COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At Ohio State right now, anything related to NCAA violations gets people's attention.

Like first-year football coach Urban Meyer, less than three weeks after he was hired, committing a secondary violation by saying "good luck" to recruit Noah Spence at a game in December. Or athletic director Gene Smith committing a secondary violation in April by filming a video message to a football recruit.

Or even assistant coach Mike Vrabel using smokeless tobacco on the sidelines during football games last season, which was noted and reported to Ohio State by a Columbus-area health teacher, and was a secondary violation of NCAA rules against using tobacco during games or practice.

None of the violations, among the 46 reported in 21 sports since May 30 of last year, are a big deal on their own, nothing close to the major violations that threw the football program into turmoil during 2011. The violations were released to The Plain Dealer on Thursday in response to a records request filed to Ohio State on April 18 for all NCAA violations committed by the school's athletic department dating back to May 30, 2011. That was the date on which former football coach Jim Tressel was forced to resign.

Many are related to assistant coaches in various sports mistakenly contacting recruits they believe are older than they really are, almost laughably insignificant missteps.

But on one hand, anything having to do with violations won't help Ohio State's perception, while on the other hand, a lot of secondary violations can be viewed as a sign of a strong compliance department.

Even little things are serious business in Columbus. As OSU compliance director Doug Archie pointed out in a letter of admonishment sent to two different smaller sport coaches, "it is the responsibility of each person with the athletics department and within the Ohio State University community to ensure that rules are being followed."

That's especially true for big names like Meyer, who has ruffled some feathers in the Big Ten with his aggressive recruiting, and Smith, who just oversaw a trying year for the athletic department that included the forced resignation of former coach Jim Tressel and a bowl ban in 2012 for the football team. The top guys have less wiggle room.

Some of OSU's self-reported violations

Among the secondary NCAA violations within the OSU athletic department since May 30, 2011, here are some related to the major sports of football and men's basketball. All were secondary NCAA violations.

Football coach Urban Meyer said "Good luck," to recruit Noah Spence before his state championship game in Pennsylvania in December. Contact like that with Spence, on his game day, is forbidden.

Athletic director Gene Smith and alumni association CEO Archie Griffin recorded a personalized video for football recruit Ezekiel Elliott for his official campus visit on March 31. Recruiting videos are forbidden.

Assistant football coach Mike Vrabel used smokeless tobacco on the sidelines during games, which was reported to Ohio State anonymously by an area health teacher. NCAA rules forbid tobacco use during games or practices.

Greg Paulus, the basketball team's video coordinator, was reported to be coaching players during the Buckeyes' Big Ten Tournament semifinal win over Michigan on March 10. Video coordinators, who aren't full assistants, may not coach players. The violation was discovered after a general conversation between an OSU player's parent and an assistant athletic director.

Last August, quality control football staffer Kirk Barton, a former OSU offensive lineman, created and ordered 20 "JT" bracelets for $5 each online to honor former coach Jim Tressel. He intended them for friends and family, but several players asked Barton about the bracelets. He sold seven players the bracelets for $15, charging that amount in an attempt to make sure no violation was committed, knowing that giving them out for free would be an NCAA violation. But selling them still was deemed a violation because players had access to something not available to the general public. The players returned the bracelets.

Assistant coach Stan Drayton last July accidentally sent a text message to a recruit when he meant to send an email. Emails were permissible. Text messages were not.

On Aug. 20, assistant coach Dick Tressel responded to a text message from the parents of recruit Warren Ball asking which gate to use to enter Ohio Stadium for a scrimmage. Texting the parents of a recruit was a violation.

In December of 2010, five current football players took five recruits on OSU visits to a movie. NCAA rules allow each recruit $60 in spending money for entertainment. A cab ride to the movie put each recruit between $1 and $5 over budget, which the football players paid out of pocket. That was not allowed because the $60 limit was exceeded.

The school realized that during three days of the football team's Rose Bowl trip from Dec. 26, 2009, to Jan. 2, 2010, the players received both a $15 per diem and breakfast. That pushed them over the allowable three meals of $45 per diem.

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Meyer has defended himself against accusations of improper recruiting, including a specific charge from the Sporting News that a member of the Ohio State staff "bumped" into Cleveland Heights offensive lineman Kyle Dodson during a recruiting visit when contact with players wasn't allowed. In April, Meyer said there was no violation over contact with Dodson, who switched his oral commitment from Wisconsin to sign with Ohio State, "so if you would bold that for me and underline it, this is not an NCAA violation. There is not one turned in."

He was right. But there was one turned in over his contact with Spence, a five-star defensive end recruit from Pennsylvania who also signed with the Buckeyes.

Meyer and several assistants watched Spence play in a state title game in Hershey, Pa., on Dec. 16, and according to the NCAA report, Meyer spoke to both high school head coaches before kickoff. Spence walked past Meyer and said something, and Meyer reported he may have said "good luck." According to NCAA rules, even those two words are considered impermissible contact with a recruit on the day of a game and, therefore, a secondary violation.

Ohio State learned of the matter after seeing a newspaper photo that appeared to show Meyer saying something to Spence. Meyer also told Ohio State about the incident two days after the game.

"I went to say hello and good luck to his coach and as I was walking off the field Noah said, 'Hello,' and I said 'Good luck,' before the game," Meyer wrote in a text message to The Plain Dealer on Thursday. "Nothing more. Nothing to hide. All good."

All of the violations since May 30 were secondary in nature other than the already known major violations committed by football players who received what the NCAA judged to be overpayment from Northeast Ohio booster Bobby DiGeronimo. Florida attorney Michael Buckner, an expert in NCAA law, said that number was not unusual for an athletic department the size of Ohio State.

"In general, if you're not reporting numerous secondary violations, then from the NCAA perspective, that could be considered a bad sign," Buckner said. "If I was an OSU fan, I wouldn't be alarmed by it. That means Ohio State is doing the right thing."

Compared to Meyer, there was a bit more to Smith's secondary violation. Smith and Archie Griffin, the CEO of the Ohio State Alumni Association, were scheduled to meet football recruit Ezekiel Elliott on his official visit on March 31. When Smith and Griffin were out of town watching the men's basketball team at the Final Four, they recorded video messages for Elliott.

It is an NCAA violation to create videos specifically for recruiting purposes, and both did address Elliott by name in the video. Elliott, by the way, announced his oral commitment to Ohio State the next day.

Smith, Griffin and the football video staff, as part of the violation report, were sent letters reminding them that the compliance office should be consulted before any videos are shown to recruits. Should an athletic director have known better?

OSU spokesman Dan Wallenberg didn't comment specifically on that, but reiterated the secondary nature of the violations.

"The easy thing would be to let it go, and not have the numbers [of violations]," Wallenberg said. "But the numbers I think are good because that speaks to the culture we have."

Wallenberg also released a statement to The Plain Dealer that said, in part, "the records released today are consistent with the size of Ohio State's program, the NCAA rules and the culture within the Department of Athletics to look aggressively for any actions that may have violated NCAA policy."

So Ohio State will keep reporting, still knowing that anything to do with NCAA violations doesn't help its cause.