More on the new in-state offer
Most of the class of 2019 out-of-state offers going out right now aren't all that newsworthy. Many of these kids won't ultimately be takes for Ohio State and some will never even visit. A lot of these are simply the staff putting itself in a good enough early position to be a factor if they later decide to make that prospect a priority.
The in-state offers, however, are always worth watching and I really like the new one to Cincinnati (Ohio) Anderson offensive lineman Zeke Correll. Correll reminds me a lot of Juice Scruggs in terms of his body type. He's a lean 270-275-pounds with tremendous feet. But I think Correll might be even meaner on the field and I also think he's ahead of where Scruggs was a year ago in terms of his strength and technique.
Correll has a ton of ties to Kentucky. His grandfather went there and his dad and brother played there. But in talking to Zeke over the past several weeks, I don't get the sense that he's leaning towards Lexington.
Ohio State will have to recruit him, this won't be the in-state kid that just crawls on his hands and knees to play for the Buckeyes, but this was the offer that I think Zeke really wanted and assuming the coaching staff continues to work at this one as they have all off-season, I see Correll ending up at Ohio State. Kerry Coombs has done a masterful job with the Cincinnati kids in terms of making them feel like priorities. Not every in-state kid is going to be a slam dunk, some of them are going to want to be recruited and why shouldn't they?
Coombs and Greg Studrawa have both been very active here early on with some assistance from Urban Meyer. So far, so good here for OSU in working on an in-state player that wasn't going to be a slam dunk before the process even started.
Decisions upcoming for two safety targets
A pair of Ohio State safety targets will be deciding over the next eight days as Rivals250 product Amari Burney out of Florida and Rivals100 product B.J. Foster out of Texas will both be off the board by next Monday.
For Foster, I don't think there is any suspense here. It is a near certainty that a June 5th decision will be in favor of the Texas Longhorns. Foster talked a good game about Ohio State early in the process but things have faded there in recent months and Foster never made it to Columbus. Anything other than a pick in favor of UT on Sunday would be a major surprise as it looks like Tom Herman is closing in on a big in-state commitment.
I think there's at least a little bit of intrigue with Burney, who announces on June 1st. Greg Schiano has spent a lot of time on this one and the Ohio State coaches have really done their homework here, heading to Florida to watch Burney particpate in spring football.
What I've been told this weekend is that IF Burney wants to commit to Ohio State on June 1st, that there will be a spot for him. Now I think he's probably going to commit to Florida on Thursday, that has been my pick for a while there and that is still what I'm going with right now. But Ohio State still has a few days to try and shake this up and I think it's at least worth keeping an eye on.
Parsons narrows his list
Five-star Harrisburg (Pa.) defensive end Micah Parsons released his list of top schools this week and Ohio State made the cut. I don't spend a lot of time on these top schools lists because they are mostly silly. Once we get down to the five school range or so is when it is worth paying attention to, but these top 12's or 10's or 15's just aren't worth analyzing. I don't think a single kid that I've ever covered actually seriously considered a dozen schools. There is a ton of filler on these lists.
With Micah there is not much new to report. He is almost certainly going to take this into the winter and take official visits. A commitment to a school tomorrow would be virtually meaningless. Ohio State has done a good job of building relationships, Micah is in the mythical group chat and has been getting pretty close with Jaelen Gill and Emory Jones (and Jackson Carman for matter, the Clemson stuff gets more comical by the week) so Ohio State is right where it needs to be at this stage.
Parsons will make a round of visits this summer to SEC programs and Florida State, I'd also expect him back at Ohio State at some point, perhaps for Friday Night Lights.
Everyone on here seems to want me to pencil Micah in the class right now but that's not going to happen at this time. I'm still where I was at a month ago which is that Ohio State has done what it needs to do to be in position to land a commitment later in the process. But Micah is still very unpredictable and there are still a lot of moving parts involved in this one. If this board was Las Vegas, Ohio State would be a modest favorite.
Quick hitters
- Rivals100 defensive lineman Stephon Wynn is still expected to visit Ohio State sometime this summer, likely towards the end of June I'm told. While there isn't a ton of new information to report on Wynn, it does look like UGA might be the team to beat right now.
When I talked to Wynn a few weeks ago, UGA was probably the school that jumped out to me the most in terms of my take aways from our conversation. There is a long-established relationship there with Dawgs defensive line coach Tray Scott who has been recruiting Wynn since Stephon was a freshman and Scott was at UNC. Wynn also recently made it back to UGA for another unofficial visit so while I certainly don't think anything is set in stone there, I think if Stephon had to commit somewhere today, that it would be UGA.
But schools like Ohio State and Alabama have a chance to make up ground, most importantly in the comfort and relationships department as they get Wynn on campus this month. Stephon could be looking at deciding before the season. While it's possible that Ohio State could knock his socks off and get an early commitment, it would appear at this time that playing the long game and dragging this out could be more beneficial.
- One prospect to keep an eye on this summer will be Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech defensive back Kalon Gervin. A class of 2018 Rivals100 prospect, Gervin decommitted from Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago and is now pretty wide open as he reshuffles the deck. Ohio State has not yet offered Gervin a scholarship but I'm told they have been keeping a very close eye on the four-star prospect this spring and they will also see him at camp in June.
The cornerback board right now basically reads as the top 5 or 6 prospects nationally at the position as the Buckeyes are absolutely star chasing right now at this position, but Gervin is a legitimate talent and could be a guy who becomes a priority if the coaches like what they see in June.
Most of the class of 2019 out-of-state offers going out right now aren't all that newsworthy. Many of these kids won't ultimately be takes for Ohio State and some will never even visit. A lot of these are simply the staff putting itself in a good enough early position to be a factor if they later decide to make that prospect a priority.
The in-state offers, however, are always worth watching and I really like the new one to Cincinnati (Ohio) Anderson offensive lineman Zeke Correll. Correll reminds me a lot of Juice Scruggs in terms of his body type. He's a lean 270-275-pounds with tremendous feet. But I think Correll might be even meaner on the field and I also think he's ahead of where Scruggs was a year ago in terms of his strength and technique.
Correll has a ton of ties to Kentucky. His grandfather went there and his dad and brother played there. But in talking to Zeke over the past several weeks, I don't get the sense that he's leaning towards Lexington.
Ohio State will have to recruit him, this won't be the in-state kid that just crawls on his hands and knees to play for the Buckeyes, but this was the offer that I think Zeke really wanted and assuming the coaching staff continues to work at this one as they have all off-season, I see Correll ending up at Ohio State. Kerry Coombs has done a masterful job with the Cincinnati kids in terms of making them feel like priorities. Not every in-state kid is going to be a slam dunk, some of them are going to want to be recruited and why shouldn't they?
Coombs and Greg Studrawa have both been very active here early on with some assistance from Urban Meyer. So far, so good here for OSU in working on an in-state player that wasn't going to be a slam dunk before the process even started.
Decisions upcoming for two safety targets
A pair of Ohio State safety targets will be deciding over the next eight days as Rivals250 product Amari Burney out of Florida and Rivals100 product B.J. Foster out of Texas will both be off the board by next Monday.
For Foster, I don't think there is any suspense here. It is a near certainty that a June 5th decision will be in favor of the Texas Longhorns. Foster talked a good game about Ohio State early in the process but things have faded there in recent months and Foster never made it to Columbus. Anything other than a pick in favor of UT on Sunday would be a major surprise as it looks like Tom Herman is closing in on a big in-state commitment.
I think there's at least a little bit of intrigue with Burney, who announces on June 1st. Greg Schiano has spent a lot of time on this one and the Ohio State coaches have really done their homework here, heading to Florida to watch Burney particpate in spring football.
What I've been told this weekend is that IF Burney wants to commit to Ohio State on June 1st, that there will be a spot for him. Now I think he's probably going to commit to Florida on Thursday, that has been my pick for a while there and that is still what I'm going with right now. But Ohio State still has a few days to try and shake this up and I think it's at least worth keeping an eye on.
Parsons narrows his list
Five-star Harrisburg (Pa.) defensive end Micah Parsons released his list of top schools this week and Ohio State made the cut. I don't spend a lot of time on these top schools lists because they are mostly silly. Once we get down to the five school range or so is when it is worth paying attention to, but these top 12's or 10's or 15's just aren't worth analyzing. I don't think a single kid that I've ever covered actually seriously considered a dozen schools. There is a ton of filler on these lists.
With Micah there is not much new to report. He is almost certainly going to take this into the winter and take official visits. A commitment to a school tomorrow would be virtually meaningless. Ohio State has done a good job of building relationships, Micah is in the mythical group chat and has been getting pretty close with Jaelen Gill and Emory Jones (and Jackson Carman for matter, the Clemson stuff gets more comical by the week) so Ohio State is right where it needs to be at this stage.
Parsons will make a round of visits this summer to SEC programs and Florida State, I'd also expect him back at Ohio State at some point, perhaps for Friday Night Lights.
Everyone on here seems to want me to pencil Micah in the class right now but that's not going to happen at this time. I'm still where I was at a month ago which is that Ohio State has done what it needs to do to be in position to land a commitment later in the process. But Micah is still very unpredictable and there are still a lot of moving parts involved in this one. If this board was Las Vegas, Ohio State would be a modest favorite.
Quick hitters
- Rivals100 defensive lineman Stephon Wynn is still expected to visit Ohio State sometime this summer, likely towards the end of June I'm told. While there isn't a ton of new information to report on Wynn, it does look like UGA might be the team to beat right now.
When I talked to Wynn a few weeks ago, UGA was probably the school that jumped out to me the most in terms of my take aways from our conversation. There is a long-established relationship there with Dawgs defensive line coach Tray Scott who has been recruiting Wynn since Stephon was a freshman and Scott was at UNC. Wynn also recently made it back to UGA for another unofficial visit so while I certainly don't think anything is set in stone there, I think if Stephon had to commit somewhere today, that it would be UGA.
But schools like Ohio State and Alabama have a chance to make up ground, most importantly in the comfort and relationships department as they get Wynn on campus this month. Stephon could be looking at deciding before the season. While it's possible that Ohio State could knock his socks off and get an early commitment, it would appear at this time that playing the long game and dragging this out could be more beneficial.
- One prospect to keep an eye on this summer will be Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech defensive back Kalon Gervin. A class of 2018 Rivals100 prospect, Gervin decommitted from Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago and is now pretty wide open as he reshuffles the deck. Ohio State has not yet offered Gervin a scholarship but I'm told they have been keeping a very close eye on the four-star prospect this spring and they will also see him at camp in June.
The cornerback board right now basically reads as the top 5 or 6 prospects nationally at the position as the Buckeyes are absolutely star chasing right now at this position, but Gervin is a legitimate talent and could be a guy who becomes a priority if the coaches like what they see in June.
