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Ryan Day's first priority once the announcement came out that Urban Meyer was stepping away was keeping this 2019 class together. The 2020 class is going to have some shake up, hell it might have anyway as every year a few early commits seem to end up elsewhere, but with the 2019's Day and company had just a couple of weeks to stabilize things.
That is really happening right now. Harry Miller is in. Garrett Wilson is in. Dwan Mathis is in. Marcus Crowley is in. and now Cade Stover is in too. I confirmed with Cade's mother a few minutes ago that her son will sign with the Buckeyes on December 19th.
There is momentum building right now with Day. It started with keeping a couple of these guys, it continued with landing four-star linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, and has further continued with Miller and Stover now coming out with statements of support.
Could things be headed in the same direction with Jordan Battle?
I think they could be. Alex Grinch and Taver Johnson visited with Battle and his family last week and that helped calm some things down a little bit. Battle also did not immediately flip after last week's big in-home visit from Nick Saban. Then Alabama goes out and flips two defensive backs over the weekend, leaving likely just one spot left.
My suspicions that I posted in yesterday's Skull Session were confirmed today. The Crimson Tide are absolutely starting to pressure the remaining defensive back targets with a "we have one spot left, who wants it?" type of approach. I don't know how well that is going to play with Jordan.
Furthermore, I am getting the vibe that the family is a little more at peace with Urban Meyer's decision now that it has had some time to marinate. There was such a fear of the unknown there, that I think now that the cat is out of the bag it has almost provided a sense of relief and now the Battle family knows exactly who will be the head football coach at Ohio State. So in that regard, Meyer retiring early was a blessing in disguise. The more Meyer hesitated, the more uncertainty there was going to be for Jordan and there was some very real anxiety that they would sign and Meyer would retire right away, so this obviously took that scenario out of play.
The best way I can explain the vibe I am getting from the Battle's is if any of you have ever had a big change in your life that you knew, or at least felt very strongly was coming. You stress about it, you entertain the worst possible consequences of that change, be it a job, a move, whatever, and you agonize and agonize over it to the point it drives you crazy.
Then the change happens and you sort of open your eyes and take a look around and think, "Hey, this is alright. The world didn't end. I'm still here."
That is the process I think is taking place right now.
Now Ohio State is not out of the woods yet. Alabama is really pushing. But Ryan Day gets his in-home this week and I think has a real chance to actually get this thing locked down and to get Battle signed on December 19th, which his father tells me he definitely intends to sign early.
Alabama has an in-home with Noa Pola-Gates tonight, which could further add some intrigue to this as I am sure Noa is getting the same type of one spot left pitch from the Crimson Tide. But I think Ohio State has weathered a pretty big part of the storm here and things are looking better now than they have the last few weeks.
Again, still not out of the woods, but I think there is more hope here recently. Recruiting is wild.
And yes, I am still comfortable with my Zach Harrison prediction.
