Weber's coach Wilcher blasts Meyer, OSU

National Signing Day seemed to finally put an end to the whole Mike Weber saga.

Turns out, it might just be heating up.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer told Ohio high schools coaches Friday that he called the Detroit Cass Tech star running back a day after Weber went on Twitter to express his displeasure that a key recruiter, running backs coach Stan Drayton, was leaving for the Chicago Bears.

Meyer didn't share many details of the conversation, other than to say it was long and Drayton was involved in the call.

Meanwhile, Weber's coach at Cass Tech, Thomas Wilcher, went on a local radio station Friday and ripped OSU for the way this went down.

"I think Urban Meyer will have to step his game up; we're going to have to talk," Wilcher told Detroit Sports 105.1 in a long interview. "He has come to my school and got the No. 1 athlete two years in a row. You cannot come over here, come up to the north, and walk out of here with your pockets full and not give us respect.

"That's not gonna happen again, I call tell you that right now."

Wilcher spoke to The Detroit News on Friday evening and indicated he had spoken to Meyer earlier in the day and planned to speak to Meyer again later Friday evening.

"I wasn't angry, I was just concerned," Wilcher told The News.

Last year, Ohio State landed Cass Tech cornerback Damon Webb Jr., and on Wednesday celebrated the additions of Cass Tech's Weber and Joshua Alabi, a defensive tackle.

Weber, 17, was the biggest story this recruiting season, being The Detroit News' No. 1 Blue Chip prospect, and given his torn allegiance. He originally committed to Michigan, but withdrew that late in the season, and after Brady Hoke was fired, he committed to Ohio State.

Wilcher noted the irony of the situation.

"That's why Mike decommitted from Michigan, because he didn't know who the coach was gonna be," Wilcher said on 105.1. "Now you've got that same type of uncertainty."

Wilcher said he hadn't talked to Weber since Weber's phone call with Meyer, but planned to. Weber didn't respond to a message from The News.

Weber started the firestorm Thursday when, after word of Drayton's departure got out, he tweeted, "I'm hurt as hell I ain't gonna lie." Wilcher acknowledged Weber was "upset."

Since that Twitter post, Weber has not tweeted, though he did retweet some encouraging messages from former NFL receiver Keyshawn Johnson. Weber, 17, who finally signed with Ohio State only after a late push by Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, removed the hashtag "BuckeyeNation" from his Twitter profile. There is no mention that he has signed with Ohio State.

A national letter of intent is a binding contract between a player and school, not a player and coach. OSU could let him out of the deal if Weber wants to press the issue. Wilcher wouldn't comment on that, though when asked by 105.1 host Matt Dery if Weber was sticking with OSU, Wilcher wouldn't confirm that either.

Wilcher said Weber is talking things over with his family, friends and coaches.

"He wanted to stay committed, he wanted to show he understands about commitment," Wilcher said on 105.1, of Weber, who stuck with OSU on Wednesday despite enormous pressure to turn back to his favorite team growing up, Michigan. "They're at least supposed to show him the same type of courtesy."

Wilcher told The News, of Weber: "I don't know anything about what he's thinking. I want him to figure out if he's going to be happy where he's at."

Drayton was officially announced as the Bears' new running backs coach on Friday. Reports said he officially agreed to the deal Thursday, only after working hard with Meyer on Tuesday and early Wednesday to deliver Weber to Columbus. Most of new Bears coach John Fox's staff was announced a couple weeks ago.

Student-athletes have far fewer rights than college coaches, who can leave their school -- and their recruits -- for another job with few restrictions.

Drayton, 43, has coached at OSU all three years under Meyer. He's coached at nine universities, including Eastern Michigan in 1994. He recently was a candidate for EMU's head coaching job.

"The pro calendar is much different now," Meyer told the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association on Friday, according to 247Sports.com. "(Stan) has little girls where recruiting takes its toll. Every weekend you're gone. He gets job offers every year. Now we'll go and hire a great coach here."

Weber obviously just wishes he had known Drayton was pursuing other opportunities.

Some fans, particularly in Columbus, have lashed out over this story, saying Drayton leaving shouldn't be a big deal to Weber. But position coaches often develop the stronger bonds with the athletes than the head coach.

Drayton has taken his share of heat over leaving, too, and seemed to respond to them on Twitter on Friday.

"You don't know me," he wrote. "If you did you will see God's will. Life dedicated to helping others."

Michigan almost landed Weber, but might have lost him on National Signing Day over a surprise development of its own.

The Wolverines got running back Karan Higdon to flip from Iowa to Michigan, a move that caught Weber off guard -- and, admittedly, didn't sit well with him. Weber wants to be "the guy," and with Ezekiel Elliott supposedly telling Weber he's leaving college after 2015, OSU seemed to offer the fastest route to be "the guy."

That still might be the case in Weber's eyes, and this could all blow over in short order.

For now, though, it definitely has not.

"It's a black eye on the university," Wilcher told 105.1, speaking of Ohio State. "They're out there getting these young men under false pretenses."

angelique.chengelis@detroitnews.com

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tpaul@detroitnews.com

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