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Southern Swing Recap
It was a busy week for Kevin Noon and I in the Lone Star State. We spent a lot of time in the Dallas Fort Worth area, but we also ventured down to Austin (Texas) for one of our stops as well.
Our Southern Swing started one week ago with the Rivals Camp Series event in Dallas, and lasted until Friday so we could stop by several schools. I wanted to discuss some of the highlights from our trip, and what were our biggest takeaways.
Starting in chronological order, our first post-camp stop was at Allen High School. There, we had an opportunity to catch up with one of Ohio State’s top guard targets: Neto Umeozulu.
During our one-on-one interview with Umeozulu, he noted that he has a “good relationship” with o-line coach Greg Studrawa. Umeozulu, who intends on wrapping up his recruitment prior to the beginning of his senior season, also praised Ohio State for the number of linemen they produce in the NFL.
What is the most important part of this conversation, however, is that Umeozulu called tOSU a “great school” because of the quality education they have.
This was important because we have heard that Umeozulu’s family is not too familiar with college football and what makes a quality team; it was worded to us that they’re not too sure about the differences between teams like Alabama and Ohio State. Instead, their main focus is on him going somewhere with top-tier academics, so the Buckeyes have checked off a major box here.
Umeozulu did not give us any indication as to where he will utilize his visits or who is at the top of his leaderboard, but Studrawa and the staff emphasizing education and their “Real Life Wednesdays” program will be crucial in their pursuit of him.
Usually, our stops occur at schools with at least one or more targets for the Buckeyes. This time around, however, we chose to head out to DeSoto High School to check in on 2023 Rivals100 wideout Johntay Cook.
Cook, the No. 44 overall sophomore on Rivals, has received the green light from the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame and Oklahoma, so we were sure he is on Ohio State’s radar despite not holding an offer from them.
We were correct as Cook told us he speaks with area recruiter Corey Dennis on a weekly basis, and would not be surprised if they extend an offer in the coming weeks or months. Cook even told us that five-star quarterback commit Quinn Ewers has also reached out to him.
There was a lot to like about Cook when we saw him on Tuesday, such as his speed, lightning-fast feet and his body control. He can go off script at times, but all the tools are there for him to be a game-changer at the next level.
After doing some digging, we are hearing that an offer could arrive soon for Cook. If so, expect for the Buckeyes to become an immediate contender for his services, and the staff definitely has a good track record of recruiting in Texas, especially wideouts in the state.
At Ryan High School in Denton (Texas), we caught up with four-star cornerback Austin Jordan and top-10 overall sophomore Anthony Hill prior to their practice on Wednesday.
Jordan is somebody who rarely does interviews, making THIS piece on him one that shed some insight on the current state of his recruitment.
Some view Jordan as an Oklahoma lean, but he cleared the air by saying that he’s evaluating all of his options equally. Those options, at this time, are Oklahoma, Ohio State and the in-state Texas Longhorns.
Jordan did not say anything out of the ordinary as he praised the Buckeyes for their development of first round talent, spoke well of Kerry Coombs, and said Ohio State’s commits are pushing for him to join their 2022 class.
What was the key piece of news that came about from this conversation was that Jordan has scheduled his official visit to Columbus from June 11-13. This will be the first trip to Ohio State’s campus for Jordan, who will be taking an OV to Oklahoma the weekend after.
I am still hearing the Sooners are the likeliest landing spot for Jordan, but I would not expect a decision to be made until after he uses his officials.
I won’t spend time on Hill here as he did not reveal too much that we did not already know before. If you want to read our piece on him, you can check it out HERE.
Our second stop on Thursday (we’ll get to the first one in the next section) was at Duncanville High School. There, we chopped it up with a couple of targets in the trenches for the Buckeyes: Omari Abor and Jaylen Early.
Starting with Abor, he just included the program in his top 10 on Friday. The other schools that joined Ohio State were Alabama, Arizona State, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and USC.
The big players here, however, are Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and USC. I was told recently that the Crimson Tide and Longhorns were surging, Oklahoma and Ohio State have always been high in his recruitment, and he is planning officials to LSU and USC in June.
Abor reiterated during our interview with him that Chase Young was a key reason as to why he started watching college football in the first place. He also had high praise for d-line coach Larry Johnson, and I also heard recently that Johnson – and the belief he’s not leaving Columbus anytime soon – are what’s appealing to Abor.
This is going to be a neck-and-neck battle between Ohio State and Oklahoma, in my opinion, with the possibility of Alabama being a legitimate contender as well. Abor potentially not taking an official to Norman, which is not a guarantee as this time, would absolutely benefit the Buckeyes here.
There was not much to add on Early as I spoke with him a month before, and he reiterated some of those same points he told me back in March. Early did confirm that his official visit to Columbus will be from June 10-12, and you can check out our full conversation HERE.
To wrap up our trip, we spoke with a pair of highly touted Ohio State commits: Caleb Burton and Quinn Ewers.
Starting with Burton and his early morning workout session, the Rivals100 wideout looked pretty good after missing his entire junior season with a knee injury. He had no problem with his cuts and running downfield, and definitely appears to be at 100 percent.
In Kevin Noon’s conversation with him, Burton cited Brian Hartline as one of the main reasons why he committed to Ohio State in November. He also discussed tOSU’s recruiting success in Texas, the Buckeye Bash 2.0 and his message to Buckeye Nation in this interview, which you can find HERE.
One part that stood out to me was that Burton said him and fellow commit Kyion Grayes are recruiting Rivals250 wideout Kojo Antwi. I followed up with Grayes after his conversation, and he told me, “we gonna get Kojo.”
This is not breaking news or anything like that, but I find it commendable that Burton and Grayes are recruiting a pass catcher – who could potentially take catches from them – to Columbus. It goes to show that these two are the type of culture fits Ohio State looks for as it’s all about team success over individual success.
Finally, our last stop of this jam-packed week was at Carroll Senior High School to visit Quinn Ewers.
The five-star quarterback was stellar during his throwing session on Thursday. I thought his footwork was textbook, his release was so quick that you would miss it in the blink of an eye, the accuracy was there for the most part, and it all seemed to be natural and smooth for Ewers.
Although he is a big-time prospect, Ewers is not necessarily a fan of the limelight, and told me that all he wants to do is just play football. He did speak with us in an exclusive on-on-one interview, and the topics ranged from his upcoming trip to Columbus to him being locked in with his commitment to the Buckeyes.
I truly would not be surprised if Ewers comes in and starts as a true freshman. It’s still a long time until he gets on campus, and CJ Stroud or Kyle McCord would be tough to beat out, but Ewers is an elite player with all the tools to become a Heisman Trophy contender at the next level.
For context, I saw Justin Fields in person a few years ago at a camp before his senior season, but I believe Ewers is much further along in his development than Fields was at this stage.
Five-star OT puts Ohio State in his top five
Just a few hours before witnessing top o-lineman target Kiyaunta Goodwin commit to Kentucky, Studrawa received good news as top-15 overall junior Kam Dewberry included the Buckeyes as one of his finalists.
Joining Ohio State on this list were Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M.
As for why Ryan Day’s program made the cut for Dewberry, this is what the five-star prospect had to say to Texas recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman prior to publicly revealing that list.
“That was my dream school growing up as a kid. I wanted to go to Ohio State, and before we got into recruiting I was just a kid who wanted to go play at Ohio State,” he told Spiegelman. “They’re telling me to make that dream come to reality. I want to get up there for an official visit to see what it’s like, get a feel for the atmosphere. Coach Stud gets fired up every time he talks about me. I love that guy.”
We spoke with Dewberry one week ago at the Rivals camp, and he had nothing but positive things to say about Ohio State. Dewberry cited their development of players for the NFL, the team’s success in recent years, and his long-time love for the Buckeyes as the main reasons why they’re high on his radar.
The Aggies are viewed as the program most likely to land Dewberry, but I don’t believe they’re a slam dunk to sign him. The general impression I got from talking with reporters at the camp is that no one truly knows where Dewberry is going to sign, and that the feeling is Texas A&M would get a commitment from him if he made his decision today.
One of our board members stated they believe he’s likely to end up in the South at the next level, and I’m inclined to agree. We know that anything can happen with a visit, but I think Dewberry’s recruitment is trending toward him going to the SEC or the Big 12, not Ohio State.
Another receiver target on the board?
One of the cool things about being a part of Rivals is that we get to be a part of a larger network with amazing and connected reporters.
Spiegelman is as good as they get in the state of Texas, and recently put out a story about a prospect we have not really heard about too much: Cristian Driver. Driver told Spiegelman that there won’t be any developments in his recruitment until he takes his visits, and we have some sort of idea as to which schools he may check out.
Driver cited Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and Wisconsin as some of the schools piquing his interest. The Buckeyes have been after Driver for years, according to him, and they’re open to the Rivals250 safety playing on either side of the ball.
The position they would be eyeing him at if he ends up on offense is wide receiver, and Driver noted they are one of the top schools he’s looking at from a “receiver standpoint.”
We’re hoping to get in touch with Driver soon, but this is somewhat of an interesting development. Antwi, CJ Williams and Sooners commit Luther Burden are the main prospects we believe are the likeliest to be the third wideout in this class, but we’ll see how much interest Hartline and Company have in Driver being a pass catcher in college.
No. 66 overall basketball recruit is feeling like a priority for the Buckeyes
We usually don’t include basketball updates in Skull Sessions, but I wanted to include a small tidbit in this piece.
David Sisk at our North Carolina site did an in-depth update on Nebraska-based power forward Isaac Traudtearlier today. Traudt listed Creighton, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Virginia as the seven schools recruiting him the hardest.
Traudt told Sisk that him and his family are looking to take a trip up to Columbus sometime in the fall. I followed up with the eighth-ranked PF in the 2022 cycle, and he told me that while he has yet to set up a date, they’re still figuring out when would be the best time for him to visit the school.
The 6-foot-9, 200-pounder, who can play either the three or the four, told me that “it’s been going well” when asked about Ohio State’s pursuit of him. He actually said they conducted a Zoom call with Chris Holtmann’s staff the other day, and that they have been on him pretty hard.
Ohio State has a trio of guards – Bruce Thornton, Bowen Hardman and Roddy Gayle Jr. – committed in the 2022 class, so adding players to their frontcourt will be a necessity. Traudt is one of their top targets in the frontcourt, and you can check out why by watching some of his junior season highlights HERE.
