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Powell delays
Beyond just a general sense of support for Urban Meyer and a wait-and-see attitude on the fallout of this situation, there has not been a lot of concrete movement on the recruiting front over the past week.
That is, however, until Odessa (Texas) Permian athlete/safety Peyton Powell announced on Saturday that he will no longer be deciding on August 13th and will delay his college decision. This is something that has potentially been brewing anyway as Powell has made a few recent visits to places like Baylor and Oklahoma State and also picked up the new offer from Oklahoma.
Those things, especially the offer from Oklahoma, combined with Ohio State technically not having a long term head coach in place right now until the Meyer situation is resolved, have all fueled this rethinking by the three-star prospect.
My initial reaction is that this is very good news for Oklahoma. Powell's cousin is former Oklahoma star wide receiver Sterling Shepherd so there is already a connection there and according to a source on the ground in Texas the OU offer was a big one for him that was going to make him think, regardless of the current situation in Columbus.
We'll see how it plays out. I think the Buckeyes could use some time to regroup on this one and if that if he turns around and decides in short order that it would be Oklahoma that would stand to benefit most from that.
Corcoran releases top 7
With three offensive linemen already in the fold in 2020, the Buckeyes could be adding at least two and possibly three more to that group by the time the dust settles in about 18 months. Lawrence (KS) Free State product Turner Corcoran is a guy that we have talked a lot about over the past few months. The Buckeyes are expected to be a top contender for the Rivals100 product, if not the team to beat with schools like Nebraska and Notre Dame also emerging as early contenders.
On Friday evening, Corcoran released his top seven, which included Ohio State.
In speaking with Turner this weekend, he politely asked me if I would stay away from the Urban Meyer line of questioning. But even in respecting that and not going down that road with him, just Ohio State's inclusion in that top seven speaks volumes. I think it's more than fair to say that Corcoran hasn't been swayed from his interest in Ohio State and will continue to look at the Buckeyes so long as this situation doesn't get worse.
Corcoran has not, however, had a chance to speak with the Ohio State staff in recent days but he hopes to change that soon.
"I’m going to see if I can get ahold of coach Stud here sometime this week just to chat," he told me.
Corcoran is also hoping to make a return visit to Ohio State for a game this fall.
"Yeah I’m talking with my family about the team up north game," he stated. "That’d be the biggest game I’d want to go to."
So everything still appears to be pretty good with Corcoran and the Buckeyes and like many of the commits and key targets, it's simply a matter of waiting and seeing how all of this stuff plays out with Urban Meyer.
General thoughts
The feedback from recruits and parents, along with social media activity from both, continues to be that of general support for Urban Meyer combined with a wait-and-see approach before making any major decisions. I think the damage will be fairly minimal if Meyer is reinstated. There will be someone out there that won't view this situation well, whether that's a commit or a parent of a target, or whomever it might be. I don't think you'll see 100% support in that scenario, but I think that for the most part the status quo will remain.
If there is one silver-lining to this on the recruiting front, it's that the month of August is historically the one with the least amount of movement on the recruiting front. Prospects and coaches are extremely busy. Both recruits and coaches are spending most of their days on a football field so the prospects are pre-occupied with the start of their own seasons and the coaches are locked in on doing what they need to do to prepare their teams as well.
It's also a Dead Period so on top of an unbelievably busy schedule, it's not like prospects that are wavering can go on a visit tour to check out other schools. Yes, college coaches are calling 2019 kids and are undoubtedly trying to shake things up and use this situation to their advantage. Tennessee is all over Cormontae Hamilton. Texas is undoubtedly working on Garrett Wilson and Miami is certainly trying with Jordan Battle.
But I don't see these guys making any rash decisions until Meyer's fate is determined and so long as Meyer is reinstated, I don't think you'll see decommitments from those guys. Now with that being said, I am sure prospects are discussing contingency plans with their parents. "If Meyer is fired, then what? which schools do we take a closer look at?" Certainly these are topics of conversation behind closed doors, but that's pretty standard for a situation like this.
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