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Growing confidence the Buckeyes will land a five-star next week
Last week, I noted in my Skull Session that I was told Ohio State was neck-and-neck with the Florida Gators for five-star defensive back Jaheim Singletary. Several days ago, however, I started to hear growing confidence that the Buckeyes had put themselves in the driver’s seat for the Singletary Sweepstakes.
After speaking with someone very familiar with the situation, I decided to switch my FutureCast from Florida to Ohio State. This is the sentence that really stood out to me during my conversation.
“Barring a last-minute shocker, it’s a done deal for OSU,” the source said.
The source went on to lay out a few reasons as to why Ryan Day’s program has put themselves in a great position to land Singletary. One of the main factors here is how well the staff has done when it comes to building up a relationship with Singletary’s mother.
When comparing Florida and Ohio State, the source said Singletary’s mom has a better relationship with the Buckeyes’ coaching staff, and that they FaceTime with her multiple times a week. If you recall, Singletary has said a few times in the past that his mom will play a key role in his recruitment, so kudos to Day and company for prioritizing and essentially recruiting her.
Interestingly enough, I heard Singletary wants to be at Columbus, despite the fact he’s never visited the school before. I think you can attribute this to the number of players from Jacksonville that have gone to Ohio State, as well as Shaun Wade’s father, Randy, speaking with him on a consistent basis.
I reached out to another source to get some more info, and I heard that Florida’s coaches don’t know anything right now. After covering the program for a few years, them being out of the loop for a kid usually is not a good sign for their chances of landing a target, especially one of Singletary’s caliber.
Singletary is slated to commit on Jan. 2, and we’ll have full coverage at BuckeyeGrove if the third-ranked cornerback on Rivals ends up committing to Ohio State.
Ewers excels in first game back since October
Quinn Ewers, the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 cycle and an Ohio State commit, returned to the field for the first time since Oct. 30. Ewers was dealing with an unspecified injury, but was able to play in Thursday’s matchup with Martin, with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder looked as if he never even missed a week as he completed 20 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns to lead Southlake Carroll to a 30-26 victory. Ewers did miss 15 passes to lead to a completion percentage of 57.1 percent, but he made all the necessary plays to win the game.
Ewers once again showcased all of the tools in his arsenal in this game. He has a fast release that works well on play-action passes, he displayed a nice sidearm that facilitates his quick release and was deadly accurate on the long passes I saw from his highlight reel.
One of the plays that stood out to me the most, which you can find by fast-forwarding to the 2:48 mark in this VIDEO, involves Ewers completing a pass in tight coverage. Ewers climbed up in the pocket and, while moving to his right, he threw a dart to his wideout that was right between two defensive backs. It is just silly how good this pass was as the ball is incomplete or intercepted if it’s slightly behind or in front of his target.
Ewers also showed off his accuracy on deep throws, which I believe is one of the top attributes of his game. The junior signal caller dropped beautiful dimes right into the breadbasket of his wideouts’ arms, and completed one near the sideline that had little margin for error.
Overall, you can tell Ewers has been influenced by players like Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes when watching this game and his junior season highlights. He’s very comfortable tossing passes on the run, using unusual arm angles (especially side arms) and throwing off of his backfoot.
I think Ryan Day and company will give Ewers full reign of the offense when he arrives in Columbus, and I’m excited to see what he’ll do with those weapons.
Rivals250 running back remains high on the Buckeyes
I just had a chance to exchange some messages with Damari Alston, who is the 13th-ranked running back in the country.
Alston reiterated to me that Ohio State continues to be one of his top choices in his recruitment, though he does not have a top schools list at this time. Tony Alford is leading the charge here for the Buckeyes, and the staff is making a strong impression on the Peach State product.
“Coaching staff just thinks highly of me, man,” Alston said. “Have good relationships with all the coaches. They produce RBs good.”
The 5-foot-10, 206-pounder rushed for 1,507 yards on 234 carries and 24 rushing touchdowns in his junior season. This was extremely impressive as Alston played only a dozen games this year, and also had nearly 300 receiving yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns.
Even though he was focused on his 2020 season, Alston has been following the Buckeyes closely.
“Played well man,” Alston said of Ohio State. “Only got to play six games or whatever, but we will see what they are made of in the College Football Playoff.”
As I mentioned before, Alston does not have a list of top schools, and he plans on narrowing it down fairly soon. Alston is also looking to take trips to multiple colleges in the near future, such as Florida, Miami and Ohio State.
Alston is somebody who is not close to making his decision, but expect the Buckeyes to be in the mix here until the very end.
Some info about Mookie Cooper
I wanted to include this section in case anybody missed my thread about Mookie Cooper earlier this week.
On Wednesday, the former Rivals100 athlete decided to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. I was told by a source close to the situation that Cooper made this choice because he wants to find an offensive scheme that best fits his skill set.
It was an amicable departure and there is no animosity on either side, but Cooper just wants to find a school where his talents can be maximized. I was told he thinks Ohio State’s offense has shifted dramatically from what it was when he first began being recruited by the program in October 2017.
I know some of you all have asked why the offense did not create plays to incorporate Cooper, but this was probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic, limited offseason and a shortened season. Maybe if he stayed around, the offense could have been tailored, to an extent, to give Cooper more opportunities.
What I heard today, however, may give a little more insight into why the decision was made now. I was told by the same source that Cooper is hoping to be enrolled at his future school by the time the spring semester begins. I don’t know exactly why Cooper did not want to stick around and finish the season, but that was what I was told.
I’m also hearing that Florida, Illinois, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern and USC have reached out to Cooper. A decision will most likely be made in the next week or so, so good luck to this young man wherever he goes.
Buckeyes make the top 10 for a Rivals100 defensive end
I just had this brought to my attention a few days ago, but I wanted to include it here for anyone who did not see the tweet on Dec. 18.
Just over a week ago, Rivals100 defensive end Shemar Stewart included the Ohio State Buckeyes in his top 10. Along with OSU making the cut, Stewart included Alabama, Arizona State, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Penn State and Texas A&M.
Stewart hauled in an offer from the Buckeyes back in early April, but he has yet to do any interviews in which he discusses his interest in the program. The product out of Opa Locka, Florida, does not speak with the media too often, though him and I are slated to speak soon.
Florida and Miami are a couple of early suitors here. It also looks like Clemson, Georgia and LSU are pushing hard for him as well, but I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say about Ohio State.
Along with the Buckeyes pursuing Stewart, they have several other junior defensive end targets that remain high on their radar. Those include Caden Curry, Derrick Moore, Mykel Williams and Omari Arbor.
Speaking of Arbor, check out what the Texas-based prospect’s father, Randy Abor, said to BuckeyeGrove’sAndy Anders earlier this week about which programs are high on his son’s radar (Hint: Ohio State is one of them).
