Flip Watch
A whole lot going on right now with Ohio State commits in both the 2016 and 2017 classes so I will try and go through the whole run down of where things stand with some of the guys who maybe aren't quite as solid as the Jonathon Cooper's and Danny Clark's of the world.
Obviously Bruce Judson decommitted today. It was odd timing when he announced to Ohio State, he got a little awkward when Jamel Dean situation reached a head, and subsequent visits to schools all over the country have made this one feel like the Buckeyes were still recruiting an uncommitted prospect.
Will cut right to the chase on this one, I would be extremely surprised if he didn't end up at Florida. Bruce is talking about trying to get his parents up to Columbus at some point to see the place, and that might very well happen at some point, but everything I've been told behind the scenes is that this was thoughtfully planned out and that Florida is almost certainly going to be his landing spot.
With that said, still going to give Bruce his forum and his public stance is that "Ohio State is still No. 1, simple as that." These decommitments are always uncomfortable for everyone involved and I think there is a whole lot of sugarcoating going on here.
I know people were talking about the game UF played last night and you're right to be looking at football schedules and drawing conclusions about the timing of this based on schedules.
But if you're looking at the college landscape, you're looking in the wrong spot.
Bruce played a game yesterday afternoon in Ohio as his Cocoa team lost to Lakewood St. Edward. I was there. I don't want to say it was uncomfortable, but you could tell something was up. Fully believe, and this isn't just me going off the reservation here as it was hinted to me be a couple of others, that he was waiting to get through this game in Ohio before making this announcement.
That brings us to the other 2017 Floridian who has taken a similar path to Judson with the random commitment and subsequent unofficial visits to many different schools, Shaun Wade. Wade was at the Georgia game yesterday as he continues to make the rounds.
As I've said before, that one won't be for the faint of heart. Shaun is going to take visits and he's going to take a lot of them. I do, however, get the sense that Ohio State has a solid chance of keeping him in the fold. I know the actions contradict this a bit, but Shaun goes about his business a little more quietly than Judson and I just think there's a stronger connection there with the staff.
That is not to say this is a low-risk recruitment, there will be some drama, we've never told you guys any different on that one, but I don't think Judson's choice will impact Wade and I wouldn't go writing him off to another school at this time.
Finally we get to George Hill, who visited Michigan State over the weekend. When the visits started happening, it was time to really start to entertain the possibility of Hill not being in this class.
Furthermore, follow the timeline with me. Hill goes to Friday Night Lights, has a meeting with the staff, then starts taking visits elsewhere. We may never know exactly what was said at FNL, but the visits started being scheduled immediately after that and I don't think it's a coincidence. Think there's a real chance it ends up being MSU or Pitt for Hill as he questions his role in the class with the presence of Walker and McCall.
Speaking of Walker, still very confident he is a Buckeye in December as an early enrollee. Wouldn't be sweating this one right now.
From the Road
Saw a lot of prospects on Friday night at the Akron Hoban vs. Walsh Jesuit game. As I posted in my story this afternoon, I really believe that was the best I've seen Danny Clark throw the football. He put the ball into some tight windows and showed the arm strength to cut through a pretty nasty wind. I thought his decision making was very sound and I saw him do some things (red zone accuracy, touch) that I hadn't seen before out of him.
I judge these guys based on their entire body of work so just as I didn't draw sweeping conclusions from a less than stellar effort in Baltimore back in June, I'm not going to go over the deep end on this either but it was very encouraging to see the improvement both in accuracy and decision making.
It was a quiet night for Todd Sibley until a second half 80-yard scamper. Hard to take a ton away from what amounted to just a handful of carries but Todd ran hard on Friday when he did get the ball and I don't think he left any yardage on the field as I've seen occasionally in the past. It will be interesting to see how they attack running back recruiting in 2017 and what impact that has on Sibley. They're going to take at least one more true running back and they probably won't stop chasing some of the national guys even after they get that next one (probably Sermon) in the fold.
Two quick underclassmen notes from Friday. 2018 Hoban WR/ATH Nate Bauer is a definite Division I prospect. Is he Ohio State good? Too early to tell, I wouldn't have him ahead of L'Christian Smith so that could make it tough right off the jump for him, but he's a guy with some size and some wheels. He had a 50-yard touchdown run.
2019 Hoban O-lineman Nolan Rumler was offered by Michigan recently but didn't play Friday as he's nursing an injury. Definitely looks the part and I was disappointed I wasn't able to see him play but should have another opportunity or two later in the season.
What I found most interesting about Friday night's trip, however, was Jonah Morris' performance. He played a great game on both sides of the football. I think OSU is set in their targets at wide receiver and Jonah does fight the ball a little bit, but I think he could be worth a second look as a possible linebacker option. He's not quite as big of a kid as Joshua Perry was coming out, but he has that big frame that could potentially translate to that WILL linebacker position for the Buckeyes. Of course, you have to let things play out with guys like Mique Juarez first but I found Morris' performance Friday interesting nonetheless. Very fast and aggressive out there.
Saturday I watched now former Ohio State commit Bruce Judson and his team lose to Lakewood St. Edward and 2016 DB target Tony Butler. Butler didn't get too much work in as the rain was pretty heavy and Cocoa mostly kept the ball on the ground because of that.
However, when he was tested, Butler was very solid at cornerback, doing a nice job on Chauncey Gardner. Butler had what I thought was a game sealing interception late, but was ruled to have hit the ground (Tony will be disupting this to his grandkids one day, he was pissed).
Judson broke a 60-yard run late in the game to make things very uncomfortable for St. Ed's but was mostly bottled up beyond that. As I've said before, I think Bruce is a very good player, probably a slot receiver or running back at the next level, but I am not sure that he is a national top 100 guy. He's got a Jalin Marshall type of game but I felt Jalin was more dynamic coming out. He'll be a very good get for (likely) Florida, however.
Butler still in play
Speaking of Tony Butler, I'll have a story in the morning, but he tells me that he's still talking to Chris Ash once per week so the Buckeyes have him in that Malik Harrison category of they like him and want to keep recruiting him but just aren't quite sure yet.
Tony admitted that it has been a bit frustrating to kind of be in that category and that he feels he is worthy of an offer but he's continuing to try and make his case with his play on the field. He was supposed to announce tomorrow but that won't be happening now. He'll make an official visit to Arizona State "at some point" before committing somewhere (and probably to Arizona State).
Even if that happens, tend to think OSU could flip him late if they wanted to. He expresses his frustration about not being offered but he hasn't exactly stopped taking Ash's calls so there's an attachment there to his home state school.
A whole lot going on right now with Ohio State commits in both the 2016 and 2017 classes so I will try and go through the whole run down of where things stand with some of the guys who maybe aren't quite as solid as the Jonathon Cooper's and Danny Clark's of the world.
Obviously Bruce Judson decommitted today. It was odd timing when he announced to Ohio State, he got a little awkward when Jamel Dean situation reached a head, and subsequent visits to schools all over the country have made this one feel like the Buckeyes were still recruiting an uncommitted prospect.
Will cut right to the chase on this one, I would be extremely surprised if he didn't end up at Florida. Bruce is talking about trying to get his parents up to Columbus at some point to see the place, and that might very well happen at some point, but everything I've been told behind the scenes is that this was thoughtfully planned out and that Florida is almost certainly going to be his landing spot.
With that said, still going to give Bruce his forum and his public stance is that "Ohio State is still No. 1, simple as that." These decommitments are always uncomfortable for everyone involved and I think there is a whole lot of sugarcoating going on here.
I know people were talking about the game UF played last night and you're right to be looking at football schedules and drawing conclusions about the timing of this based on schedules.
But if you're looking at the college landscape, you're looking in the wrong spot.
Bruce played a game yesterday afternoon in Ohio as his Cocoa team lost to Lakewood St. Edward. I was there. I don't want to say it was uncomfortable, but you could tell something was up. Fully believe, and this isn't just me going off the reservation here as it was hinted to me be a couple of others, that he was waiting to get through this game in Ohio before making this announcement.
That brings us to the other 2017 Floridian who has taken a similar path to Judson with the random commitment and subsequent unofficial visits to many different schools, Shaun Wade. Wade was at the Georgia game yesterday as he continues to make the rounds.
As I've said before, that one won't be for the faint of heart. Shaun is going to take visits and he's going to take a lot of them. I do, however, get the sense that Ohio State has a solid chance of keeping him in the fold. I know the actions contradict this a bit, but Shaun goes about his business a little more quietly than Judson and I just think there's a stronger connection there with the staff.
That is not to say this is a low-risk recruitment, there will be some drama, we've never told you guys any different on that one, but I don't think Judson's choice will impact Wade and I wouldn't go writing him off to another school at this time.
Finally we get to George Hill, who visited Michigan State over the weekend. When the visits started happening, it was time to really start to entertain the possibility of Hill not being in this class.
Furthermore, follow the timeline with me. Hill goes to Friday Night Lights, has a meeting with the staff, then starts taking visits elsewhere. We may never know exactly what was said at FNL, but the visits started being scheduled immediately after that and I don't think it's a coincidence. Think there's a real chance it ends up being MSU or Pitt for Hill as he questions his role in the class with the presence of Walker and McCall.
Speaking of Walker, still very confident he is a Buckeye in December as an early enrollee. Wouldn't be sweating this one right now.
From the Road
Saw a lot of prospects on Friday night at the Akron Hoban vs. Walsh Jesuit game. As I posted in my story this afternoon, I really believe that was the best I've seen Danny Clark throw the football. He put the ball into some tight windows and showed the arm strength to cut through a pretty nasty wind. I thought his decision making was very sound and I saw him do some things (red zone accuracy, touch) that I hadn't seen before out of him.
I judge these guys based on their entire body of work so just as I didn't draw sweeping conclusions from a less than stellar effort in Baltimore back in June, I'm not going to go over the deep end on this either but it was very encouraging to see the improvement both in accuracy and decision making.
It was a quiet night for Todd Sibley until a second half 80-yard scamper. Hard to take a ton away from what amounted to just a handful of carries but Todd ran hard on Friday when he did get the ball and I don't think he left any yardage on the field as I've seen occasionally in the past. It will be interesting to see how they attack running back recruiting in 2017 and what impact that has on Sibley. They're going to take at least one more true running back and they probably won't stop chasing some of the national guys even after they get that next one (probably Sermon) in the fold.
Two quick underclassmen notes from Friday. 2018 Hoban WR/ATH Nate Bauer is a definite Division I prospect. Is he Ohio State good? Too early to tell, I wouldn't have him ahead of L'Christian Smith so that could make it tough right off the jump for him, but he's a guy with some size and some wheels. He had a 50-yard touchdown run.
2019 Hoban O-lineman Nolan Rumler was offered by Michigan recently but didn't play Friday as he's nursing an injury. Definitely looks the part and I was disappointed I wasn't able to see him play but should have another opportunity or two later in the season.
What I found most interesting about Friday night's trip, however, was Jonah Morris' performance. He played a great game on both sides of the football. I think OSU is set in their targets at wide receiver and Jonah does fight the ball a little bit, but I think he could be worth a second look as a possible linebacker option. He's not quite as big of a kid as Joshua Perry was coming out, but he has that big frame that could potentially translate to that WILL linebacker position for the Buckeyes. Of course, you have to let things play out with guys like Mique Juarez first but I found Morris' performance Friday interesting nonetheless. Very fast and aggressive out there.
Saturday I watched now former Ohio State commit Bruce Judson and his team lose to Lakewood St. Edward and 2016 DB target Tony Butler. Butler didn't get too much work in as the rain was pretty heavy and Cocoa mostly kept the ball on the ground because of that.
However, when he was tested, Butler was very solid at cornerback, doing a nice job on Chauncey Gardner. Butler had what I thought was a game sealing interception late, but was ruled to have hit the ground (Tony will be disupting this to his grandkids one day, he was pissed).
Judson broke a 60-yard run late in the game to make things very uncomfortable for St. Ed's but was mostly bottled up beyond that. As I've said before, I think Bruce is a very good player, probably a slot receiver or running back at the next level, but I am not sure that he is a national top 100 guy. He's got a Jalin Marshall type of game but I felt Jalin was more dynamic coming out. He'll be a very good get for (likely) Florida, however.
Butler still in play
Speaking of Tony Butler, I'll have a story in the morning, but he tells me that he's still talking to Chris Ash once per week so the Buckeyes have him in that Malik Harrison category of they like him and want to keep recruiting him but just aren't quite sure yet.
Tony admitted that it has been a bit frustrating to kind of be in that category and that he feels he is worthy of an offer but he's continuing to try and make his case with his play on the field. He was supposed to announce tomorrow but that won't be happening now. He'll make an official visit to Arizona State "at some point" before committing somewhere (and probably to Arizona State).
Even if that happens, tend to think OSU could flip him late if they wanted to. He expresses his frustration about not being offered but he hasn't exactly stopped taking Ash's calls so there's an attachment there to his home state school.
