Visitors leave impressed
This was Ohio State's first real opportunity of the season to have a strong group of visitors and the Buckeyes certainly impressed the group they hosted on Saturday.
Three of the top in-state juniors made their way to campus in Cincinnati Moeller defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins, Springfield jumbo-athlete Leonard Taylor, and Fairfield offensive tackle Jack Carman.
Perhaps most importantly, five-star quarterback commit Emory Jones made it up as well. Jones has shown no signs of wavering on his early pledge to Ohio State and was able to work several key targets in that 2018 class, including Carman, who is without question the top priority on the offensive line right now.
Carman and Jones have struck up a bit of a friendship in recent months as both were on campus for Friday Night Lights and have stayed in touch ever since.
I'm now going to ask you guys to read between the lines here.....
I continue to feel that Ohio State has a nearly insurmountable lead for Carman. Some guys like to go through the process a little longer, just because it is a once in a lifetime experience and they feel they owe it to themselves to go through the steps. Carman may fall into that category, but I don't see a major threat to the Buckeyes right now.
As for Hawkins, the recently offered defensive lineman was making his first visit for a game on Saturday. While the defensive tackle rotation is crowded with young talent, the fact that the Buckeyes are rotating a lot of bodies and getting a lot of guys playing time is what Hawkins said stood out most to him.
"I was impressed with how many young guys got to play," Hawkins said.
Never under-estimate the importance of young players playing. Sometimes there is too much put into "saving" a year of eligibility for a fifth year that, at a program like Ohio State, may never happen. Recruits want to see that they will get an opportunity to see the field early and Hawkins seeing a lot of young players rotating in definitely helped OSU this weekend.
Taylor was making his first visit to Ohio State since decommitting from Michigan recently and told me that it was a good visit. As I've said before, Ohio State wants to evaluate Taylor this fall as it will be very competitive for defensive line spots in this class. I was told recently, however, that Ohio State has been encouraged by junior film so far so things could be moving in the right direction here.
Another visitor that left very impressed was Florida receiver/defensive back Amari Burney who was making his first trip to Columbus with his parents.
"The game was awesome," Burney told me. "The tradition and the history of the school and all their winning ways, it was just great to take it all in."
Burney says the Buckeyes are recruiting him as an athlete right now and have pegged him for a specific position at this point. Either way, Ohio State has made a tremendous early impression on the four-star prospect.
"They are definitely high on my list after the visit," he said.
I'll have a little more on Burney tomorrow in a full update.
Vegas rumblings
Spent the weekend in Sin City, including some time at Bishop Gorman High School and got a chance to take in one of the greatest high school football games that I have ever seen on Friday night as Gorman defeated St. Thomas Aquinas by a point in triple overtime.
I will have a prospect report from that game for you guys tomorrow, this will be geared more towards the recruiting end of things.
I was very impressed with four-star safety Bubba Bolden. I thought Grimes and Palaie Gaoteote were the two best long term prospects on the field on Friday, but Bolden had the best night and is a very good prospect in his own right.
Just going to preach patience here on Bolden. I THINK this will get done. Ohio State is still working out its numbers and I certainly can't imagine them taking anyone at this juncture who hasn't visited yet, but Bolden has played so well this fall that I think he'll be too good to pass on.
The official visit will be big. It's as much an interview for Bolden as it is for Ohio State. Ohio State has to sell itself to Bolden, but the Buckeyes also want to make sure it's a culture fit for a kid they don't know a ton about yet. The other Gorman guys led by Tyjon Lindsey and Tate Martell are really pulling for this to happen and have not only put in good words about Ohio State to Bolden but have put in good words to Ohio State about their teammate.
I also think it's time to face the music on Malik Hooker. I'd be fairly surprised if he's a Buckeye in 2017 and heck they might lose Marshon Lattimore too, so there will be additional spots available in the secondary, and in Hooker's case they would want to replace him with more of a true safety.
This is something I think could get done shortly after the official visit, and not a minute sooner, but I do think it happens. There is no doubt that if Ohio State continues to push, they are the team to beat. One-hundred percent in the driver's seat right now.
As for Gaoteote, I'll have a full update on him tomorrow as well but he told me he is pretty sure he'll be coming out the weekend of the Nebraska game when Tate Martell and Haskell Garrett are expected to make their official visits.
As I've mentioned before about the Rivals100 linebacker, he is Garrett's blood cousin and even followed Haskell from Hawaii to Bishop Gorman so following him another couple thousand miles or so won't be a big deal.
He is not particularly well versed yet in the recruiting process. He hasn't made very many visits and doesn't have a ton of great relationships established yet but he definitely is very interested in Ohio State and is really intrigued to get to campus this fall as his teammates are all working on him.
If for no other reason than the comfort factor, I think Ohio State is the way too early favorite to land him. Probably a long way to go here and some of the West Coast schools will likely factor into this at some point, but the Buckeyes have a nice head start here due to the comfort and relationships factor and are trying like hell to take that and run with it.
Grimes out for the year
When I spoke to five-star wide receiver Trevon Grimes on Saturday morning, he was upbeat about his knee injury sustained on Friday night. Unfortunately the results on Sunday showed that the future Buckeye will be out for the season with a torn ACL and now has a long recovery process.
The parallels to Nick Bosa will be drawn here and it's fair to do that as Bosa was injured just a bit later in the season than Grimes last year and has recovered very well and made an impact for the Buckeyes already this fall. With an explosive skill guy like Grimes, however, the recovery process could take a little longer. Receivers put a ton of torque on their knees, making cuts, getting in out and of their breaks, etc. so it's just going to be a matter of how Trevon's body responds and how quickly he can build up that trust that everything is stable.
I traded a few texts with his mother, Leah Grimes, this evening and she appreciates all the support they have received on social media from Ohio State fans and told me her son is already locked in on what he needs to do to get back to one-hundred percent. 'Great determination'.
He is the freakiest of the freaks athletically so if he can get back to close to one-hundred percent by the time things kickoff in 2017, he will be playing in The Shoe next fall. A lot of talented guys in that wide receiver room, but he's the best prospect in that room TODAY.
This was Ohio State's first real opportunity of the season to have a strong group of visitors and the Buckeyes certainly impressed the group they hosted on Saturday.
Three of the top in-state juniors made their way to campus in Cincinnati Moeller defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins, Springfield jumbo-athlete Leonard Taylor, and Fairfield offensive tackle Jack Carman.
Perhaps most importantly, five-star quarterback commit Emory Jones made it up as well. Jones has shown no signs of wavering on his early pledge to Ohio State and was able to work several key targets in that 2018 class, including Carman, who is without question the top priority on the offensive line right now.
Carman and Jones have struck up a bit of a friendship in recent months as both were on campus for Friday Night Lights and have stayed in touch ever since.
I'm now going to ask you guys to read between the lines here.....
I continue to feel that Ohio State has a nearly insurmountable lead for Carman. Some guys like to go through the process a little longer, just because it is a once in a lifetime experience and they feel they owe it to themselves to go through the steps. Carman may fall into that category, but I don't see a major threat to the Buckeyes right now.
As for Hawkins, the recently offered defensive lineman was making his first visit for a game on Saturday. While the defensive tackle rotation is crowded with young talent, the fact that the Buckeyes are rotating a lot of bodies and getting a lot of guys playing time is what Hawkins said stood out most to him.
"I was impressed with how many young guys got to play," Hawkins said.
Never under-estimate the importance of young players playing. Sometimes there is too much put into "saving" a year of eligibility for a fifth year that, at a program like Ohio State, may never happen. Recruits want to see that they will get an opportunity to see the field early and Hawkins seeing a lot of young players rotating in definitely helped OSU this weekend.
Taylor was making his first visit to Ohio State since decommitting from Michigan recently and told me that it was a good visit. As I've said before, Ohio State wants to evaluate Taylor this fall as it will be very competitive for defensive line spots in this class. I was told recently, however, that Ohio State has been encouraged by junior film so far so things could be moving in the right direction here.
Another visitor that left very impressed was Florida receiver/defensive back Amari Burney who was making his first trip to Columbus with his parents.
"The game was awesome," Burney told me. "The tradition and the history of the school and all their winning ways, it was just great to take it all in."
Burney says the Buckeyes are recruiting him as an athlete right now and have pegged him for a specific position at this point. Either way, Ohio State has made a tremendous early impression on the four-star prospect.
"They are definitely high on my list after the visit," he said.
I'll have a little more on Burney tomorrow in a full update.
Vegas rumblings
Spent the weekend in Sin City, including some time at Bishop Gorman High School and got a chance to take in one of the greatest high school football games that I have ever seen on Friday night as Gorman defeated St. Thomas Aquinas by a point in triple overtime.
I will have a prospect report from that game for you guys tomorrow, this will be geared more towards the recruiting end of things.
I was very impressed with four-star safety Bubba Bolden. I thought Grimes and Palaie Gaoteote were the two best long term prospects on the field on Friday, but Bolden had the best night and is a very good prospect in his own right.
Just going to preach patience here on Bolden. I THINK this will get done. Ohio State is still working out its numbers and I certainly can't imagine them taking anyone at this juncture who hasn't visited yet, but Bolden has played so well this fall that I think he'll be too good to pass on.
The official visit will be big. It's as much an interview for Bolden as it is for Ohio State. Ohio State has to sell itself to Bolden, but the Buckeyes also want to make sure it's a culture fit for a kid they don't know a ton about yet. The other Gorman guys led by Tyjon Lindsey and Tate Martell are really pulling for this to happen and have not only put in good words about Ohio State to Bolden but have put in good words to Ohio State about their teammate.
I also think it's time to face the music on Malik Hooker. I'd be fairly surprised if he's a Buckeye in 2017 and heck they might lose Marshon Lattimore too, so there will be additional spots available in the secondary, and in Hooker's case they would want to replace him with more of a true safety.
This is something I think could get done shortly after the official visit, and not a minute sooner, but I do think it happens. There is no doubt that if Ohio State continues to push, they are the team to beat. One-hundred percent in the driver's seat right now.
As for Gaoteote, I'll have a full update on him tomorrow as well but he told me he is pretty sure he'll be coming out the weekend of the Nebraska game when Tate Martell and Haskell Garrett are expected to make their official visits.
As I've mentioned before about the Rivals100 linebacker, he is Garrett's blood cousin and even followed Haskell from Hawaii to Bishop Gorman so following him another couple thousand miles or so won't be a big deal.
He is not particularly well versed yet in the recruiting process. He hasn't made very many visits and doesn't have a ton of great relationships established yet but he definitely is very interested in Ohio State and is really intrigued to get to campus this fall as his teammates are all working on him.
If for no other reason than the comfort factor, I think Ohio State is the way too early favorite to land him. Probably a long way to go here and some of the West Coast schools will likely factor into this at some point, but the Buckeyes have a nice head start here due to the comfort and relationships factor and are trying like hell to take that and run with it.
Grimes out for the year
When I spoke to five-star wide receiver Trevon Grimes on Saturday morning, he was upbeat about his knee injury sustained on Friday night. Unfortunately the results on Sunday showed that the future Buckeye will be out for the season with a torn ACL and now has a long recovery process.
The parallels to Nick Bosa will be drawn here and it's fair to do that as Bosa was injured just a bit later in the season than Grimes last year and has recovered very well and made an impact for the Buckeyes already this fall. With an explosive skill guy like Grimes, however, the recovery process could take a little longer. Receivers put a ton of torque on their knees, making cuts, getting in out and of their breaks, etc. so it's just going to be a matter of how Trevon's body responds and how quickly he can build up that trust that everything is stable.
I traded a few texts with his mother, Leah Grimes, this evening and she appreciates all the support they have received on social media from Ohio State fans and told me her son is already locked in on what he needs to do to get back to one-hundred percent. 'Great determination'.
He is the freakiest of the freaks athletically so if he can get back to close to one-hundred percent by the time things kickoff in 2017, he will be playing in The Shoe next fall. A lot of talented guys in that wide receiver room, but he's the best prospect in that room TODAY.
