Chad Hagan, come on down!

by Sam @ WWAHT on Aug 7, 2009 7:00 AM EDT

http://sports.espn.go.com/photo/2008/0925/recruit_e_hagan_200.jpg

Time to get rid of that horrid helmet, buck-o

Pennsylvania safety Chad Hagan has committed to Ohio State:

Canonsburg (Pa.) Canon-McMillan defensive back Chad Hagan visited Ohio State this afternoon and things could not have gone any better.

"I’m on my way home now," Hagan told Bucknuts.com. "I was there for about an hour and a half. Everything went well. I committed."

[...]

Hagan played most of his junior football season and all of the basketball season with a left shin stress fracture. He had surgery in April and says he is 100% healthy once again.

The 6-foot-1 and 210-pound Hagan played free safety and running back during his junior season. He made 63 tackles and rushed for close to 800 yards and 12 touchdowns.

What say you, Kurelic?

In landing Hagan, the Buckeyes have a big, hard-hitting safety who can run. Hagan has the potential to be an impact safety for the Bucks. He could play either strong or free safety for the Buckeyes.

Highlights: He's a safety, so don't expect touchdowns, fireworks and Limp Bizkit:

My thoughts: Hagan's offer list was good, not great, consisting mostly of Big Ten programs and a few MAC teams. Noticeably missing is the flagship program of his home state. Scout has him pegged as a 1-star at running back, while Rivals hasn't even graded him yet. ESPN is similarly mum about Hagan, placing him at outside linebacker (?) and giving him a Scouts' Grade of 40, which says to me that ESPN also hasn't actually evaluated him yet. Yup:

No evaluation available at this time.

Alright, so the recruiting buzz (if you can call it that) about this kid is essentially non-existent, which is a tad surprising. But don't fret your purty little heads out there; that isn't exactly the typical offer list of a sub-par safety prospect, and anyone timed in the 4.2 range (which I think is a fake, personally) at this particular position with this kind of size can surely find a place at Ohio State. I think a wait-and-see approach with Hagan's guru numbers is in order. Even with other big-time targets and needs in this class, I don't think the staff would offer a complete schlub unless they saw something they liked a lot. Now that he's a member of a notable school's recruiting class, I think they'll make a bit more of an effort to get out to Canonsburg before signing day.

Chad Hagan, consider yourself officially welcomed into our merry band of bearded ladies and dancing midgets: