Could Kirk Herbstreit’s mouth cost his beloved Buckeyes a star recruit? Or could the recruit’s mouth buy him an early spot in Ohio State’s doghouse?

Herbstreit, an ESPN analyst and former Ohio State quarterback, got into a Twitter spat Wednesday with five-star prospect Jackson Carman, the top-ranked offensive tackle in the country.

In the wake of Ohio State’s 31-16 loss to Oklahoma last Saturday, during which starting quarterback J.T. Barrett struggled, multiple recruits suggested the Buckeyes give a shot to redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins, a former Highland Park, N.J., resident. It apparently triggered Herbstreit.

Five-star prospect Micah Parsons, the top-ranked defensive end, called for the former Under Armour All-American. Then on Monday, Carman followed with a tweet that Haskins should play. Herbstreit quickly responded with a tweet suggesting all recruits should “keep quiet and worry about their own teams.”

Herbstreit explained that he was trying to “help them avoid issues on their future team. Not to mention [it’s] not their place.” He followed up by adding, “Pretty sure their opinions, once they get into their future locker rooms, won’t go over real well.”

The tongue-lashing prompted Parsons to walk back his comments, but Carman wasn’t about to. He doubled down with an implication that if Ohio State didn’t want him, USC and defending national champion Clemson would.

“Pretty sure I wouldn’t have any problems in Dabo Swinney’s or Clay Helton’s locker room for my OPINION on OSU’s qb,” Parsons tweeted.

From there, it devolved into both sides arguing with other parties joining in.

Another commit, Jaiden Woodbey, drew Haskins into the conversation by asking when his friend was going to play, and the redshirt freshman cryptically replied “Soon [?]”

Suddenly this weekend’s game against Army actually has some intrigue.

Woodbey also channeled “Game of Thrones’” Tywin Lannister when he tweeted, “Bingo…Lions don’t worry about the opinion of Sheep.” And when Ohio State freshman quarterback Tate Martell stuck up that Herbstreit was hardly a sheep, Woodbey shot back that’s exactly what Herbstreit was.

Herbstreit also was something else: Right, in saying that sharing their opinions not only could but would hurt them at Ohio State. When Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer was asked at Monday’s press conference whether a critique of the program could have hurt a recruit, he said it could.

“Sure,” Meyer said, according to landof10.com. “I was made aware of something, and I let other people know — I was made aware of it.”

Meyer spoke in general terms because he can’t directly talk about specific recruits.