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Welcome back for another edition of “A-Deck” at BuckeyeGrove.com, presented by Infinit Nutrition, where I’ll bring you thoughts, what I’m hearing, inside scoop, tidbits, and more for Ohio State recruiting and team coverage, every Wednesday.
Last week’s A-Deck gave the latest on the 2021 running backs situation, if the Buckeyes were hitting the portal to boost their backfield, and dished on some other recruiting notes and tidbits.
This week, we look at the recent run of commitments for the Buckeyes, who could be next, how the Coronavirus pandemic is impacting Ohio State recruiting, and about a possible “boom” for the basketball team.
CORONAVIRUS SHUTS DOWN RECRUITING, BUCKEYES GIVE IT THE STIFF ARM
When it was announced that Ohio State (and then the whole NCAA) would have to shut down recruiting activity for the foreseeable future, my initial reaction was that it wouldn’t be an ideal situation for the Buckeyes or any other program for that matter, when it comes to building momentum and seeing immediate results on the trail. With most spring and early summer visits being cancelled/postponed, and likely one-day prospect camps as well, the first thought I had was that it would slow down the cycle for prospects across the country entirely. Boy, was I wrong.
It turns out that definitely is the case for some prospects, mainly the ones who truly don’t have a good idea of where they want to go, or for players who are currently looking at a group of programs that may have new staffs or who don’t necessarily have “staying power” (i.e. Boston College, Rutgers, Florida State, etc.).
But for a whole other group of players, things were actually sped up by the moratorium on recruiting activity. A lot of these players pretty much knew where they were going to commit to, but wanted to make one more round of unofficial/official visits to enjoy the process while they could, and ensure the place they were going to choose was right for them. Unfortunately for those players, any of those visits may not be able to happen until May at the earliest, and even that’s being extremely generous, with June even looking bleak, and July being optimistic at this point with what we know. Guys like Jakailin Johnson, Devonta Smith and Evan Pryor, all of whom recently pledged to the Buckeyes, fall into this bucket, and there are many others throughout the nation who have or will join the flurry of commitments we’ve seen this week. In this case, the recruiting ban has actually helped OSU and they’ve taken solid advantage of it.
It will be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out, but my new thought is after the bunch of verbal pledges that we see across the country over the next week, there will be a significant lull in the action for the most part until on campus and in-person recruiting is back up and running.
BOOM CITY FOR THE BUCKEYES
As mentioned, Ohio State is on a bit of a roll right now, having picked up four commitments over a three-day span since Sunday, including pledges from the aforementioned Johnson, Smith, and Pryor, as well as Nashville (Tn.) Ensworth cornerback/safety Andre Turrentine.
With Johnson, the Buckeyes had been the leader for quite some time, and he definitely fell into the bucket mentioned above of wanting to take one more round of visits for the fun of it/to "be sure" before giving his pledge to Ohio State. With the halt in recruiting, that round of trips wasn’t happening anymore, so he felt there was no better time than to pull the trigger and join the 2021 class than now. This is a huge get for OSU, as cornerback was a big need for the program this cycle, and Johnson is one of the best in America, with the argument that he’s the best being one you could entertain.
As for Smith, he is an Ohio kid from Cincinnati La Salle who has been on the radar for quite some time. Once Kerry Coombs got hired, he gave Smith a long look and liked what he saw. They built up a relationship, which was pretty easy with Coombs being a Queen City native, and the rest is history. The offer came not too long before it was accepted on Monday and while I don’t think Smith was pressured into pledging now, I do feel pretty confident in saying OSU wasn’t going to extend the scholarship without having a good pulse on the rising senior cornerback’s intentions and timeline. While Smith isn’t as highly rated as Johnson or Turrentine, he’s definitely got some good upside and has the skillset to develop into a productive starter for the Buckeyes at the college level.
When it comes to Pryor, he fills a great need at running back for Ohio State after they’ve struck out on some top targets the last couple of cycles (a few of which absolutely weren't in their control). In last week’s A-Deck I threw out the strong possibility that Pryor would try to commit on his March 18 scheduled visit, but with that trip having to be cancelled, the North Carolina-native decided to make the call on Monday night, picking the Bucks over UNC and Georgia. This was definitely not a “sure thing” the whole way, as I have pretty solid intel that Penn State (where his sister currently goes) led as recently as early February, when Pryor released a top six of the four schools mentioned, Oklahoma, and USC. I’m not sure what happened with the Nittany Lions, but his interest died down in them pretty quickly and Ohio State became the heavy favorite over the last month. Additionally, as I mentioned last week, there was a realistic possibility that the Buckeyes weren’t going to be ready to take Pryor’s commitment, as they tried to balance interest from two of their very top targets in Donovan Edwards and Treveyon Henderson. One line of thinking, and it was discussed in the WHAC, was that the Buckeyes could roll the dice a bit and try to delay a decision from Pryor to see if they could land both Edwards and Pryor, but in the end, after staff discussion, they decided they liked Pryor too much as both a player and a person to pass up on the opportunity to get him in the fold, at a position of great need right now. And they’re happy they made that call, as they’ve landed one of the top backs in America who runs a 10.8 second 100-meter dash.
Finally, Turrentine came as a bit more of a surprise than the other three, but maybe it shouldn’t have been. Turrentine made a trip to Ohio State in November for the Penn State game, and ended up staying in Columbus for the entire next day, spending his time at the WHAC with most of the staff and some of the current players. Following that visit, he told me the Buckeyes were in his top two, but couldn’t name who is other top school was at that point, so it was pretty obvious who led in his mind. With the coaching change (Jeff Hafley) at Ohio State and with big time schools also having Turrentine high on their board, I really didn’t think a decision would come this soon. But Kerry Coombs did a tremendous job making the Nashville-product a priority and with recruiting on hiatus right now and a couple of players in his position group jumping on board, Turrentine apparently didn’t want to wait any longer. I really like this pick up because I think, first, that Turrentine is very talented, and, second, that he brings great versatility in his ability to either play corner or be a safety that can cover. I spoke to a source down in the Nashville area who has seen him play a bunch of times and they were really high on him, saying he reminded them a bit of Vonn Bell, another Tennessee native who came to Columbus to play his college ball and had that same versatility. If Turrentine ends up as 75-percent of what Bell was at OSU, I think fans will be very pleased.
MORE TO COME?
While the immediate run on recruits should end today (to my knowledge), it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ohio State add another player or two in the relative near future.
Top running back target Treveyon Henderson dropped his “final nine” this week and it included Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia, UNC, Texas, and Oklahoma. When I reached out to Henderson he told me that he plans to commit “real soon”, and while he wouldn’t commit to an exact timeline, sources close to him indicated that it may not be long before he makes a pledge. The buzz I have right now is that the Bucks have the lead over Oklahoma and Virginia Tech, and if this thing goes down soon, as Henderson suggested, I really like the Scarlet and Gray. I’ve made a FutureCast pick in favor of the Buckeyes given all this information.
Additionally, my intel is saying that it would be “very surprising” at this point if Oklahoma running back graduate transfer Trey Sermon did not end up in Columbus as well. I don’t have a timeline on this one either, but with recruiting visits being postponed indefinitely, it could actually speed up the timetable in which Sermon makes a public decision. The thinking here is that Sermon will want to jump into his new team’s playbook as soon as possible, as well as get on a strength and conditioning program (as well as rehab for his knee) and nutrition program from his new coaches. With it being unknown when visits could happen again (could be July or August), he can’t necessarily take the risk of waiting and it being really late in the game to start all of that. I was told a few weeks back to watch for this to happen, as I mentioned in A-Deck last week, and I see no reason right now as to why Sermon won’t be in the Ohio State running backs room when they open fall camp.
With all that said, what does it mean for Donovan Edwards, who I put in a FutureCast to Ohio State for last week? Sermon won’t matter here, as he only has one year left, but I’m told even if the Buckeyes get Henderson to go with Pryor, that they’d still be willing to take Edwards if he wanted in (because why the heck wouldn’t they?!). That said, I’m also told, not surprisingly, that Edwards would probably end up at Michigan or Georgia in this scenario, even though I believe that Ohio State leads right now, as it’s highly unlikely that he would be a part of a class with three backs of that caliber. I think that’s the case for any of the three players involved here if two were already committed, as it’s really hard in any cycle to envision three prospects at a position like running back (mostly one on the field at a time), with that level of talent, to join the same class. The odds on that happening are very low and it is just more of a fan pipe dream than realistic scenario. If I could, I’d go “foggy” on my FutureCast for Edwards, as I think Henderson is more likely to take the OSU offer first, but if something does go sideways there, the Buckeyes will absolutely still be a major player for the Detroit-area product (and yes, he knows they were planning to take two backs the whole time).
Finally, there have been rumors about a few other players and when they may commit, so I just wanted to share what I am hearing at this time:
- OL JC Latham: A source told me there was some thinking from the Latham camp about moving up a commitment with the moratorium on recruiting, but the latest intel I have still has the decision process coming after one more visit to each Ohio State and LSU following the ban being lifted. We’ll see if that holds up, but right now I think the Buckeyes still have the lead on the Tigahs.
- OL Jager Burton: This is another one that I think could have come soon for Ohio State, but it seems that Burton is going to wait this ban out to take his official visits before deciding. We’ll see how plans change based on how long this thing goes on for, but if visits do happen, I have the Buckeyes leading Kentucky (and Alabama, Oregon, & Clemson) heading into those.
- DL Tunmise Adeleye: This is a Florida-Ohio State battle with Oklahoma right behind them as well right now. I had one source close to this one tell me they feel pretty strongly that the Buckeyes lead at the moment, but I know that the Gators have a ton of momentum and I truly see this one going on for a bit. A spring visit to Columbus was supposed to happen in April, so that is a killer for OSU, as Gainesville is much more accessible now that Adeleye is at IMG Academy. Nonetheless, I expect him to get to OSU as soon as he can following the ban lift, as a decision is on tap for August 1. We’ll see if that holds true with the delay on visits but for now he’s still working towards that date.
- DL JT Tuimoloau: I think Ohio State is definitely the clear leader right now. I wouldn’t call them a “lock” (there isn’t such a thing in recruiting), but I do think his relationship with Larry Johnson is by far his best at the moment and that is winning out. I’m truly not sure on a timeline here, to be honest. I’ve haven’t been told about anything happening soon, and I’d imagine he’d want to get to Columbus before that is done, but that's just a guess on my part. We’ll see what happens, but Ohio State is in a good place right now for one of the country’s top defensive linemen.
BOOM CITY FOR THE BASKETBALL BUCKEYES TOO?
Cutting right to the chase, I am hearing that, barring a last minute change of heart, Harvard graduate transfer forward Seth Towns will be committing to Ohio State over other finalists Kansas, Michigan, Maryland, Syracuse, and Virginia, when he makes his announcement this week.
This is a huge pick-up for the Buckeyes, as Towns, a Columbus-native, will have two years of eligibility remaining and has proven to be someone who can score from the wing and shoot it from 3-point range at the Division I level (averaged 16.6 points shooting 44% from behind the arc when he last played as a sophomore), both of which are big needs for the program next season.
There are two kickers here, though. First, Towns hasn’t played meaningful basketball in two years, as he got injured in 2018-2019 and sat out 2019-2020 in anticipation of his move to transfer with two years left. Second, the Buckeyes already were one player over the scholarship limit with their two 2020 signees, and now need to find a second spot open to add Towns.
The former will likely work itself out over time as Towns gets back into the swing of things, but the latter is definitely something to watch. I’m hearing it’s likely that Kaleb Wesson could leave to go pro (NBA or Europe), although the lack of a postseason this year could possibly change his mind. Additionally, there are a few players I’d have on transfer watch, but I don’t want to throw out names out of respect for the players/program and their privacy in making those decisions.
Regardless of how the spot opens up, the plan is for Towns to “come home”, which makes the 2020-2021 basketball Buckeyes that much better.
