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Skill numbers game
My favorite topic, THE NUMBERS. Yes, the most overhyped part of recruiting where incredibly unlikely scenarios are agonized over and the yearly worry about whether or not Ohio State will become the first program in history to test the NCAA and see what happens if they are over the 85 scholarship limit at the deadline takes place.
But in all seriousness, it's going to be interesting to see what the Buckeyes do with the offensive skill positions in 2020. They are in on several outstanding wide receiver prospects and already have two committed. That's going to be a big number there in 2020 as the program loses three more receivers to graduation after the 2019 season. Then you also have the running back position where the Buckeyes are a little light right now and have several irons in the fire.
I've talked about the receivers a lot in recent weeks either via the Skull Session or the recent Big Board we posted so I'm going to mainly focus on the running backs here. I know I sound like a broken record on this but I am fascinated to see what they are going to do at running back in the 2020 class. It has to be a two-back class as the numbers are pretty thin and there's certainly a chance that J.K. Dobbins could opt for the NFL after the 2019 season.
Darvon Hubbard is now officially out in a move that seemed inevitable in recent weeks. I don't expect things to pick back up there, Darvon will almost certainly end up elsewhere. But that doesn't clear a whole lot up for the Buckeyes.
The obvious two major targets are Tuscon (AZ) Salpointe Catholic star Bijan Robinson and Clovis (CA) Buchanan five-star prospect Kendall Milton. These are two of the nation's very best prospects and they are hoping to receive visits from both this spring/summer, with Milton being scheduled for early April.
But there is also a contingent of in-state guys holding offers. Akron Hoban's Dea'Monte Trayanum, Fairfield's Jutahn McClain, and Dublin Coffman's Mike Drennen. I think it's pretty obvious they can't take all five of these guys. And it is obviously very premature to start talking about getting both Robinson and Milton. That seems unlikely and I think it would be a home run to just land one of them, which I believe they have a good chance to do, and then try and figure things out with the in-state group.
But how does this all tie in to the receivers?
As we've discussed before, a good baseline number of receivers in this class is four. I think they'll take at least that many pretty much regardless of what happens with top targets Rakim Jarrett and Julian Fleming. They'll need to bring in a big group this year because they're losing a big group of receivers for the second straight season and only brought in two in 2018. But they're also in on so many good receivers that there is a core group of five or six guys still out there that I don't think they could turn away. How would you turn away a guy like Johnny Wilson, Marcus Rosemy, Julian Fleming, Rakim Jarrett or LV Bunkley-Shelton if you already had four receivers in the class and one of those dudes wanted to be the fifth?
The answer is, you wouldn't.
But there is also no need to reach for a fifth guy if you really like the four you have and you don't love any of the remaining targets. So this is where I think you can sort of combine the receivers and backs into one number.
Instead of the number being two at running back and four at receiver, I think the number could actually be seven. As in seven WR's and RB's combined. I think the Buckeyes will have the space to take a couple of true running backs, four pure receivers, and then have kind of a "flex" spot to use a fantasy football term. That would give them some versatility. It would allow them to take two pure backs, four receivers, and maybe someone like Drennen as a RB/H type. Or it would allow them to take two backs and five pure receivers if the options at receiver are just so overwhelmingly good that they can't turn a guy away.
But the point is, for those who want to obsess over the numbers, I think the RB's and WR's will be somewhat connected in this class where they won't be able to exceed both the number four at receiver and the number two at running back, but could go one over at one of those spots and it could be a "best available" type of situation as to which direction/position they go.
McCarthy one to watch in QB chase
While I am not entirely convinced that the Buckeyes can wait until the 2021 class to add another quarterback to the pipeline, until there is a clear direction on that, the 2021 quarterback search is at the forefront. The Buckeyes recently received a visit from Philadelphia St. Joe's Prep star Kyle McCord. They'll get a visit from another big-time 2021 quarterback in a few weeks in La Grange Park (Ill.) Nazareth Academy product J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy will be in Columbus March 22nd and 23rd.
McCarthy holds an early offer from Ohio State as well as Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Notre Dame is also recruiting McCarthy, but the Fighting Irish have not yet offered.
The Buckeyes have done as good of a job as anyone to this point of recruiting McCarthy and helping the efforts right now is that Mike Yurcich was recruiting J.J. while Yurchich was still at Oklahoma State this fall so you have a guy that McCarthy is very comfortable with moving to a program that McCarthy really likes, so needless to say that puts the Buckeyes in nice spot early on.
McCarthy visited Ohio State for the Indiana game back in the fall, so this upcoming visit will be his second. The addition of Yurcich to the staff has only elevated the Buckeyes in his mind.
"I was really interested in (Ohio State) prior to (Yurcich) being there," McCarthy told me this weekend. "Now that Coach Yurcich is there, I couldn't be happier. Between Coach Day and Coach Yurcich, the sky is the limit on how far this offense can go. Can't wait to watch next season."
So this will definitely be a visit to watch. McCarthy has very serious interest in the Buckeyes so far and the interest is mutual. With the first visit being a game day visit, this one will be more in-depth and McCarthy is definitely starting to ask some next level type of questions about the Buckeyes, the type of questions that you ask when you're strongly considering your future somewhere.
"I really want to talk to some of the current players," he added. "The culture at OSU looks amazing and I want to make sure the players feel the same way."
I'll have more from J.J. tomorrow in a full update, he gave me a lot of good stuff this weekend about his interest in Ohio State.
Sawyer ready to recruit
I posted a quick update earlier today on 2021 Ohio State defensive end commit Jack Sawyer who continues to talk the talk about being a class leader and helping recruit. He's starting to walk the walk too. Sawyer is very tight with fellow Pickerington area star Lorenzo Styles Jr. They go to rival high schools now but grew up playing sports on the same teams locally and remain very close today to the point where Zo will often times show up at Jack's basketball games to show support.
Notre Dame has made a great early impression on Styles and his family, to the point that I felt they absolutely had the lead early on. I think Ohio State has very much closed the gap in recent weeks, though Styles was back at Notre Dame again over the weekend. He'll be on campus at Ohio State soon for a spring practice, though the date is TBD right now.
Between the recent OSU visit, where I felt the Buckeyes made very real progress and Sawyer being in the fold, there is reason for optimism that Ohio State can get this one done, though it is certainly not a layup.
Sawyer is already going to work there, but that's a pretty easy one to work on. He's known Lorenzo for years and they are very close friends, so it would be expected that he would try to help out OSU on that one.
But he's also going to make it a point to get over to campus for as many recruiting opportunities as possible. We just talked about J.J. McCarthy above. Jack is planning to be on campus that weekend when McCarthy (and others, that's probably going to be a pretty solid weekend) is on campus just to introduce himself and hang out for a little bit.
Sawyer absolutely "gets it" when it comes to both the recruiting angle and just being ultra-focused on doing everything he can to be as ready as he can when he gets to campus, that's strength and conditioning and diet, it's technique, everything.
Being a recruiter as a committed prospect isn't for everyone. You can't force that stuff on kids, they either have the temperament for it or they don't, and Sawyer absolutely has it. As the Ohio State staff makes more progress on evaluations and starts really determining the priorities, I think Sawyer is going to be a pretty valuable asset in helping to draw other top guys, or at the very least be a great source to have on campus on big visit weekends to create a relaxed vibe and make guys feel comfortable.
And if there is any question about whether or not Sawyer is all-in after committing earlier than expected, consider this:
Since committing, college coaches certainly have not stopped calling the good folks at Pickerington North High School. One school that has been very persistent has been the national champion Clemson Tigers. Jack has declined to return any phone calls made to his high school coaches from college coaches, including Dabo Swinney and Clemson.
