The Opening Rumblings
Spent the day in Cleveland as Nike's The Opening Regionals made its yearly stop in Ohio. I have somewhere in the ballpark of two dozen interviews in my recorder right now so look for a lot of content coming over the next few days from the event. I will dedicate this section tonight to recruiting information I picked up during the day.
As I posted earlier, Jackson Carman already started walking things back a bit today. He wouldn't list Ohio State No. 2 behind Clemson when prompted, instead going with the old 1A and 1B treatment with the Buckeyes being 1B. Carman will visit Ohio State this coming weekend for the spring game and will stay overnight on Friday.
I should probably just copy and paste my paragraph from last week's Skull Session in here. I think he greatly enjoyed his Clemson visit, I think he really likes Dabo Swinney, I think it is a near certainty that he signs with Ohio State.
Might as well stay with the theme of in-state guys that I know you all are/were expecting to be in this class but may now be causing some stress. In speaking with several people today at the camp, my pick is still Ohio State for four-star linebacker Dallas Gant. He is being a little coy about where he'll be this coming weekend, either Ohio State or Michigan as both have their spring games on the same day. I'd be mildly surprised if he wasn't at Ohio State. I personally don't think Michigan is one of his top three right now.
Tracked down the elusive Juice Scruggs today. The four-star offensive lineman says he is taking it slow right now and plans to take his official visits. It felt like Scruggs came very close to committing to Ohio State in the fall, but slowing down the process hasn't hurt the Buckeyes here. Scruggs says Ohio State and Penn State stand out, but that isn't a final two by any means. It definitely felt like Ohio State was in the driver's seat in talking to him today.
The one interesting thing with Scruggs, who worked at both center and guard today and did well at both spots, is how a commitment from Jake Kradel could impact him. Both are interior guys, both COULD be centers and Kradel looks like he will be deciding sooner than Scruggs. But I do think there could be room for both guys in the class and it seems like Kradel is being viewed as a center by Ohio State where as Scruggs is being recruited more as a guard. As I've said before, I expect a big offensive line class in 2018 from OSU, at least five.
Speaking of Kradel, pretty confident in saying that Ohio State is in the lead right now and could be closing in on a commitment in the not too distant future. I'm told he's a take, no need for camp, with one OSU source telling me the Buckeyes feel he could be another Pat Elflein type on the interior of the offensive line.
Something to watch this weekend at the spring game will be the visit of Rivals100 WR/ATH Blue Smith. There have always been questions about whether or not Smith would outgrow wide receiver and become more of a flex tight end. Smith has been vehemently opposed to any talk of playing any position other than wide receiver and it certainly sounds like he is going to want some clarification on that front from Ohio State this weekend.
The Opening Observations
While the last segment focused on recruiting information, I'll get as many of my thoughts on the OSU targets today at The Opening regional as possible.
First competitive reps in a long time for Jaelen Gill and it was almost like he never got injured. Jaelen looked explosive and confident and really excelled when they moved to 1-on-1's. He punched his ticket to The Opening today and he should only continue to trend upwards from here as he gets back into the swing of things. He's playing baseball this spring so there will only be so much time for football workouts but just getting back out there competing and building up strength again was a great sign.
Interesting day for Jackson Carman. He apparently weighed in at 347-pounds, which is too big. I don't know that he looked THAT big, but he has definitely put on some weight since the end of the season and I'd like to see him drop about 20-pounds to make sure he isn't too big before he gets into a strength and conditioning program in college (better to build up than to try and cut weight).
That said, it didn't seem to matter. He still pretty much dominated. He had a lot of battles with Tyreke Smith, winning most of them, and while he didn't win every single rep, there wasn't one rep that I watched where I thought he was soundly defeated. On a day where every offensive lineman took a bad beating or two, Carman avoided that really bad rep and was consistently winning showdowns with some very good defensive linemen.
I was pleasantly surprised with four-star Cleveland Heights (Ohio) defensive end Tyreke Smith. I still have my questions about him staying outside at the next level, but he has actually slimmed down a bit over the past couple of months and really impressed me with his quickness today. I also love that he kept going at Carman. While Carman won most of the battles, Smith did get him a couple of times during the day. I am notoriously tough on basketball kids who play along the line, I want to see them be physical, competitive, and aggressive and Smith was all of those things today.
Dallas Gant has definitely put on some muscle since the end of the season. No chance he's only the 208-210 we've had him listed at. Looked about 230 to me honestly, but didn't ask him what he weighed in at so I'll have to circle back and get that number tonight or tomorrow. It was all good weight though, looked just as athletic as always but just a lot bigger/stronger.
What more can be said about the potential of 2019 Ohio defensive end Zach Harrison? Harrison had the second best SPARQ score at the entire camp (15 years old folks) and ran a 4.62 40-yard dash at 243-pounds. This is still a very young prospect who has a lot to learn about playing the defensive end position. Until maybe six months ago, Harrison wasn't even sure he was a defensive player, he worked out mostly at tight end last summer at camps, so he has only scratched the surface of what he can be and has only in the last few months really dedicated himself to learning all of the nuances of the position.
But Harrison more than held his own today in 1-on-1's. He had a tremendous rep early on, where he used both of his arms to swat down the offensive lineman's hands and then blew right past him. It was a pretty special display of strength and speed, so it is all about bottling that up and becoming more consistent with it, which with his work ethic, I don't really have any concerns on that front. This is a kid that still looks kind of skinny at 245. Really think he's going to be one of those 275-280 pound freak defensive ends.
Another 2019 Ohio defensive lineman impressed me today and that was Cincinnati Walnut Hills defensive tackle Jowon Briggs. I absolutely loved his competitive streak. He took more reps than any defensive lineman at the camp today and showed that great first step that we've seen on film.
He got in trouble a few times not using his hands and trying to overpower guys instead of disengaging and going to a secondary move, but once he made that adjustment he was a handful. Definitely feel he back up the early top 100 ranking.
I thought class of 2019 West Virginia offensive lineman Doug Nester had a good day as well. Another kid that really got after it and competed hard but his footwork was really good, he didn't lunge and was able to anchor against older kids. He'll only get stronger and I think he's another kid who justified the early top 100 ranking.
More from the weekend visitors
Will start with Rivals100 linebacker Teradja Mitchell who wrapped his time in Columbus up this morning. As I said yesterday, we now have to wait and see what he decides in terms of visiting Florida State. He was tentatively scheduled to do so this coming weekend but Ohio State knocked it out of the park this weekend and it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could shut it down this week.
Florida State will obviously be fighting to make sure that visit does go through but in speaking with a few people who were on campus this weekend, the feeling is that Mitchell is now leaning pretty heavily towards Ohio State. It is now going to be the goal of the rest of the pack of contenders here to prolong this one and hold Mitchell off from making a decision in favor of OSU.
IF something goes down soon with Mitchell, that probably wouldn't be great news for Michael Harris, the Springfield (Ohio) transplant now in Georgia. With a lot of irons in the fire at linebacker, that could hurt his status with the Buckeyes if Mitchell does issue an early commitment.
Another prospect I think the Buckeyes did well with this weekend was 2019 running back Noah Cain. Ohio State has gradually built momentum here with Noah and he had both is parents with him over the weekend. Now, it's worth tempering expectations here because it is so early and Cain's recruitment will be a national one with schools all over the country showing interest. Not to mention his status at IMG will expose him to commits from many programs around the nation and every major program in the nation recruits that school so there is a long way to go here but Ohio State has done what it needs to do to make sure it's a factor moving forward.
I haven't caught up yet with 2018 OL Max Wray out of Tennessee, but he was on campus along with his younger brother Jake, who is a class of 2020 prospect. From what I have heard the visit went pretty well, it was their first trip to campus, but I haven't heard anything that would change my belief that Wray ends up in the SEC either at Alabama or Tennessee (my pick would be Alabama).
Georgia defensive back Tre Douglas continues to be very high on Ohio State, but I'm not sure the Buckeyes are ready to make a move there. Douglas is definitely a kid that 'could' potentially end up in this class on Signing Day, but again, I think there are some other pieces out there that need to play out first.
Spent the day in Cleveland as Nike's The Opening Regionals made its yearly stop in Ohio. I have somewhere in the ballpark of two dozen interviews in my recorder right now so look for a lot of content coming over the next few days from the event. I will dedicate this section tonight to recruiting information I picked up during the day.
As I posted earlier, Jackson Carman already started walking things back a bit today. He wouldn't list Ohio State No. 2 behind Clemson when prompted, instead going with the old 1A and 1B treatment with the Buckeyes being 1B. Carman will visit Ohio State this coming weekend for the spring game and will stay overnight on Friday.
I should probably just copy and paste my paragraph from last week's Skull Session in here. I think he greatly enjoyed his Clemson visit, I think he really likes Dabo Swinney, I think it is a near certainty that he signs with Ohio State.
Might as well stay with the theme of in-state guys that I know you all are/were expecting to be in this class but may now be causing some stress. In speaking with several people today at the camp, my pick is still Ohio State for four-star linebacker Dallas Gant. He is being a little coy about where he'll be this coming weekend, either Ohio State or Michigan as both have their spring games on the same day. I'd be mildly surprised if he wasn't at Ohio State. I personally don't think Michigan is one of his top three right now.
Tracked down the elusive Juice Scruggs today. The four-star offensive lineman says he is taking it slow right now and plans to take his official visits. It felt like Scruggs came very close to committing to Ohio State in the fall, but slowing down the process hasn't hurt the Buckeyes here. Scruggs says Ohio State and Penn State stand out, but that isn't a final two by any means. It definitely felt like Ohio State was in the driver's seat in talking to him today.
The one interesting thing with Scruggs, who worked at both center and guard today and did well at both spots, is how a commitment from Jake Kradel could impact him. Both are interior guys, both COULD be centers and Kradel looks like he will be deciding sooner than Scruggs. But I do think there could be room for both guys in the class and it seems like Kradel is being viewed as a center by Ohio State where as Scruggs is being recruited more as a guard. As I've said before, I expect a big offensive line class in 2018 from OSU, at least five.
Speaking of Kradel, pretty confident in saying that Ohio State is in the lead right now and could be closing in on a commitment in the not too distant future. I'm told he's a take, no need for camp, with one OSU source telling me the Buckeyes feel he could be another Pat Elflein type on the interior of the offensive line.
Something to watch this weekend at the spring game will be the visit of Rivals100 WR/ATH Blue Smith. There have always been questions about whether or not Smith would outgrow wide receiver and become more of a flex tight end. Smith has been vehemently opposed to any talk of playing any position other than wide receiver and it certainly sounds like he is going to want some clarification on that front from Ohio State this weekend.
The Opening Observations
While the last segment focused on recruiting information, I'll get as many of my thoughts on the OSU targets today at The Opening regional as possible.
First competitive reps in a long time for Jaelen Gill and it was almost like he never got injured. Jaelen looked explosive and confident and really excelled when they moved to 1-on-1's. He punched his ticket to The Opening today and he should only continue to trend upwards from here as he gets back into the swing of things. He's playing baseball this spring so there will only be so much time for football workouts but just getting back out there competing and building up strength again was a great sign.
Interesting day for Jackson Carman. He apparently weighed in at 347-pounds, which is too big. I don't know that he looked THAT big, but he has definitely put on some weight since the end of the season and I'd like to see him drop about 20-pounds to make sure he isn't too big before he gets into a strength and conditioning program in college (better to build up than to try and cut weight).
That said, it didn't seem to matter. He still pretty much dominated. He had a lot of battles with Tyreke Smith, winning most of them, and while he didn't win every single rep, there wasn't one rep that I watched where I thought he was soundly defeated. On a day where every offensive lineman took a bad beating or two, Carman avoided that really bad rep and was consistently winning showdowns with some very good defensive linemen.
I was pleasantly surprised with four-star Cleveland Heights (Ohio) defensive end Tyreke Smith. I still have my questions about him staying outside at the next level, but he has actually slimmed down a bit over the past couple of months and really impressed me with his quickness today. I also love that he kept going at Carman. While Carman won most of the battles, Smith did get him a couple of times during the day. I am notoriously tough on basketball kids who play along the line, I want to see them be physical, competitive, and aggressive and Smith was all of those things today.
Dallas Gant has definitely put on some muscle since the end of the season. No chance he's only the 208-210 we've had him listed at. Looked about 230 to me honestly, but didn't ask him what he weighed in at so I'll have to circle back and get that number tonight or tomorrow. It was all good weight though, looked just as athletic as always but just a lot bigger/stronger.
What more can be said about the potential of 2019 Ohio defensive end Zach Harrison? Harrison had the second best SPARQ score at the entire camp (15 years old folks) and ran a 4.62 40-yard dash at 243-pounds. This is still a very young prospect who has a lot to learn about playing the defensive end position. Until maybe six months ago, Harrison wasn't even sure he was a defensive player, he worked out mostly at tight end last summer at camps, so he has only scratched the surface of what he can be and has only in the last few months really dedicated himself to learning all of the nuances of the position.
But Harrison more than held his own today in 1-on-1's. He had a tremendous rep early on, where he used both of his arms to swat down the offensive lineman's hands and then blew right past him. It was a pretty special display of strength and speed, so it is all about bottling that up and becoming more consistent with it, which with his work ethic, I don't really have any concerns on that front. This is a kid that still looks kind of skinny at 245. Really think he's going to be one of those 275-280 pound freak defensive ends.
Another 2019 Ohio defensive lineman impressed me today and that was Cincinnati Walnut Hills defensive tackle Jowon Briggs. I absolutely loved his competitive streak. He took more reps than any defensive lineman at the camp today and showed that great first step that we've seen on film.
He got in trouble a few times not using his hands and trying to overpower guys instead of disengaging and going to a secondary move, but once he made that adjustment he was a handful. Definitely feel he back up the early top 100 ranking.
I thought class of 2019 West Virginia offensive lineman Doug Nester had a good day as well. Another kid that really got after it and competed hard but his footwork was really good, he didn't lunge and was able to anchor against older kids. He'll only get stronger and I think he's another kid who justified the early top 100 ranking.
More from the weekend visitors
Will start with Rivals100 linebacker Teradja Mitchell who wrapped his time in Columbus up this morning. As I said yesterday, we now have to wait and see what he decides in terms of visiting Florida State. He was tentatively scheduled to do so this coming weekend but Ohio State knocked it out of the park this weekend and it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could shut it down this week.
Florida State will obviously be fighting to make sure that visit does go through but in speaking with a few people who were on campus this weekend, the feeling is that Mitchell is now leaning pretty heavily towards Ohio State. It is now going to be the goal of the rest of the pack of contenders here to prolong this one and hold Mitchell off from making a decision in favor of OSU.
IF something goes down soon with Mitchell, that probably wouldn't be great news for Michael Harris, the Springfield (Ohio) transplant now in Georgia. With a lot of irons in the fire at linebacker, that could hurt his status with the Buckeyes if Mitchell does issue an early commitment.
Another prospect I think the Buckeyes did well with this weekend was 2019 running back Noah Cain. Ohio State has gradually built momentum here with Noah and he had both is parents with him over the weekend. Now, it's worth tempering expectations here because it is so early and Cain's recruitment will be a national one with schools all over the country showing interest. Not to mention his status at IMG will expose him to commits from many programs around the nation and every major program in the nation recruits that school so there is a long way to go here but Ohio State has done what it needs to do to make sure it's a factor moving forward.
I haven't caught up yet with 2018 OL Max Wray out of Tennessee, but he was on campus along with his younger brother Jake, who is a class of 2020 prospect. From what I have heard the visit went pretty well, it was their first trip to campus, but I haven't heard anything that would change my belief that Wray ends up in the SEC either at Alabama or Tennessee (my pick would be Alabama).
Georgia defensive back Tre Douglas continues to be very high on Ohio State, but I'm not sure the Buckeyes are ready to make a move there. Douglas is definitely a kid that 'could' potentially end up in this class on Signing Day, but again, I think there are some other pieces out there that need to play out first.
