More on the way to Columbus from IMG?
We hit IMG Academy this afternoon in Bradenton (Fla.) to watch practice and talk to some of the nation's top prospects, including a pair of Ohio State commits in the 2016 class. Tyler Gerald and Malik Barrow, along with 2015 signee Mirko Jurkovic, give the Buckeyes a strong presence down at IMG and I don't expect they'll be the last from this current roster to give an Ohio State commitment.
As we talked about yesterday, the Buckeyes are in fantastic shape right now for 2017 four-star receiver Emmanuel Greene. Unlike many of the other 2017 wide receiver targets, guys like Trevon Grimes, Javonte Richardson, Danny Davis, etc., Greene is an H type of player and because of that may be able to find his way into the class in that role.
Greene is going to visit over the summer with details still being worked out but he told me today that he's going to try and stay for an entire week. This kid absolutely loves wide receivers coach Zach Smith and told me he doesn't just have friends up there, he has 'family' in guys like Jurkovic, Gerald, Barrow, Damon Arnette, and Bruce Judson, all guys he is close with.
Speaking with a couple of sources around IMG today, I was also told that Ohio State is in a pretty commanding position right now with 2017 four-star defensive tackle Camaron Spence. Spence has already visited and he's a Maryland native so Larry Johnson is already a major factor there.
Now Spence might need to camp this summer to validate things. Given how well 2016 D-Line recruiting is going, the Buckeyes aren't in a hurry to be adding a lot of 2017 guys on the defensive front but Spence is a guy who could very well end up in that class if he continues to develop and back up his lofty early ranking and offer list.
One thing I can debunk is the talk that has originated elsewhere about Ohio State being a possible contender for five-star 2016 defensive back Saivion Smith. There won't be a visit and he will certainly not be coming North to play his college football. Cross that one off the wish list right now.
Buckeyes the favorites for NCM?
Heading into our visit with five-star Tampa (Fla.) Catholic wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers this morning, we were told by a pretty good Tampa area source that we would be surprised at just how positive Nate would be about Ohio State and that the Buckeyes and Trojans might be the two biggest beneficiaries of NCM's recent decommitment from Auburn.
That certainly ended up being the case after spending nearly an hour at the school today. NCM definitely had plenty of good things to say both on and off camera about Ohio State and his affinity for head coach Urban Meyer dating back to his days at Florida.
Florida State is the school that has been tied closely with NCM even before his decommitment as he recently made a lengthy visit to Tallahassee and was saying really good things about the Noles coming out of that visit.
While I believe Florida State and to a lesser extent, Florida, will be major players in this recruitment moving forward, I got a very good vibe from NCM about the Buckeyes and I think there are several factors at play here that make Ohio State very enticing to him.
First of all, the depth chart at Ohio State sets up very well for a big, pure outside guy like NCM in the 2016 class. Michael Thomas is almost certainly leaving for the NFL, Noah Brown will already be a third year guy by the time anyone in 2016 steps on campus, and that doesn't leave a whole lot of guys that bring the skillset that Craig-Myers does, and certainly not many proven commodities.
NCM definitely wants to play early, he made no mistake about that today and Florida State essentially started a pair of true freshmen wide receivers this year which makes the Buckeyes' depth chart more desirable for a guy like Nate.
The academics and life after football angle is another big one for him and Ohio State has him very intrigued in that regard as well and putting together a visit where he could see some of those programs up close for himself would only strengthen things on that front.
This is also going to be Urban Meyer's top priority moving forward. Tony Alford and Zach Smith definitely have roles to play here and are good recruiters but this one is going to be a Meyer special. He is personally handling this recruitment and is in regular communication with Nate. Meyer has been very, very good at getting 'his guy' the last few classes and his guy right now is Nate Craig-Myers.
Finally, Tampa Catholic head coach Mike Gregory and Meyer do have an established relationship. Meyer recruited Chaz Green out of Tampa Catholic back in the 2010 class when Gregory was an assistant at Tampa Catholic and the two have known each other for about six years now. Gregory isn't going to push NCM to any school but it's a staff that has a good relationship with Meyer and knows him well and that is never a bad thing. The more allies you can have in these situations, the better.
This is all about getting that first visit, preferably over the summer. If the Buckeyes get this visit to take place, I think they will become the favorite to land the nation's top wide receiver in 2016.
Latest on Watts and Mitchell
Two guys that have started to generate a little more buzz recently when it comes to Ohio State recruiting are four-star New Jersey wide receiver Ahmir Mitchell and four-star Florida defensive back Craig Watts.
With Mitchell, Ohio State had two assistants out to see him today in Zach Smith and Ed Warinner. I still don't feel that this is something that would come together for Ohio State this early. While things don't look nearly as good for Donnie Corley as they once did, the Buckeyes aren't going to give up there and he is higher on the board than Mitchell at this time.
You also now have to factor in the momentum they are starting to pick up with Craig-Myers and I just don't think OSU is ready to take a commitment there. Mitchell has at times talked about committing and has backed off before and as we reported the other day, there are those close to Mitchell advising him to hold off on making an early decision. This would undoubtedly be what Ohio State would want as they'll want more time to evaluate their positions with Corley and NCM who, again, are higher on the board and with limited spots left in this class you don't want to give up on your top two targets this early. In fact, if we go beyond Corley/NCM, I'm not so sure Binjimen Victor isn't the "next" guy on the board.
As for Watts, the Buckeyes have the four-star prospect intrigued but may I remind everyone that he has not yet visited Columbus. Until this happens, I don't think you'll see any movement here. Urban Meyer isn't going to take a defensive back pledge at this point from a kid that hasn't visited. If and when a visit happens, things will be reassessed but for right now, guys like Damar Hamlin, Wayne Davis, and a couple of others are more likely.
Thursday Notebook
Ohio State offensive line coach/co-OC Ed Warinner should probably just get a condo somewhere in the middle of New Jersey. Warinner was back in North Jersey on Wednesday, hitting St. Peter's Prep, St. John Vianney, and also hitting Brooklyn (NY) Poly Prep again. All three of those schools have class of 2017 offensive linemen that the Buckeyes like.
Poly Prep of course has Isaiah Wilson, one of the nation's most impressive junior linemen. St. Peter's is home to Ben Petrula, and St. John Vianney has future four-star tackle Micah Clark.
Warinner was back in New Jersey again on Thursday, watching Ahmir Mitchell with Zach Smith and will be hitting Paramus Catholic on Friday to check on five-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary among many other prospects. Interestingly enough, Warinner also stopped to check on Pennsylvania tight end Cary Angeline, who like Jacob Mathis, is a player the OSU staff really likes but may not have room for at the position. Still, they'll keep doing their homework here until Luke Farrell makes his decision.
As expected, Kerry Coombs was in the Atlanta area today. Coombs tweeted that he stopped at 14 schools. He will be in Cincinnati tomorrow.
We may very well run into Zach Smith in South Florida tomorrow as he will be down there hitting some schools. Am told he will be back there again next week as well, including a stop at Coconut Creek for their spring game.
Southern Swing continues
Things are continuing to roll on here as we have wrapped our Tampa/Bradenton area leg of the trip up and are on our way to our next destination. We continue to move further South on this trip and we will be spending our day Friday in the Fort Lauderdale area. We here there is some talent in those parts and thought we'd see for ourselves just to make sure.
First stop tomorrow will be Coconut Creek High School to see the aforementioned four-star wide receiver Binjimen Victor.
We hit IMG Academy this afternoon in Bradenton (Fla.) to watch practice and talk to some of the nation's top prospects, including a pair of Ohio State commits in the 2016 class. Tyler Gerald and Malik Barrow, along with 2015 signee Mirko Jurkovic, give the Buckeyes a strong presence down at IMG and I don't expect they'll be the last from this current roster to give an Ohio State commitment.
As we talked about yesterday, the Buckeyes are in fantastic shape right now for 2017 four-star receiver Emmanuel Greene. Unlike many of the other 2017 wide receiver targets, guys like Trevon Grimes, Javonte Richardson, Danny Davis, etc., Greene is an H type of player and because of that may be able to find his way into the class in that role.
Greene is going to visit over the summer with details still being worked out but he told me today that he's going to try and stay for an entire week. This kid absolutely loves wide receivers coach Zach Smith and told me he doesn't just have friends up there, he has 'family' in guys like Jurkovic, Gerald, Barrow, Damon Arnette, and Bruce Judson, all guys he is close with.
Speaking with a couple of sources around IMG today, I was also told that Ohio State is in a pretty commanding position right now with 2017 four-star defensive tackle Camaron Spence. Spence has already visited and he's a Maryland native so Larry Johnson is already a major factor there.
Now Spence might need to camp this summer to validate things. Given how well 2016 D-Line recruiting is going, the Buckeyes aren't in a hurry to be adding a lot of 2017 guys on the defensive front but Spence is a guy who could very well end up in that class if he continues to develop and back up his lofty early ranking and offer list.
One thing I can debunk is the talk that has originated elsewhere about Ohio State being a possible contender for five-star 2016 defensive back Saivion Smith. There won't be a visit and he will certainly not be coming North to play his college football. Cross that one off the wish list right now.
Buckeyes the favorites for NCM?
Heading into our visit with five-star Tampa (Fla.) Catholic wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers this morning, we were told by a pretty good Tampa area source that we would be surprised at just how positive Nate would be about Ohio State and that the Buckeyes and Trojans might be the two biggest beneficiaries of NCM's recent decommitment from Auburn.
That certainly ended up being the case after spending nearly an hour at the school today. NCM definitely had plenty of good things to say both on and off camera about Ohio State and his affinity for head coach Urban Meyer dating back to his days at Florida.
Florida State is the school that has been tied closely with NCM even before his decommitment as he recently made a lengthy visit to Tallahassee and was saying really good things about the Noles coming out of that visit.
While I believe Florida State and to a lesser extent, Florida, will be major players in this recruitment moving forward, I got a very good vibe from NCM about the Buckeyes and I think there are several factors at play here that make Ohio State very enticing to him.
First of all, the depth chart at Ohio State sets up very well for a big, pure outside guy like NCM in the 2016 class. Michael Thomas is almost certainly leaving for the NFL, Noah Brown will already be a third year guy by the time anyone in 2016 steps on campus, and that doesn't leave a whole lot of guys that bring the skillset that Craig-Myers does, and certainly not many proven commodities.
NCM definitely wants to play early, he made no mistake about that today and Florida State essentially started a pair of true freshmen wide receivers this year which makes the Buckeyes' depth chart more desirable for a guy like Nate.
The academics and life after football angle is another big one for him and Ohio State has him very intrigued in that regard as well and putting together a visit where he could see some of those programs up close for himself would only strengthen things on that front.
This is also going to be Urban Meyer's top priority moving forward. Tony Alford and Zach Smith definitely have roles to play here and are good recruiters but this one is going to be a Meyer special. He is personally handling this recruitment and is in regular communication with Nate. Meyer has been very, very good at getting 'his guy' the last few classes and his guy right now is Nate Craig-Myers.
Finally, Tampa Catholic head coach Mike Gregory and Meyer do have an established relationship. Meyer recruited Chaz Green out of Tampa Catholic back in the 2010 class when Gregory was an assistant at Tampa Catholic and the two have known each other for about six years now. Gregory isn't going to push NCM to any school but it's a staff that has a good relationship with Meyer and knows him well and that is never a bad thing. The more allies you can have in these situations, the better.
This is all about getting that first visit, preferably over the summer. If the Buckeyes get this visit to take place, I think they will become the favorite to land the nation's top wide receiver in 2016.
Latest on Watts and Mitchell
Two guys that have started to generate a little more buzz recently when it comes to Ohio State recruiting are four-star New Jersey wide receiver Ahmir Mitchell and four-star Florida defensive back Craig Watts.
With Mitchell, Ohio State had two assistants out to see him today in Zach Smith and Ed Warinner. I still don't feel that this is something that would come together for Ohio State this early. While things don't look nearly as good for Donnie Corley as they once did, the Buckeyes aren't going to give up there and he is higher on the board than Mitchell at this time.
You also now have to factor in the momentum they are starting to pick up with Craig-Myers and I just don't think OSU is ready to take a commitment there. Mitchell has at times talked about committing and has backed off before and as we reported the other day, there are those close to Mitchell advising him to hold off on making an early decision. This would undoubtedly be what Ohio State would want as they'll want more time to evaluate their positions with Corley and NCM who, again, are higher on the board and with limited spots left in this class you don't want to give up on your top two targets this early. In fact, if we go beyond Corley/NCM, I'm not so sure Binjimen Victor isn't the "next" guy on the board.
As for Watts, the Buckeyes have the four-star prospect intrigued but may I remind everyone that he has not yet visited Columbus. Until this happens, I don't think you'll see any movement here. Urban Meyer isn't going to take a defensive back pledge at this point from a kid that hasn't visited. If and when a visit happens, things will be reassessed but for right now, guys like Damar Hamlin, Wayne Davis, and a couple of others are more likely.
Thursday Notebook
Ohio State offensive line coach/co-OC Ed Warinner should probably just get a condo somewhere in the middle of New Jersey. Warinner was back in North Jersey on Wednesday, hitting St. Peter's Prep, St. John Vianney, and also hitting Brooklyn (NY) Poly Prep again. All three of those schools have class of 2017 offensive linemen that the Buckeyes like.
Poly Prep of course has Isaiah Wilson, one of the nation's most impressive junior linemen. St. Peter's is home to Ben Petrula, and St. John Vianney has future four-star tackle Micah Clark.
Warinner was back in New Jersey again on Thursday, watching Ahmir Mitchell with Zach Smith and will be hitting Paramus Catholic on Friday to check on five-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary among many other prospects. Interestingly enough, Warinner also stopped to check on Pennsylvania tight end Cary Angeline, who like Jacob Mathis, is a player the OSU staff really likes but may not have room for at the position. Still, they'll keep doing their homework here until Luke Farrell makes his decision.
As expected, Kerry Coombs was in the Atlanta area today. Coombs tweeted that he stopped at 14 schools. He will be in Cincinnati tomorrow.
We may very well run into Zach Smith in South Florida tomorrow as he will be down there hitting some schools. Am told he will be back there again next week as well, including a stop at Coconut Creek for their spring game.
Southern Swing continues
Things are continuing to roll on here as we have wrapped our Tampa/Bradenton area leg of the trip up and are on our way to our next destination. We continue to move further South on this trip and we will be spending our day Friday in the Fort Lauderdale area. We here there is some talent in those parts and thought we'd see for ourselves just to make sure.
First stop tomorrow will be Coconut Creek High School to see the aforementioned four-star wide receiver Binjimen Victor.
