Jaylen Harris, as some of you may remember, is down in Alabama this week. He got in yesterday and is visiting with some family in the Yellow Hammer State while also working out for the Tide at a few of their high school camps. Bama has camps on the 13th through 16th this week and Harris should be at least a couple of them, although probably not all four days. This will be his first visit coming out of the dead period since he received the Ohio State offer and if things go well here while he's working out, he should be receiving an offer from the Tide before he gets back to Cleveland.
With having family in and around the state, distance should not be a huge issue in this recruitment and the Alabama offer is one he really covets, likely only behind Ohio State in terms of importance. The Buckeyes, Tide, and Tennessee Volunteers are the three schools running out front for Harris right now, but I don't see a decision coming soon.
Ultimately, if Ohio State were to press for a commitment from Harris, it would be very hard for him to say no. They're the home town team, his child hood favorite, and a dominant program just two-ish hours away from home. He's been recruited by Ohio State for about 6 months longer than Bama had been speaking with him, but this extended visit to Tuscaloosa could certainly make things more interesting. I will keep you updated with more as the trip ends.
Pivoting to another 2017 receiver (as always lol) Javonte Richardson is still on track to be attending Friday Night Lights at Ohio State. He's looked great every time we've seen him work out and his route running was really solid at the Rivals Camp Series in Cleveland, but the videos and snapchats some of the coaches and players down at Maple Heights have been sending me of practices and 7v7's are night and day from what he looked like in the fall. The route running is crisp and fluid, he's so sudden in and out of his breaks, and he's really been getting the footwork down as well. If he brings the new found refinement and technique with his athleticism and unfair catch radius, I would be very surprised if he's not offered at FNL.
Also, as a little aside, he took a video of himself in jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes just casually chucking the ball around 50-55 yards at Maple's field one afternoon. He played around a dozen snaps at quarterback all year last year lol.
Finally, as we all know, IMG Academy in Bradenton (Fla.) loves to stockpile talent and the Buckeyes love dipping in to the stockpile. Ohio State has a commitment from DT Malik Barrow in 2016 and signed 2015 OL Mirko Jurkovic before some academic troubles arose. The 2017 class looks promising for Ohio State recruiting with Manny Greene transferring there and DT Cam Spence also emerging as a potential big target in that class.
It looks like the rich could be getting richer in terms of highly-ranked Buckeye targets at IMG in 2017, as there should be announcements in the coming weeks from a five-star and a Rivals250 four-star that they will be headed to IMG as well. I'm not going to name names, as that would be unfair to these kids at their current high school situation if the transfer doesn't work out for whatever reason, but you will know as soon as it happens. I'm also hearing that a big-name quarterback could be transferring to the country's top athletic academy to replace departed FSU commit Malik Henry.
UPDATE: The quarterback news went live about 10 minutes after I posted this. Ole Miss commit Shea Patterson is headed to IMG. Unreal collection of talent
With having family in and around the state, distance should not be a huge issue in this recruitment and the Alabama offer is one he really covets, likely only behind Ohio State in terms of importance. The Buckeyes, Tide, and Tennessee Volunteers are the three schools running out front for Harris right now, but I don't see a decision coming soon.
Ultimately, if Ohio State were to press for a commitment from Harris, it would be very hard for him to say no. They're the home town team, his child hood favorite, and a dominant program just two-ish hours away from home. He's been recruited by Ohio State for about 6 months longer than Bama had been speaking with him, but this extended visit to Tuscaloosa could certainly make things more interesting. I will keep you updated with more as the trip ends.
Pivoting to another 2017 receiver (as always lol) Javonte Richardson is still on track to be attending Friday Night Lights at Ohio State. He's looked great every time we've seen him work out and his route running was really solid at the Rivals Camp Series in Cleveland, but the videos and snapchats some of the coaches and players down at Maple Heights have been sending me of practices and 7v7's are night and day from what he looked like in the fall. The route running is crisp and fluid, he's so sudden in and out of his breaks, and he's really been getting the footwork down as well. If he brings the new found refinement and technique with his athleticism and unfair catch radius, I would be very surprised if he's not offered at FNL.
Also, as a little aside, he took a video of himself in jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes just casually chucking the ball around 50-55 yards at Maple's field one afternoon. He played around a dozen snaps at quarterback all year last year lol.
Finally, as we all know, IMG Academy in Bradenton (Fla.) loves to stockpile talent and the Buckeyes love dipping in to the stockpile. Ohio State has a commitment from DT Malik Barrow in 2016 and signed 2015 OL Mirko Jurkovic before some academic troubles arose. The 2017 class looks promising for Ohio State recruiting with Manny Greene transferring there and DT Cam Spence also emerging as a potential big target in that class.
It looks like the rich could be getting richer in terms of highly-ranked Buckeye targets at IMG in 2017, as there should be announcements in the coming weeks from a five-star and a Rivals250 four-star that they will be headed to IMG as well. I'm not going to name names, as that would be unfair to these kids at their current high school situation if the transfer doesn't work out for whatever reason, but you will know as soon as it happens. I'm also hearing that a big-name quarterback could be transferring to the country's top athletic academy to replace departed FSU commit Malik Henry.
UPDATE: The quarterback news went live about 10 minutes after I posted this. Ole Miss commit Shea Patterson is headed to IMG. Unreal collection of talent
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