobacco product, anything that mimics a tobacco product with tobacco,” Shields said in a meeting with The Lantern Jan. 16. The campus-wide tobacco ban went into effect Jan. 1 in order to promote healthier life choices among students, faculty, staff and guests of OSU. The campus-wide ban was announced in 2013, and was set to take effect Aug. 1. In August, however, university officials said the ban would not be enforced until 2014. E-cigarettes are included in the ban because they contain nicotine. The difference between e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes is that they do not contain tobacco, which makes them arguably “healthier,” according to Discovery Fit and Health. There is a mechanism in e-cigarettes that heats up liquid nicotine, which turns to a vapor that smokers inhale and exhale, like a regular cigarette. E-cigarettes aren’t subject to U.S. tobacco laws because they do not contain tobacco, which means they can be purchased at any age, not just by people over 18. Clinical studies of e-cigarettes have also not been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website, so what chemicals they contain and the overall safety of the product is unknown. Shields said e-cigarettes might be particularly appealing to children and encourage nicotine addiction at a young age. “Right now they’re able to be sold to anyone of any age, so an 11-year-old can go in there and get

JonatHan mcallistEr / Lantern photographer

columbus resident Phil risko takes a drag from his e-cigarette while listening to local music at the Woodlands tavern Jan. 30. risko he said bought an e-cigarette to quit smoking cigarettes. their nicotine (vaporizers) or whatever it is they wanna buy, so these are big issues and so in my mind until they’re proven as a cessation method, they don’t fight tobacco use,” Shields said. He also said younger people smoking is a problem because it can become an addiction. “It’s really an adolescent disease,” Shields said of smoking. “I mean, most times people start smoking (at) 11 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old, 15 years old, but it takes years to get really addicted and it’s during the college years that really some people get cemented.” Some OSU students who use e-cigarettes said they don’t mind OSU’s ban of the product. Michael Moline, a fourth-year in strategic communication who uses e-cigarettes, said he understands and appreciates what OSU is doing and will continue to abide by and support the regulation.

“It’s definitely a change,” Moline said. “I’ve found ways to keep my personal habit away from campus.” Moline said he uses his device at home. OSU is not alone in its ban, as other Big Ten schools have similar policies. The University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan and Purdue University also have campus smoking bans, and the University of Minnesota has a smoking ban set to take effect July 1. Iowa has had a ban in place since 2008, and the university is currently determining if e-cigarettes should be banned in addition to cigarettes, said Iowa spokesman Tom Moore. Minnesota’s proposed ban would include e-cigarettes from the start, according to the

continued as E-cigarettes on 3A 1A


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