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Martinez status update
So far, so good on the Cameron Martinez front for Ohio State but the Buckeyes are definitely not out of the woods. Head coach Ryan Day and assistant Matt Barnes visited Martinez on Friday, watching his basketball game as well as stopping by the house to spend time with Martinez and his family.
Northwestern, Minnesota, and Notre Dame are all trying to flip the four-star athlete and Notre Dame has picked up its aggressiveness here recently, hoping to get Martinez on campus February 1st (the last weekend before Signing Day) for an official visit.
Martinez has stated to everyone that has asked him that he hasn't planned anything else visit wise at this point. Whether or not it will actually stay that way is anyone's guess, but Ohio State sources seem optimistic that they'll be able to keep him in the fold. Optimistic, but not overconfident.
Ryan Day's strategy to not do in-home visits with the players who won't be on campus until June has paid off a bit here. Had he used the in-home in December, the Buckeyes could be in a much tougher spot right now than they already are. Northwestern has been the school to really watch here, in my opinion, as he is definitely getting the "face of the program" type of pitch from them but certainly if a Notre Dame visit is setup for the last weekend that will have to be taken very seriously and will cause some anxiety over in the Woody Hayes Center.
Right now I believe Martinez is leaning toward sticking with Ohio State but it will be a tense couple of weeks here.
What that means for Magwood
We posted an update over the weekend on Columbus (Ohio) Walnut Ridge DB/WR Qian Magwood as Buckeye assistant Al Washington watched Qian play basketball on Saturday afternoon. Magwood continues to maintain contact with Ohio State through the twists and turns that has been defensive back recruiting this cycle.
Ohio State is clearly intrigued by Magwood as they've been recruiting him for well over a year now but have not yet pulled the trigger. Right now I think it's possible but unlikely that Magwood will be offered as long as there is no indication given by Martinez that he is heading out the door. If confidence slips in Martinez here over the next 10 days or so, I could see things turning to Magwood but I'm jut not sure there's room as things stand right now.
Michigan State is also turning up the heat here and is trying to get him up for an official visit which generally leads to an offer so that will be a situation to watch as well in terms of maybe forcing Ohio State's hand in deciding a few days earlier than maybe they would like.
Flyin' to the Hoop Notes
Spent the weekend in Kettering (Ohio) for the annual Flyin' to the Hoop Invitational. It's always a great weekend for me because not only do I get to come out of it with some basketball updates and video but I generally get to see some football guys compete on the basketball floor, which is valuable in the evaluation process.
Will have a bunch of interviews and video coming from the event but here are some quick hitters first.
- Chris Holtmann's top priority in the 2021 class is Akron (OH) St. Vincent-St. Mary wing Malaki Branham. Branham is a Columbus native so he is pretty well tied in to the Central Ohio area. He already used his official visit to Ohio State this past fall, the only one he has made so far, and will work on scheduling the rest after the basketball season is over. Told me that Alabama and Xavier are the two schools that are most likely to be among his four remaining visits. Seems like Ohio State is in pretty solid shape right now.
Branham dropped 42 points in a win over Trotwood. Now just about all of those points came right at the bucket, but still, 42 points is always impressive.
- Branham's class of 2022 teammate, guard Sencire Harris, said Ohio State is one of the schools that he knows is tracking him already. He hasn't been up this season and honestly doesn't seem like he has spent even one second thinking about recruiting yet, but he'll be a name to watch in Ohio's 2022 class which seems to be really strong.
- Ohio State assistant Jake Diebler was in to see 2021 Cleveland (Ohio) Lutheran East power forward Jalin Billingsley recently. No offer at this point but Billingsley is an interesting talent as a stretch four.
- 2022 Cincinnati Woodward guard Paul McMillan IV said Ohio State is one of the schools showing early interest and he has visited a couple of times already. McMillan had 29 in a losing effort against Walnut Ridge.
- I thought it would happen on the football field this fall, but a summer injury pushed my first live evaluation of 2023 Pickerington (Ohio) Central two-sport star Alex 'Sonny' Styles to the basketball floor. Styles is back from a broken tibia that he suffered towards the end of the summer basketball season and starting for the Tigers.
I don't want to completely ignore the development process here. It is so important and it has to be respected. But there are certain kids that you just know. Jack Sawyer was one of them and Styles is one of them too. He was going to start for Central this past fall on the football field, likely at strong safety, before that injury and he has actually grown quite a bit since I saw him in August. He is now about 6-foot-4, 190-pounds and he can really run and jump.
Where he ends up on the football field is fluid as he is still growing. We talked about that a little bit and the great thing about him is that he is already pretty open-minded. He told me he thought he might be a strong safety and I quickly responded 'not if you keep growing' and he acknowledged that he could end up at defensive end. That's actually where I would guess right now if I had to. I think he could end up being a dynamic edge rusher or SAM linebacker but we'll just see where his body goes. Another special talent coming out of Pickerington.
Ohio State and Notre Dame are on this interesting run lately of alternating brothers. They each got one Heuerman, one Smith, and one Simon. The Buckeyes will be hoping this comes true eventually on Styles.
