Commonwealth Connection
For the fourth time in the last three classes, Ohio State dipped into Virginia to pull a highly regarded prospect. The Buckeyes got the ball rolling back in 2014 with then Rivals100 defensive end Jalyn Holmes and it was Holmes' alma mater of Norfolk Lake Taylor that produced the most recent pledge in four-star defensive back Wayne Davis.
We have some great sources of information in Virginia in our network and for my money the best is Rod Johnson over at Virginia Preps, I caught up with him to ask him about the Buckeyes' success in recruiting Virginia recently.
"I think it probably starts with Zach Smith," said Johnson. "I think Zach really hits the right nerves with the Virginia kids. He's a modern day recruiter. He understands and uses social media well and relates to the kids really well. Backing that up with Larry Johnson who also has some ties to Virgina from recruiting here for a long time really helps too."
Ohio State is still recruiting class of 2016 defensive tackle Kyree Campbell out of Northern Virginia, but the Buckeyes will likely be back at Lake Taylor again next year for four-star two-way lineman Darnell Ewell, whom the Buckeyes have already offered. The early returns are that, if Ohio State makes Ewell a priority, they will definitely have a chance there.
"I think they're going to be in a really strong position with Darnell Ewell," Johnson continued. "I certainly wouldn't say it's a lock or anything like that, but at this point I would say that they are probably his unofficial leader. I doubt he would say that publicly but that is how I see it right now. Part of that is winning the national championship but Urban Meyer's name just stretches really far because of the brand of football his teams play."
Another factor in the Buckeyes' success was simply getting on the board with Holmes. That has led to a bit of a snowball effect, especially in the Norfolk area.
"Jalyn was really, really loved at Lake Taylor," he explained. "He was kind of the first kid to really go out and go big. They had sent kids to Virginia and Virginia Tech before but I think it opened up kids like Wayne and Darnell to start thinking more on a national stage, rather than just playing in the ACC."
As for Ewell as a player, he's a guy I really liked on both sides of the ball at the Richmond Rivals Camp back in the spring. Johnson weighed in on what he's seen so far out of the Rivals250 product.
"I think he's a national guy for sure," he said. "I think the question for him will be which side of the ball he plays on. Most people seem to want to put him at the three-technique defensive tackle spot. He only played a few games at that position last year as a sophomore so I think we're still finding out more about how good he can be. If you're looking at the raw package, it's hard to not see him being a really dominant player in the middle of the line of scrimmage. He's as strong as anyone he's going to face and now it's just a matter of getting a little more flexibility, a little more bend, and technique instead of just overpowering guys. He's going to play more on the defensive side of the ball this year."
Beyond Ewell, Ohio State is also recruiting the Virginia Beach Ocean Lakes 2017 trio of four-star running back Khalan Laborn, three-star athlete Tajh Capehart, and four-star jumbo-athlete Eric Crosby and the Buckeyes are thought to be in the top handful of programs for all of those guys in the early going, though the priority lists and positional boards are still very much a work in progress at this stage.
Indian River and Rivals100 defensive back Devon Hunter also continues to list high interest in the Buckeyes.
Big game hunting in Texas
A big thing when Tom Herman left to take the Houston job was whether or not the Buckeyes could continue to have the success they have enjoyed recently recruiting the talent rich state of Texas. New hire Tim Beck has filled in that role and was able to secure a verbal commitment from Tristen Wallace back in the spring. The Buckeyes still have a few major targets in the Lone Star State in both the 2016 and 2017 classes and I checked in with a source on the ground about how things are going.
"I still expect Ohio State to do well in Texas, especially in Dallas/Fort Worth," the source said. "Tim Beck has a lot of ties to the area and has a lot of experience recruiting there. They have a nice little pipeline going at DeSoto right now as well. That could continue in 2017 with K.D. Nixon who I think Ohio State would jump to the lead for if they offered."
Nixon is talking about potentially coming up to Friday Night Lights. He'll need to show up to a camp and knock the socks off the coaching staff to leapfrog the many outstanding receivers the Buckeyes are in on in the 2017 class.
One player who has already knocked their socks off in 2017 is Rivals100 safety Jeff Okudah.
"Ohio State has a real chance there," the source continued. "He's going to look at some SEC schools as well as the in-state programs but they really have him interested, he's always saying great things about Ohio State."
In 2016, the Buckeyes are still recruiting a copule of targets, but the main guy is Allen safety Jaylon Jones. Ohio State is in Jones' top six and a decision could potentially come before the football season kicks off.
"Jaylon likes Ohio State a lot," they said. "I know, despite his comments about the long drive, that he enjoyed his visit. I don't think he would have went all the way up there and then camped on top of it if he wasn't serious about Ohio State. Look out for Ole Miss though, that is probably where I would guess he is going as of right now."
Jones is supposed to visit Ole Miss this upcoming week. If he decides quickly after that visit, it could be bad news. I have felt that Ohio State's best chance here is Jones taking his time and making some official visits, including one to Columbus so it will be very interesting to see how quickly Jaylon wants to move coming out of the trip to Oxford.
Rumblings from The Opening
Four Ohio State commits took part in Nike's The Opening this week and they all seemed to show well for themselves. A lot of the 7-on-7 play was televised with team Lunarbeast (featuring all of the commits) taking home the championship thanks in-large part to some very good play from Jake Hausmann and Austin Mack.
Over on the OL/DL side of things, Jonathon Cooper once again impressed at another major off-season camp and was named to the Final Five showcase featuring the top 5 offensive linemen from the week and the top five defensive linemen.
Interestingly enough, Cooper roomed with five-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary, something that had been arranged a while ago, prior to Gary's recent Ohio State visit. While there has been some talk that Gary could be back in Columbus for Friday Night Lights, that would surprise me at this point and I have talked to a couple of people over the weekend that don't believe that will be the case.
Antwuan Jackson, however, is still telling people that he is probably coming to Friday Night Lights. We've talked about this several times already so I'm not going to beat the dead horse even more here but this would certainly be very good news for OSU's chances if he follows through in two weeks.
I posted this on the board during the week, but just in case it was missed, I did speak with Binjimen Victor and right now it seems unlikely that he and Trayvon Mullen will be here for Friday Night Lights. We never put them on the list on the board because we felt it was shaky that they would come back up so quickly but Ohio State is still a virtual lock to receive an official visit at some point during the fall.
One interesting thing coming out of The Opening is that Cooper spent a lot of time hanging out with Rivals100 offensive tackle Tommy Kraemer. The two have really hit it off this summer after competing against each other at the Nike Camp in Columbus. There is definitely a major level of respect between the two, they have had some very good battles in these camp settings.
That being said, the word right now is that Kraemer is still extremely solid to Notre Dame so I don't see anything happening there for the Buckeyes. If something would happen where offensive line coach Harry Hiestand would leave Notre Dame for another opportunity that could maybe open the door a crack but Kraemer made his Notre Dame choice for reasons beyond the football field. He is a catholic school kid that really loves the feel of that campus and the academic opportunities so I think it would take something pretty severe to get him looking around.
For the fourth time in the last three classes, Ohio State dipped into Virginia to pull a highly regarded prospect. The Buckeyes got the ball rolling back in 2014 with then Rivals100 defensive end Jalyn Holmes and it was Holmes' alma mater of Norfolk Lake Taylor that produced the most recent pledge in four-star defensive back Wayne Davis.
We have some great sources of information in Virginia in our network and for my money the best is Rod Johnson over at Virginia Preps, I caught up with him to ask him about the Buckeyes' success in recruiting Virginia recently.
"I think it probably starts with Zach Smith," said Johnson. "I think Zach really hits the right nerves with the Virginia kids. He's a modern day recruiter. He understands and uses social media well and relates to the kids really well. Backing that up with Larry Johnson who also has some ties to Virgina from recruiting here for a long time really helps too."
Ohio State is still recruiting class of 2016 defensive tackle Kyree Campbell out of Northern Virginia, but the Buckeyes will likely be back at Lake Taylor again next year for four-star two-way lineman Darnell Ewell, whom the Buckeyes have already offered. The early returns are that, if Ohio State makes Ewell a priority, they will definitely have a chance there.
"I think they're going to be in a really strong position with Darnell Ewell," Johnson continued. "I certainly wouldn't say it's a lock or anything like that, but at this point I would say that they are probably his unofficial leader. I doubt he would say that publicly but that is how I see it right now. Part of that is winning the national championship but Urban Meyer's name just stretches really far because of the brand of football his teams play."
Another factor in the Buckeyes' success was simply getting on the board with Holmes. That has led to a bit of a snowball effect, especially in the Norfolk area.
"Jalyn was really, really loved at Lake Taylor," he explained. "He was kind of the first kid to really go out and go big. They had sent kids to Virginia and Virginia Tech before but I think it opened up kids like Wayne and Darnell to start thinking more on a national stage, rather than just playing in the ACC."
As for Ewell as a player, he's a guy I really liked on both sides of the ball at the Richmond Rivals Camp back in the spring. Johnson weighed in on what he's seen so far out of the Rivals250 product.
"I think he's a national guy for sure," he said. "I think the question for him will be which side of the ball he plays on. Most people seem to want to put him at the three-technique defensive tackle spot. He only played a few games at that position last year as a sophomore so I think we're still finding out more about how good he can be. If you're looking at the raw package, it's hard to not see him being a really dominant player in the middle of the line of scrimmage. He's as strong as anyone he's going to face and now it's just a matter of getting a little more flexibility, a little more bend, and technique instead of just overpowering guys. He's going to play more on the defensive side of the ball this year."
Beyond Ewell, Ohio State is also recruiting the Virginia Beach Ocean Lakes 2017 trio of four-star running back Khalan Laborn, three-star athlete Tajh Capehart, and four-star jumbo-athlete Eric Crosby and the Buckeyes are thought to be in the top handful of programs for all of those guys in the early going, though the priority lists and positional boards are still very much a work in progress at this stage.
Indian River and Rivals100 defensive back Devon Hunter also continues to list high interest in the Buckeyes.
Big game hunting in Texas
A big thing when Tom Herman left to take the Houston job was whether or not the Buckeyes could continue to have the success they have enjoyed recently recruiting the talent rich state of Texas. New hire Tim Beck has filled in that role and was able to secure a verbal commitment from Tristen Wallace back in the spring. The Buckeyes still have a few major targets in the Lone Star State in both the 2016 and 2017 classes and I checked in with a source on the ground about how things are going.
"I still expect Ohio State to do well in Texas, especially in Dallas/Fort Worth," the source said. "Tim Beck has a lot of ties to the area and has a lot of experience recruiting there. They have a nice little pipeline going at DeSoto right now as well. That could continue in 2017 with K.D. Nixon who I think Ohio State would jump to the lead for if they offered."
Nixon is talking about potentially coming up to Friday Night Lights. He'll need to show up to a camp and knock the socks off the coaching staff to leapfrog the many outstanding receivers the Buckeyes are in on in the 2017 class.
One player who has already knocked their socks off in 2017 is Rivals100 safety Jeff Okudah.
"Ohio State has a real chance there," the source continued. "He's going to look at some SEC schools as well as the in-state programs but they really have him interested, he's always saying great things about Ohio State."
In 2016, the Buckeyes are still recruiting a copule of targets, but the main guy is Allen safety Jaylon Jones. Ohio State is in Jones' top six and a decision could potentially come before the football season kicks off.
"Jaylon likes Ohio State a lot," they said. "I know, despite his comments about the long drive, that he enjoyed his visit. I don't think he would have went all the way up there and then camped on top of it if he wasn't serious about Ohio State. Look out for Ole Miss though, that is probably where I would guess he is going as of right now."
Jones is supposed to visit Ole Miss this upcoming week. If he decides quickly after that visit, it could be bad news. I have felt that Ohio State's best chance here is Jones taking his time and making some official visits, including one to Columbus so it will be very interesting to see how quickly Jaylon wants to move coming out of the trip to Oxford.
Rumblings from The Opening
Four Ohio State commits took part in Nike's The Opening this week and they all seemed to show well for themselves. A lot of the 7-on-7 play was televised with team Lunarbeast (featuring all of the commits) taking home the championship thanks in-large part to some very good play from Jake Hausmann and Austin Mack.
Over on the OL/DL side of things, Jonathon Cooper once again impressed at another major off-season camp and was named to the Final Five showcase featuring the top 5 offensive linemen from the week and the top five defensive linemen.
Interestingly enough, Cooper roomed with five-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary, something that had been arranged a while ago, prior to Gary's recent Ohio State visit. While there has been some talk that Gary could be back in Columbus for Friday Night Lights, that would surprise me at this point and I have talked to a couple of people over the weekend that don't believe that will be the case.
Antwuan Jackson, however, is still telling people that he is probably coming to Friday Night Lights. We've talked about this several times already so I'm not going to beat the dead horse even more here but this would certainly be very good news for OSU's chances if he follows through in two weeks.
I posted this on the board during the week, but just in case it was missed, I did speak with Binjimen Victor and right now it seems unlikely that he and Trayvon Mullen will be here for Friday Night Lights. We never put them on the list on the board because we felt it was shaky that they would come back up so quickly but Ohio State is still a virtual lock to receive an official visit at some point during the fall.
One interesting thing coming out of The Opening is that Cooper spent a lot of time hanging out with Rivals100 offensive tackle Tommy Kraemer. The two have really hit it off this summer after competing against each other at the Nike Camp in Columbus. There is definitely a major level of respect between the two, they have had some very good battles in these camp settings.
That being said, the word right now is that Kraemer is still extremely solid to Notre Dame so I don't see anything happening there for the Buckeyes. If something would happen where offensive line coach Harry Hiestand would leave Notre Dame for another opportunity that could maybe open the door a crack but Kraemer made his Notre Dame choice for reasons beyond the football field. He is a catholic school kid that really loves the feel of that campus and the academic opportunities so I think it would take something pretty severe to get him looking around.
