Hardman executing a pump fake?
The smoke around Ohio State and five-star ATH Mecole Hardman just won't go away. Hardman and Dwayne Haskins have been going back and forth on Twitter this week with Hardman even changing his background to a picture of him and Haskins in OSU uniforms.
Hardman has still not spoken about any in-home visit with Ohio State this week and the people on the ground in Georgia all believe this is largely a smoke screen to build some suspense for a UGA pledge.
Don't expect me to go out on this limb and pick OSU here, unless I start to hear something drastically different than what I'm hearing right now from the people I trust in Georgia, I'm sticking with the Dawgs here.
But with that said, we as a staff are taking this seriously. @NevadaBuck and I have talked a lot about Mecole the last 24 hours and we're continuing to reach out to our contacts, many of whom are running in different circles, to bounce information off each other.
Again, a lot of the people I've spoken to in that part of the country think it's a pump fake and that Mecole is trying some misdirection to build suspense. He's definitely a big personality and he likes to have fun.
I will admit the Haskins stuff is interesting, the two are close and Haskins has been relentless. I just look at it as too little too late and if I'm wrong, so be it.
More on Fuller
It's Fuller Eve Part I with in-home visits going tomorrow evening for the New Jersey standout. Fuller Eve Part II will come on Sunday night before his decision but tomorrow will be the most important day in terms of shaping this recruitment.
Have spoken with several people today on the Michigan side of this and none of them are particularly confident. Again, there is a sense that Fuller had a good visit this weekend, but the Michigan sources I talk to have stopped short of saying that it was enough to put the Wolverines into the lead heading into tomorrow's visits.
There will no doubt be assistant coaches from all three schools on these visits (Ohio State is sending basically its entire defensive staff) but having Harbaugh, Kelly, and Meyer all in the home in one evening will be quite an experience for Fuller. We've talked about how things could work out time wise, but Fuller didn't express any concerns to me about giving each staff its fair share of time tomorrow.
"It's really however long they need," Fuller told me this evening. "They're spread out enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Coach Meyer is coming around 8, maybe a little earlier."
We'll keep you updated as we hear more, but I still like Ohio State's position and I like Meyer having the last crack tomorrow night.
More on the Wallace offer
We gave you a pretty good rundown earlier of the new offer to Virginia ATH K'Von Wallace. Ohio State likes Wallace's size and athleticism on the defensive side of the ball where he is probably a more unique talent.
Speaking with OSU sources, the plan right now is still one more defensive back. The staff wants to have all of its ducks in a row in the event that tomorrow's in-home with Fuller doesn't go as planned. There is no reason to believe it won't go well, but this is a pre-emptive strike, just in case.
Furthermore, there's no firm decision yet from Wallace on where he will be this weekend. He is supposed to be at Clemson tomorrow for a mid-week official visit and Ohio State is pushing for a visit this weekend, where he initially was set to see Pittsburgh.
"He definitely loves the Buckeyes," one person close to his recruitment told me this evening, so we'll just have to see where things go the next few days both with his visit schedule and with what we're hearing on Fuller.
Something to consider
So, as I said above, right now folks inside the WHAC are operating under the assumption that it will be one more defensive back in this class. So that is what I'm going with right now, but if nothing materializes at defensive tackle and the Hardman pump fake is just that, a pump fake, I could see a scenario where maybe they get one more guy in at Greg Schiano's behest.
If you'll remember two years ago, Ohio State brought in another highly regarded defensive coach late in the recruiting season in Larry Johnson. The Buckeyes were more or less finished with defensive line recruiting (Malik McDowell was still kind of in play) but it wasn't a situation where they HAD to have another defensive lineman.
Well, there was a spot available and Larry Johnson got to pound the table for his guy, Darius Slade, and they got him into the class as a late surprise.
It would not completely shock me if something similar happened with Schiano IF they don't get a defensive tackle and if Mecole Hardman is headed to Georgia. Again, just something to consider and something we're monitoring as a staff.
Odds and Ends
- Buckeyes OC Ed Warinner will be back in North Jersey/NYC tomorrow, I really hope he has some real estate there. Some great waterfront property in Jersey City.
He'll be in at Erasmus Hall at some point during the day where coach Danny Landberg tells me he has "at least" five underclassmen prospects that will be major Divison I recruits. Of course two-way 2018 lineman Matthew Jones is probably the headliner at this point as far as the Buckeyes are concerned. It's crazy early, but Ohio State is going to be tough to beat there.
Fellow 2018 prospect Sean Ryan a 6-foot-2, receiver/athlete type holds an early Rutgers offer and was pointed out to me by Landberg as another kid to keep a close eye on moving forward.
And, shocker, Warinner will hit Brooklyn Poly Prep, home of 2017 five-star offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson.
-Speaking of the NYC area, still no final word on four-star JUCO tackle Malcolm Pridgeon's official visit to Columbus this weekend. Still up in the air as of this evening but with Warinner going to that part of the country tomorrow, we may get a final answer on that some point during the day, as Warinner is expected to check in there.
- Urban Meyer spent the day in Georgia today. He made a stop at Lee County for 2017 defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon and he also hit one of the Atlanta area's top talent producing programs in Central Gwinnett, where the Buckeyes have already offered class of 2017 offensive lineman Tony Gray and 2017 defensive lineman Emmanuel McNeil.
As we've discussed before, Gray has family in Cleveland and visited over the summer. Ohio State has a chance to be a player in this one. Same school as Trey Johnson. Head coach Todd Wofford has been very good to us over the years as we've stopped there several times on Southern Swing and he has another stable of prospects coming up the pike.
- Four-star Cleveland Heights wide receiver Jaylen Harris WILL visit Ohio State this weekend for the Junior Day.
The smoke around Ohio State and five-star ATH Mecole Hardman just won't go away. Hardman and Dwayne Haskins have been going back and forth on Twitter this week with Hardman even changing his background to a picture of him and Haskins in OSU uniforms.
Hardman has still not spoken about any in-home visit with Ohio State this week and the people on the ground in Georgia all believe this is largely a smoke screen to build some suspense for a UGA pledge.
Don't expect me to go out on this limb and pick OSU here, unless I start to hear something drastically different than what I'm hearing right now from the people I trust in Georgia, I'm sticking with the Dawgs here.
But with that said, we as a staff are taking this seriously. @NevadaBuck and I have talked a lot about Mecole the last 24 hours and we're continuing to reach out to our contacts, many of whom are running in different circles, to bounce information off each other.
Again, a lot of the people I've spoken to in that part of the country think it's a pump fake and that Mecole is trying some misdirection to build suspense. He's definitely a big personality and he likes to have fun.
I will admit the Haskins stuff is interesting, the two are close and Haskins has been relentless. I just look at it as too little too late and if I'm wrong, so be it.
More on Fuller
It's Fuller Eve Part I with in-home visits going tomorrow evening for the New Jersey standout. Fuller Eve Part II will come on Sunday night before his decision but tomorrow will be the most important day in terms of shaping this recruitment.
Have spoken with several people today on the Michigan side of this and none of them are particularly confident. Again, there is a sense that Fuller had a good visit this weekend, but the Michigan sources I talk to have stopped short of saying that it was enough to put the Wolverines into the lead heading into tomorrow's visits.
There will no doubt be assistant coaches from all three schools on these visits (Ohio State is sending basically its entire defensive staff) but having Harbaugh, Kelly, and Meyer all in the home in one evening will be quite an experience for Fuller. We've talked about how things could work out time wise, but Fuller didn't express any concerns to me about giving each staff its fair share of time tomorrow.
"It's really however long they need," Fuller told me this evening. "They're spread out enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Coach Meyer is coming around 8, maybe a little earlier."
We'll keep you updated as we hear more, but I still like Ohio State's position and I like Meyer having the last crack tomorrow night.
More on the Wallace offer
We gave you a pretty good rundown earlier of the new offer to Virginia ATH K'Von Wallace. Ohio State likes Wallace's size and athleticism on the defensive side of the ball where he is probably a more unique talent.
Speaking with OSU sources, the plan right now is still one more defensive back. The staff wants to have all of its ducks in a row in the event that tomorrow's in-home with Fuller doesn't go as planned. There is no reason to believe it won't go well, but this is a pre-emptive strike, just in case.
Furthermore, there's no firm decision yet from Wallace on where he will be this weekend. He is supposed to be at Clemson tomorrow for a mid-week official visit and Ohio State is pushing for a visit this weekend, where he initially was set to see Pittsburgh.
"He definitely loves the Buckeyes," one person close to his recruitment told me this evening, so we'll just have to see where things go the next few days both with his visit schedule and with what we're hearing on Fuller.
Something to consider
So, as I said above, right now folks inside the WHAC are operating under the assumption that it will be one more defensive back in this class. So that is what I'm going with right now, but if nothing materializes at defensive tackle and the Hardman pump fake is just that, a pump fake, I could see a scenario where maybe they get one more guy in at Greg Schiano's behest.
If you'll remember two years ago, Ohio State brought in another highly regarded defensive coach late in the recruiting season in Larry Johnson. The Buckeyes were more or less finished with defensive line recruiting (Malik McDowell was still kind of in play) but it wasn't a situation where they HAD to have another defensive lineman.
Well, there was a spot available and Larry Johnson got to pound the table for his guy, Darius Slade, and they got him into the class as a late surprise.
It would not completely shock me if something similar happened with Schiano IF they don't get a defensive tackle and if Mecole Hardman is headed to Georgia. Again, just something to consider and something we're monitoring as a staff.
Odds and Ends
- Buckeyes OC Ed Warinner will be back in North Jersey/NYC tomorrow, I really hope he has some real estate there. Some great waterfront property in Jersey City.
He'll be in at Erasmus Hall at some point during the day where coach Danny Landberg tells me he has "at least" five underclassmen prospects that will be major Divison I recruits. Of course two-way 2018 lineman Matthew Jones is probably the headliner at this point as far as the Buckeyes are concerned. It's crazy early, but Ohio State is going to be tough to beat there.
Fellow 2018 prospect Sean Ryan a 6-foot-2, receiver/athlete type holds an early Rutgers offer and was pointed out to me by Landberg as another kid to keep a close eye on moving forward.
And, shocker, Warinner will hit Brooklyn Poly Prep, home of 2017 five-star offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson.
-Speaking of the NYC area, still no final word on four-star JUCO tackle Malcolm Pridgeon's official visit to Columbus this weekend. Still up in the air as of this evening but with Warinner going to that part of the country tomorrow, we may get a final answer on that some point during the day, as Warinner is expected to check in there.
- Urban Meyer spent the day in Georgia today. He made a stop at Lee County for 2017 defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon and he also hit one of the Atlanta area's top talent producing programs in Central Gwinnett, where the Buckeyes have already offered class of 2017 offensive lineman Tony Gray and 2017 defensive lineman Emmanuel McNeil.
As we've discussed before, Gray has family in Cleveland and visited over the summer. Ohio State has a chance to be a player in this one. Same school as Trey Johnson. Head coach Todd Wofford has been very good to us over the years as we've stopped there several times on Southern Swing and he has another stable of prospects coming up the pike.
- Four-star Cleveland Heights wide receiver Jaylen Harris WILL visit Ohio State this weekend for the Junior Day.
