Big day for Jones Part II
Well, we talked about it yesterday. Wednesday was going to be a big day in the recruitment of Rivals100 quarterback Emory Jones one way or another. Either Ohio State was going to see Jones throw in person and not be impressed enough to offer, further tilting things towards Phil Jurkovec, or an offer was going to come and things were about to get very interesting.
Tim Beck saw enough today to offer Jones on the spot and now we have an interesting situation at QB in 2018 and one I can promise the Buckeyes are more than happy to be in, which is trying to juggle multiple big-time quarterbacks with serious interest.
We went in-depth with Jones on Tuesday about why he liked Ohio State so much growing up and while Braxton Miller was the face of that interest, it went much deeper than just a single player. Emory loves the Ohio State offensive system and feels it would be a great fit for his talents. Every single person we have talked to about Emory as mentioned scheme fit as the biggest thing behind his commitment.
The near commitment to Tennessee would certainly seem to back that up as the Vols run an offense that is very similar to Meyer's spread attack. The other interesting thing about the near commitment is that while Tennessee is an SEC school, it's not exactly right in Jones' backyard. That's a solid 5-6 hour drive from where he is located which means being right down the street from home isn't all that important to Jones.
We caught up with Emory briefly this evening about the offer and, as he said, he's very excited. The key is that his mother is also very excited about this, we've talked about the sacrifices she has made driving him to camps and all-star games and visits over the years. With her being a vital part of Jones' decision making process, her excitement over this news is nearly as important as Emory's.
So right now I definitely think Ohio State should be considered the team to beat here, but hold off on the touchdown dances for a minute at least. The Buckeyes are in the red zone but they haven't punched it in yet.
It will be very interesting to see how the next 6-8 weeks go. Ohio State would love to get to spend time with Jones at the satellite camp in Atlanta in mid-June and there has also been talk that one of Jones' coaches is bringing a group of players through the Midwest this summer. Bottomline, it's important that Jones gets a chance to interact with the coaching staff (he couldn't with Beck today, but could with Beck/Meyer/etc. at the satellite camp).
He also needs to see Ohio State and make sure that the campus is and atmosphere is a fit. I expect that won't be a problem, but there are some I's to dot and T's to cross. Hitting the satellite camp, and especially getting up to Columbus for a visit, could put this over the top.
Of course there is the Jurkovec wild card. If Phil really wants to be a Buckeye, he might have to jump on his offer sooner than expected. At this point I do think Jones is the more likely of the two, but Ohio State fans should be thrilled that the Buckeyes are in a position to land either one. Great chance to get an elite quarterback here.
Solomon keeping people guessing
Rivals100 defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon is a tough one to get a read on. We chatted with him today at his school and it's still hard to get a real grasp on where things stand with Ohio State. He had plenty of good things to say about the Buckeyes and for a kid who doesn't like to talk a lot, he's not the type to blow smoke or play games or make things up on the fly, he absolutely meant the things he said.
He's one of those kids that not only doesn't do interviews, he doesn't really like talking to coaches, he just wants to play football and get a good education and he puts much of his focus on that stuff rather than media attention or coaches fawning over him.
He is so unimpressed by all of the glitz and glammer of big-time recruiting that he has only made a handful of unofficial visits to this point and he's a kid who has the means to make trips, it's not a lack of resources.
Because he has made a couple of trips to Georgia (I believe the only school he has visited more than once), you have to give the Dawgs the edge right now. Florida and Alabama are two other programs that have his attention and have at least received a visit.
Needless to say, this summer visit is important for Ohio State. As much as Solomon doesn't like taking visits, if he's driving 11 hours to Columbus to check things out, the interest is very real. He's not a big communicator through social media or even over the phone so getting him on campus where you can really start to break down some of the barriers is simply a must if Ohio State wants to pull this off.
Going into the summer I'd handicap this as 1. Georgia 2. Florida 3. Ohio State. It's game on if he visits.
Again, I can't emphasize enough how important this summer is. Have to get this unofficial visit in because quite frankly, while he's talking about official visits, as much as he dislikes this stuff I could see him visiting somewhere this summer and saying, 'you know what, I'm done with this recruiting stuff, I had a great visit to school X and I want to shut it down'.
As for Solomon's teammate, class of 2018 safety Otis Reese. There's a real interest in Ohio State on his end. As you saw in the video interview, Otis has a lot of energy, and he's hoping to hear more from Ohio State moving forward.
I haven't taken a close look at his film yet and we didn't get to watch a practice at Lee County today so I haven't seen much of him but I can tell you that he is one impressive kid physically. I'm not sure if he'll be able to stay at safety, he's a bigger framed kid than Darron Lee was at the same stage, he could end up being a linebacker, though he probably doesn't want to hear that at this point.
Latest on the Jacksonville Crew
Always love stopping at Trinity Christian. The players there have big personalities and really like to have fun with this stuff and the coaches bend over backwards for us to make sure we get what we need.
We'll have interviews with Buckeye pledge Shaun Wade and 2018 five-star Tyreke Johnson on the site shortly (Wade later tonight, Johnson in the morning).
Wade expects to be in Columbus not this coming weekend but the following weekend for an AAU tournament and he's hoping that both parents will be accompanying him on the trip, but that isn't quite set. It sounds like his mom is definitely coming and his dad is probably coming but not one-hundred percent.
This will be really good for Ohio State if it happens, they need to get back some momentum, but most importantly, Shaun's parents have never been to Ohio State. I think that fact has been a contributing factor to the soft verbal status, I think it's important to Shaun that his parents see the place.
I truly feel that Shaun wants to go to Ohio State and that is what everyone around him has echoed. I think that is where his heart is and I think if his parents come up and have a good visit that it would really help strengthen things there for the Buckeyes so we'll see what happens with that.
I don't know if it could get to a point where he completely stops taking visits, just seems like that is an inevitability here that he goes through with the entire process, but when I talk to him I really see a kid that wants to play at Ohio State.
As for Tyreke, he had more to say about Ohio State than the previous few times we've interviewed him. Kerry Coombs has been working that one hard and has made a good impression there.
But with over 40 offers and with Tyreke being such a big personality that loves to have fun, I only have one prediction to make for him right now.
He'll enjoy the recruiting the process as much as any prospect ever has.
Long, long way to go there. Ohio State is one of about a dozen schools that he'll take a real look at, and that's all you can ask for at this point. In the mean time, he'll make a ton of visits, say great things about all of those schools and maybe even throw in some misdirection here and there.
Well, we talked about it yesterday. Wednesday was going to be a big day in the recruitment of Rivals100 quarterback Emory Jones one way or another. Either Ohio State was going to see Jones throw in person and not be impressed enough to offer, further tilting things towards Phil Jurkovec, or an offer was going to come and things were about to get very interesting.
Tim Beck saw enough today to offer Jones on the spot and now we have an interesting situation at QB in 2018 and one I can promise the Buckeyes are more than happy to be in, which is trying to juggle multiple big-time quarterbacks with serious interest.
We went in-depth with Jones on Tuesday about why he liked Ohio State so much growing up and while Braxton Miller was the face of that interest, it went much deeper than just a single player. Emory loves the Ohio State offensive system and feels it would be a great fit for his talents. Every single person we have talked to about Emory as mentioned scheme fit as the biggest thing behind his commitment.
The near commitment to Tennessee would certainly seem to back that up as the Vols run an offense that is very similar to Meyer's spread attack. The other interesting thing about the near commitment is that while Tennessee is an SEC school, it's not exactly right in Jones' backyard. That's a solid 5-6 hour drive from where he is located which means being right down the street from home isn't all that important to Jones.
We caught up with Emory briefly this evening about the offer and, as he said, he's very excited. The key is that his mother is also very excited about this, we've talked about the sacrifices she has made driving him to camps and all-star games and visits over the years. With her being a vital part of Jones' decision making process, her excitement over this news is nearly as important as Emory's.
So right now I definitely think Ohio State should be considered the team to beat here, but hold off on the touchdown dances for a minute at least. The Buckeyes are in the red zone but they haven't punched it in yet.
It will be very interesting to see how the next 6-8 weeks go. Ohio State would love to get to spend time with Jones at the satellite camp in Atlanta in mid-June and there has also been talk that one of Jones' coaches is bringing a group of players through the Midwest this summer. Bottomline, it's important that Jones gets a chance to interact with the coaching staff (he couldn't with Beck today, but could with Beck/Meyer/etc. at the satellite camp).
He also needs to see Ohio State and make sure that the campus is and atmosphere is a fit. I expect that won't be a problem, but there are some I's to dot and T's to cross. Hitting the satellite camp, and especially getting up to Columbus for a visit, could put this over the top.
Of course there is the Jurkovec wild card. If Phil really wants to be a Buckeye, he might have to jump on his offer sooner than expected. At this point I do think Jones is the more likely of the two, but Ohio State fans should be thrilled that the Buckeyes are in a position to land either one. Great chance to get an elite quarterback here.
Solomon keeping people guessing
Rivals100 defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon is a tough one to get a read on. We chatted with him today at his school and it's still hard to get a real grasp on where things stand with Ohio State. He had plenty of good things to say about the Buckeyes and for a kid who doesn't like to talk a lot, he's not the type to blow smoke or play games or make things up on the fly, he absolutely meant the things he said.
He's one of those kids that not only doesn't do interviews, he doesn't really like talking to coaches, he just wants to play football and get a good education and he puts much of his focus on that stuff rather than media attention or coaches fawning over him.
He is so unimpressed by all of the glitz and glammer of big-time recruiting that he has only made a handful of unofficial visits to this point and he's a kid who has the means to make trips, it's not a lack of resources.
Because he has made a couple of trips to Georgia (I believe the only school he has visited more than once), you have to give the Dawgs the edge right now. Florida and Alabama are two other programs that have his attention and have at least received a visit.
Needless to say, this summer visit is important for Ohio State. As much as Solomon doesn't like taking visits, if he's driving 11 hours to Columbus to check things out, the interest is very real. He's not a big communicator through social media or even over the phone so getting him on campus where you can really start to break down some of the barriers is simply a must if Ohio State wants to pull this off.
Going into the summer I'd handicap this as 1. Georgia 2. Florida 3. Ohio State. It's game on if he visits.
Again, I can't emphasize enough how important this summer is. Have to get this unofficial visit in because quite frankly, while he's talking about official visits, as much as he dislikes this stuff I could see him visiting somewhere this summer and saying, 'you know what, I'm done with this recruiting stuff, I had a great visit to school X and I want to shut it down'.
As for Solomon's teammate, class of 2018 safety Otis Reese. There's a real interest in Ohio State on his end. As you saw in the video interview, Otis has a lot of energy, and he's hoping to hear more from Ohio State moving forward.
I haven't taken a close look at his film yet and we didn't get to watch a practice at Lee County today so I haven't seen much of him but I can tell you that he is one impressive kid physically. I'm not sure if he'll be able to stay at safety, he's a bigger framed kid than Darron Lee was at the same stage, he could end up being a linebacker, though he probably doesn't want to hear that at this point.
Latest on the Jacksonville Crew
Always love stopping at Trinity Christian. The players there have big personalities and really like to have fun with this stuff and the coaches bend over backwards for us to make sure we get what we need.
We'll have interviews with Buckeye pledge Shaun Wade and 2018 five-star Tyreke Johnson on the site shortly (Wade later tonight, Johnson in the morning).
Wade expects to be in Columbus not this coming weekend but the following weekend for an AAU tournament and he's hoping that both parents will be accompanying him on the trip, but that isn't quite set. It sounds like his mom is definitely coming and his dad is probably coming but not one-hundred percent.
This will be really good for Ohio State if it happens, they need to get back some momentum, but most importantly, Shaun's parents have never been to Ohio State. I think that fact has been a contributing factor to the soft verbal status, I think it's important to Shaun that his parents see the place.
I truly feel that Shaun wants to go to Ohio State and that is what everyone around him has echoed. I think that is where his heart is and I think if his parents come up and have a good visit that it would really help strengthen things there for the Buckeyes so we'll see what happens with that.
I don't know if it could get to a point where he completely stops taking visits, just seems like that is an inevitability here that he goes through with the entire process, but when I talk to him I really see a kid that wants to play at Ohio State.
As for Tyreke, he had more to say about Ohio State than the previous few times we've interviewed him. Kerry Coombs has been working that one hard and has made a good impression there.
But with over 40 offers and with Tyreke being such a big personality that loves to have fun, I only have one prediction to make for him right now.
He'll enjoy the recruiting the process as much as any prospect ever has.
Long, long way to go there. Ohio State is one of about a dozen schools that he'll take a real look at, and that's all you can ask for at this point. In the mean time, he'll make a ton of visits, say great things about all of those schools and maybe even throw in some misdirection here and there.
