FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Jason Krause was sitting in the corner of the community room inside Fairfield High School wearing an Ohio State visor as Jackson Carman finished off a round of interviews following his National Signing Day pledge to Clemson.
Maybe Krause, the Fairfield football coach, picked up the visor because it went well with his red tie. Or maybe it was just because Krause, like most people from Ohio, likes the Buckeyes. Perhaps instinct led him to put on the visor that Carman had left on the table when he picked up the orange Tiger headgear to signify his college choice.
Someone turned to Krause and said, "nice hat." Krause, realizing the irony of the situation and his funny juxtaposition to Carman, quickly removed the visor.
Krause, an Ohioan in Ohio wearing an Ohio State visor, was normal.
Carman, the top high school football player in the state wearing a Clemson visor, was a shocker.
Carman picked Clemson. Ohio State's presence never left that room. But for the first time in a while, the natural lure of the Buckeyes wasn't enough to help Ohio State land its top in-state recruiting target. This is a rare loss with potential future implications.
"The magnitude of the decision? I understand," Carman said Wednesday. "Ohio State in Ohio, that's all there is. For me to do something like this is obviously big, but I think it was the right decision."
He's left the door open for others in his position to do the same.
Carman isn't the first top-ranked Ohio player to spurn the Buckeyes. Tommy Kraemer, an offensive lineman from Cincinnati Elder, took the path many players from Ohio's catholic high schools take when he went to Notre Dame in 2016. He's the only player of the Urban Meyer era to make such a move. Jordan Hicks, a linebacker from Lakota West, went to Texas in 2010. There were others before him.
This is still rare. And even if Carman tried to let the world know that this was possible all along, most people who follow Ohio State recruiting woke up on Wednesday morning confident that Carman would be a Buckeye by that afternoon.
Even Carman said he wasn't sure where he was going when he woke up on Wednesday. He said he made the choice that morning, "after a long hot shower." He called USC coach Clay Helton, then Meyer to break the bad news to them. Then he called Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to tell him he had won in the competition for the country's top offensive tackle.
"I wasn't surprised, but I understand why everyone else would be surprised, you know, me being a kid from Ohio and Ohio State being who they are," Carman said. "I do feel like this was the best decision for me, and I'm glad I made it."
Ohio State finished second. Carman and Meyer spoke on the phone around 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Meyer didn't make a last-minute hard sell. He took the loss, one of the worst of his career.
Carman described some stunned silence for a few seconds on the other end of the line before Meyer wished him good luck.
It wasn't like Ohio State put some feelers out and hoped that being the home program would be enough. The Buckeyes really recruited Carman, almost as if he was an out-of-state player. They wanted him, and to some extent needed him as an elite offensive tackle in this class. Carman said he and Meyer spoke every day from the time Carman returned from his official visit to USC on Sunday until Wednesday morning, when he made the decision.
He'll go to Clemson thinking he made the right choice, respecting Ohio State's standing in college football but also of the mind that Clemson is the program on the better trajectory.
Ohio State will have to figure out if this was the case of a quirky kid making a different decision, or a sign that recruiting the top players in Ohio is more difficult in the modern recruiting age.
To be clear, the Buckeyes still have Nos. 2, 4 and 5 in Ohio in 2018. Westerville running back Jaelen Gill, Dayton receiver Blue Smith and Toledo linebacker Dallas Gant are signed. Ohio State also remains in a good position to land the No. 3 in-state player, Cleveland Heights defensive end Tyreke Smith. It's not like Ohio State has completely lost control of recruiting its home base. Far from it.
But losing a player like Carman isn't something to just brush off. This was a major loss, and Ohio State needs to figure out if there's something it needs to be doing differently to make sure it doesn't happen again.
There's a Carman-like prospect in Ohio in 2019, five-star defensive end Zach Harrison. He's currently ranked the No. 4 overall player in the country. That's not to say that all Ohio prospects are alike, but if Harrison wanted to open the door -- like Carman did -- every top program in the country would be coming to Ohio to get him.
Here's what Carman said was Ohio State's main selling point to him:
"That I'm a hometown guy, and not that I have an obligation, but there was a sense of pride for me to come to Ohio State and be a leader of the class," he said.
That's not going to work on every Ohio kid. It didn't work on Carman.
Maybe there won't be another Carman. He's got a different kind of personality and seemed to always embrace the idea of doing something different from what others in his position have done in the past.
If that's the case, then Ohio State will be fine and you can expect more often than not that any in-state player targeted by the Buckeyes will eventually end up in Columbus.
Or Carman could be a trend-setter.
"I'm comfortable being different," he said. "It's not something I'm pioneering for. Ohio State is a great program, Clemson is a great program. I thought I was a better fit for Clemson."