Thoughts from New Jersey
I spent the first half of Sunday in New Jersey at the Rivals Camp Series event just down the road from Rutgers. The Garden State has been good to the Buckeyes over the years and I don't see any reason why Ohio State can't continue to have a strong presence at the state's top programs.
Many of you may have read my Tuesday morning update on class of 2020 Don Bosco Prep running back Jalen Berger. It's crazy early. Junior film is always so critical for the coaching staff in shaping their pecking order, but the Buckeyes could be very tough to beat here if they stay aggressive with Jalen. He's close with Tyler Friday, he's friendly with Ronnie Hickman and his best relationship right now is probably with Greg Schiano.
I generally hate the camp setting for running backs, but I thought Jalen looked good on Sunday. He's a little upright, but he's got some shake to him and a frame that I think will fill out to well over 200-pounds.
A lot of guys from out-of-state, however, that Ohio State has its sights on. Right at the top of that list is Rivals100 product Brandon Smith who is ranked as a defensive end but who Ohio State, and every other school, are recruiting as a linebacker.
Brandon is, not surprisingly, a very big and very athletic human being. I'm not totally convinced Rivals is wrong to have him listed as a WDE prospect, however. Brandon is already 6-foot-4, and pushing 225-pounds and his shoulders are extremely broad. He looks like a young defensive end prospect. If he's reading this, he probably hates me now. He definitely wants to play linebacker and to be recruited as such.
Now he's still able to move like a linebacker, so there is always that chance that he is just a Joshua Perry type of guy who has the huge defensive end frame but can play linebacker at 240+ pounds. There was nothing athletically that I saw that told me he couldn't play linebacker, I just look at that frame and wonder how he's going to stay south of 260-pounds. Physical specimen.
Penn State would probably be my pick today for Brandon, but I believe he's serious about Ohio State and I believe the three unofficial visits he has taken since last summer would back that up. Ohio State has to just keep plugging away here and they're in line to get an official visit before he decides in September/October.
Brandon recently took his first official visit to Texas A&M, which I believe is probably not the best news for Texas A&M. Not sure burning that OV so early is the way to go on this one, but sometimes you just have to get these kids on campus and hope it works out. OSU having him on campus three times already can afford to try to position itself for one of the later visits as Brandon gets a little closer to that September/October decision time frame.
Rivals 250 offensive tackle Xavier Truss made the trip from Rhode Island and I was once again impressed with his performance. Xavier wasn't there to make friends, he really competed and had a few of the highlight reps of the day. He delivers an excellent punch and is just such a big body that even if he doesn't land that initial punch, he's really tough for guys to get the edge on him.
Penn State has been the team that most have Truss penciled in for. I think that's fair at this point, but Xavier doesn't seem like he has any intentions of ending the process soon. He seems very set on making official visits in the fall and a lot can happen between now and then. He made his first visit to Ohio State recently and raved to me about it. OSU, Michigan, and Alabama are all schools that I believe to be contenders here.
Yet another out-of-state guy that I was impressed with was four-star defensive back Tyler Rudolph out of St. Thomas More in Connecticut. Rudolph made several nice plays during 1-on-1's including an interception and he did an excellent job of anticipating routes and also getting in great position to use his body to force guys wide toward the sideline when he was tested deep.
Rudolph who could be a big corner or a free safety at the next level is being recruited by Ohio State as a safety and tells me he plans to make an official visit to Columbus the second weekend of June. Once again Penn State will be a player for Rudolph who recently named a top five of Clemson, Florida, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State.
If I talked about a kid in this segment, there's an individual recruiting update coming in the next 24-48 hours on that prospect.
Making progress with Texas visitors
I've posted a couple of updates already coming out of four-star quarterback Grant Gunnell's official visit, but I do think the 'snowball effect' this recruitment has taken on has been interesting to watch.
Certainly Gunnell was one of a handful of guys the staff seemed to like more than the rest of the pack and also true is that Gunnell's previous unofficial visit to Columbus was an excellent visit that put OSU firmly on the map for him. But things have really picked up in recent weeks.
First and foremost, I think some of the other QB targets falling by the wayside may have helped Ohio State here. It has been a bit of a struggle in this class for Ohio State to really lock on to a couple of targets and I think seeing a couple of other guys head elsewhere, even some Plan B type guys that they were just keeping warm, forced OSU to pick up the urgency. The real threat of a total reset at the position seems to have had an impact on the urgency to get this figured out.
And a third thing that I think has contributed to all of this is the recruitment of Garrett Wilson. Ohio State has undoubtedly been in Wilson's top two since the offer in December, but it went from being a very tight race, to a slight OSU lead, to an overwhelming OSU lead over the past four to five months. As Wilson moved further and futher toward Ohio State, I think that helped Gunnell and I have this strange hunch that Mr. Wilson has been quietly behind the scenes working Gunnell in recent weeks.
Then OSU nails the official visit over the weekend. It was an absolute home run. So for all of these reasons and factors, I think Ohio State has a pretty, pretty big lead for Gunnell as we sit here today.
But Gunnell was not the only Texas star to make his way to Columbus over the weekend. Four-star wide receiver Elijah Higgins out of Bowie High School in Austin made a bit of a last minute decision to come up for a multi-day visit that overlapped with Gunnell's trip. Higgins' visit, however, was an unofficial one so the Buckeyes will still be able to bring him back to campus later for an official.
While sometimes these surprise visits are actually more planned than they seem but simply aren't made public, this one I'm told was a pretty big surprise even for Ohio State. This all came together pretty quickly and I'm told Ohio State was pleasantly surprised that it happened as this was not something that was necessarily expected to happen in recent weeks.
Coming into the visit, Stanford was the school that I was told was going to be tough to beat here. That still may be the case. Higgins is a tremendous student and definitely has a strong affinity for Stanford. But Ohio State has firmly entered the picture here. Higgins is close with new commit Garrett Wilson as well as Gunnell so if the Buckeyes are able to lock up Gunnell in the near term, that would certainly add to the momentum that some close to the program feel they picked up over the weekend.
Texas is another program that is heavily involved with Higgins. The Longhorns have had a rough go of it recently when it comes to landing in-state receivers. I would anticipate that after another tough wide receiver recruiting loss in Wilson, the desperation will pick up even more here for Tom Herman's group.
I still believe Stanford is the favorite to land Higgins as things stand today, but I also believe that Ohio State made a real move over the weekend and is now a strong contender. The early unofficial visit is so important and the Buckeyes should be positioned to get an official visit later in the process. There was not much confidence from OSU sources a couple of weeks ago on this one and the tune has changed a bit coming out of the weekend so we'll see where this one goes.
In the mean time, there are so many wide receivers in play at this point that we also need to see how things play out here during the Spring Evaluation period and into the summer. David Bell looks like he'll be visiting soon, and that could be a big one as I have sensed an uptick over the last few weeks in Ohio State's pursuit of Bell. A lot of the targets in the South are going to get checked on by Zach Smith, and possibly other members of the offensive staff, in the next couple of weeks as well and those in-person evaluations can always change the board a bit.
But certainly I think it's time to move Higgins from the "let's see if he even visits" category to the "legitimate target" category.
Buckeyes still in play for Hill
Rivals100 safety Daxton Hill recently named his final six schools and Ohio State was able to make that cut. The Tulsa (Okla.) Booker T. Washington star may very well be the nation's top safety prospect and while he has kept a very low profile in recent months, I am told that the Buckeyes are still plugging away here and are still a factor.
Hill's final six is Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. This week I talked to a source on the ground in Big 12 country about Hill who shared his breakdown of that top six.
"I think it comes down to Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, and Alabama- with the first three having the edge," they shared.
The surprise omission there for me was Oklahoma State. Of all of the schools involved with Hill, Oklahoma State is the one school where there seems to be a wide variety of opinions about just where they stand with Daxton.
"They are (in the picture) but I’m not certain he is locked into that," they continued after I pressed about the Cowboys. "If anything I think he rejects it because he wants to do his own thing and he’ll never play with his brother anyway."
So that was certainly an interesting perspective on this one. My read in recent weeks has been that Oklahoma probably has the most momentum right now with Daxton but Ohio State continues to push here. Feels like one of those situations where the sooner the Buckeyes can get a visit to try and regain some momentum, the better.
And Coming Soon
I spent the first half of Sunday in New Jersey at the Rivals Camp Series event just down the road from Rutgers. The Garden State has been good to the Buckeyes over the years and I don't see any reason why Ohio State can't continue to have a strong presence at the state's top programs.
Many of you may have read my Tuesday morning update on class of 2020 Don Bosco Prep running back Jalen Berger. It's crazy early. Junior film is always so critical for the coaching staff in shaping their pecking order, but the Buckeyes could be very tough to beat here if they stay aggressive with Jalen. He's close with Tyler Friday, he's friendly with Ronnie Hickman and his best relationship right now is probably with Greg Schiano.
I generally hate the camp setting for running backs, but I thought Jalen looked good on Sunday. He's a little upright, but he's got some shake to him and a frame that I think will fill out to well over 200-pounds.
A lot of guys from out-of-state, however, that Ohio State has its sights on. Right at the top of that list is Rivals100 product Brandon Smith who is ranked as a defensive end but who Ohio State, and every other school, are recruiting as a linebacker.
Brandon is, not surprisingly, a very big and very athletic human being. I'm not totally convinced Rivals is wrong to have him listed as a WDE prospect, however. Brandon is already 6-foot-4, and pushing 225-pounds and his shoulders are extremely broad. He looks like a young defensive end prospect. If he's reading this, he probably hates me now. He definitely wants to play linebacker and to be recruited as such.
Now he's still able to move like a linebacker, so there is always that chance that he is just a Joshua Perry type of guy who has the huge defensive end frame but can play linebacker at 240+ pounds. There was nothing athletically that I saw that told me he couldn't play linebacker, I just look at that frame and wonder how he's going to stay south of 260-pounds. Physical specimen.
Penn State would probably be my pick today for Brandon, but I believe he's serious about Ohio State and I believe the three unofficial visits he has taken since last summer would back that up. Ohio State has to just keep plugging away here and they're in line to get an official visit before he decides in September/October.
Brandon recently took his first official visit to Texas A&M, which I believe is probably not the best news for Texas A&M. Not sure burning that OV so early is the way to go on this one, but sometimes you just have to get these kids on campus and hope it works out. OSU having him on campus three times already can afford to try to position itself for one of the later visits as Brandon gets a little closer to that September/October decision time frame.
Rivals 250 offensive tackle Xavier Truss made the trip from Rhode Island and I was once again impressed with his performance. Xavier wasn't there to make friends, he really competed and had a few of the highlight reps of the day. He delivers an excellent punch and is just such a big body that even if he doesn't land that initial punch, he's really tough for guys to get the edge on him.
Penn State has been the team that most have Truss penciled in for. I think that's fair at this point, but Xavier doesn't seem like he has any intentions of ending the process soon. He seems very set on making official visits in the fall and a lot can happen between now and then. He made his first visit to Ohio State recently and raved to me about it. OSU, Michigan, and Alabama are all schools that I believe to be contenders here.
Yet another out-of-state guy that I was impressed with was four-star defensive back Tyler Rudolph out of St. Thomas More in Connecticut. Rudolph made several nice plays during 1-on-1's including an interception and he did an excellent job of anticipating routes and also getting in great position to use his body to force guys wide toward the sideline when he was tested deep.
Rudolph who could be a big corner or a free safety at the next level is being recruited by Ohio State as a safety and tells me he plans to make an official visit to Columbus the second weekend of June. Once again Penn State will be a player for Rudolph who recently named a top five of Clemson, Florida, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State.
If I talked about a kid in this segment, there's an individual recruiting update coming in the next 24-48 hours on that prospect.
Making progress with Texas visitors
I've posted a couple of updates already coming out of four-star quarterback Grant Gunnell's official visit, but I do think the 'snowball effect' this recruitment has taken on has been interesting to watch.
Certainly Gunnell was one of a handful of guys the staff seemed to like more than the rest of the pack and also true is that Gunnell's previous unofficial visit to Columbus was an excellent visit that put OSU firmly on the map for him. But things have really picked up in recent weeks.
First and foremost, I think some of the other QB targets falling by the wayside may have helped Ohio State here. It has been a bit of a struggle in this class for Ohio State to really lock on to a couple of targets and I think seeing a couple of other guys head elsewhere, even some Plan B type guys that they were just keeping warm, forced OSU to pick up the urgency. The real threat of a total reset at the position seems to have had an impact on the urgency to get this figured out.
And a third thing that I think has contributed to all of this is the recruitment of Garrett Wilson. Ohio State has undoubtedly been in Wilson's top two since the offer in December, but it went from being a very tight race, to a slight OSU lead, to an overwhelming OSU lead over the past four to five months. As Wilson moved further and futher toward Ohio State, I think that helped Gunnell and I have this strange hunch that Mr. Wilson has been quietly behind the scenes working Gunnell in recent weeks.
Then OSU nails the official visit over the weekend. It was an absolute home run. So for all of these reasons and factors, I think Ohio State has a pretty, pretty big lead for Gunnell as we sit here today.
But Gunnell was not the only Texas star to make his way to Columbus over the weekend. Four-star wide receiver Elijah Higgins out of Bowie High School in Austin made a bit of a last minute decision to come up for a multi-day visit that overlapped with Gunnell's trip. Higgins' visit, however, was an unofficial one so the Buckeyes will still be able to bring him back to campus later for an official.
While sometimes these surprise visits are actually more planned than they seem but simply aren't made public, this one I'm told was a pretty big surprise even for Ohio State. This all came together pretty quickly and I'm told Ohio State was pleasantly surprised that it happened as this was not something that was necessarily expected to happen in recent weeks.
Coming into the visit, Stanford was the school that I was told was going to be tough to beat here. That still may be the case. Higgins is a tremendous student and definitely has a strong affinity for Stanford. But Ohio State has firmly entered the picture here. Higgins is close with new commit Garrett Wilson as well as Gunnell so if the Buckeyes are able to lock up Gunnell in the near term, that would certainly add to the momentum that some close to the program feel they picked up over the weekend.
Texas is another program that is heavily involved with Higgins. The Longhorns have had a rough go of it recently when it comes to landing in-state receivers. I would anticipate that after another tough wide receiver recruiting loss in Wilson, the desperation will pick up even more here for Tom Herman's group.
I still believe Stanford is the favorite to land Higgins as things stand today, but I also believe that Ohio State made a real move over the weekend and is now a strong contender. The early unofficial visit is so important and the Buckeyes should be positioned to get an official visit later in the process. There was not much confidence from OSU sources a couple of weeks ago on this one and the tune has changed a bit coming out of the weekend so we'll see where this one goes.
In the mean time, there are so many wide receivers in play at this point that we also need to see how things play out here during the Spring Evaluation period and into the summer. David Bell looks like he'll be visiting soon, and that could be a big one as I have sensed an uptick over the last few weeks in Ohio State's pursuit of Bell. A lot of the targets in the South are going to get checked on by Zach Smith, and possibly other members of the offensive staff, in the next couple of weeks as well and those in-person evaluations can always change the board a bit.
But certainly I think it's time to move Higgins from the "let's see if he even visits" category to the "legitimate target" category.
Buckeyes still in play for Hill
Rivals100 safety Daxton Hill recently named his final six schools and Ohio State was able to make that cut. The Tulsa (Okla.) Booker T. Washington star may very well be the nation's top safety prospect and while he has kept a very low profile in recent months, I am told that the Buckeyes are still plugging away here and are still a factor.
Hill's final six is Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. This week I talked to a source on the ground in Big 12 country about Hill who shared his breakdown of that top six.
"I think it comes down to Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, and Alabama- with the first three having the edge," they shared.
The surprise omission there for me was Oklahoma State. Of all of the schools involved with Hill, Oklahoma State is the one school where there seems to be a wide variety of opinions about just where they stand with Daxton.
"They are (in the picture) but I’m not certain he is locked into that," they continued after I pressed about the Cowboys. "If anything I think he rejects it because he wants to do his own thing and he’ll never play with his brother anyway."
So that was certainly an interesting perspective on this one. My read in recent weeks has been that Oklahoma probably has the most momentum right now with Daxton but Ohio State continues to push here. Feels like one of those situations where the sooner the Buckeyes can get a visit to try and regain some momentum, the better.
And Coming Soon
