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Mid-Swing Update
We're at the midway point of the first week of Southern Swing 7.0 after making our way all over the state of North Carolina on Monday, we are on to Florida after spending Tuesday and early Wednesday morning in Georgia.
I think one of my biggest takeaways so far is that we still just need to wait and see on Desmond Evans, that is not one that I would give up on just yet. We've talked about Evans somewhat frequently over the past year or so but it was always with a caveat that the kid didn't talk or do a lot of interviews so that it was hard to get a read on where things really stood with Ohio State.
Having a chance to spend some time with him on Monday didn't completely pull the curtain back as Desmond is fairly guarded and measured in what he says, but there is no question that Ohio State is a player here in my opinion. This summer is huge for the Buckeyes in terms of finding their way in this race. They have to get him up to campus, preferably on an unofficial visit. It's really difficult to win these out-of-region battles with just an official visit, so if they can get him up over the summer, it's game on.
I think a lot of people have sort of forgot about Evans in all of this, and that is understandable because he is so private about his recruiting process. He's not out there doing interviews and giving weekly or monthly updates so a lot of the information on him is coming from back channels and that is always scary, in terms of trying to be accurate, when you aren't getting much directly from the source.
I will say this, in watching Larry Johnson's movement and in talking to Desmond and his coach, he's getting the full court press. A lot of these quiet North Carolina kids are homebodies, so that is certainly a concern here, will he *really* be willing to leave the region? But Larry Johnson was able to convince Jaden McKenzie, a similar personality in that regard, to do so last year and the Buckeyes were able to convince Tyquan Lewis to do the same several years ago, so there is a track record here of it at least being possible.
Desmond is an absolute beast, for the record. 6-foot-6, 240-pounds, and he is all of that 6-6. Still looks skinny, he's going to be one of those freak 6-6, 280-pound guys that still plays out on the edge.
We were actually able to talk to Payton Page's coach about Desmond, as Dudley eliminated Lee County from the playoffs last year and he raved about Evans' athleticism and potential but also noted that he's not just potential, he's a guy who dominates in high school.
"He's the real deal," Dudley Head Coach Stephen Davis said. "We ran away from him every single play. He's going to be a great player at the next level."
Speaking of Page, that is just a monsterous human being. He physically reminds me of Marvin Wilson, he's a guy that at 6-foot-4, 320ish pounds doesn't look fat, he's just a really, really big dude.
Kind of the same thing here with Page as with some of other Carolina defensive linemen we've dealt with over the years. How serious would he be about leaving the region? There is no question there is a good start relationship wise here with Larry Johnson and Payton is a little more out-going and goofy than some of the quieter McKenzie, Lewis, Evans, Dexter Lawrence types so that could lend itself to being more willing to do something a little bit different.
He seems enamored with Clemson, which makes sense given where he is and what the Tigers have done recently but I found it interesting that he brought up their defensive line numbers immediately when we asked him about his interest in Clemson so the Buckeyes, who will have a lot of opportunity available when the 2021 defensive tackle class hits campus, might be able to play that angle in addition to the pedigree of Larry Johnson and the success with putting guys into the NFL.
I know this, Ohio State absolutely loves Page. The 2021 class is so far off and as we see every year, some of the names people are really excited about right now are guys who will fall off and are guys who may not develop into priority targets for Ohio State. But Page is one of those guys that you know, even very early on, is going to be right at the top of the wish list at his position. A lot of effort being put into recruiting him already.
Will wrap this segment up with a quick hitter on 2021 Kingsland (Ga.) Camden County offensive lineman Micah Morris. We watched Micah practice this morning (not in full pads yet) and he is a very impressive prospect on the hoof. He is incredibly powerful and agile for a kid his size so it's easy to see why the Ohio State's and Alabama's of the world are on him so much.
We'll have a video interview with Micah coming, he's also a great kid who wants to be an FBI agent and is taking AP chemistry a year early so he can try to graduate next December. But one interesting note here is that he told us that Orlando Pace is his favorite NFL player of all-time and said "The Pancake Man" is the best to ever do it.
Going to be tough to pull a kid like that from that part of the country, but the Buckeyes do have an "in" there with his affinity for Pace. Again, we'll have a video interview with Micah later.
Rivals100 defensive lineman sets official visit
If you thought Kedrick Bingley-Jones setting a June official visit was an interesting development, here is a name that is probably even further off the radar. Ohio State will get an official visit from Top 100 defensive lineman Vernon Broughton the weekend of June 14th.
Broughton is listed as a strong-side defensive end in the database but is very likely going to kick inside at the next level. The Houston (Texas) Cy Ridge standout is one of the nation's very best defensive linemen and, like Desmond Evans, is not a huge talker.
That being said, the general thinking around Broughton is that he is going to be extremely difficult to pull away from the University of Texas. The Longhorns appear to have a pretty nice cushion here, but this is a player that you don't turn down if he wants to make an official visit.
Hard to say how things are going to shake out for Ohio State on the defensive line in this 2020 class, but I know a few weeks ago people were concerned about the perceived lack of highly ranked targets. There are still several big fish out there and all Ohio State and Larry Johnson need to do is really pull one or two upsets as it's not a class that needs to totally load up on defensive linemen and the outlook for 2021 is already very good.
So it is certainly a nice development here that Ohio State is going to get an official visit from a few pretty highly ranked guys that were a bit off the radar over the past several months.
