Interview: 2017 Ohio DT Jeremy Meiser Talks Old Dominion Commitment

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

On June 25, Old Dominion stole a sleeper recruit out of Archbishop Moeller High School when defensive tackle Jeremy Meiser verbally committed to the Monarchs.

Meiser is a beast on the field and in the weight room and is seemingly just starting to scratch the surface of his overall talent. Listed in the area of 6’3”, 280-plus pounds, the Cincinnati area product got his first full season on the field as a junior making an instant impact. Complete stats were not taken, but stat estimates put him somewhere around five sacks to go along with a tackle total in the mid-twenties against some of the toughest competition in the nation.

Early offers came in from Ball State and Eastern Michigan with a lot of teams showing interest building to a list of double-digit offers. Some of the other teams to offer included Nevada, Yale, Harvard, Buffalo, Air Force, Navy, and Western Kentucky.

In a previous RNG interview, Meiser said one of the main factors in choosing a school was the ability to “spend four to five years with coaches he can trust.” Meiser found his school with ODU. In a Recruiting News Guru exclusive interview, I sat down with Meiser after his commitment to ODU to get the inside scoop on how everything went down.

Interview

Jeremy, what influenced you to commit to ODU when you did?

“I just felt that the time was right. I knew that ODU was right for me and I didn’t want to lose my spot to another commit.”

How did the commitment take place?

“They set me up with a FaceTime with Coach (Bobby) Wilder (head coach). He was at a coaches’ clinic so he was unable to meet in person. I told him that I wanted to commit while on FaceTime.”

What was the reaction of the coaches when you committed?

“They were really excited. Very soon after I committed, Coach (Jeff) Commisiong (defensive line coach) and about 15 players came in the room congratulating me and welcoming me to the family. All the other coaches I saw on campus during my visit came up and congratulated me as well. It was a cool feeling knowing that I had made a decision and the hunt was over.”

Is there a sense of relief, that to some extent, your recruiting process is over?

“Yes, it takes a lot of energy and time. It’s a big relief knowing that I don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

Do you still plan to take your visits during your senior season?

“Not to other schools. I’m set in my decision.”

Do you plan on recruiting other players to join you?

“Yes, I want to have the best team as possible and that starts with the best players.”

How are you going to pitch the other players to join you?

“I’ll just try to show them that the program is on the rise. I think if I could get them to take a visit they would fall in love and feel the energy.”

Do you have any players you would like to target already?

“Well my teammate Samari Saddler. He has an offer from ODU and I’d love to get him at ODU as well.”

Offseason workouts, what all are you doing and what progress have you made?

“We are midway through our running plan and are starting to get into true speed work. I really feel that my teammates and I have had a great offseason.”

Have you maxed out on any of the football lifts lately? If so, what did you get?

“Yes we did around a month or so ago. I got 370 on bench, 550 deadlift, 315 power-clean, and 515 squat. “

The numbers are a big jump from when we last spoke. You jumped up 20 pounds on bench, 10 on squat, and 30 on power-clean. Impressive. What camps have you attended this offseason?

“I’ve been to a few, the bigger ones being Pitt, Purdue, and Syracuse.”

How have the camps gone?

“They went well. All of the coaches liked me and I thought I performed well.”

Jeremy, again, congratulations on your commitment to ODU and thanks for your time today.

“Thank you.”

Photo credit: Meiser family; Jeremy Meiser at ODU.

Photo credit: scout.com; No. 95 Jeremy Meiser in action