Who will be first?
The first three verbal commitments are in for the 2018 class and there is still not an Ohio prospect in the fold. But that should not be taken as reason for concern. Ohio State sits in tremendous shape with the state's three top prospects, Fairfield offensive lineman Jackson Carman, Huber Heights Wayne wide receiver L'Christian Smith and Westerville South RB/ATH Jaelen Gill.
But who will be the first to officially join the fray?
With Carman and Gill it really is just a matter of time. Both prospects are national recruits and have a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit some top schools around the nation before committing anywhere. But it is going to take a borderline miracle for another program to pull these two away from Columbus.
With Smith, you have some of that aspect going on with Blue also being a highly coveted prospect, but he is also still weighing the basketball side of things. There is no doubt that Smith is a better football prospect than basketball prospect, but that hasn't kept some past Ohio stars from choosing hoops over football.
I do think Blue will ultimately go the football route and that, if he does, the pick will be Ohio State, but those are three top Ohio guys who could be waiting a bit to make a public commitment to Ohio State.
The one player that I thought was really, really close to commiting to Ohio State this winter, was four-star linebacker Dallas Gant. Ohio State made up a ton of ground for Gant between last summer and this past fall and seemed to be pulling away from Notre Dame, Michigan State, and others for Gant's services.
Then Luke Fickell left and I think that created a bit of a pause from Gant. Not a pause in terms of any type of long term concerns about the Ohio State program, but more of a pause of realizing that he still has a year to make a decision and why not make sure he is comfortable with Fickell's replacement before jumping into something?
But in talking to Gant recently, everything seems to be going very well on that front. Gant has been in regular communication with new linebackers coach Bill Davis and Davis seems to have picked up where Fickell left off in impressing the four-star prospect.
"He's a great dude and seems like a great coach," Gant told me this week. "I talk to him a lot on the phone and he has a lot of NFL experience and I think he will fill right in for the new coaching position."
Could this get done this spring? I think it could. I think it will require another visit to Columbus for Gant and his family to sit down with Davis face-to-face and really spend some time with him and the rest of the defensive staff. It could also require another round of Midwest visits. This is a mature kid with parents who are very thorough, any decision that is made will not be made in knee-jerk fashion.
But from talking to Dallas and those familiar with the situation, it certainly appears to me that everything has stabilized with Ohio State coming out of the coaching change and that the Buckeyes are right back where they were a few months ago, which was on the verge of potentially landing an early commitment.
Who will be next?
I would wager that Ohio State is not finished putting out offers to in-state prospects in the 2018 class. I've liked the talent at the top for a while now, but we're starting to see the depth fill out a bit around the state.
I would continue to keep an eye on the Pickerington Central duo of Michigan State commits in tight end Trenton Gillison and defensive back Xavier Henderson.
Ohio State liked Henderson early but wasn't ready to pull the trigger on an offer before his junior season. Henderson promptly committed to Michigan State, but I am told that hasn't kept OSU from continuing to snoop around there. Furthermore, Ohio State now knows how the dust settled in 2017 in the secondary. There were so many names in play this past fall, that it just wasn't practical to start locking up junior defensive backs. Now the picture is a bit more clear and junior film of not only Henderson, but all of the top DB's around the nation, has been evaluated.
Gillison was scheduled for an Ohio State Junior Day recently, but visited East Lansing instead and committed to the Spartans. This is another prospect that Ohio State had been talking to a lot before his commitment and I could still definitely see an offer going out here before all is said and done.
Would these guys listen? I think so. I don't know the truth of what is going on at Michigan State right now, that is obviously a wild card here in terms of just how much any of those commits would look around, but I don't think it's too late to get back in on either of these two, regardless of the circumstances in East Lansing.
But Gillison isn't the only in-state tight end worth a look. Brenden Bates at Moeller is a four-star prospect in his own right and Ohio State is beginning to take a closer look at him. New Yorker Jeremy Ruckert is absolutely the priority at the position right now, but this is expected to be a two tight end class.
@NevadaBuck has long had a theory that if you just took the best few Ohio linemen each year, regardless of offer lists or rankings, that you'd turn out just fine at that position. Well I have the same theory about Ohio tight end prospects. That is not a knock on Ruckert. I think Jeremy is a tremendous talent and it makes a ton of sense to recruit him hard, especially when he is reciprocating the interest to the point where I believe Ohio State definitely leads right now.
But, Ohio produces NFL caliber tight ends at an alarming rate. And the 2018 class is yet another loaded one in-state with Gillison, Bates, Keaton Upshaw, and Jack Cravaack. I think you have to take one if you're OSU. I don't think you can ever go wrong by simply taking the best tight end in Ohio each year. Go back over the past 15 years and look at what that would mean.
Ohio State passed entirely at the position in 2017, which made sense from a numbers standpoint, especially with Baugh staying for a 5th year. But I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Matt Dotson and Charles Reeves, the top two players in Ohio at the tight end position in the 2017 class, were both playing on Sundays in 4-5 years. For a long time now, just about every year Ohio is producing 2, 3, even 4 big-time tight end prospects.
Tangent over. Moving on....
One hot name recently has been West Chester Lakota West linebacker Xavier Peters and he is an interesting one. Ohio State is recruiting Peters and doing their homework on the athletic linebacker.
But linebacker is going to be tricky in 2018. Do you take 4? Because if the answer is no, and you still want Peters, you have to let either Palaie Gaoteote, Dallas Gant, or Chris Oats go elsewhere.
Gaoteote and Gant are enormous priorities for this coaching staff and I definitely think they would like Oats to find his way into the class as well, so it seems unlikely that one of those would get turned away.
Maybe the answer is taking four. Peters is likely a middle linebacker at the next level where as Gant and Oats are almost certainly outside guys and Gaoteote has the versatility to play all three, but perhaps is best utilized outside where his speed can really be put to better use.
There would have to be some attrition at linebacker, either through transfer, medical hardship or early entry to the draft. Looking at the current roster, you're going into the season with 10 -11 linebackers depending on where Brendon White settles. You're only losing Chris Worley to graduation, but you do have Dante Booker as a 4th year player and Jerome Baker as a very talented third-year player. Perhaps one or both of those players take their talents elsewhere after the season and if you lose another guy to transfer or medical hardship, you can make the numbers work.
There are other names out there; offensive linemen Blaine Scott and John Dirksen. Fairfield defensive end Malik Vann, Dayton Dunbar receiver JoJo Scates, DeSales linebacker Brian Asamoah, St. Edward defensive back Michael Dowell. The depth in 2018 is looking like it will blow 2017 out of the water, which should lead to a very interesting summer camp season as I'm sure the coaching staff will want to see as many of these guys in person as possible.
But if you're asking me to guess right now, I'd say the next in-state offer comes from the Gillison/Henderson/Peters/Bates group. I'd also guess we see several more in-state offers between now and December. At least 3 or 4 more. This class could get to 24-25 and half of it could come from Ohio without reaching on kids.
New Jersey duo set to visit
After a couple of cancellations, it appears that four-star New Jersey athlete Iverson Clement will make it to Columbus this week. The Rivals250 all-purpose back tells me he expects to make it to Columbus on Friday. Clement will be accompanied by 2018 wide receiver Travon King, who holds early offers from Rutgers and North Carolina State. Ohio State will not be the only stop for the two, however, as this will be a five school tour that will include Pittsburgh, Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan State.
Assuming things do not fall through, this will be an interesting visit to watch. Ohio State is the dreaded 'dream school' for Clement and he is a good fit for offense so the Buckeyes could establish themselves as the front runner depending on how this tour of visits shakes out.
Addressing the RB situation
Lorenzo Lingard made a quick commitment to Miami (Fla.) this week, taking one RB prospect off the board.
Well, kind of.
I don't think Lingard's commitment changes the running back landscape for Ohio State very much. The very top priorities right now remain:
1. Land Jaelen Gill
2. Keep Brian Snead in the fold
3. Recruit Zamir White and Lorenzo Lingard really hard and see what happens.
While Miami was the school I would have picked to sign Lingard, I also don't put a ton of stock into a commitment a year before National Signing Day from a Florida prospect who bounced all over the place naming different leaders over the past six months. So I expect Ohio State to continue to recruit Lingard as though this week's commitment never happened.
Again, this will be a multi-back class. Whether that number is 2 or 3 is yet to be determined. As I've said before, if Ohio State could hand pick this class, I think it would have Snead, Gill and one of White/Lingard in it, but that is going to be much easier said than done. I would guess it ultimately settles at two with Gill and probably Snead sticking, but much like we saw with the defensive tackles in 2017, they'll recruit the White's and Lingard's of the world and make room if it comes down to it.
There are some other names out there. T.J. Pledger, Maurice Washington, Devon Lawrence, but I don't think it's going to get that far down the list unless Snead starts to waver at some point.
The first three verbal commitments are in for the 2018 class and there is still not an Ohio prospect in the fold. But that should not be taken as reason for concern. Ohio State sits in tremendous shape with the state's three top prospects, Fairfield offensive lineman Jackson Carman, Huber Heights Wayne wide receiver L'Christian Smith and Westerville South RB/ATH Jaelen Gill.
But who will be the first to officially join the fray?
With Carman and Gill it really is just a matter of time. Both prospects are national recruits and have a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit some top schools around the nation before committing anywhere. But it is going to take a borderline miracle for another program to pull these two away from Columbus.
With Smith, you have some of that aspect going on with Blue also being a highly coveted prospect, but he is also still weighing the basketball side of things. There is no doubt that Smith is a better football prospect than basketball prospect, but that hasn't kept some past Ohio stars from choosing hoops over football.
I do think Blue will ultimately go the football route and that, if he does, the pick will be Ohio State, but those are three top Ohio guys who could be waiting a bit to make a public commitment to Ohio State.
The one player that I thought was really, really close to commiting to Ohio State this winter, was four-star linebacker Dallas Gant. Ohio State made up a ton of ground for Gant between last summer and this past fall and seemed to be pulling away from Notre Dame, Michigan State, and others for Gant's services.
Then Luke Fickell left and I think that created a bit of a pause from Gant. Not a pause in terms of any type of long term concerns about the Ohio State program, but more of a pause of realizing that he still has a year to make a decision and why not make sure he is comfortable with Fickell's replacement before jumping into something?
But in talking to Gant recently, everything seems to be going very well on that front. Gant has been in regular communication with new linebackers coach Bill Davis and Davis seems to have picked up where Fickell left off in impressing the four-star prospect.
"He's a great dude and seems like a great coach," Gant told me this week. "I talk to him a lot on the phone and he has a lot of NFL experience and I think he will fill right in for the new coaching position."
Could this get done this spring? I think it could. I think it will require another visit to Columbus for Gant and his family to sit down with Davis face-to-face and really spend some time with him and the rest of the defensive staff. It could also require another round of Midwest visits. This is a mature kid with parents who are very thorough, any decision that is made will not be made in knee-jerk fashion.
But from talking to Dallas and those familiar with the situation, it certainly appears to me that everything has stabilized with Ohio State coming out of the coaching change and that the Buckeyes are right back where they were a few months ago, which was on the verge of potentially landing an early commitment.
Who will be next?
I would wager that Ohio State is not finished putting out offers to in-state prospects in the 2018 class. I've liked the talent at the top for a while now, but we're starting to see the depth fill out a bit around the state.
I would continue to keep an eye on the Pickerington Central duo of Michigan State commits in tight end Trenton Gillison and defensive back Xavier Henderson.
Ohio State liked Henderson early but wasn't ready to pull the trigger on an offer before his junior season. Henderson promptly committed to Michigan State, but I am told that hasn't kept OSU from continuing to snoop around there. Furthermore, Ohio State now knows how the dust settled in 2017 in the secondary. There were so many names in play this past fall, that it just wasn't practical to start locking up junior defensive backs. Now the picture is a bit more clear and junior film of not only Henderson, but all of the top DB's around the nation, has been evaluated.
Gillison was scheduled for an Ohio State Junior Day recently, but visited East Lansing instead and committed to the Spartans. This is another prospect that Ohio State had been talking to a lot before his commitment and I could still definitely see an offer going out here before all is said and done.
Would these guys listen? I think so. I don't know the truth of what is going on at Michigan State right now, that is obviously a wild card here in terms of just how much any of those commits would look around, but I don't think it's too late to get back in on either of these two, regardless of the circumstances in East Lansing.
But Gillison isn't the only in-state tight end worth a look. Brenden Bates at Moeller is a four-star prospect in his own right and Ohio State is beginning to take a closer look at him. New Yorker Jeremy Ruckert is absolutely the priority at the position right now, but this is expected to be a two tight end class.
@NevadaBuck has long had a theory that if you just took the best few Ohio linemen each year, regardless of offer lists or rankings, that you'd turn out just fine at that position. Well I have the same theory about Ohio tight end prospects. That is not a knock on Ruckert. I think Jeremy is a tremendous talent and it makes a ton of sense to recruit him hard, especially when he is reciprocating the interest to the point where I believe Ohio State definitely leads right now.
But, Ohio produces NFL caliber tight ends at an alarming rate. And the 2018 class is yet another loaded one in-state with Gillison, Bates, Keaton Upshaw, and Jack Cravaack. I think you have to take one if you're OSU. I don't think you can ever go wrong by simply taking the best tight end in Ohio each year. Go back over the past 15 years and look at what that would mean.
Ohio State passed entirely at the position in 2017, which made sense from a numbers standpoint, especially with Baugh staying for a 5th year. But I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Matt Dotson and Charles Reeves, the top two players in Ohio at the tight end position in the 2017 class, were both playing on Sundays in 4-5 years. For a long time now, just about every year Ohio is producing 2, 3, even 4 big-time tight end prospects.
Tangent over. Moving on....
One hot name recently has been West Chester Lakota West linebacker Xavier Peters and he is an interesting one. Ohio State is recruiting Peters and doing their homework on the athletic linebacker.
But linebacker is going to be tricky in 2018. Do you take 4? Because if the answer is no, and you still want Peters, you have to let either Palaie Gaoteote, Dallas Gant, or Chris Oats go elsewhere.
Gaoteote and Gant are enormous priorities for this coaching staff and I definitely think they would like Oats to find his way into the class as well, so it seems unlikely that one of those would get turned away.
Maybe the answer is taking four. Peters is likely a middle linebacker at the next level where as Gant and Oats are almost certainly outside guys and Gaoteote has the versatility to play all three, but perhaps is best utilized outside where his speed can really be put to better use.
There would have to be some attrition at linebacker, either through transfer, medical hardship or early entry to the draft. Looking at the current roster, you're going into the season with 10 -11 linebackers depending on where Brendon White settles. You're only losing Chris Worley to graduation, but you do have Dante Booker as a 4th year player and Jerome Baker as a very talented third-year player. Perhaps one or both of those players take their talents elsewhere after the season and if you lose another guy to transfer or medical hardship, you can make the numbers work.
There are other names out there; offensive linemen Blaine Scott and John Dirksen. Fairfield defensive end Malik Vann, Dayton Dunbar receiver JoJo Scates, DeSales linebacker Brian Asamoah, St. Edward defensive back Michael Dowell. The depth in 2018 is looking like it will blow 2017 out of the water, which should lead to a very interesting summer camp season as I'm sure the coaching staff will want to see as many of these guys in person as possible.
But if you're asking me to guess right now, I'd say the next in-state offer comes from the Gillison/Henderson/Peters/Bates group. I'd also guess we see several more in-state offers between now and December. At least 3 or 4 more. This class could get to 24-25 and half of it could come from Ohio without reaching on kids.
New Jersey duo set to visit
After a couple of cancellations, it appears that four-star New Jersey athlete Iverson Clement will make it to Columbus this week. The Rivals250 all-purpose back tells me he expects to make it to Columbus on Friday. Clement will be accompanied by 2018 wide receiver Travon King, who holds early offers from Rutgers and North Carolina State. Ohio State will not be the only stop for the two, however, as this will be a five school tour that will include Pittsburgh, Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan State.
Assuming things do not fall through, this will be an interesting visit to watch. Ohio State is the dreaded 'dream school' for Clement and he is a good fit for offense so the Buckeyes could establish themselves as the front runner depending on how this tour of visits shakes out.
Addressing the RB situation
Lorenzo Lingard made a quick commitment to Miami (Fla.) this week, taking one RB prospect off the board.
Well, kind of.
I don't think Lingard's commitment changes the running back landscape for Ohio State very much. The very top priorities right now remain:
1. Land Jaelen Gill
2. Keep Brian Snead in the fold
3. Recruit Zamir White and Lorenzo Lingard really hard and see what happens.
While Miami was the school I would have picked to sign Lingard, I also don't put a ton of stock into a commitment a year before National Signing Day from a Florida prospect who bounced all over the place naming different leaders over the past six months. So I expect Ohio State to continue to recruit Lingard as though this week's commitment never happened.
Again, this will be a multi-back class. Whether that number is 2 or 3 is yet to be determined. As I've said before, if Ohio State could hand pick this class, I think it would have Snead, Gill and one of White/Lingard in it, but that is going to be much easier said than done. I would guess it ultimately settles at two with Gill and probably Snead sticking, but much like we saw with the defensive tackles in 2017, they'll recruit the White's and Lingard's of the world and make room if it comes down to it.
There are some other names out there. T.J. Pledger, Maurice Washington, Devon Lawrence, but I don't think it's going to get that far down the list unless Snead starts to waver at some point.
