SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Paul Sutherland will never forget his first trip to Columbus, Ohio.
It was the summer of 2012 and Sutherland, the head football coach at Pendleton High School in Pendleton, South Carolina, was in town with his star player: a 6-foot-2 300-plus pound defensive tackle named Michael Hill. Sutherland, Hill and Hill’s father all made the nine-hour drive north so the four-star prospect could visit Ohio State.
Sutherland remembers Eddie George waiting for them inside Urban Meyer’s office when they arrived on campus. He recalls the professors calling out Hill’s high school stats as he toured the academic buildings.