Putting Cooper's performance in perspective
Ohio State four-star defensive end commit Cooper won his 12 reps, mostly in dominant fashion. Only one of his reps really left much doubt, he made an inside move and the offensive tackle jumped it but Cooper used his quickness to swim back outside for the win.
The common theme that has been discussed with Coop throughout the nearly two years that we've been covering him is that he appears to get better each and every time we see him. Kids typically improve with age and experience but normally if you see a kid as many times as we've seen Cooper, there is going to be a time or two where maybe a kid's best performance isn't turned in for one reason or another. Yet that hasn't really happened yet in this situation as Cooper took things up another notch on Saturday.
The arsenal of pass rushing moves continues to expand. This is no longer just a speed rusher who relies on beating guys to the outside with a great first step. Cooper used his strength on several occasions to get opposing linemen's hands off of him and showed off a devastating inside move on more than a few occasions. His added weight and strength is really starting to pay off and you can see that when he uses his rip move to power through guys when they try and lock onto him.
While a camp setting really can't display all of the things you want to see out of a defensive linemen, Cooper just looks much more comfortable now than he did a year ago and it is going to be very interesting to see how that translates to the field this fall where he will no doubt see his fair share of double teams and offenses that will be designed to run away from him.
Now to put this all in perspective, because I think it's important to note that this wasn't your run-of-the-mill local camp that typically features just a couple top guys and then sees a big drop-off in talent.
As I posted on here before MVP's were announced on Saturday, just making the top five on Saturday was a big deal. Eventual MVP E.J. Price out of the way like a rag doll, it was probably the single most impressive rep of the day. Davidson will be firmly in the discussion as the top overall prospect in the 2016 class so 'losing' any type of positional MVP to him is certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.
But beyond Davidson, the camp featured the likes of five-star defensive tackle Derrick Brown and Rivals100 defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson, so this was as loaded of a position group as you will ever see at a regional camp. I personally haven't seen anything close to this at a regional camp since the 2011 Nike Camp in Columbus that featured that great Midwest group with guys like Adolphus Washington, Se'Von Pittman, Taco Charlton and many others.
Davidson hails from Alabama, but most of the top Georgia guys were there and this isn't just your average Georgia defensive line class. As one high school coach that was there on Saturday told me, 'this is the best defensive line class in the state of Georgia in 20 years'.
Long story short, Cooper made a very select elite group of prospects that included a potential No. 1 overall player and most of the best prospects from a group that is the best its talent-rich state has produced in 20 years. I would consider his trip to Atlanta this weekend a wild success regardless of winning a positional MVP award. He could have went to Cleveland or Charlotte and probably won a positional MVP but I don't think it would have meant as much as doing what he did on Saturday in that talented of a group.
More Atlanta news and notes
So if you read my RCS Atlanta notebook that ran yesterday evening, you'd know that there are a lot of top prospects from the Southeast that are going to be making Ohio State visits over the next couple of months. Rivals250 prospects from the camp that either have a date set or a general timeframe in mind included defensive linemen Nygel Edmonds.
Within that group, I think we run the full spectrum of interest levels in Ohio State. Rochester said many of the right things (update on him in the next day or so) but at the end of the day he is a kid that will stay in the South in my opinion.
The rest of the group I feel are at least somewhat in play for the Buckeyes. Ohio State was Warrior's first offer, he is probably Kerry Coombs' number one target in the class, and OSU has been right in the mix every step of the way over the last year so that is a situation where there are some obstacles to overcome (Tennessee legacy, UGA priority) but a good visit in April can keep them in the mix and lead to an official visit later in the process.
Jackson and Williams are interesting because they both talk to the Ohio State coaches regularly. Williams talks to Ash and Hinton, Jackson has now started talking regularly to Larry Johnson, and these kids don't keep up that level of consistent communication if they aren't interested. But in both cases, we are talking about huge offer lists and kids that aren't all that close right now to narrowing things down.
Ohio State is in the game here, but the game is just beginning, they're at Connecticut and Vermont Avenue, they haven't reached Atlantic Avenue or Marvin Gardens, let alone Park Place and Boardwalk. The upcoming visits (Williams in late May and Jackson over the summer) will really dictate whether Ohio State is just another team that is probably in the top 7-10 or whether or not they are legitimate threat to land a signature.
Edmonds is the guy that I left my discussions with feeling that perhaps we need to start talking more about this prospect. He has really clicked with the coaching staff so far, he knows all about Vonn Bell and how well he is doing and keep in mind that Darron Lee also has a lot of Chattanooga ties (lived there when he was younger) so there is going to be a comfort level there.
I think the board at cornerback is still very much evolving, so just where Edmonds falls right now is still a bit unclear but this upcoming visit is going to be interesting to keep an eye on and to see what Nygel is saying coming out of it. If he is made a priority by the coaching staff I think they would have a real chance here.
Latest on QB recruiting
We're back with our now weekly update on the status of quarterback recruiting in the 2016 class. Kevin and I both Jarrett Guarantano today and I also had a chance to pick the brains out of a couple of people close to Jarrett.
At this point I do not put much, if any, stock in his claim that Rutgers is currently his No. 1. I still think Rutgers is the third most likely destination for him. I do, however, think this Tennessee visit is growing more and more problematic, especially after the decommitment of Austin Kendall which does open things up a bit more on the Tennessee depth chart.
As I've said before on Jarrett, I think there are two very important things to him in this process. First and foremost, I believe he wants to play at a major, tradition rich program and Ohio State and Tennessee fit that bill. Now from there, the depth chart is going to play a factor and right now Tennessee's looks better on paper. Certainly a meeting with the Ohio State coaching staff needs to happen here and they can sort of break things down here (most notably the likelihood that Miller and Jones are both gone before Jarrett ever sets foot on campus).
As for Ohio State, there are two potential weekends for his visit to take place. Right now the most likely scenario is that he visits Ohio State the weekend after Easter (April 11th) while he is on his spring break. There is also a small chance that he visits Ohio State next weekend (March 28th) as they will return from Tennessee on Tuesday. Again, that is less likely than the weekend after Easter but it is possible and something the family is looking at.
I think the good news for Ohio State right now is that I am told that both Jarrett and his family are hell bent on following through with visits to his top three schools and it was put to me in no uncertain terms that no matter how well the visit to Tennessee would go on Monday that there is no expectation of a commitment to the Vols and every expectation to visit Ohio State again before making a decision at some point in the next three to four weeks. I'd expect some type of announcement ceremony at his school.
Ultimately I still see a lot of fluidity in this situation. There have been a ton of staff changes at all of the schools that he likes and I think this last round of visits is pretty crucial and that just about anything could happen as he sits down with the coaches and they go over the offense and give their final pitches.
Again, if things go bad here, the name to really watch is Tristen Wallace out of DeSoto (Texas). While there is no doubt that Guarantano emerged several months ago as the top target at the position, Wallace is a very talented prospect in his own right and is definitely a great system fit. OSU will have a very good chance here if Jarrett slips away to Tennessee or Rutgers.
Wallace has talked recently about making a commitment in the not too distant future. I think ideally OSU would like to see what happens with Guarantano first so it will be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of the decision dates for these two guys.
Wrapping up our ATL trip
We'll be flying back to Columbus Monday evening but our coverage from Atlanta is not yet finished. I still have plenty of updates to publish on guys that we spoke to on Saturday and we're also going to be spending the day Monday at a couple of Atlanta area high schools before flying home. There were a handful of Atlanta area Ohio State targets that were not able to camp this weekend so we're going to be getting some updates on some of those guys before our trip is over. Still plenty of good content coming from this weekend over the next few days.
This post was edited on 3/22 8:28 PM by Kevin_N
Ohio State four-star defensive end commit Cooper won his 12 reps, mostly in dominant fashion. Only one of his reps really left much doubt, he made an inside move and the offensive tackle jumped it but Cooper used his quickness to swim back outside for the win.
The common theme that has been discussed with Coop throughout the nearly two years that we've been covering him is that he appears to get better each and every time we see him. Kids typically improve with age and experience but normally if you see a kid as many times as we've seen Cooper, there is going to be a time or two where maybe a kid's best performance isn't turned in for one reason or another. Yet that hasn't really happened yet in this situation as Cooper took things up another notch on Saturday.
The arsenal of pass rushing moves continues to expand. This is no longer just a speed rusher who relies on beating guys to the outside with a great first step. Cooper used his strength on several occasions to get opposing linemen's hands off of him and showed off a devastating inside move on more than a few occasions. His added weight and strength is really starting to pay off and you can see that when he uses his rip move to power through guys when they try and lock onto him.
While a camp setting really can't display all of the things you want to see out of a defensive linemen, Cooper just looks much more comfortable now than he did a year ago and it is going to be very interesting to see how that translates to the field this fall where he will no doubt see his fair share of double teams and offenses that will be designed to run away from him.
Now to put this all in perspective, because I think it's important to note that this wasn't your run-of-the-mill local camp that typically features just a couple top guys and then sees a big drop-off in talent.
As I posted on here before MVP's were announced on Saturday, just making the top five on Saturday was a big deal. Eventual MVP E.J. Price out of the way like a rag doll, it was probably the single most impressive rep of the day. Davidson will be firmly in the discussion as the top overall prospect in the 2016 class so 'losing' any type of positional MVP to him is certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.
But beyond Davidson, the camp featured the likes of five-star defensive tackle Derrick Brown and Rivals100 defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson, so this was as loaded of a position group as you will ever see at a regional camp. I personally haven't seen anything close to this at a regional camp since the 2011 Nike Camp in Columbus that featured that great Midwest group with guys like Adolphus Washington, Se'Von Pittman, Taco Charlton and many others.
Davidson hails from Alabama, but most of the top Georgia guys were there and this isn't just your average Georgia defensive line class. As one high school coach that was there on Saturday told me, 'this is the best defensive line class in the state of Georgia in 20 years'.
Long story short, Cooper made a very select elite group of prospects that included a potential No. 1 overall player and most of the best prospects from a group that is the best its talent-rich state has produced in 20 years. I would consider his trip to Atlanta this weekend a wild success regardless of winning a positional MVP award. He could have went to Cleveland or Charlotte and probably won a positional MVP but I don't think it would have meant as much as doing what he did on Saturday in that talented of a group.
More Atlanta news and notes
So if you read my RCS Atlanta notebook that ran yesterday evening, you'd know that there are a lot of top prospects from the Southeast that are going to be making Ohio State visits over the next couple of months. Rivals250 prospects from the camp that either have a date set or a general timeframe in mind included defensive linemen Nygel Edmonds.
Within that group, I think we run the full spectrum of interest levels in Ohio State. Rochester said many of the right things (update on him in the next day or so) but at the end of the day he is a kid that will stay in the South in my opinion.
The rest of the group I feel are at least somewhat in play for the Buckeyes. Ohio State was Warrior's first offer, he is probably Kerry Coombs' number one target in the class, and OSU has been right in the mix every step of the way over the last year so that is a situation where there are some obstacles to overcome (Tennessee legacy, UGA priority) but a good visit in April can keep them in the mix and lead to an official visit later in the process.
Jackson and Williams are interesting because they both talk to the Ohio State coaches regularly. Williams talks to Ash and Hinton, Jackson has now started talking regularly to Larry Johnson, and these kids don't keep up that level of consistent communication if they aren't interested. But in both cases, we are talking about huge offer lists and kids that aren't all that close right now to narrowing things down.
Ohio State is in the game here, but the game is just beginning, they're at Connecticut and Vermont Avenue, they haven't reached Atlantic Avenue or Marvin Gardens, let alone Park Place and Boardwalk. The upcoming visits (Williams in late May and Jackson over the summer) will really dictate whether Ohio State is just another team that is probably in the top 7-10 or whether or not they are legitimate threat to land a signature.
Edmonds is the guy that I left my discussions with feeling that perhaps we need to start talking more about this prospect. He has really clicked with the coaching staff so far, he knows all about Vonn Bell and how well he is doing and keep in mind that Darron Lee also has a lot of Chattanooga ties (lived there when he was younger) so there is going to be a comfort level there.
I think the board at cornerback is still very much evolving, so just where Edmonds falls right now is still a bit unclear but this upcoming visit is going to be interesting to keep an eye on and to see what Nygel is saying coming out of it. If he is made a priority by the coaching staff I think they would have a real chance here.
Latest on QB recruiting
We're back with our now weekly update on the status of quarterback recruiting in the 2016 class. Kevin and I both Jarrett Guarantano today and I also had a chance to pick the brains out of a couple of people close to Jarrett.
At this point I do not put much, if any, stock in his claim that Rutgers is currently his No. 1. I still think Rutgers is the third most likely destination for him. I do, however, think this Tennessee visit is growing more and more problematic, especially after the decommitment of Austin Kendall which does open things up a bit more on the Tennessee depth chart.
As I've said before on Jarrett, I think there are two very important things to him in this process. First and foremost, I believe he wants to play at a major, tradition rich program and Ohio State and Tennessee fit that bill. Now from there, the depth chart is going to play a factor and right now Tennessee's looks better on paper. Certainly a meeting with the Ohio State coaching staff needs to happen here and they can sort of break things down here (most notably the likelihood that Miller and Jones are both gone before Jarrett ever sets foot on campus).
As for Ohio State, there are two potential weekends for his visit to take place. Right now the most likely scenario is that he visits Ohio State the weekend after Easter (April 11th) while he is on his spring break. There is also a small chance that he visits Ohio State next weekend (March 28th) as they will return from Tennessee on Tuesday. Again, that is less likely than the weekend after Easter but it is possible and something the family is looking at.
I think the good news for Ohio State right now is that I am told that both Jarrett and his family are hell bent on following through with visits to his top three schools and it was put to me in no uncertain terms that no matter how well the visit to Tennessee would go on Monday that there is no expectation of a commitment to the Vols and every expectation to visit Ohio State again before making a decision at some point in the next three to four weeks. I'd expect some type of announcement ceremony at his school.
Ultimately I still see a lot of fluidity in this situation. There have been a ton of staff changes at all of the schools that he likes and I think this last round of visits is pretty crucial and that just about anything could happen as he sits down with the coaches and they go over the offense and give their final pitches.
Again, if things go bad here, the name to really watch is Tristen Wallace out of DeSoto (Texas). While there is no doubt that Guarantano emerged several months ago as the top target at the position, Wallace is a very talented prospect in his own right and is definitely a great system fit. OSU will have a very good chance here if Jarrett slips away to Tennessee or Rutgers.
Wallace has talked recently about making a commitment in the not too distant future. I think ideally OSU would like to see what happens with Guarantano first so it will be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of the decision dates for these two guys.
Wrapping up our ATL trip
We'll be flying back to Columbus Monday evening but our coverage from Atlanta is not yet finished. I still have plenty of updates to publish on guys that we spoke to on Saturday and we're also going to be spending the day Monday at a couple of Atlanta area high schools before flying home. There were a handful of Atlanta area Ohio State targets that were not able to camp this weekend so we're going to be getting some updates on some of those guys before our trip is over. Still plenty of good content coming from this weekend over the next few days.
This post was edited on 3/22 8:28 PM by Kevin_N
