Welcome back for another edition of “A-Deck” at BuckeyeGrove.com, where I’ll bring you thoughts, what I’m hearing, inside scoop, tidbits, and more for Ohio State recruiting and team coverage, every Wednesday.
In last week’s A-Deck, we looked at the upcoming recruiting weekend for Ohio State, the College Football Playoff picture, and went inside the latest regarding Buckeyes hoops.
This week, we take a deeper look at the big recruiting weekend that was and how some of the visits went for the Scarlet and Gray, as well as the latest on a recent in-state offer.
INSIDER NOTES FROM OHIO STATE’S BIG RECRUITING WEEKEND
With a noon start and the weather not being ideal, it wasn’t the biggest recruiting weekend for Ohio State this season (that will likely be the Penn State game, with Michigan State weekend right behind it), but the Buckeyes still hosted a number of very talented prospects that are high on their board.
Below is a breakdown/some scoop regarding some of the players that made the trip to Ohio Stadium over the weekend:
2020 QB Jack Miller- As expected, Miller made his official visit to Ohio State over the weekend. The big question coming into this trip was if Miller would be satisfied with everything OSU told him regarding their pursuit of a second signal caller in the class. To be clear, the Buckeyes have been up front with their plans to the Miller camp for a while now, and the Millers have been saying all the right things in regards to that possibility coming to life. That said, this visit was still big in determining the standing of the Arizona-native in the class, should the Buckeyes land a second quarterback, such as CJ Stroud, who is the top target. In speaking with both the Miller camp and sources on the Ohio State side of things, I can confirm that all is very good between the two parties. The visit went really well with OSU showing plenty of love to Jack and his family, and making him know that he is wanted, which is all they really needed to do, in my opinion. I fully expect Miller to sign with the Buckeyes in December and be on campus in January---case closed.
2020 OL Grant Toutant- One of Ohio State’s offensive line commits was back in town this weekend, which has become a regular occurrence this fall. One tidbit about this trip is that Toutant arrived in town on Thursday, a few days before the Wisconsin game. The Michigan-native suffered a season-ending shoulder injury a few weeks back and decided to get his surgery done and get treated by the doctors in Columbus, which is why he came to town early. The bad news for Toutant is that he’s out the rest of the season and won’t be able to play basketball either. The good news is that his surgery went well and that his doctor is saying that he’ll be “full contact” in six months, which is around April, meaning he’ll be ready to roll when he arrives on campus in June. Technically, Toutant could probably be back in action in four months, but the doctor is telling him there’s no reason to rush things and it’s better to be safer versus sorry, with a bit of an extended rehab. As far as his visit goes, all was well there, to no surprise. Toutant spent a ton of time with his fellow commits, as well as Greg Studrawa, who was very pleased with the progress he has made thus far with his recovery.
2021 APB Will Shipley-The North Carolina-native was in town from Saturday to Sunday and this was a big visit for Ohio State. While the Buckeyes certainly intrigued Shipley prior to the trip, they weren’t necessarily a “lock” to be on the inside of this recruitment, when the list gets narrowed sometime after the season. Many felt Notre Dame was the leader entering the weekend, but regardless, OSU had work to do. And work they certainly did. As Shipley told Marc, he also told me the visit was “incredible” and that this was one of his better visits that he’s taken. Previously, Brian Hartline and Kevin Wilson had taken the lead on Shipley’s recruitment, but Tony Alford got involved a couple weeks back, with Ryan Day starting to pitch in as well. On that note, the timing of this trip was great, as it allowed Shipley and his father to get to know Alford and Day better, and also see how the program uses their running backs, which was obviously on full display Saturday. Shipley told me he loved the way the offense was run, and specifically how the backs got split out and thrown to, which is a lot of what he’d be doing as an all-purpose back. The plan right now is for Shipley and his family to sit down after the season and cut his list down to the schools he’s seriously interested in. He’ll then visit all of those schools again in the spring (and early summer) and from there, make a decision whenever he feels 100-percent about a school. Shipley told me he intends to return to Ohio State in the spring, bringing his mother along this time, which he then admitted puts OSU on his “final list” barring any sort of unforeseen turn of events. Right now it’s probably too early to call Shipley anywhere, but the Buckeyes definitely made a big move this weekend and are now firmly in this race.
2021 WR Emeka Egbuka-This one is a bit harder to get a read on. Egbuka told me that this was “a great visit” and that he had a really good time, but he tends to keep things close to the vest as far as to what that exactly means. From the Ohio State side, it seems that everyone thinks the visit went well, and that they are major players here, but nobody is too sure as to if they are the leader or a leader. Clemson is definitely a program in the mix here (I was told they may have been the team to beat a couple weeks back), as are Washington (hometown team) and Stanford from what I am told. I think getting Egbuka on campus was huge, as it was his second unofficial visit, and the hope should be to get him back for an official visit in the spring or summer to try and make their move, if a decision is intended before the season. If it’s going to go a bit longer, the strategy has to be to get him back for one more unofficial, with the official coming next fall. Bottom line here is that there’s still some way to go in this one, but Ohio State definitely has a great shot to land one of the nation’s best players.
2021 DB Jordan Hancock- As you read about over the weekend, Hancock landed an offer from the Buckeyes while on his visit. If it wasn’t obvious in the article or my comments in the thread, right now I would say this is an Ohio State-Penn State battle, with Florida running third. At this time, I would give the Buckeyes the edge, but emotions are always high coming off a visit, so I’d want to see what Hancock says once things settle down a bit in the coming weeks. That said, OSU may have a couple things going for them that others don’t.
First is how impressed the Georgia-native was with Jeff Hafley. This is a quote that I left out of the story, but that really popped out to me when speaking with Hancock: “I’ve never spoken to someone with as high an IQ when it comes to the corner position in my life. It was amazing. I love watching film and he loves watching film. I like breaking down the little stuff and he likes breaking down the little stuff. It was really cool for us to interact the way we did.”
Second, is that one of Hancock’s high school coaches at North Gwinnett is Gerald “Boo” Mitchell. Mitchell provides a unique connection between Hancock and Ohio State, as he trained former OSU star Bradley Roby for most of his youth career, before coming to Columbus. When asked about the success of guys like Roby, Cameron Heyward, and Raekwon McMillan, from the area, here is what Hancock had to say: “Coach Boo is my high school coach and I’ve known him since I’m five. He trained Bradley Roby for his whole life and really made him the player he was to be able to go to Ohio State. It’s cool that Bradley Roby went to Ohio State and that Ohio State is a school I’m strongly considering. That plays a big role into my decision.”
Hancock is hoping to get back to Columbus for the spring game next year and is eyeing a decision after spring ball or in the early summer. He did admit that while that timeline was what he was originally thinking, that a decision could come sooner if he gets set on a school.
2022 WR Kaden Saunders-We posted a story on the Westerville (Oh.) South super sophomore over the weekend, which you can read here. The Buckeyes did not extend an offer yet, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see them do so following this season. While OSU was the school Saunders rooted for growing up (and still roots for), this won’t be automatically done for the Scarlet and Gray should that offer go out. First off, some other schools have gotten a jump on Ohio State by offering early—one of those is Penn State, who has put some quality effort into this one, and absolutely leads right now, due to the relationships they’ve built with Saunders. Second, currently, while both Brian Hartline and Jeff Hafley are in communication with Saunders, Ohio State is mostly talking with him about defensive back. Although Saunders says he likes defensive back and acknowledges he could be a good one, right now he really wants to play receiver and believes that is his path to success at the next level. If the Buckeyes eventually want to get into this recruitment and win it, I think they need to offer soon, put effort behind building the relationship further, and most importantly, start to recruit Saunders as a receiver.
BUCKEYES MOVE ON IN-STATE LINEMAN
In case you missed it this week, Ohio State extended an offer to Streetsboro (Oh.) 2021 defensive lineman Mike Hall. The 6-foot-3, 275-pound Hall now holds offers from the Buckeyes, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Toledo, Kent State, and Akron.
Hall was at Ohio State’s “big man camp” back in June and the staff liked what they saw there. They have tracked Hall since and continued to be pleased with what they’ve seen this season, leading Ryan Day to offer the talented lineman on Monday.
Although he admitted to me that it was hard not to commit on the spot, don’t expect a pledge from Hall in the immediate future. I would absolutely say that the Buckeyes are the favorite right now, which is why I put my FutureCast in for the Scarlet and Gray, but the plan, as things currently stand, is for Hall to announce his commitment on his birthday, June 13.
Expect a number of other programs to come in with offers in the next few months, followed by official visits in the spring to a few of those schools. Ohio State will definitely get an official, per Hall, which should set them up well as they head down the home stretch. It’s going to be really hard for anyone to beat out the home state team here, but there will definitely be a few programs that try to.
In last week’s A-Deck, we looked at the upcoming recruiting weekend for Ohio State, the College Football Playoff picture, and went inside the latest regarding Buckeyes hoops.
This week, we take a deeper look at the big recruiting weekend that was and how some of the visits went for the Scarlet and Gray, as well as the latest on a recent in-state offer.
INSIDER NOTES FROM OHIO STATE’S BIG RECRUITING WEEKEND
With a noon start and the weather not being ideal, it wasn’t the biggest recruiting weekend for Ohio State this season (that will likely be the Penn State game, with Michigan State weekend right behind it), but the Buckeyes still hosted a number of very talented prospects that are high on their board.
Below is a breakdown/some scoop regarding some of the players that made the trip to Ohio Stadium over the weekend:
2020 QB Jack Miller- As expected, Miller made his official visit to Ohio State over the weekend. The big question coming into this trip was if Miller would be satisfied with everything OSU told him regarding their pursuit of a second signal caller in the class. To be clear, the Buckeyes have been up front with their plans to the Miller camp for a while now, and the Millers have been saying all the right things in regards to that possibility coming to life. That said, this visit was still big in determining the standing of the Arizona-native in the class, should the Buckeyes land a second quarterback, such as CJ Stroud, who is the top target. In speaking with both the Miller camp and sources on the Ohio State side of things, I can confirm that all is very good between the two parties. The visit went really well with OSU showing plenty of love to Jack and his family, and making him know that he is wanted, which is all they really needed to do, in my opinion. I fully expect Miller to sign with the Buckeyes in December and be on campus in January---case closed.
2020 OL Grant Toutant- One of Ohio State’s offensive line commits was back in town this weekend, which has become a regular occurrence this fall. One tidbit about this trip is that Toutant arrived in town on Thursday, a few days before the Wisconsin game. The Michigan-native suffered a season-ending shoulder injury a few weeks back and decided to get his surgery done and get treated by the doctors in Columbus, which is why he came to town early. The bad news for Toutant is that he’s out the rest of the season and won’t be able to play basketball either. The good news is that his surgery went well and that his doctor is saying that he’ll be “full contact” in six months, which is around April, meaning he’ll be ready to roll when he arrives on campus in June. Technically, Toutant could probably be back in action in four months, but the doctor is telling him there’s no reason to rush things and it’s better to be safer versus sorry, with a bit of an extended rehab. As far as his visit goes, all was well there, to no surprise. Toutant spent a ton of time with his fellow commits, as well as Greg Studrawa, who was very pleased with the progress he has made thus far with his recovery.
2021 APB Will Shipley-The North Carolina-native was in town from Saturday to Sunday and this was a big visit for Ohio State. While the Buckeyes certainly intrigued Shipley prior to the trip, they weren’t necessarily a “lock” to be on the inside of this recruitment, when the list gets narrowed sometime after the season. Many felt Notre Dame was the leader entering the weekend, but regardless, OSU had work to do. And work they certainly did. As Shipley told Marc, he also told me the visit was “incredible” and that this was one of his better visits that he’s taken. Previously, Brian Hartline and Kevin Wilson had taken the lead on Shipley’s recruitment, but Tony Alford got involved a couple weeks back, with Ryan Day starting to pitch in as well. On that note, the timing of this trip was great, as it allowed Shipley and his father to get to know Alford and Day better, and also see how the program uses their running backs, which was obviously on full display Saturday. Shipley told me he loved the way the offense was run, and specifically how the backs got split out and thrown to, which is a lot of what he’d be doing as an all-purpose back. The plan right now is for Shipley and his family to sit down after the season and cut his list down to the schools he’s seriously interested in. He’ll then visit all of those schools again in the spring (and early summer) and from there, make a decision whenever he feels 100-percent about a school. Shipley told me he intends to return to Ohio State in the spring, bringing his mother along this time, which he then admitted puts OSU on his “final list” barring any sort of unforeseen turn of events. Right now it’s probably too early to call Shipley anywhere, but the Buckeyes definitely made a big move this weekend and are now firmly in this race.
2021 WR Emeka Egbuka-This one is a bit harder to get a read on. Egbuka told me that this was “a great visit” and that he had a really good time, but he tends to keep things close to the vest as far as to what that exactly means. From the Ohio State side, it seems that everyone thinks the visit went well, and that they are major players here, but nobody is too sure as to if they are the leader or a leader. Clemson is definitely a program in the mix here (I was told they may have been the team to beat a couple weeks back), as are Washington (hometown team) and Stanford from what I am told. I think getting Egbuka on campus was huge, as it was his second unofficial visit, and the hope should be to get him back for an official visit in the spring or summer to try and make their move, if a decision is intended before the season. If it’s going to go a bit longer, the strategy has to be to get him back for one more unofficial, with the official coming next fall. Bottom line here is that there’s still some way to go in this one, but Ohio State definitely has a great shot to land one of the nation’s best players.
2021 DB Jordan Hancock- As you read about over the weekend, Hancock landed an offer from the Buckeyes while on his visit. If it wasn’t obvious in the article or my comments in the thread, right now I would say this is an Ohio State-Penn State battle, with Florida running third. At this time, I would give the Buckeyes the edge, but emotions are always high coming off a visit, so I’d want to see what Hancock says once things settle down a bit in the coming weeks. That said, OSU may have a couple things going for them that others don’t.
First is how impressed the Georgia-native was with Jeff Hafley. This is a quote that I left out of the story, but that really popped out to me when speaking with Hancock: “I’ve never spoken to someone with as high an IQ when it comes to the corner position in my life. It was amazing. I love watching film and he loves watching film. I like breaking down the little stuff and he likes breaking down the little stuff. It was really cool for us to interact the way we did.”
Second, is that one of Hancock’s high school coaches at North Gwinnett is Gerald “Boo” Mitchell. Mitchell provides a unique connection between Hancock and Ohio State, as he trained former OSU star Bradley Roby for most of his youth career, before coming to Columbus. When asked about the success of guys like Roby, Cameron Heyward, and Raekwon McMillan, from the area, here is what Hancock had to say: “Coach Boo is my high school coach and I’ve known him since I’m five. He trained Bradley Roby for his whole life and really made him the player he was to be able to go to Ohio State. It’s cool that Bradley Roby went to Ohio State and that Ohio State is a school I’m strongly considering. That plays a big role into my decision.”
Hancock is hoping to get back to Columbus for the spring game next year and is eyeing a decision after spring ball or in the early summer. He did admit that while that timeline was what he was originally thinking, that a decision could come sooner if he gets set on a school.
2022 WR Kaden Saunders-We posted a story on the Westerville (Oh.) South super sophomore over the weekend, which you can read here. The Buckeyes did not extend an offer yet, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see them do so following this season. While OSU was the school Saunders rooted for growing up (and still roots for), this won’t be automatically done for the Scarlet and Gray should that offer go out. First off, some other schools have gotten a jump on Ohio State by offering early—one of those is Penn State, who has put some quality effort into this one, and absolutely leads right now, due to the relationships they’ve built with Saunders. Second, currently, while both Brian Hartline and Jeff Hafley are in communication with Saunders, Ohio State is mostly talking with him about defensive back. Although Saunders says he likes defensive back and acknowledges he could be a good one, right now he really wants to play receiver and believes that is his path to success at the next level. If the Buckeyes eventually want to get into this recruitment and win it, I think they need to offer soon, put effort behind building the relationship further, and most importantly, start to recruit Saunders as a receiver.
BUCKEYES MOVE ON IN-STATE LINEMAN
In case you missed it this week, Ohio State extended an offer to Streetsboro (Oh.) 2021 defensive lineman Mike Hall. The 6-foot-3, 275-pound Hall now holds offers from the Buckeyes, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Toledo, Kent State, and Akron.
Hall was at Ohio State’s “big man camp” back in June and the staff liked what they saw there. They have tracked Hall since and continued to be pleased with what they’ve seen this season, leading Ryan Day to offer the talented lineman on Monday.
Although he admitted to me that it was hard not to commit on the spot, don’t expect a pledge from Hall in the immediate future. I would absolutely say that the Buckeyes are the favorite right now, which is why I put my FutureCast in for the Scarlet and Gray, but the plan, as things currently stand, is for Hall to announce his commitment on his birthday, June 13.
Expect a number of other programs to come in with offers in the next few months, followed by official visits in the spring to a few of those schools. Ohio State will definitely get an official, per Hall, which should set them up well as they head down the home stretch. It’s going to be really hard for anyone to beat out the home state team here, but there will definitely be a few programs that try to.
