Alabama and Ohio
There is an interesting chess match developing right now within the borders of Ohio and it is coming from a bit of an unlikely source. The Alabama Crimson Tide have been on an offer rampage within Ohio in recent weeks. Tavion Thomas, Jojo Scates, Tyreke Smith, and Malik Vann have all been offered recently by Nick Saban and company. Thomas, Scates, and Vann were all at Alabama this weekend as the Crimson Tide hosted a huge Junior Day.
Certainly there is some gamesmanship going on here from the folks in Tuscaloosa. Alabama has sort of picked its spots in Ohio over the years with some of the offers being legit and some not, but there has been an increased presence this off-season. Certainly part of that is because the 2018 Ohio class looks like it could be the strongest since 2013 from a top end talent and depth standpoint.
But in the cutthroat business of college football recruiting, there are all sorts of mind games and territorial type things that go into this. Ohio State does this in places like Georgia and Florida, where they offer early and then decide later if they actually want those kids, but in the mean time making those SEC programs work to keep their kids at home.
What Alabama is doing here no different. So now the question is, who is Alabama serious about out of this group and how will Ohio State respond?
The Thomas/Scates duo out of Dunbar will be the two to really watch in my opinion. I don't think Tyreke Smith is going to be that much in play for Alabama, I think Ohio State and Penn State are too firmly entrenched there. I also don't know that the Malik Vann offer is A. committable and B. that concerning for Ohio State. I have not ruled out an OSU offer to Vann, but the fact remains that the Buckeyes have seen a lot of him, have had him on campus numerous times, and still haven't offered.
But with Thomas and Scates, you have a running back that OSU recently offered and a receiver that I'm told OSU really likes and could be close to offering. Furthermore, Thomas and Scates sort of fit what Alabama looks for at those respective positions. Thomas is a big power back and Scates is a big-time vertical threat. Their games are very similar to what we've seen Alabama recruit at those two positions over the years.
You also have an interesting dynamic here with Scates. Jojo told me very early on in the process that his two dream offers were Alabama and Ohio State and he actually grew up an Alabama fan.
As I said earlier in the week, I don't see Scates ending up at Michigan State where he gave his early verbal commitment. I do think that if Alabama gets serious about him, that the Tide could be a factor for him even if Ohio State does offer in timely fashion.
So while a lot of this Alabama stuff is just noise and mind games, I do think the Dunbar duo will be interesting to watch moving forward. Scates told me he and Tavion had a great time in Tuscaloosa this weekend and the offer definitely surprised him and excited him. He actually didn't seem as excited going into the visit as I would have expected but the offer changed that. The reason it changed that is because I think he felt he was just tagging along with Tavion on the visit and that Alabama was almost doing charity work in allowing him to come along, he hinted as much to me on Monday in Indianapolis, but the Tide played this well by offering him and showing him just as much attention this weekend as they did Thomas.
Now I am not a big fan of schools letting other schools dictate how they recruit kids. Ohio State let Michigan dictate how they recruited Todd Sibley (and Leonard Taylor too in my opinion) and Sibley was not an ideal situation at all and certainly not an ideal outcome whenever you have to cut ties with an in-state kid at a school that is producing a lot of talent.
But, I do think that OSU may have to make a decision on Scates sooner rather than later.
Interesting visit coming up
While 2018 is getting most of the attention right now, there are some class of 2019 prospects that Ohio State is trying to make a push for, including Ellenwood (Ga.) Cedar Grove wide receiver Jadon Haselwood. Haselwood comes from the same high school as 2016 defensive tackle recruit Antwuan Jackson, who the Buckeyes made a good run for before losing out to Auburn. So there is some familiarity here between OSU and the program and that has helped the Buckeyes emerge as one of his top schools early on.
Haselwood is expected to make his way to Columbus on Saturday after visiting Alabama for its big Junior Day this weekend. While most of these early visits for the class of 2019 are simply to set a foundation for the following 12-24 months, these visits for Haselwood might carry a little more weight. This will be his second trip to Columbus following a game day visit in the fall and Haselwood wants to make a commitment soon.
I think Georgia has the inside track right now, but Ohio State is right up there for him as well, so this upcoming visit carries a little extra importance. Obviously if you're Ohio State, you don't want Haselwood committing this early to the in-state power. Early commitments have become more and more shaky in recent years, but anytime a local kid commits early, that can be tough to undo if you're an out-of-region program.
Now does Ohio State necessarily want Haselwood's commitment right now? I guess that depends on how you look at it. A commitment to OSU likely wouldn't mean as much this early in the process, it's not like Georgia and Alabama are going to throw in the towel 24 months before Signing Day. So I guess it comes down to if you'd rather get the commitment and try to hold onto it or if you'd rather him just let things play out a little more.
Urban Meyer seems to be more than content to take the early commitment and decide later if its worth working to hold on to (it was for Shaun Wade, it wasn't for Bruce Judson). Right now, I think the best news for OSU would be to just stall Haselwood from a potential early commitment to Georgia. But either way, it's going to be interesting to see what Haselwood has to say coming out of next week's visit, it's definitely not your typical unofficial visit for a sophomore. I haven't had a chance to see Jadon in person yet, but everyone who has tells me he will be among the elite receivers nationally in the class.
Carman timetable
The first big domino in Ohio is going to fall on Wednesday when Top 50 running back/athlete Jaelen Gill makes his college decision. Gill is deciding on the early end of his time frame of a spring or summer decision and would certainly be a huge addition to the Ohio State class. Nothing has changed on my end in terms of my thoughts on where Gill will end up. The Magical Orb of Wonderment is still expressing to me that it will be good news for Ohio State, but he'll make his announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
With Gill coming off the board in less than 72 hours, that brings us to another huge in-state priority for the Buckeyes, Fairfield offensive lineman Jackson Carman.
I had a couple of interesting conversations during the week regarding the five-star offensive tackle. Carman, considered to be anywhere from a heavy Ohio State lean to a silent commit depending on who you ask, has been adamant about taking his time with the process and taking official visits.
For now, that is still the stance that Carman is still taking both publicly and privately. But this week, for the first time during the course of this recruitment, I had a few different people tell me that Carman, with some direction from his family, is contemplating an earlier decision.
Exactly when that earlier than expected decision could come wasn't really specified, but there are some conversations taking place right now behind the scenes that could see Carman end his recruitment before his senior season, which would be a bit of a change of pace from what has been said over the past year.
I don't think it much matters for Ohio State when Jackson decides to make an announcement. I'm about as confident as one can be in the crazy world of recruiting that Carman takes his talents to Columbus but I did find it interesting to start hearing about an earlier decision. I guess we'll see how this progresses over the next couple of months.
There is an interesting chess match developing right now within the borders of Ohio and it is coming from a bit of an unlikely source. The Alabama Crimson Tide have been on an offer rampage within Ohio in recent weeks. Tavion Thomas, Jojo Scates, Tyreke Smith, and Malik Vann have all been offered recently by Nick Saban and company. Thomas, Scates, and Vann were all at Alabama this weekend as the Crimson Tide hosted a huge Junior Day.
Certainly there is some gamesmanship going on here from the folks in Tuscaloosa. Alabama has sort of picked its spots in Ohio over the years with some of the offers being legit and some not, but there has been an increased presence this off-season. Certainly part of that is because the 2018 Ohio class looks like it could be the strongest since 2013 from a top end talent and depth standpoint.
But in the cutthroat business of college football recruiting, there are all sorts of mind games and territorial type things that go into this. Ohio State does this in places like Georgia and Florida, where they offer early and then decide later if they actually want those kids, but in the mean time making those SEC programs work to keep their kids at home.
What Alabama is doing here no different. So now the question is, who is Alabama serious about out of this group and how will Ohio State respond?
The Thomas/Scates duo out of Dunbar will be the two to really watch in my opinion. I don't think Tyreke Smith is going to be that much in play for Alabama, I think Ohio State and Penn State are too firmly entrenched there. I also don't know that the Malik Vann offer is A. committable and B. that concerning for Ohio State. I have not ruled out an OSU offer to Vann, but the fact remains that the Buckeyes have seen a lot of him, have had him on campus numerous times, and still haven't offered.
But with Thomas and Scates, you have a running back that OSU recently offered and a receiver that I'm told OSU really likes and could be close to offering. Furthermore, Thomas and Scates sort of fit what Alabama looks for at those respective positions. Thomas is a big power back and Scates is a big-time vertical threat. Their games are very similar to what we've seen Alabama recruit at those two positions over the years.
You also have an interesting dynamic here with Scates. Jojo told me very early on in the process that his two dream offers were Alabama and Ohio State and he actually grew up an Alabama fan.
As I said earlier in the week, I don't see Scates ending up at Michigan State where he gave his early verbal commitment. I do think that if Alabama gets serious about him, that the Tide could be a factor for him even if Ohio State does offer in timely fashion.
So while a lot of this Alabama stuff is just noise and mind games, I do think the Dunbar duo will be interesting to watch moving forward. Scates told me he and Tavion had a great time in Tuscaloosa this weekend and the offer definitely surprised him and excited him. He actually didn't seem as excited going into the visit as I would have expected but the offer changed that. The reason it changed that is because I think he felt he was just tagging along with Tavion on the visit and that Alabama was almost doing charity work in allowing him to come along, he hinted as much to me on Monday in Indianapolis, but the Tide played this well by offering him and showing him just as much attention this weekend as they did Thomas.
Now I am not a big fan of schools letting other schools dictate how they recruit kids. Ohio State let Michigan dictate how they recruited Todd Sibley (and Leonard Taylor too in my opinion) and Sibley was not an ideal situation at all and certainly not an ideal outcome whenever you have to cut ties with an in-state kid at a school that is producing a lot of talent.
But, I do think that OSU may have to make a decision on Scates sooner rather than later.
Interesting visit coming up
While 2018 is getting most of the attention right now, there are some class of 2019 prospects that Ohio State is trying to make a push for, including Ellenwood (Ga.) Cedar Grove wide receiver Jadon Haselwood. Haselwood comes from the same high school as 2016 defensive tackle recruit Antwuan Jackson, who the Buckeyes made a good run for before losing out to Auburn. So there is some familiarity here between OSU and the program and that has helped the Buckeyes emerge as one of his top schools early on.
Haselwood is expected to make his way to Columbus on Saturday after visiting Alabama for its big Junior Day this weekend. While most of these early visits for the class of 2019 are simply to set a foundation for the following 12-24 months, these visits for Haselwood might carry a little more weight. This will be his second trip to Columbus following a game day visit in the fall and Haselwood wants to make a commitment soon.
I think Georgia has the inside track right now, but Ohio State is right up there for him as well, so this upcoming visit carries a little extra importance. Obviously if you're Ohio State, you don't want Haselwood committing this early to the in-state power. Early commitments have become more and more shaky in recent years, but anytime a local kid commits early, that can be tough to undo if you're an out-of-region program.
Now does Ohio State necessarily want Haselwood's commitment right now? I guess that depends on how you look at it. A commitment to OSU likely wouldn't mean as much this early in the process, it's not like Georgia and Alabama are going to throw in the towel 24 months before Signing Day. So I guess it comes down to if you'd rather get the commitment and try to hold onto it or if you'd rather him just let things play out a little more.
Urban Meyer seems to be more than content to take the early commitment and decide later if its worth working to hold on to (it was for Shaun Wade, it wasn't for Bruce Judson). Right now, I think the best news for OSU would be to just stall Haselwood from a potential early commitment to Georgia. But either way, it's going to be interesting to see what Haselwood has to say coming out of next week's visit, it's definitely not your typical unofficial visit for a sophomore. I haven't had a chance to see Jadon in person yet, but everyone who has tells me he will be among the elite receivers nationally in the class.
Carman timetable
The first big domino in Ohio is going to fall on Wednesday when Top 50 running back/athlete Jaelen Gill makes his college decision. Gill is deciding on the early end of his time frame of a spring or summer decision and would certainly be a huge addition to the Ohio State class. Nothing has changed on my end in terms of my thoughts on where Gill will end up. The Magical Orb of Wonderment is still expressing to me that it will be good news for Ohio State, but he'll make his announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
With Gill coming off the board in less than 72 hours, that brings us to another huge in-state priority for the Buckeyes, Fairfield offensive lineman Jackson Carman.
I had a couple of interesting conversations during the week regarding the five-star offensive tackle. Carman, considered to be anywhere from a heavy Ohio State lean to a silent commit depending on who you ask, has been adamant about taking his time with the process and taking official visits.
For now, that is still the stance that Carman is still taking both publicly and privately. But this week, for the first time during the course of this recruitment, I had a few different people tell me that Carman, with some direction from his family, is contemplating an earlier decision.
Exactly when that earlier than expected decision could come wasn't really specified, but there are some conversations taking place right now behind the scenes that could see Carman end his recruitment before his senior season, which would be a bit of a change of pace from what has been said over the past year.
I don't think it much matters for Ohio State when Jackson decides to make an announcement. I'm about as confident as one can be in the crazy world of recruiting that Carman takes his talents to Columbus but I did find it interesting to start hearing about an earlier decision. I guess we'll see how this progresses over the next couple of months.
