Some quiet weeks recently, but A LOT going on right now and things seem to be picking up steam by the day.
- As I posted just a bit earlier, Rivals100 wide receiver Binjimen Victor is going to make his official visit to Ohio State this weekend. Victor is considering a handful of schools including; Florida, Tennessee, and West Virginia among others, but this has been mostly considered an Ohio State vs. Florida battle.
Per Victor, Ohio State "stands very high on my list, but I don't have an order right now" coming into the visit.
With that being said, I have it on very good authority that Florida's confidence in this battle is decreasing seemingly by the week. I've had Ohio State as a slight leader for Victor since the June visit. Pencil me in now for having Ohio State as the clear leader. I have never felt better about OSU's chances with Victor than I do right now after talking to a few people close to this one this evening.
- Victor won't be the only Rivals100 receiver from Florida making an official visit. Things are good to go with Sam Bruce and nearly as important, his mom will be accompanying him on the trip. So when the time comes to decide whether or not to stay in the state of Florida, the family should have a good opinion of Ohio State to go off of as opposed to the fear of the unknown and not knowing anything about the school, campus, or area. It's also a chance for the Ohio State staff to get a head start on relationship building before in-homes start.
I like chances a lot more with Victor right now than Bruce, but Ohio State is probably running third heading into the weekend for Bruce so a great visit could certainly improve chances and then we all play the waiting on game on what Miami does in terms of its likely impending coaching search. With the Miami coaching situation, it's not simply a matter of firing Golden (certainly seems like they will) but how a potential search process would be handled. I don't expect Bruce to do anything drastic until after New Year's, so he'll likely have a chance to sit back and let everything play out.
- Yet another big official visitor this weekend, in four-star defensive tackle Rashard Lawrence. I've confirmed that Rashard will be using his OV and now the Buckeyes get to swing for the fences. As I've mentioned in the past, Lawrence says all the right things about Ohio State. If you didn't know who he was or where he was from, you'd think Ohio State was right at the top of his list, but ultimately I'm just having a hard time seeing them pull him out of Louisiana.
He has definitely built a strong relationship with Larry Johnson, however, and this does pass a couple of those initial tests with him having already made an unofficial visit.
- That brings us to that other Lawerence. Dexter Lawrence will make his official visit to Ohio State for the Michigan State game in November. As you guys know I've had this in the longest of long shots category but I will say I did hear something that is somewhat encouraging on that front this evening.
Over the summer Ohio State (and most schools for the matter, not just the Buckeyes) was having a really hard time keeping up with Dexter in terms of communication. Dexter isn't a big talker, he's a super quiet kid and wasn't really paying much attention to the recruiting process and reaching out to coaches. There was a point back in June where despite listing Ohio State among a group of about 8-10 schools, he hadn't even really talked to the Buckeyes yet so clearly this one wasn't looking good.
I am told, however, that in the last several weeks that things have improved on that front. He has been receptive to attempts by Ohio State to communicate with him and is talking to defensive line coach Larry Johnson on at least a semi-regular basis. I still view this as a major long shot, but this at least represents a little bit of progress. N.C. State is still my gun to the head pick with Florida, Clemson, and Alabama all in contention.
- Can't wrap this up without a quick update on Kareem Walker. I know the rumors are out there but I do not expect Walker to make an unofficial visit this weekend to Michigan. We'll just have to wait and see what happens but have talked to people on all sides of this and I am not anticipating a second consecutive Michigan trip.
That doesn't mean I'm ruling out another visit to Michigan at some point down the road, they'll certainly keep trying to make that happen, but I would be surprised if it took place this weekend. I expect Walker to make his official visit to Ohio State in November. Would think that the closer they can make it to his planned early enrollment, the better. In the mean time, things did go well enough for Michigan over the weekend to make this a situation to continue to keep an eye on. Nothing happened this weekend that would deter Michigan from continuing its pursuit.
Walker spent a lot of his visit with Jabrill Peppers which I'm told was a big thing, Peppers is definitely a guy a lot of North Jersey kids look up to. He's also close with Ahmir Mitchell.
That said, Walker has been in communication to the Ohio State coaching staff since his return from Michigan, which is a positive for the Buckeyes. Was told it was just a routine conversation with Kareem so nothing that would raise the alert level beyond where it already was.
- Finally, did hear from the coaching staff at Liberty County HS (Ga.) and 2017 DB Richard LeCounte is expected to be in Columbus this weekend with at least one member of the staff there. Will obviously have to leave either late Friday night after his game or early Saturday morning. We'll have more with Richard later this week.
- As I posted just a bit earlier, Rivals100 wide receiver Binjimen Victor is going to make his official visit to Ohio State this weekend. Victor is considering a handful of schools including; Florida, Tennessee, and West Virginia among others, but this has been mostly considered an Ohio State vs. Florida battle.
Per Victor, Ohio State "stands very high on my list, but I don't have an order right now" coming into the visit.
With that being said, I have it on very good authority that Florida's confidence in this battle is decreasing seemingly by the week. I've had Ohio State as a slight leader for Victor since the June visit. Pencil me in now for having Ohio State as the clear leader. I have never felt better about OSU's chances with Victor than I do right now after talking to a few people close to this one this evening.
- Victor won't be the only Rivals100 receiver from Florida making an official visit. Things are good to go with Sam Bruce and nearly as important, his mom will be accompanying him on the trip. So when the time comes to decide whether or not to stay in the state of Florida, the family should have a good opinion of Ohio State to go off of as opposed to the fear of the unknown and not knowing anything about the school, campus, or area. It's also a chance for the Ohio State staff to get a head start on relationship building before in-homes start.
I like chances a lot more with Victor right now than Bruce, but Ohio State is probably running third heading into the weekend for Bruce so a great visit could certainly improve chances and then we all play the waiting on game on what Miami does in terms of its likely impending coaching search. With the Miami coaching situation, it's not simply a matter of firing Golden (certainly seems like they will) but how a potential search process would be handled. I don't expect Bruce to do anything drastic until after New Year's, so he'll likely have a chance to sit back and let everything play out.
- Yet another big official visitor this weekend, in four-star defensive tackle Rashard Lawrence. I've confirmed that Rashard will be using his OV and now the Buckeyes get to swing for the fences. As I've mentioned in the past, Lawrence says all the right things about Ohio State. If you didn't know who he was or where he was from, you'd think Ohio State was right at the top of his list, but ultimately I'm just having a hard time seeing them pull him out of Louisiana.
He has definitely built a strong relationship with Larry Johnson, however, and this does pass a couple of those initial tests with him having already made an unofficial visit.
- That brings us to that other Lawerence. Dexter Lawrence will make his official visit to Ohio State for the Michigan State game in November. As you guys know I've had this in the longest of long shots category but I will say I did hear something that is somewhat encouraging on that front this evening.
Over the summer Ohio State (and most schools for the matter, not just the Buckeyes) was having a really hard time keeping up with Dexter in terms of communication. Dexter isn't a big talker, he's a super quiet kid and wasn't really paying much attention to the recruiting process and reaching out to coaches. There was a point back in June where despite listing Ohio State among a group of about 8-10 schools, he hadn't even really talked to the Buckeyes yet so clearly this one wasn't looking good.
I am told, however, that in the last several weeks that things have improved on that front. He has been receptive to attempts by Ohio State to communicate with him and is talking to defensive line coach Larry Johnson on at least a semi-regular basis. I still view this as a major long shot, but this at least represents a little bit of progress. N.C. State is still my gun to the head pick with Florida, Clemson, and Alabama all in contention.
- Can't wrap this up without a quick update on Kareem Walker. I know the rumors are out there but I do not expect Walker to make an unofficial visit this weekend to Michigan. We'll just have to wait and see what happens but have talked to people on all sides of this and I am not anticipating a second consecutive Michigan trip.
That doesn't mean I'm ruling out another visit to Michigan at some point down the road, they'll certainly keep trying to make that happen, but I would be surprised if it took place this weekend. I expect Walker to make his official visit to Ohio State in November. Would think that the closer they can make it to his planned early enrollment, the better. In the mean time, things did go well enough for Michigan over the weekend to make this a situation to continue to keep an eye on. Nothing happened this weekend that would deter Michigan from continuing its pursuit.
Walker spent a lot of his visit with Jabrill Peppers which I'm told was a big thing, Peppers is definitely a guy a lot of North Jersey kids look up to. He's also close with Ahmir Mitchell.
That said, Walker has been in communication to the Ohio State coaching staff since his return from Michigan, which is a positive for the Buckeyes. Was told it was just a routine conversation with Kareem so nothing that would raise the alert level beyond where it already was.
- Finally, did hear from the coaching staff at Liberty County HS (Ga.) and 2017 DB Richard LeCounte is expected to be in Columbus this weekend with at least one member of the staff there. Will obviously have to leave either late Friday night after his game or early Saturday morning. We'll have more with Richard later this week.
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