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News and tidbits from UA Camp in Texas
For this week's Skull Session, I will be highlighting the players I saw at today's Under Armour All-America Camp Series event in Arlington, Texas. I spoke with several Buckeye targets and got to see them on the field today, so check out my thoughts down below.
One of the standout performers on Sunday, despite limited action, was Neto Umeozulu. We only got to see him for a few reps, but he made the most of each of the ones that were seen by the media.
While a lot of offensive and defensive linemen made mistakes and got out of their stance before the ball was snapped, Umeozulu kept himself disciplined and did not get off to an early start. Once the ball was hiked, the 6-foot-5, 295-pounder did a fantastic job of chopping his feet and making contact with his opponent as soon as he could.
Umeozulu also slid his feet really well while also staying engaged with the opposing d-lineman, and did not lose any of his reps. He was very much deserving of being named as one of the offensive lineman MVPs for today’s camp.
Switching over to his recruitment, Umeozulu spoke with me about the Buckeyes and what he thinks about the program.
Umeozulu, who was offered by Ohio State less than two months ago, said he’s speaking with a trio of staff members on a consistent basis. Those coaches are Greg Studrawa, Kennedy Cook and Ryan Day himself.
The fourth-ranked guard on Rivals says that, along with being contacted by the coaches, he is hearing from future Buckeye Quinn Ewers (this was something I heard several times today). Umeozulu is also impressed with Ohio State’s recent success in the College Football Playoff era.
“Just the mindset of winning,” Umeozulu said. “They’re a pretty good program. They have a culture of winning, and they always make the College Football Playoff. It’s a good school.”
Texas recently reoffered Umeozulu, and I believe that is one worth paying attention to. With how open he is in his recruiting process, however, the Buckeyes can absolutely become a legitimate contender as he begins to narrow down his options.
I’ll start off by addressing what some may be thinking when seeing Megwa’s name: There are several options ahead of him on Ohio State’s 2022 running back board.
The first ones that come to mind are the trio of Dallan Hayden, Damari Alston and Nicholas Singleton, as well as Gavin Sawchuk. Some may even make the argument that in-state prospect Gi’Bran Payne could end up being more of a priority for the Buckeyes if they decide to offer him.
But, Megwa’s conversation with me today is relevant as he’s still in touch with the program and is in possession of an offer from the Buckeyes.
I also bring up Megwa as he told me that Ohio State currently resides in his top five. The other schools joining tOSU on his list are Missouri, Notre Dame, Ole Miss and Washington.
Megwa told me that their pursuit of him is going “pretty good,” and referred to running backs coach Tony Alford as a “great guy.” The four-star recruit has also heard from Caleb Burton, Dasan McCullough and Ewers; all of whom are pointing to the Buckeyes national brand as their pitch to Megwa.
The other interesting part about this conversation is that the No. 22 RB on Rivals says he intends on officially visiting Ohio State. He’s already been to Columbus before, but Megwa wants to get an in-depth look at the college and the city yet again.
To be honest here, I do not see Megwa ending up in this class as I think the staff is likely to land one of the aforementioned top targets. But, I’ve been covering recruiting too long to say for certain that a prospect, especially one who has been offered, is definitely not going to a particular school.
Megwa may be a backup option to the other players they’re recruiting hard, but he could easily become a bigger name in this class if Ohio State’s targets at the position commit elsewhere.
I also had a chance to speak with a pair of teammates from Duncanville High School today. I’ll start off by talking about Early, and then sharing my conversation with Williams.
Out of the two, Early was the most open – in terms of speaking – and appears to be the higher priority for the Buckeyes at this time. Early actually told me that he conducted a Zoom meeting with the entire staff roughly two weeks ago; some of the coaches he spoke with the most during that call were Cook, Day, Studrawa and Corey Dennis.
Early told me that after spending time with the staff, he is anxious to get up to Columbus as soon as the dead period ends. In the meantime, he’s been able to do a couple of virtual visits, and liked what he heard and saw on those virtual tours.
Once again, Ewers’ name popped up as Early said he’s the only Ohio State commit he’s heard from. There is definitely interest on Early’s side to teammate up with the program as he would have a chance to block not only for Ewers, but Evan Pryor and TreVeyon Henderson as well.
I’ll have a full story with quotes either tomorrow or Tuesday, but the final note I’ll make here is that Early intends on cutting down his top 10 in half. He told me that he envisions the Buckeyes making the next round of cuts for him.
Switching over to Williams, he said the offense that is run in Columbus is appealing to him. The 6-foot-6, 320-pounder also likes how the football team has enjoyed a lot of success in recent years.
Studrawa sends him film on a daily basis, and Williams told me he speaks with the staff at least two times per week. There was not much else to add from our conversation besides him saying that he wants to officially visit Ohio State once the dead period concludes.
As for what I saw on the field, Williams is a massive presence in the trenches, but there is some bad weight he’ll have to shed off before he gets to the next level. I also noticed that he got out of his stance too early multiple times, which was likely to make up for him not having the quickest feet in the world for a tackle.
I definitely believe Early is the likeliest out of the two right now, though it remains to be seen how things may change if Aliou Bah and Aamil Wagner want in in this class, as both of them are viewed as Buckeye leans.
I won’t dive into my conversations with each of these three prospects as, with them being sophomores who were recently offered by Ohio State, there is not too many new developments in their recruitments.
But, I did want to share my thoughts on the trio of players above as they will likely be top targets at their respective positions for the Buckeyes in the 2023 cycle.
First off, I’ll talk about Tre Wisner as he really impressed me today. The 6-foot, 180-pounder, who is being recruited by the Buckeyes as a running back, won every rep I saw him compete in during one-on-one catching drills against linebackers.
Wisner proved today that he is a legitimate receiving threat, displaying great breaks in and out of his routes, possessing incredible downfield speed that made it impossible for the linebackers to keep up with him. He also showed off reliable hands, whether it was on quick routes to the outside or go routes.
Hale also made a strong impression on Sunday. The product out of Longview, Texas, is every bit of the 6-foot-3, 175 pounds we have him listed at, but doesn’t play heavy for a guy of his stature.
He can go low for receptions, and is also capable of using his large catch radius to high-point footballs over smaller defensive backs. Hale will have to polish up his route running over these next couple of years, but his upside is tremendous.
As for Hill, it was tough to really get a good read on him. One-on-ones are difficult in general, especially for traditional inside linebackers.
As a result, he struggled on the gridiron today, and was beat on most of the reps during one-on-one catching drills. Some players’ skill sets don’t line up well with the camp setting, and that appeared to be the case with Hill.
Carson MacRae’s Report
Recent pair of FutureCasts have been submitted
Early this week, I put in a FutureCast for Christen Miller and Aamil Wagner to both land with the Buckeyes. I'll discuss a little bit on both guys and where the casts came from.
On the Miller side of things, the Peach State native – as many know – was considered a heavy UGA lean until Bear Alexander committed to the home-state Bulldogs. As I have mentioned before, that is when things started to change for Miller.
As a highly touted 4-star DT, he wants to be prioritized by whatever staff earns his services. With Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs prioritizing Alexander more than Miller, Miller decided to take a step back and reevaluate his recruitment by first adding the Buckeyes to his top five after already having a top four announced publicly.
The offer instantly played an impact with Miller as the Buckeyes were the one team he told many people he was waiting for. Now, this is where it started to open the doors for Johnson and Day to push for Miller. With the Buckeyes holding no commitments from a DT, the staff pushed hard for this one.
Just two days ago, Miller had a virtual tour with Day and Johnson. Miller seemed very pleased with the virtual visit. After speaking with numerous people close to this recruitment, Miller enjoyed it so much that he is trying to plan an unofficial visit within the next month or so.
It sounds like it is a little difficult for him to try and plan a weekend to come up to Columbus, but that is all that is left before he makes his decision.
It would appear right now that this recruitment is going to play out similar to Kyion Grayes if Miller can get on campus. If he is able to visit, then I expect him to commit following the weekend.
On the Aamil Wagner side of things, it is not as rooted as the other recruitments we have been following in this 2022 class. Wagner obviously is a top OT in the state of Ohio, and has always been a priority for the Buckeyes to offer. Many seemed to be worried for a long time that he did not hold an offer from the program.
The reason it took Wagner so long to earn an offer was that Greg Studrawa and Day had asked Wagner to do a couple things ahead of earning his offer; the first was he had another solid junior season, and the other was put on more weight.
Wagner, the Wayne Huber Heights High School product, always had the Buckeyes at the top of his list like most kids who have come from there. Wagner told his family that the Ohio State offer was always the ultimate goal.
Following another great year, Wagner checked off the first part of his list that the staff had asked from him. This off-season, Wagner's high school coach noted that he had already packed on 10 pounds this off season and is closer to 265 now.
His Rivals profile states 255, which is obviously of concern to some, but with it being an updated 265 going into his senior season, the Buckeye staff extended an offer to him.
Wagner is never shy when people ask who lead in his recruitment; the Buckeyes have always been mentioned as a leader even during the times when he did not hold an offer. The staff has always been high on Wagner as a highly groomed talent from in state.
I would also like to note that even with the offer being extended to Wagner as an OT, that it does not affect any other recruitments or players that the Buckeyes have been targeting at the position.
With that being said, I believe Wagner is one to keep an eye on in the next few weeks here as I have been hearing some rumblings that he is getting closer to announcing a commitment.
We will continue to give you updates on both Buckeye targets as we move forward in the coming weeks.
