What happened with Jackson?
So there was quite a stirr created on Friday around four-star defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson as it was reported that Jackson would be announcing his college decision on Tuesday morning. That turned out to be a miscommunication between Jackson and one of the Cedar Grove assistant coaches as both his head coach and Jackson himself denied any Tuesday announcement.
"He told one of our coaches that Tuesday was a big day and they assumed he was talking about a commitment," said Cedar Grove head coach Jermaine Smith. "There is no announcement (coming on Tuesday)."
Predicting a decision time frame here has been an exercise in futility. I'm just going to stick with what I've been saying. He's going to take some official visits, certainly to Auburn and Ohio State, regardless of any announcement he would make in the mean time. The games will truly begin when those visits are setup.
Right now the people I have talked with continue to tell me that they feel Ohio State is holding the slight edge right now and those people have been on top of this one every step of the way over the past six months or so, so I'm going to roll with what they are telling me. Ohio State does seem to have a good bit of momentum, it is very unusual for them to get this many unofficial visits from a Georgia kid. I think only Raekwon McMillan (and looking ahead Richard LeCounte) made this many unofficial visits to Ohio State. Vonn Bell made two and an official.
Needless to say, the batting average that Ohio State has in these types of situations would seem to line up with what I'm hearing, that the Buckeyes are in solid shape right now.
More on linebacker recruiting
We had some news mid-week that Ohio State had offered Rivals250 Houston area linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch and that McCulloch said he was 'definitely' going to look into visiting Columbus at some point.
Don't expect the new names to stop popping up here as I think Ohio State is going to do some chasing when it comes to trying to get some of the nation's top linebacker prospects on campus over the next few months.
In fact, another prospect has been in touch with the Buckeyes and it's a big one, the nation's top outside linebacker prospect Mique Juarez. The nation's No. 5 overall prospect hails from Torrance (Calif.) North High and took a call from Luke Fickell this week.
"(Fickell) wants to start chatting it up once every week to start getting to know each other," Juarez told me today.
Now Ohio State hasn't yet offered Juarez, though I see that changing sooner rather than later. This was the first time that Juarez has been in communication with any Buckeye staff member so this was just a "kicking the tires" type of phone call but Juarez told me he's willing to consider a visit.
"If they offer me, yes, I'd want to visit," he told me.
Now with all of these new names, it's going to be important to decipher how much of this is real interest both on the players' end and on Ohio State's (that's a me problem, not a you problem, you guys get to just enjoy the updates). They are reaching out to a lot of different guys and some guys are simply saying the right things about Ohio State and enjoying adding the defending national champions to their list of contenders.
For example, the word I've been hearing the last few days on McCulloch is that things probably won't go too much further there. I think Jeffrey was saying the right things but the OSU sources I've spoken with aren't as confident that things will progress much further.
Juarez, on the other hand, is a bit interesting. Now I am always skeptical of these guys leaving the state, especially when he's already committed to USC. Certainly the realistic expectation here is for that commitment to stick.
However, Michigan, Nebraska, and Notre Dame are all schools that have caught his attention during the process and are potentially in line for visits, especially Nebraska. So this is a kid that is at least willing to take some trips.
As for Ohio State, the impressive play of their defense and linebackers in some big national games recently have caught the five-star prospect's attention.
"I like the way their defense plays, they are very physical," he said. "I really like the way their linebackers play, but their program overall, they just know what they're doing. They practice against the best every day and it shows in the game. I just love their physicality."
I definitely feel this is a long shot so I am not going to sit here and get hopes up, but I think an official visit from Juarez might be more plausible at this time than some of the other names being tossed around out there right now (like McCulloch, Daelin Hayes, Caleb Kelly, and Mack Wilson). Seems like a kid that will stay in Southern California but if he wants to make the visit, you set it up and swing for the fences.
In-state the Buckeyes are keeping in touch with Columbus Walnut Ridge product Malik Harrison, who could project to linebacker at the next level. More on him below....
Harrison thoughts
Spent my Friday watching Columbus (Ohio) Walnut Ridge athlete Malik Harrison, who quarterbacked his team to a big win over rival Marion-Franklin. Harrison accounted for four touchdowns, one passing and three rushing, in the win and proved once again that he is a very impressive run-and-jump athlete.
Ohio State continues to keep Harrison warm and if there is an in-state 2016 kid that could land that late Robert Landers type of offer, Harrison would seem to be the favorite for that right now.
That being said, watching him on Friday, I just don't know if that will be a fit for Ohio State. He is undoubtedly a great athlete, I've watched him play several times now on the football field and I've seen him look like an elite athlete on the basketball floor too, which is harder to do than on a football field.
But, I didn't see the instincts I was hoping for on defense out of him on Friday and I didn't see the willingness to strike that I saw out of a guy like Darron Lee in high school either. I came into that game wanting to see a kid that could project to that Josh Perry type of linebacker and I'm not just completely sure that's his ticket at the next level.
He seems more like an offensive guy in the way he plays the game and I think the learning curve would be far less steep at an H-Back/TE type of position than it would trying to turn him into a linebacker. With three tight ends in this class, I just don't know if this will be a fit for Ohio State.
Obviously that decision will ultimately fall with Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer, and they know better than I do, but I have a hunch that we are on the same page right now. I think if Malik had definitely proven he could be a linebacker, that this thing would be wrapped up already. Turning Harrison into a linebacker is a three-year endeavor in my opinion. It's a redshirt year, another year of watching and developing, and then maybe by year three it clicks. If it does click, it could be special, but it's not a sure thing or even a safe bet the way Conner, Hilliard, and Baker were pretty safe bets.
To play devil's advocate against myself, maybe they have luxury of being able to do that, maybe you can sign and stash him. You get him some separation from that great group of 2015's and hopefully you don't need him to be ready until that third year, while also keeping him away from Wisconsin (where I think he ends up) so you don't have to see him again if it does all click. If after year two it doesn't look like it's clicking, he could probably still pick up that H-Back/TE position pretty quickly and he'd have some separation from the 2016's you brought in that will most likely play early.
He's definitely one of the toughest kids to evaluate that I can remember because he is such a great athlete and he can do some special things on a football field but ultimately it has to be a fit in terms of what you're going to ask him to do at the next level and what he is best suited for. Just talking to a lot of people that evaluate in Ohio, he has evaluators and college coaches alike a little perplexed in terms of where he best projects.
So there was quite a stirr created on Friday around four-star defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson as it was reported that Jackson would be announcing his college decision on Tuesday morning. That turned out to be a miscommunication between Jackson and one of the Cedar Grove assistant coaches as both his head coach and Jackson himself denied any Tuesday announcement.
"He told one of our coaches that Tuesday was a big day and they assumed he was talking about a commitment," said Cedar Grove head coach Jermaine Smith. "There is no announcement (coming on Tuesday)."
Predicting a decision time frame here has been an exercise in futility. I'm just going to stick with what I've been saying. He's going to take some official visits, certainly to Auburn and Ohio State, regardless of any announcement he would make in the mean time. The games will truly begin when those visits are setup.
Right now the people I have talked with continue to tell me that they feel Ohio State is holding the slight edge right now and those people have been on top of this one every step of the way over the past six months or so, so I'm going to roll with what they are telling me. Ohio State does seem to have a good bit of momentum, it is very unusual for them to get this many unofficial visits from a Georgia kid. I think only Raekwon McMillan (and looking ahead Richard LeCounte) made this many unofficial visits to Ohio State. Vonn Bell made two and an official.
Needless to say, the batting average that Ohio State has in these types of situations would seem to line up with what I'm hearing, that the Buckeyes are in solid shape right now.
More on linebacker recruiting
We had some news mid-week that Ohio State had offered Rivals250 Houston area linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch and that McCulloch said he was 'definitely' going to look into visiting Columbus at some point.
Don't expect the new names to stop popping up here as I think Ohio State is going to do some chasing when it comes to trying to get some of the nation's top linebacker prospects on campus over the next few months.
In fact, another prospect has been in touch with the Buckeyes and it's a big one, the nation's top outside linebacker prospect Mique Juarez. The nation's No. 5 overall prospect hails from Torrance (Calif.) North High and took a call from Luke Fickell this week.
"(Fickell) wants to start chatting it up once every week to start getting to know each other," Juarez told me today.
Now Ohio State hasn't yet offered Juarez, though I see that changing sooner rather than later. This was the first time that Juarez has been in communication with any Buckeye staff member so this was just a "kicking the tires" type of phone call but Juarez told me he's willing to consider a visit.
"If they offer me, yes, I'd want to visit," he told me.
Now with all of these new names, it's going to be important to decipher how much of this is real interest both on the players' end and on Ohio State's (that's a me problem, not a you problem, you guys get to just enjoy the updates). They are reaching out to a lot of different guys and some guys are simply saying the right things about Ohio State and enjoying adding the defending national champions to their list of contenders.
For example, the word I've been hearing the last few days on McCulloch is that things probably won't go too much further there. I think Jeffrey was saying the right things but the OSU sources I've spoken with aren't as confident that things will progress much further.
Juarez, on the other hand, is a bit interesting. Now I am always skeptical of these guys leaving the state, especially when he's already committed to USC. Certainly the realistic expectation here is for that commitment to stick.
However, Michigan, Nebraska, and Notre Dame are all schools that have caught his attention during the process and are potentially in line for visits, especially Nebraska. So this is a kid that is at least willing to take some trips.
As for Ohio State, the impressive play of their defense and linebackers in some big national games recently have caught the five-star prospect's attention.
"I like the way their defense plays, they are very physical," he said. "I really like the way their linebackers play, but their program overall, they just know what they're doing. They practice against the best every day and it shows in the game. I just love their physicality."
I definitely feel this is a long shot so I am not going to sit here and get hopes up, but I think an official visit from Juarez might be more plausible at this time than some of the other names being tossed around out there right now (like McCulloch, Daelin Hayes, Caleb Kelly, and Mack Wilson). Seems like a kid that will stay in Southern California but if he wants to make the visit, you set it up and swing for the fences.
In-state the Buckeyes are keeping in touch with Columbus Walnut Ridge product Malik Harrison, who could project to linebacker at the next level. More on him below....
Harrison thoughts
Spent my Friday watching Columbus (Ohio) Walnut Ridge athlete Malik Harrison, who quarterbacked his team to a big win over rival Marion-Franklin. Harrison accounted for four touchdowns, one passing and three rushing, in the win and proved once again that he is a very impressive run-and-jump athlete.
Ohio State continues to keep Harrison warm and if there is an in-state 2016 kid that could land that late Robert Landers type of offer, Harrison would seem to be the favorite for that right now.
That being said, watching him on Friday, I just don't know if that will be a fit for Ohio State. He is undoubtedly a great athlete, I've watched him play several times now on the football field and I've seen him look like an elite athlete on the basketball floor too, which is harder to do than on a football field.
But, I didn't see the instincts I was hoping for on defense out of him on Friday and I didn't see the willingness to strike that I saw out of a guy like Darron Lee in high school either. I came into that game wanting to see a kid that could project to that Josh Perry type of linebacker and I'm not just completely sure that's his ticket at the next level.
He seems more like an offensive guy in the way he plays the game and I think the learning curve would be far less steep at an H-Back/TE type of position than it would trying to turn him into a linebacker. With three tight ends in this class, I just don't know if this will be a fit for Ohio State.
Obviously that decision will ultimately fall with Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer, and they know better than I do, but I have a hunch that we are on the same page right now. I think if Malik had definitely proven he could be a linebacker, that this thing would be wrapped up already. Turning Harrison into a linebacker is a three-year endeavor in my opinion. It's a redshirt year, another year of watching and developing, and then maybe by year three it clicks. If it does click, it could be special, but it's not a sure thing or even a safe bet the way Conner, Hilliard, and Baker were pretty safe bets.
To play devil's advocate against myself, maybe they have luxury of being able to do that, maybe you can sign and stash him. You get him some separation from that great group of 2015's and hopefully you don't need him to be ready until that third year, while also keeping him away from Wisconsin (where I think he ends up) so you don't have to see him again if it does all click. If after year two it doesn't look like it's clicking, he could probably still pick up that H-Back/TE position pretty quickly and he'd have some separation from the 2016's you brought in that will most likely play early.
He's definitely one of the toughest kids to evaluate that I can remember because he is such a great athlete and he can do some special things on a football field but ultimately it has to be a fit in terms of what you're going to ask him to do at the next level and what he is best suited for. Just talking to a lot of people that evaluate in Ohio, he has evaluators and college coaches alike a little perplexed in terms of where he best projects.
