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Big Game Hunting
The term Big Game Hunting has been used at a borderline annoying level by me in recent weeks, but I think it fits. Ohio State, especially if things go as I expect them to go over the next week or so, is about to be in a position where they'll only have a few spots left for the 2020 cycle.
With minimal remaining needs (probably a 2nd QB, a 3rd corner, and one more defensive lineman), the Buckeyes will be able to take some big swings with little to no fear of striking out. Five-star IMG Academy cornerback Elias Ricks is certainly at the top of that list, we've also mentioned guys like Utah linebacker Noah Sewell and Arizona defensive back Kelee Ringo.
You're going to see more targets emerge throughout the fall, there is no question they'll keep kicking tires. I've already mentioned four-star cornerback, and Oklahoma commit, Ryan Watts as a name to watch and someone who could make an official visit in the fall. In general, I think you're going to see a lot of overlap between those couple of needs (DB and DL specifically) and the targets that emerge.
Which brings us to a very, very big name. I'm almost hesitant to report this because I don't see it happening, at all. I want to make that clear. But I also don't think you guys want me to start ignoring things that are happening and not reporting them here based on my own assumptions of what the result is going to be. Part of my job is analyzing things, but I'm still obligated to bring news, and this is news.
Ohio State has been kicking the tires recently on five-star defensive end Jordan Burch out of Hammond School in Columbia, South Carolina. Burch is the No. 3 overall prospect in the nation and the No. 1 SSDE in America. He's an absolutely enormous talent.
He's also a virtual lock to stay in the state of South Carolina either with the home school Gamecocks or to Clemson. But nonetheless, Larry Johnson and the Buckeyes are trying to make inroads here.
If you thought Zach Harrison kept a low profile, you'll be amazed by Burch. He doesn't do interviews and EVERYTHING goes through Mama Bear, who also doesn't do interviews. But even if you're Dabo Swinney or Nick Saban, if you want to talk to Jordan, you're talking to mom first and then she'll let you know if you're talking to Jordan or not.
This way of going about things has only fueled the notion that there's no chance this kid leaves the state of South Carolina. But again, the Buckeyes have very little to lose here so they're going to step up to the plate and take their hacks.
FutureCast Picks
By now most have probably read Nevada's nugget from earlier today which shed some more light on a hot topic on this board in recent weeks, the confusion about the scholarship restrictions in a single recruiting class.
NB has the goods on that so I'm not going to breakdown his entire post, but I can at least confirm the general theme of his post which is that at one point Ohio State was under the impression it could probably push this class to 27 or 28, was then informed on numerous occasions by compliance that no, it would actually have to be a hard cap of 25, only for things to now be shifting back to the original idea that this class CAN exceed 25 and that compliance was wrong and was misinterpreting new language the NCAA put in its bylaws.
The reports of the 25 hard cap never made any sense to me and I had even had some discussions with people in the know about this going back several weeks where I pointed them to our own team rankings from the 2019 recruiting class which show several teams going above 25 signees and that there was no way that so many schools would be so blatantly and so publicly breaking that particular rule, as it's a pretty big one. @22buck also brought a ton of interesting information to the board during this time.
But I digress....
Barring a last minute change, it is looking like four-star safety Makari Paige is going to be a casualty of all of this. Under the initial scenario being able to go beyond 25, the numbers weren't much of a concern. When you bring a hard cap of 25 into play, it became a situation where there wasn't going to be room for all of Cam Martinez, Kourt Williams, Lathan Ransom, and Paige. This again wasn't going to be a huge issue until Ransom went from kind of a long shot that the Buckeyes were running 3rd or 4th for, to making a quick move up the list to the point where Ransom was basically a lock coming out of his official visit.
I told you guys before I left last week that I wasn't going to follow the crowd on the Paige to Michigan stuff just yet, that I wanted to let things play out a little bit more. No, that was not me buying time while on vacation. I knew that Paige was a huge priority for the staff for a long time and that as the numbers situation was getting clarified that there would be an attempt to get Paige back (they were a big leader in June) but the intel I have received on that is that things are looking pretty bleak on that front. So I've switched my pick to Michigan now after allowing things to play out more and to see if this could get rectified.
On the positive side, I'm "officially" on board with Jaylan Knighton to Ohio State. Have had the Buckeyes in the driver's seat since the visit but I think good news is coming here for OSU on the 30th. Florida State has been a real concern but hearing the Buckeyes are in good shape to hold on here and land the commitment next week.
