Under the Big Top
The Sam Bruce situation has officially become a circus. Spoke to someone very close to Sam earlier this evening and the Rivals100 wide receiver was all ready to reaffirm to Miami tonight. Ohio State had been waffling on whether or not Bruce was a take and Miami used that opportunity to swoop in and re-take the lead over the weekend.
But wait. Here comes Ohio State just a few hours later, reaching out to Bruce and pushing to get him to delay that announcement and it sounds like he just might.
"He was going to announce for Miami tonight," the source said. "But Ohio State is making a push."
There is now thought on both the Bruce and OSU sides that Ohio State's attempt this evening may have been successful and that they've bought themselves at least a day or two to try and figure this thing out.
Now the key word that I have used here and those I've spoken with have used is "delay". They have attempted to DELAY Sam's decision not change it, so given that language that has been provided to me, it certainly doesn't sound like OSU (or atleast the one guy who makes the final decision on these matters at OSU) has dove head first into the pool just yet on this one.
For once I can honestly say that it's not the South Florida kid making a circus of a recruitment.
Hardman finished with visits?
Speaking of slot receivers, five-star ATH Mecole Hardman did not make his scheduled Alabama visit over the weekend and with a trip to the International Bowl this coming weekend, it would seem likely that he is finished with official visits.
I traded some texts today with Mecole and one thing I asked him was whether or not he was expecting to host Ohio State this week for an in-home visit. He told me that he was not expecting that at this time.
Could something change here? Of course it can, just look at the Bruce situation for crying out loud, but right now things are looking pretty good for UGA to land his commitment.
Ohio State isn't going to stop trying here but I don't think there are any delusions inside the WHAC that this is anything more than a long shot.
Harrison update
As I posted on the board earlier, Malik Harrison made a quick stop over at Ohio State this evening. Now as we all know, Malik doesn't need to tour the facilities or the campus, he has a pretty good idea of how things are over there. Coming on the heels of canceling his visits, I think it is pretty obvious where this is heading.
I expect Malik to hold off until National Signing Day on making an announcement. I know that is what he would really like to do. We'll see if he's able to sustain the pressure for another week and a half but that is definitely still his intention as of this evening.
I think this evening was a business trip for Malik and I think everyone is on the same page right now and it's just a matter of letting the kid announce on his own timeline.
Latest on DB recruiting
The next few days should give us a lot of answers on the defensive back recruiting front. With Rodjay Burns and Carlos Becker making their official visits to Ohio State this weekend and Jordan Fuller making his official visit to Michigan, there are certainly a lot of moving parts to track right now.
Interestingly enough, I did not get as strong of an Ohio State vibe from Burns as I was expecting today. I think he is genuinely torn here and do not think it's a foregone conclusion that he flips to Ohio State coming out of this visit. I think we'll probably hear something in the next couple of days one way or another but this is very much a battle right now.
As for Becker, I haven't spoken directly with Carlos yet but from talking to one person close to him and just picking the brains of people on the FSU and OSU sides of this, I think he ends up in Tallahassee. We met with Carlos back in the spring, and while many things in his recruitment have changed since then, I left that meeting feeling that was a kid who would stay close to his family. That is still the vibe I get from talking to people with good knowledge of his recruitment.
Michigan got a bit of a break with Fuller this weekend who is supposed to remain in Ann Arbor until tomorrow morning thanks to a snow storm on the east coast cancelling his original return flight back to New Jersey.
I know there is some concern there about the New Jersey connection and all of those other New Jersey guys being on campus with Fuller but he is a little bit of a different personality type than guys like Gary and Walker and has not been closely tied to either of them during the recruiting process. While I think there is definitely some comfort there having some fellow New Jersey guys on campus and knowing that there will be some guys in Ann Arbor in the fall, I don't think that's going to be enough to overcome OSU's lead here.
Was told this evening that Ohio State still feels pretty good about chances with Fuller. That doesn't mean you relax or let down your guard, the coaches will continue to recruit all of these guys as hard as possible, but there is still a lot of optimism there.
So the question with Fuller now is will he make it to Penn State next weekend? That was always the visit that was a little more up in the air than the others. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Fuller comes to a decision at some point during the week.
It is Burns' decision, however, that really impacts things. As I said above, I'm expecting something from Burns this week. Either a flip to Ohio State or reaffirming with Louisville. That verdict will go a long way towards determining if someone like Pitt commit Henry Miller makes a visit next weekend. If Burns (or even a longer shot like Becker) were to jump into the class in the next few days, I'm not sure you'd see any more defensive backs visit, unless the staff starts getting bad vibes on Fuller.
Latest on DT recruiting
JUCO product Jamar King made his official visit to Alabama and speaking with a couple of folks on the Bama side of things, he spent a pretty good amount of time with Nick Saban. The key this weekend was how hard would Alabama push for a commitment? The Saban intel would lead me to believe that the Crimson Tide did put a lot of effort into that visit, but King did leave Tuscaloosa an uncommitted prospect.
There are still some moving parts out there for Alabama, if you start to see them land some of the guys they are after, especially if they can get a late surprise from someone like Derrick Brown, that would bode well for Ohio State.
Gun to my head, I'm sticking with Alabama, but I don't think this one is over just yet.
As for Keyshon Camp, I don't see this happening for OSU. His visit to Missouri is actually a mid-week one (Wednesday-Friday) but he is saying he won't be making any visits over the weekend. He has a top three right now of Missouri, Pitt, and Michigan and the coach who recruited him to USC is now at Missouri.
On top of that, his in-home visit with Ohio State this week is still very much up in the air from what I am told.
When you combine this stuff with the idea that Ohio State would greatly prefer to add King, I just don't see this coming together but we'lll see if that in-home takes place this week or not and what comes from it if it does happen.
Quick hitter on Simmons
We've been posting notes on the board throughout the weekend on some big name class of 2017 visitors for Ohio State's junior day next Sunday. One prospect who won't be making the trip is Rivals250 linebacker Antjuan Simmons.
But all is very well between the Buckeyes and the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Pioneer star. Simmons is looking forward to making yet another visit to Columbus in the not too distant future.
"I can't make it on Sunday but I'm going to visit them sometime next month," Simmons told me this afternoon.
Simmons recently released his top 11, which included Ohio State but not Michigan. I think it's too early to write Michigan off in that race, especially since Simmons goes to school right across the street from the Big House. But it can't be denied that Ohio State has done arguably the best job of anyone of recruiting Simmons.
"Those are my guys, man," Simmons said of the Ohio State staff. "I really like the coaching staff there a lot both as people and as coaches."
The Sam Bruce situation has officially become a circus. Spoke to someone very close to Sam earlier this evening and the Rivals100 wide receiver was all ready to reaffirm to Miami tonight. Ohio State had been waffling on whether or not Bruce was a take and Miami used that opportunity to swoop in and re-take the lead over the weekend.
But wait. Here comes Ohio State just a few hours later, reaching out to Bruce and pushing to get him to delay that announcement and it sounds like he just might.
"He was going to announce for Miami tonight," the source said. "But Ohio State is making a push."
There is now thought on both the Bruce and OSU sides that Ohio State's attempt this evening may have been successful and that they've bought themselves at least a day or two to try and figure this thing out.
Now the key word that I have used here and those I've spoken with have used is "delay". They have attempted to DELAY Sam's decision not change it, so given that language that has been provided to me, it certainly doesn't sound like OSU (or atleast the one guy who makes the final decision on these matters at OSU) has dove head first into the pool just yet on this one.
For once I can honestly say that it's not the South Florida kid making a circus of a recruitment.
Hardman finished with visits?
Speaking of slot receivers, five-star ATH Mecole Hardman did not make his scheduled Alabama visit over the weekend and with a trip to the International Bowl this coming weekend, it would seem likely that he is finished with official visits.
I traded some texts today with Mecole and one thing I asked him was whether or not he was expecting to host Ohio State this week for an in-home visit. He told me that he was not expecting that at this time.
Could something change here? Of course it can, just look at the Bruce situation for crying out loud, but right now things are looking pretty good for UGA to land his commitment.
Ohio State isn't going to stop trying here but I don't think there are any delusions inside the WHAC that this is anything more than a long shot.
Harrison update
As I posted on the board earlier, Malik Harrison made a quick stop over at Ohio State this evening. Now as we all know, Malik doesn't need to tour the facilities or the campus, he has a pretty good idea of how things are over there. Coming on the heels of canceling his visits, I think it is pretty obvious where this is heading.
I expect Malik to hold off until National Signing Day on making an announcement. I know that is what he would really like to do. We'll see if he's able to sustain the pressure for another week and a half but that is definitely still his intention as of this evening.
I think this evening was a business trip for Malik and I think everyone is on the same page right now and it's just a matter of letting the kid announce on his own timeline.
Latest on DB recruiting
The next few days should give us a lot of answers on the defensive back recruiting front. With Rodjay Burns and Carlos Becker making their official visits to Ohio State this weekend and Jordan Fuller making his official visit to Michigan, there are certainly a lot of moving parts to track right now.
Interestingly enough, I did not get as strong of an Ohio State vibe from Burns as I was expecting today. I think he is genuinely torn here and do not think it's a foregone conclusion that he flips to Ohio State coming out of this visit. I think we'll probably hear something in the next couple of days one way or another but this is very much a battle right now.
As for Becker, I haven't spoken directly with Carlos yet but from talking to one person close to him and just picking the brains of people on the FSU and OSU sides of this, I think he ends up in Tallahassee. We met with Carlos back in the spring, and while many things in his recruitment have changed since then, I left that meeting feeling that was a kid who would stay close to his family. That is still the vibe I get from talking to people with good knowledge of his recruitment.
Michigan got a bit of a break with Fuller this weekend who is supposed to remain in Ann Arbor until tomorrow morning thanks to a snow storm on the east coast cancelling his original return flight back to New Jersey.
I know there is some concern there about the New Jersey connection and all of those other New Jersey guys being on campus with Fuller but he is a little bit of a different personality type than guys like Gary and Walker and has not been closely tied to either of them during the recruiting process. While I think there is definitely some comfort there having some fellow New Jersey guys on campus and knowing that there will be some guys in Ann Arbor in the fall, I don't think that's going to be enough to overcome OSU's lead here.
Was told this evening that Ohio State still feels pretty good about chances with Fuller. That doesn't mean you relax or let down your guard, the coaches will continue to recruit all of these guys as hard as possible, but there is still a lot of optimism there.
So the question with Fuller now is will he make it to Penn State next weekend? That was always the visit that was a little more up in the air than the others. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Fuller comes to a decision at some point during the week.
It is Burns' decision, however, that really impacts things. As I said above, I'm expecting something from Burns this week. Either a flip to Ohio State or reaffirming with Louisville. That verdict will go a long way towards determining if someone like Pitt commit Henry Miller makes a visit next weekend. If Burns (or even a longer shot like Becker) were to jump into the class in the next few days, I'm not sure you'd see any more defensive backs visit, unless the staff starts getting bad vibes on Fuller.
Latest on DT recruiting
JUCO product Jamar King made his official visit to Alabama and speaking with a couple of folks on the Bama side of things, he spent a pretty good amount of time with Nick Saban. The key this weekend was how hard would Alabama push for a commitment? The Saban intel would lead me to believe that the Crimson Tide did put a lot of effort into that visit, but King did leave Tuscaloosa an uncommitted prospect.
There are still some moving parts out there for Alabama, if you start to see them land some of the guys they are after, especially if they can get a late surprise from someone like Derrick Brown, that would bode well for Ohio State.
Gun to my head, I'm sticking with Alabama, but I don't think this one is over just yet.
As for Keyshon Camp, I don't see this happening for OSU. His visit to Missouri is actually a mid-week one (Wednesday-Friday) but he is saying he won't be making any visits over the weekend. He has a top three right now of Missouri, Pitt, and Michigan and the coach who recruited him to USC is now at Missouri.
On top of that, his in-home visit with Ohio State this week is still very much up in the air from what I am told.
When you combine this stuff with the idea that Ohio State would greatly prefer to add King, I just don't see this coming together but we'lll see if that in-home takes place this week or not and what comes from it if it does happen.
Quick hitter on Simmons
We've been posting notes on the board throughout the weekend on some big name class of 2017 visitors for Ohio State's junior day next Sunday. One prospect who won't be making the trip is Rivals250 linebacker Antjuan Simmons.
But all is very well between the Buckeyes and the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Pioneer star. Simmons is looking forward to making yet another visit to Columbus in the not too distant future.
"I can't make it on Sunday but I'm going to visit them sometime next month," Simmons told me this afternoon.
Simmons recently released his top 11, which included Ohio State but not Michigan. I think it's too early to write Michigan off in that race, especially since Simmons goes to school right across the street from the Big House. But it can't be denied that Ohio State has done arguably the best job of anyone of recruiting Simmons.
"Those are my guys, man," Simmons said of the Ohio State staff. "I really like the coaching staff there a lot both as people and as coaches."
