Handicapping Harrison
Five-star defensive end Zach Harrison is one of the more private recruits I've covered. Even in interviews his answers are often short and guarded. But in talking to Zach frequently in the past week as well as others with knowledge of his recruiting process, things are finally starting to break down a little bit more.
Zach very much wants to get things over with as soon as he can, but he wants to be sure of his decision. I think any talk about him knowing one-hundred percent where he's going and just going through the motions with these visits is very off-base. This is a kid who likes very, very little about the recruiting process. I think he'd end it today if he felt he could.
That being said, Zach has had a hard time telling schools 'no' over the past year. He's a polite kid and I think he doesn't want to come off as unappreciative of the attention schools and coaches are showing him, but he is starting to get to the point where he knows that he's going to have to start telling schools 'thanks, but no thanks'.
For a kid who has a ton of offers (way more than we probably realize as he basically stopped reporting them to anyone several months ago), there really aren't that many schools involved at this point. Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, and Notre Dame have been the main four over the past year or so and Clemson and Georgia got visits two weeks ago, that's really about it at this point.
I recently posted that I felt the order for Harrison's services from most to least likely was probably Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Clemson. I don't know that I'd make any profound changes to that statement as of today, but I do think there are certain schools with more momentum than others.
So I'm going to do kind of a stock report on the five schools I believe are still under some sort of consideration from Ohio's top prospect.
Holding Steady: Ohio State and Penn State - I still believe these two programs are running one and two for Harrison. Zach has a really good relationship with Larry Johnson. His best relationship at Penn State is probably with James Franklin. These schools have probably been the best in terms of being consistent with Zach from the very beginning.
Trending Up: Michigan and Clemson - Michigan was running a very distant 3rd or 4th until the last few months. The addition of Al Washington to the staff has really helped as Washington along with Greg Mattison have not only done a great job of recruiting Zach but they are also defensive line guys. I think Michigan is still probably third here, but it's turning more into a three-team race than the two-team race it had been for a while. Clemson has some upward momentum in that Zach is looking at making a return official visit there, but Dabo Swinney has a no spring official visit policy. Will Dabo scratch that? Will Zach wait until later to schedule the visit, knowing he's trying to get this over with? Some questions yet to be answered there to determine whether or not Clemson can become a real option. But there is no question that the Clemson visit went better than the Georgia visit on Zach's recent trip South.
Trending Down: Notre Dame - Notre Dame will still get mentioned by Zach and might even get an official visit. But I'm told it's unlikely he ends up there and that they have fallen behind Michigan and are absolutely below OSU and PSU as well. Notre Dame was a school that I thought had a chance to do well with Zach from the beginning for a variety of reasons, but the Fighting Irish just don't have as much traction as the above four schools right now.
So right now I have this as a three-team race with Notre Dame slipping and Clemson as kind of a wild card but not a real viable option at this point. I would still pick Ohio State today. I continue to believe Penn State must be taken seriously and I think Michigan has a little bit of momentum but steps have been taken in recent weeks that still make me believe Ohio State is the favorite. Zach made a quiet overnight visit to Ohio State several weeks ago and there are some things going on, that I'm not really at liberty to go into too much detail on, academically as far as getting questions answered about coursework at OSU that would seem to validate that.
Beamon will be back
Four-star defensive lineman Hakeem Beamon made his first visit to Ohio State this past week. We've talked about Beamon a few times in recent weeks as the former North Carolina pledge has definitely been showing a lot of interest in Ohio State since opening up his recruitment.
As I've said before, Ohio State is also interestedin Beamon, though the preference would be that Hakeem comes up to camp and works with Larry Johnson. That is pretty standard operating procedure with LJ for most prospects. It would certainly appear that is going to happen.
"I will be back in June," Beamon told me this weekend. "I'm not sure of the exact date yet."
There are some important questions with Beamon. Is he a defensive tackle? Ohio State may not even take a defensive tackle and certainly they aren't going to take a few. If he's a future tackle, he's going to have be really, really impressive. If he's a future end, there's a little more margin for error there, though the Big Four right now continue to be Zach Harrison, Nolan Smith, Marcus Hicks, and Noah Potter.
I will be doing a write-up with more of Beamon's thoughts on his visit, but this was a good first step for both parties as they work to see if this will be a match.
Buckeyes in good position for elite linebacker
In the high-priority visitor department this past Friday was Rivals100 DE/LB Brandon Smith out of Mineral Ridge (Va.) Louisa County. Smith is being recruited strictly as a linebacker by Ohio State and is definitely a guy they would love to land. This was Brandon's third visit to Columbus since this past summer and the Buckeyes are definitely in this race.
I spoke with Brandon's father, Rico Smith, for a while and this just feels like a battle that Ohio State has a chance to win.
"I can tell you that Ohio State is one of Brandon's top schools," he told me. "He doesn't have a top five or anything like that, he just doesn't really think that way, but Ohio State is up there. He's going to take an official visit in the fall."
Smith's parents have accompanied him on his visits to Ohio State and also seem to have a high opinion of the whole operation. This past visit allowed Smith to see practice but there were also a lot of off-the-field types of things that the staff went over with Smith and his family. The Real Life Wednesday's program was of course brought up but the family also was able to get a lot of questions answered about academics and about the the programs Brandon might be interested in.
Furthermore, Urban Meyer was very heavily involved in this past visit. Bill Davis was of course as well, but that has been standard for Smith's visits as Davis is the primary recruiter here. Meyer made it a point to spend a lot of time with the family on this latest trip and I think that made everyone involved feel pretty good about the visit.
Brandon is going to graduate and enroll early so he is expected to make a mid-Fall decision, probably at some point in October so look for that Ohio State official to likely take place in September.
Will have more on Smith's visit in an individual update.
Five-star defensive end Zach Harrison is one of the more private recruits I've covered. Even in interviews his answers are often short and guarded. But in talking to Zach frequently in the past week as well as others with knowledge of his recruiting process, things are finally starting to break down a little bit more.
Zach very much wants to get things over with as soon as he can, but he wants to be sure of his decision. I think any talk about him knowing one-hundred percent where he's going and just going through the motions with these visits is very off-base. This is a kid who likes very, very little about the recruiting process. I think he'd end it today if he felt he could.
That being said, Zach has had a hard time telling schools 'no' over the past year. He's a polite kid and I think he doesn't want to come off as unappreciative of the attention schools and coaches are showing him, but he is starting to get to the point where he knows that he's going to have to start telling schools 'thanks, but no thanks'.
For a kid who has a ton of offers (way more than we probably realize as he basically stopped reporting them to anyone several months ago), there really aren't that many schools involved at this point. Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, and Notre Dame have been the main four over the past year or so and Clemson and Georgia got visits two weeks ago, that's really about it at this point.
I recently posted that I felt the order for Harrison's services from most to least likely was probably Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Clemson. I don't know that I'd make any profound changes to that statement as of today, but I do think there are certain schools with more momentum than others.
So I'm going to do kind of a stock report on the five schools I believe are still under some sort of consideration from Ohio's top prospect.
Holding Steady: Ohio State and Penn State - I still believe these two programs are running one and two for Harrison. Zach has a really good relationship with Larry Johnson. His best relationship at Penn State is probably with James Franklin. These schools have probably been the best in terms of being consistent with Zach from the very beginning.
Trending Up: Michigan and Clemson - Michigan was running a very distant 3rd or 4th until the last few months. The addition of Al Washington to the staff has really helped as Washington along with Greg Mattison have not only done a great job of recruiting Zach but they are also defensive line guys. I think Michigan is still probably third here, but it's turning more into a three-team race than the two-team race it had been for a while. Clemson has some upward momentum in that Zach is looking at making a return official visit there, but Dabo Swinney has a no spring official visit policy. Will Dabo scratch that? Will Zach wait until later to schedule the visit, knowing he's trying to get this over with? Some questions yet to be answered there to determine whether or not Clemson can become a real option. But there is no question that the Clemson visit went better than the Georgia visit on Zach's recent trip South.
Trending Down: Notre Dame - Notre Dame will still get mentioned by Zach and might even get an official visit. But I'm told it's unlikely he ends up there and that they have fallen behind Michigan and are absolutely below OSU and PSU as well. Notre Dame was a school that I thought had a chance to do well with Zach from the beginning for a variety of reasons, but the Fighting Irish just don't have as much traction as the above four schools right now.
So right now I have this as a three-team race with Notre Dame slipping and Clemson as kind of a wild card but not a real viable option at this point. I would still pick Ohio State today. I continue to believe Penn State must be taken seriously and I think Michigan has a little bit of momentum but steps have been taken in recent weeks that still make me believe Ohio State is the favorite. Zach made a quiet overnight visit to Ohio State several weeks ago and there are some things going on, that I'm not really at liberty to go into too much detail on, academically as far as getting questions answered about coursework at OSU that would seem to validate that.
Beamon will be back
Four-star defensive lineman Hakeem Beamon made his first visit to Ohio State this past week. We've talked about Beamon a few times in recent weeks as the former North Carolina pledge has definitely been showing a lot of interest in Ohio State since opening up his recruitment.
As I've said before, Ohio State is also interestedin Beamon, though the preference would be that Hakeem comes up to camp and works with Larry Johnson. That is pretty standard operating procedure with LJ for most prospects. It would certainly appear that is going to happen.
"I will be back in June," Beamon told me this weekend. "I'm not sure of the exact date yet."
There are some important questions with Beamon. Is he a defensive tackle? Ohio State may not even take a defensive tackle and certainly they aren't going to take a few. If he's a future tackle, he's going to have be really, really impressive. If he's a future end, there's a little more margin for error there, though the Big Four right now continue to be Zach Harrison, Nolan Smith, Marcus Hicks, and Noah Potter.
I will be doing a write-up with more of Beamon's thoughts on his visit, but this was a good first step for both parties as they work to see if this will be a match.
Buckeyes in good position for elite linebacker
In the high-priority visitor department this past Friday was Rivals100 DE/LB Brandon Smith out of Mineral Ridge (Va.) Louisa County. Smith is being recruited strictly as a linebacker by Ohio State and is definitely a guy they would love to land. This was Brandon's third visit to Columbus since this past summer and the Buckeyes are definitely in this race.
I spoke with Brandon's father, Rico Smith, for a while and this just feels like a battle that Ohio State has a chance to win.
"I can tell you that Ohio State is one of Brandon's top schools," he told me. "He doesn't have a top five or anything like that, he just doesn't really think that way, but Ohio State is up there. He's going to take an official visit in the fall."
Smith's parents have accompanied him on his visits to Ohio State and also seem to have a high opinion of the whole operation. This past visit allowed Smith to see practice but there were also a lot of off-the-field types of things that the staff went over with Smith and his family. The Real Life Wednesday's program was of course brought up but the family also was able to get a lot of questions answered about academics and about the the programs Brandon might be interested in.
Furthermore, Urban Meyer was very heavily involved in this past visit. Bill Davis was of course as well, but that has been standard for Smith's visits as Davis is the primary recruiter here. Meyer made it a point to spend a lot of time with the family on this latest trip and I think that made everyone involved feel pretty good about the visit.
Brandon is going to graduate and enroll early so he is expected to make a mid-Fall decision, probably at some point in October so look for that Ohio State official to likely take place in September.
Will have more on Smith's visit in an individual update.
