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Edwards makes anticipated visit
Rivals100 running back Donovan Edwards made his much anticipated return visit on Friday and everything seems to be moving in a positive direction for Ohio State as the Buckeyes have never let their foot off the gas throughout the ebbs and flows of this recruitment. That consistency and relentless pursuit has paid off to this point with many around the program feeling optimistic about the chances of ultimately landing the four-star prospect.
But Edwards did not commit on this visit, publicly or privately, and there is no indication so far that he will back off his timeline of committing during the summer after more visits, both unofficial and official, over the next three months. Edwards was back at Michigan State today for the first time since Mark Dantonio resigned, though the Spartans aren't thought to be a particularly significant challenger here.
This will likely remain a three-team battle into the summer, barring some type of major shake up either in terms of coaching staffs or unexpected commitments that could alter the plans of these teams. The main three right now appear to be Ohio State, Michigan, and Georgia. Edwards is right at the top of the wish list for all three programs, so there are no questions about committable offers or how aggressive any of these programs will be with Edwards. All three want him as a top priority, no questions asked.
One thing that is good for Ohio State here is that Edwards does not have a problem with being part of a two back class, both in terms of his words publicly and in talking to sources privately about his recruitment.
There is definitely a lot of local pressure at play here. He has close friends, including a former teammate in Makari Paige at Michigan, his head coach played at Michigan, and a lot of the support system is pro-Michigan in terms of fandom. But Ohio State has impressed all involved in this one and while I do think there will be some obstacles here, it doesn't sound like there is anyone that is dead set against the idea of heading South to Columbus. Of course, things like that can sometimes stay silent or be downplayed until it's crunch time (Bijan), so it will be something that must be monitored all the way through his decision.
There will be at least another round of visits for Edwards to his top schools and it wouldn't be surprising to see both unofficials and officials to the primary contenders over the course of the next three months. Edwards has been sticking to his plan the whole way so at this point the Buckeyes are trying to win a marathon, not a sprint. I do think things have improved in recent weeks, here and if I could remove my Michigan pick and just leave things open at this point, I probably would.
Latest on Latham
IMG Academy (Fla.) offensive tackle J.C. Latham remains one of the top priorities for the Buckeyes in this 2021 class and things should start to pick up for J.C. over the next month or so. Right now the Rivals100 tackle is slated to visit Ohio State and LSU, his top two schools, on back-to-back weekends in April. Now the interesting part is whether or not the Ohio State visit is going to be an official visit or not. Right now, the LSU visit is supposed to be an official visit for the Tigers' spring game but the Ohio State visit for their spring game was tentatively set to be an unofficial visit.
There's a chance that changes, but that is the general plan right now. J.C. has talked about an April/May decision date, but that could also be pushed back. In talking to a good source today, it would not surprise me to see J.C. make those April visits to LSU and OSU and then make return visits to both places in June, that is something that is very much on the table right now.
Those visits would likely be scheduled around camp days at the respective programs and would allow Latham to work with the offensive line coaches at both programs and get a feel for things. So the timeline here is probably a little more fluid than what maybe most people are expecting right now. It's very possible J.C. sees all he needs to see in April and sticks with that original late April/early May timeline, but I know there are on-going discussions about waiting a little bit longer and making return visits to Ohio State and LSU in June.
While that is probably not the news that everyone wants to hear, I am still highly confident in the OSU pick. J.C. is not only impressed with the Ohio State program but I've been told that he feels very comfortable around the players that came in during the 2020 class as well as guys like Jack Sawyer in the 2021 class. It has been very easy for him to hit it off with the personalities in Columbus and that is a pretty important deal. Yes, kids are picking a program and a coaching staff, but they also want to be around a group of guys that they vibe with and Ohio State checks all of those boxes.
Clemson momentum
Clemson saw a host of top Ohio State targets roll through campus over the weekend, most notably four-star wide receiver Troy Stellato, four-star cornerback Jordan Hancock, Top 100 cornerback J.K. Johnson, and Top 100 linebacker Barrett Carter.
Naturally there is going to be concern about how much, if any, momentum that Clemson was able to gain and potentially pull away from Ohio State on these prospects. With Hancock, that is definitely one where Clemson put forth a great visit and there is some optimism on that end coming out of the visit this weekend.
The silver lining here for Ohio State, however, is that Hancock made this visit with some of his teammates and that both of his parents were at home in suburban Atlanta. Without the parents being along on the visit, that is going to make it a little more tricky for Clemson to turn that momentum into an immediate commitment.
As of this afternoon, Hancock still intends to make the March 28th unofficial visit to Columbus so that visit probably becomes a little bit more important than it already was as the Buckeyes will want to try and squash some of the momentum that the Tigers have coming out of this weekend.
One of the teammates that Hancock visited Clemson with this weekend was of course the aforementioned Barrett Carter. If Ohio State could land any available linebacker in the nation right now, it would be Carter. Carter is orginially from Chicago but this is a very SEC/Southeast-centric recruitment right now with the Buckeyes pretty much being the lone exception to that.
Ohio State sources have been a bit more optimistic about Carter being open to them, and maybe more specifically not being a UGA lock, than what is out there in the media right now and I talked to a source around the Clemson program who kind of echoed the same sentiments where Clemson's staff appears to feel that Carter's interest in looking beyond Athens is sincere.
But ultimately that's going to be a tough task for Ohio State. Clemson is able to provide a "best of both worlds" type of scenario with Carter where he'd be able to stay pretty close to home, it's going to take a bigger sell from Ohio State on the geography front. Ohio State is going to be able to devote a lot of time and energy to Carter, however, by already having Reid Carrico in the fold and not really needing a big haul at linebacker this cycle.
That leaves the two guys that I have picked for Ohio State in Stellato and Johnson. There is very little doubt at this point that Stellato is a Clemson/Ohio State battle and it will be important to get him back on campus this spring. I think Clemson has closed some ground over the past few months, but not to the point where I'm changing my pick or anything like that. I still think Ohio State is where he ends up, those are the best relationships in my opinion.
With Johnson, I'm still very confident in Ohio State's chances there. Of course he had a great visit to Clemson, schools like Clemson and Ohio State rarely put forth anything short of tremendous visits when they have a priority target on campus, but there is no reason to believe that Ohio State is in real trouble with J.K. at this point.
Odds and Ends
- Definitely think North Carolina is building some momentum with four-star running back Evan Pryor. Mack Brown's crew is running hot on the trail with recent commitments from a couple of in-state stars in four-star wide receiver Gavin Blackwell and four-star quarterback Drake Maye (who flipped from Alabama over the weekend).
Sources close to the situation have told me that Pryor has been a bit indecisive recently and has been going back and forth a little bit between Ohio State and UNC. I still haven't put in a pick for Pryor as I think this one is a little volatile right now, but if I had to guess today, I'd say probably UNC. Pryor has really good relationships with Blackwell and Maye and there is just a general buzz around UNC for the local kids that hasn't been there in quite a long time.
Pryor is also close with Kyle McCord, however, and has been one of the top guys that McCord and the rest of the commits have been working on. Definitely key for OSU's chances that he follows through on that March 18th visit to Columbus. I think that's going to be a big data point in this recruitment.
- I mentioned in a recent Big Board that four-star Katy (Texas) defensive back Hunter Washington and Ohio State haven't been talking as much as in the past. I spoke with Washington briefly today and he told me he is set to visit Ohio State on March 28th. Washington hasn't really had a chance to connect with Kerry Coombs yet and that will be a big point of emphasis on that visit. Right now I think there are probably guys who are higher on the board, but if this visit happens it will be interesting to see what comes out of it.
