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After a few days spent in Southern California, there is a lot to talk about. Ohio State has been very opportunistic over the years, finding parts of the country where the traditional powers were down and raiding them. That strategy, combined with some coaches now who have some knowledge of the area, has led to an increased emphasis being placed on the state of California, most notably the Los Angeles metro area.
On Thursday I spent the afternoon at Rancho Cucamonga High School and watched C.J. Stroud throw it around a bit during his team's walkthrough. Stroud has very easy arm strength, he doesn't have to strain very much to get good zip on the ball and I was impressed with his accuracy on Thursday afternoon. It was primarily against air, but he was able to make some high level of difficulty throws look pretty easy.
At this point, Stroud is probably the leader in the clubhouse in terms of Ohio State's preference as a second quarterback in the class. It continues to be a delicate situation though. Jack Miller has said all the right things about understanding the numbers situation on the roster and that Ohio State has to address it in this cycle but it's always easier said than done when it comes to taking a two-QB class.
So Ohio State is taking it slow and will continue to do some senior film evaluations over the next few weeks, but I do think Stroud is in a pretty good spot to be the guy and then it will be a matter of trying to massage this situation properly to make everything work out.
The other part of the equation is, how long will Stroud wait? As one source told me on Thursday, "I think he's waiting for the Ohio State offer and that he would take it" but there is going to be an expiration date on that mind set. Stroud plans to graduate early so this should be over by December, but he likely can't wait forever for Ohio State so there there will be a sweet spot in here somewhere where the Buckeyes feel they have done the diligence and can move on a second QB and where it's not too late for Stroud, so finding that sweet spot is the focus right now.
Thursday night took me to Upland High School to watch La Habra star and Ohio State cornerback commit Clark Phillips. I'm going to have some more analysis coming from the games I watched this weekend so I won't unload all of that in here, but certainly Phillips was outstanding on Thursday night with two interceptions.
On the other side of the field was the nation's top rated senior linebacker, Upland's Justin Flowe. Flowe is a very special talent and Ohio State worked to get into the mix here but it just never happened. Flowe is very likely going to end up at Clemson at this point but, regardless, the Buckeyes did not make his top five.
Ohio State has also offered his younger brother Jonathan in the 2021 class. I checked in on that situation and the thought is that he's a virtual lock to follow his brother, assuming he doesn't get the rug pulled out from under him from whichever school that may be after Justin signs. So I've got Jonathan penciled in for Clemson right now too.
Friday night took me to the Mater Dei vs. Corona Centennial game, which Mater Dei dominated. Mater Dei looks loaded in the foreseeable future with a very good 2021 class and a potentially great 2022 class. The Buckeyes have taken a special interest in 2021 LB Raesjon Davis and 2021 cornerback Jaylin Davies.
Davis is the one with the higher OSU interest right now, though Davies also told me he really likes the Buckeyes. But with Davis, there is already a very good connection there with Al Washington and I think Ohio State is going to be a player there. I think some of Raesjon's enthusiasm for Ohio State is rubbing off on Jaylin though as the two are talking about getting out to a game this fall. I'll have updates on both coming soon.
I posted an update on Centennial 2021 defensive end Korey Foreman who is currently rated the No. 1 prospect in the 2021 class. Probably a long shot at this point but I know for a fact that the Ohio State staff loves him and once the contact period opens up on September 1st, they'll be aggressive in trying to build a relationship there. Basically just a wait-and-see thing with Foreman on how that goes and if he sets up a visit down the road.
Korey made some very impressive splash plays on Friday night, but was not as consistently dominant as he was at The Opening over the summer. Obviously a no-brainer five-star though and a guy who should consistently remain in the discussion of the top dog in the class nationally.
Wrapped things up Saturday night with St. John Bosco hosting DeMatha Catholic out of Maryland. Continue to love the way Kourt Williams plays the game. He does everything fast and he hits whatever he sees. There are better long term NFL type prospects in Ohio State's 2020 class, but Kourt is just one hell of a football player and it's hard to envison him not having a good career at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes hope they aren't finished at St. John Bosco, however. 2021 wide receiver Beaux Collins, who we profiled again today, is a top target in that class for Brian Hartline and company. Collins has already visited twice as his sister goes to college in Ohio so the Buckeyes are off to a great start.
One interesting thing from my interview with Beaux is that he didn't really mention any West Coast programs. Kourt Williams told me pretty early on that he was leaving California and the West Coast in general. Beaux isn't at that stage yet, but there is enough evidence here to lead me to believe that he's leaning in that direction as well, though certainly we'll see what USC's program is looking like at this time next year.
He's a high academic kid who has really been excited about the life after football component at Ohio State. This is a bit speculative at this point because he is several months, perhaps even a year away from a decision, but I think Ohio State is doing a great job here and I've put in a pick for the Buckeyes.
There was some Buckeye related stuff on the DeMatha sideline, too. 2021 linebacker Greg Penn is a guy the Buckeyes are recruiting pretty heavily so far and I'm told the interest there is mutual. Going to be a guy to at least keep an eye on these next few months.
The more pressing storyline, however, is that of DeMatha running back Marshawn Lloyd, who despite the blowout loss I thought was pretty outstanding on Saturday evening. Lloyd is committed to South Carolina, a commitment that varies depending on who you talk to, but most think it's at least a little bit unstable there.
His former coach is now at Maryland as an assistant and that is certainly one program that is worth watching with the Rivals100 talent but I'm told it's Ohio State and, believe it or not, Georgia who are after him the hardest right now in trying to flip him from South Carolina. Georgia was considered the favorite for Lloyd at one point but went a bit sideways in May and he ended up going with the Gamecocks. But that hasn't stopped UGA from pursuing him and the Dawgs are also still after Zach Evans so the domino effect with the running backs in this cycle continues to be fascinating.
Lloyd himself hasn't put too much thought into recruiting over the past month. He hasn't really been talking to any coaches and has been locked in on training camp and his season, but I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one right now and think it's very possible that a visit happens. One source at DeMatha told me he expected a visit would probably happen down the road despite Marshawn not really talking to OSU very much right now, so buckle up.
Obviously at some point Marshawn is going to have to be more pro-active in reciprocating interest, but it was told to me pretty bluntly that he hasn't been talking to anyone over the past month or so and that things would probably change now that camp is over.
Maybe not such a long shot?
There are really only a few situations (running back, second QB, cornerback) that are going to dominate Ohio State recruiting coverage the next few months when it comes to finishing out the 2020 class. Defensive line, in particular defensive end, is going to be one of those situations. It has been a bit of an odd cycle at this spot and there isn't really an abundance of realistic options at this time. Certainly Charlotte (NC) Providence Day standout Jacolbe Cowan is one of those options, but he looks like a future tackle.
Knoxville (TN) Catholic star Tyler Baron is another player who remains in play for the Buckeyes. Baron's father, Patrick Abernathy, is on the support staff at Tennessee so between that and Tyler being a local kid at a UT pipeline, the general thought has been that Tennessee had a commanding lead.
That may not be the case.
Baron stays pretty quiet about his recruitment, but sources in that part of the world believe Ohio State has made up some ground over the past few months and is very much in play for the four-star pass-rusher. Baron has made a couple of unofficial visits to Ohio State during the recruiting process so the most important step to my 'can Ohio State win this out-of-region battle' criteria has been fulfilled.
Baron's top five right now includes the Vols, Buckeyes, Kentucky, Oregon, and Oklahoma and he has used his official visit to Oklahoma. I tend to think Tennessee, Ohio State, and Kentucky are the top contenders here as this time. Ohio State is expected to get an official visit from Baron this fall.
After talking to a few people this week, I'm moving Baron out of the long shot category and into the realistic chance category.
A couple of Texas updates
There aren't a ton of spots left in Ohio State's 2020 class, but the state of Texas has a couple of guys that the Buckeyes are targeting right now in Little Elm cornerback Ryan Watts and Lancaster running back Tre Bradford so there will be some eyes in the Lonestar State this fall.
Watts continues to be the name that generates the most conversation behind the scenes when it comes to Ohio State's search for an additional cornerback in this class. Obviously Watts isn't going to say much about this, he is, afterall, committed to Oklahoma. But there continues to be smoke on the ground in Texas that Ohio State is a very appealing situation for him and that some important people close to him also are intrigued by the Buckeyes.
Oklahoma's strategy right now is to get Watts on campus as much as possible this fall. It's not a bad drive from Little Elm to Norman so the Sooners are going to try to keep this on lockdown by using geography to their advantage.
But there is still every reason to believe that Watts is going to take an official visit to Ohio State this fall, perhaps the weekend of the Penn State game. Ironically, Penn State is another school that is working on Watts behind the scenes, but I'm told that if you took Oklahoma out of the equation, that Ohio State is the preference. Obviously Oklahoma is very much in the equation, but it looks like the Buckeyes are the top threat and PSU may be a bit too rural for Ryan and his family. Still possible he pops up in State College on an OV, however.
If we were handicapping things today, I still believe Watts is the best bet right now for the Buckeyes. Obviously the names Elias Ricks and Kelee Ringo won't go away until they publicly eliminate Ohio State but, again, those guys are icing on the cake and it won't be left up to hitting a Hail Mary with one of those two, they'll add a third corner before that point and see what happens with those guys.
Ricks has been at IMG for a few weeks now and while there is no question that Lejond Cavazos is going to make it his mission to get Ricks to Ohio State, and I fully expect the Penn State game OV to happen, it continues to look very unlikely that Elias will ultimately end up in Columbus. There would have to be a lot of craziness at LSU and you have to think that even a situation where Orgeron was out would still result in Tigers DB coach Cory Raymond being retained and that's the more important relationship with Ricks. Just don't see it happening, but until Elias eliminates Ohio State, we'll keep following that one closely.
As for Bradford, Ohio State continues to work on building the relationship there and I'm told things are going really well on that front with both Tre and his family. One thing helping Ohio State here is that everyone seems to be pretty much on board with Tre leaving the state and perhaps the region for college. He wants to get out of the area and has the blessing of those around him to do so.
The Bradford crew and Ohio State are talking weekly and now it's really a matter of some senior film evaluation and getting Tre up to campus to check things out. If Signing Day was tomorrow, I think Wisconsin would probably be the pick, but if Ohio State pushes they can land this kid.
Position change?
One of the top Ohio guys in 2020 is Pickerington North wide receiver Chris Scott. We've talked about Scott pretty frequently over the past two years as a guy who most years would have received a closer look from the Buckeyes. Due to the monster receiver class the Buckeyes have landed, Scott never really became an overly realistic target for Ohio State.
But the Buckeyes have remained in some contact with Scott over the past several months and he did camp again over the summer. Right now, Ohio State is content with the four receivers it has and I think it is unlikely that they take another one in this class unless some really weird attrition situation pops up.
Scott will be playing a new position this fall, cornerback. In addition to his wide receiver duties, Scott is going to start at cornerback over at North and that new film on defense could open him up to some new opportunities, including even Ohio State as the Buckeyes will certainly be taking another defensive back before the dust settles.
It is probably still a bit of a long shot, especially if things keep moving in a good direction with Watts, but the Buckeyes are going to take a look at Scott's defensive film this year and see if it makes sense.
The early returns from the folks at North are that Scott has been a monster at defensive back during training camp so I'm kind of eager myself to see how he does there this fall.
