More on Dunmore
Rivals100 wide receiver John Dunmore continues to be a serious prospect of interest for Ohio State. The Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna star made a much anticipated unofficial visit to Ohio State back at the beginning of April. These early unofficial visits are practically a must for the Buckeyes with these Florida guys.
Now Dunmore is not going to be an easy pull out of the Sunshine State. All three in-state powers are involved at this point so it's going to take a big effort. But John is a bit of a different kid, very funny and laid back and those types of kids can be unpredictable.
"John could go just about anywhere," one source close to Dunmore told us this week. "He likes Florida State a lot. He also likes Florida, but he really could go anywhere. I don't think anyone down here knows exactly what he'll do. Ohio State is in it."
What will be interesting to me is if Dunmore follows through on his words to us yesterday. Another unofficial visit over the summer followed by an official visit later in the process would certainly indicate that Ohio State has a fighting chance. Two unofficials and an official has been a pretty good formula in the past for the Buckeyes when it comes to pulling guys out of the South.
At this point in Binjimen Victor's recruitment, nobody thought he would leave the state either, so if you're Ohio State you just keep working on this and go one step at a time. The next step would obviously be that June/July unofficial to just keep the momentum going and get John around the team to see how he fits in.
So while the safe bet would be on Dunmore staying in Florida, even those close to him acknowledge that he is a bit unpredictable and could be one of those kids who does pull a surprise and goes against the grain a bit. He makes another unofficial visit over the summer and I think you have to at least consider the possibility that Ohio State has a chance for the upset here.
Winning the Battle
We spent some time with Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas defensive back Jordan Battle on Wednesday evening. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound prospect has had a tremendous camp season and we first wrote about him back in February after an impressive showing at the Miami Rivals Camp.
At that time, there was not much going on between Battle and Ohio State, but it was clear that the Buckeyes would be a top school for Jordan if they started to get more involved. Ohio State and LSU were initially the two programs that Battle told me he really liked due to their success with developing defensive backs and sending them to the NFL.
Since that time, Ohio State has become more and more involved with Battle. When his April official visit was postponed, that was probably a good thing for the Buckeyes. Ohio State treads lightly with the South Florida prospects and with this being the first year for spring official visits, they did not want to bring any of those guys up on officials because even if the visit was a home run, you run the risk of never seeing that prospect make it to campus again with 10 months left in the process.
Battle will now make his official visit the weekend of June 21st. The extra two months has allowed Ohio State to do more homework on Battle both on and off the field. It has also allowed head coach Urban Meyer to get more personally involved with Battle and his family as well as getting more information from the coaching staff and administration at STA, a group that has a tremendous relationship with Meyer.
I'm told all of the boxes have pretty much been checked on Ohio State's end. The relationship between the family and Meyer is in a very good place right now. South Florida recruitments can turn into a circus but things have historically been more stable at St. Thomas Aquinas. I'm told Battle plans to be more of the typical STA type of kid where he doesn't want to commit somewhere and then take a bunch of visits, this has also helped ease Ohio State's concerns.
Long story short, I'm told Ohio State is satisfied with their research on Jordan and that Jordan is very excited about this upcoming visit. If everything goes well, I suspect Jordan will be a Buckeye in pretty short order coming out of the visit. The visit has to happen first, there will not be an announcement before that point, but once Jordan makes it to campus, it could simply be a matter of days before the Buckeyes are able to bring him into the fold.
The one small wrinkle right now is Alabama. The Crimson Tide have become more involved since Jordan visited for their spring game, but Ohio State's lead right now is a big one and it is likely too little too late for a school like LSU to come in and change that as the Tigers have not recruited Battle heavily like Ohio State has in recent months.
As for the 'other' St. Thomas Aquinas defensive back. Things aren't looking as good with cornerback Jaden Davis. Ohio State prefers its corners to be a little bit bigger and there just hasn't been as much communication there since the official visit got postponed. Where Ohio State has increased its aggressiveness with Battle, it has decreased with Davis and I'm told Clemson is in the best position right now to land Jaden.
One more to watch
The class of 2020 is beginning to take shape and in places like South Florida it is the top of the first inning of the recruiting process for many of these guys. Miami (Fla.) Central defensive back Henry Gray has already committed to Miami but we've been told he is a player to keep an eye on down the road. Gray landed offers from both Clemson and Texas A&M yesterday as he is starting to become a national prospect.
In true South Florida fashion, sources on the ground have already indicated that Miami is probably just a place-holder at this point and Gray will take other visits throughout the process.
"He likes Ohio State a lot," one source shared. "If they offered, they would be one of Henry's top schools. He likes the run of defensive backs they have put in the NFL."
Gray is generally what Ohio State looks for in defensive backs. He is 6-foot-1 and can really run. We're told Zach Smith has recently reached out to inquire about Gray so it will be interesting to see if things start to pick up here in the coming weeks.
Rivals100 wide receiver John Dunmore continues to be a serious prospect of interest for Ohio State. The Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna star made a much anticipated unofficial visit to Ohio State back at the beginning of April. These early unofficial visits are practically a must for the Buckeyes with these Florida guys.
Now Dunmore is not going to be an easy pull out of the Sunshine State. All three in-state powers are involved at this point so it's going to take a big effort. But John is a bit of a different kid, very funny and laid back and those types of kids can be unpredictable.
"John could go just about anywhere," one source close to Dunmore told us this week. "He likes Florida State a lot. He also likes Florida, but he really could go anywhere. I don't think anyone down here knows exactly what he'll do. Ohio State is in it."
What will be interesting to me is if Dunmore follows through on his words to us yesterday. Another unofficial visit over the summer followed by an official visit later in the process would certainly indicate that Ohio State has a fighting chance. Two unofficials and an official has been a pretty good formula in the past for the Buckeyes when it comes to pulling guys out of the South.
At this point in Binjimen Victor's recruitment, nobody thought he would leave the state either, so if you're Ohio State you just keep working on this and go one step at a time. The next step would obviously be that June/July unofficial to just keep the momentum going and get John around the team to see how he fits in.
So while the safe bet would be on Dunmore staying in Florida, even those close to him acknowledge that he is a bit unpredictable and could be one of those kids who does pull a surprise and goes against the grain a bit. He makes another unofficial visit over the summer and I think you have to at least consider the possibility that Ohio State has a chance for the upset here.
Winning the Battle
We spent some time with Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas defensive back Jordan Battle on Wednesday evening. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound prospect has had a tremendous camp season and we first wrote about him back in February after an impressive showing at the Miami Rivals Camp.
At that time, there was not much going on between Battle and Ohio State, but it was clear that the Buckeyes would be a top school for Jordan if they started to get more involved. Ohio State and LSU were initially the two programs that Battle told me he really liked due to their success with developing defensive backs and sending them to the NFL.
Since that time, Ohio State has become more and more involved with Battle. When his April official visit was postponed, that was probably a good thing for the Buckeyes. Ohio State treads lightly with the South Florida prospects and with this being the first year for spring official visits, they did not want to bring any of those guys up on officials because even if the visit was a home run, you run the risk of never seeing that prospect make it to campus again with 10 months left in the process.
Battle will now make his official visit the weekend of June 21st. The extra two months has allowed Ohio State to do more homework on Battle both on and off the field. It has also allowed head coach Urban Meyer to get more personally involved with Battle and his family as well as getting more information from the coaching staff and administration at STA, a group that has a tremendous relationship with Meyer.
I'm told all of the boxes have pretty much been checked on Ohio State's end. The relationship between the family and Meyer is in a very good place right now. South Florida recruitments can turn into a circus but things have historically been more stable at St. Thomas Aquinas. I'm told Battle plans to be more of the typical STA type of kid where he doesn't want to commit somewhere and then take a bunch of visits, this has also helped ease Ohio State's concerns.
Long story short, I'm told Ohio State is satisfied with their research on Jordan and that Jordan is very excited about this upcoming visit. If everything goes well, I suspect Jordan will be a Buckeye in pretty short order coming out of the visit. The visit has to happen first, there will not be an announcement before that point, but once Jordan makes it to campus, it could simply be a matter of days before the Buckeyes are able to bring him into the fold.
The one small wrinkle right now is Alabama. The Crimson Tide have become more involved since Jordan visited for their spring game, but Ohio State's lead right now is a big one and it is likely too little too late for a school like LSU to come in and change that as the Tigers have not recruited Battle heavily like Ohio State has in recent months.
As for the 'other' St. Thomas Aquinas defensive back. Things aren't looking as good with cornerback Jaden Davis. Ohio State prefers its corners to be a little bit bigger and there just hasn't been as much communication there since the official visit got postponed. Where Ohio State has increased its aggressiveness with Battle, it has decreased with Davis and I'm told Clemson is in the best position right now to land Jaden.
One more to watch
The class of 2020 is beginning to take shape and in places like South Florida it is the top of the first inning of the recruiting process for many of these guys. Miami (Fla.) Central defensive back Henry Gray has already committed to Miami but we've been told he is a player to keep an eye on down the road. Gray landed offers from both Clemson and Texas A&M yesterday as he is starting to become a national prospect.
In true South Florida fashion, sources on the ground have already indicated that Miami is probably just a place-holder at this point and Gray will take other visits throughout the process.
"He likes Ohio State a lot," one source shared. "If they offered, they would be one of Henry's top schools. He likes the run of defensive backs they have put in the NFL."
Gray is generally what Ohio State looks for in defensive backs. He is 6-foot-1 and can really run. We're told Zach Smith has recently reached out to inquire about Gray so it will be interesting to see if things start to pick up here in the coming weeks.
