The Hurry Up: Tyrell Ajian Talks Visit, Chad Clay Update, Buckeyes Offer Five-Star Linebacker and More

By Jeremy Birmingham on April 23, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Five-Star Linebacker Caleb Kelly
Caleb Kelly
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Welcome to The Hurry Up, which runs Sunday through Thursday, serving as your last stop for recruiting news and notes nightly. We'll recap the day as it happened and preview the days ahead while keeping our ear to the ground on the Ohio State recruiting scene.


BUCKEYES OFFER FIVE-STAR LINEBACKER CALEB KELLY

Late last night, the Buckeyes extended a scholarship offer to Fresno, California five-star linebacker Caleb Kelly.

Kelly is a 6-foot-3, 215-pounder at Clovis West High School, and holds scholarship offers from pretty much every major college program in the country. 

Yesterday we talked about Ohio State's linebacker situation following Tuf Borland's commitment and we mentioned two key names: Brendan Ferns and Aaron Hansford. What then of the offer to Kelly? Is that a "nudge" for Ferns or Hansford? Maybe, but not likely. Kelly is not going to decide anytime soon, and he's not a player that has been to Ohio State before and he would require a fairly expensive unofficial visit this summer to make getting an official visit from him in the fall likely. The Buckeye offer is a nice notch on the belt for Kelly, but Urban Meyer offering a kid from California isn't meant as any kind of "shot across the bow" at the camps of the linebackers they're waiting on answers from.

While we're at it, and I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but it's probably a good idea to temper enthusiasm about any player who the Buckeyes offer, or who talks about making repeated visits to Columbus, if they're outside of the Big Ten footprint. It's not easy for the families of these prospects to travel to every school that offers them, and so I hope you'll all pardon my lack of bell ringing every time a prospect says "I want to visit Ohio State."

Of course people want to visit Ohio State, they're the defending national champions and have one of the greatest coaches in college football history coaching one of college football's all-time great programs. That said, until plane tickets are purchased and dates are finalized, I'm not likely to talk too much about "want to."

CHAD CLAY DOWN TO TWO?

When he visited Ohio State prior to Easter weekend, Chad Clay didn't know exactly what to expect, but left Columbus incredibly impressed by the Buckeyes. Since then, Clay, from Suwanee, Georgia, has visited Florida and Georgia – and been visited by the Bulldogs' staff – and has hinted that a late May decision is likely. His 247Sports.com crystal balls reads Georgia in front, but Clay isn't conceding anything about his recruitment.

"I don't know why people think that," Clay said about Georgia being the runaway favorite. "It's a close race. I know that football is everything to the people down here."

Ohio State will make their way to Suwanee's Peachtree Ridge sometime in the near future, according to Clay. He says that he and the Buckeyes have been in consistent contact since his visit.

"I speak to Ohio State everyday," Clay said. "They're going to come down to one of our spring practices."

Peachtree Ridge has been good to the Buckeyes in the past: first round NFL draft picks Cameron Heyward and Bradley Roby each matriculated north from there. Could Clay be next? He says he's spoken to Roby and Heyward's family about what being a Buckeye is all about, but he's just not ready to make a decision yet. 

Keep watching this one.

TYRELL AJIAN IS TAKING IT ALL IN

One of Ohio's fastest-rising 2017 prospects is Mansfield's Tyrell Ajian, currently ranked as the country's 44th-overall prospect in the class. Ajian is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound athlete at Madison High School and could line up at wide receiver or defensive back in college, but he doesn't care at this point which spot he plays.

"Whatever gets me on the field fastest," Ajian told Eleven Warriors. "I really don't have a preference."

Ajian made a trip to Columbus last weekend for Ohio State's spring game. He knows his recruitment is really just getting started – he has offers from Michigan, Tennessee, Miami (Ohio), Cincinnati and Toledo – so he's trying to take it all in without getting swept up in the emotions of every visit.

"The visit was pretty good, I didn't get to spend much time with coaches though," he said. "Walking on the field, and getting to be close to the players was definitely great. It's still so early in my recruitment, I'm just trying to be as observant as possible."

Ajian will camp with the Buckeyes this summer and it would not be a surprise if he were to earn an offer from Ohio State at that time.

WHERE THE COACHES ARE

It's baaaack...the spring evaluation period is underway and that means the Buckeyes are back on the road. Where did they stop today? Here's a few of the places.

Kerry Coombs made it known last night that he'd be engaging The Mitten with his hashtag bad-assery.

With Coombs was Ohio State's Ed Warinner, and one of the players they stopped to see was Traverse City West's Thiyo Lukusa.

The pair also made a trip to Plymouth to check in on offensive tackle Michael Jordan.

Linebacker coach Luke Fickell headed to southern Ohio and visited with St. Clairsville's Brendan Ferns. 

Rashan Gary, the nation's top-ranked prospect in the 2016 class saw Buckeye defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Sr. at New Jersey's Paramus Catholic. The Buckeyes' Chris Ash was in New Jersey on Wednesday, visiting defensive back prospect Jordan Fuller, who was tweeting some pro-Buckeye stuff later that night.

Ash was in Cleveland today, checking on Lakewood St. Edward defensive back Tony Butler, a Pittsburgh commit. A Buckeye offer could be coming Butler's way soon.

​​Ohio State wide receiver coach Zach Smith was in Virginia, visiting a number of Buckeye prospects, including 2016 defensive back Wayne Davis.

TORN HAMSTRING FOR JUDSON

One of Ohio State's 2017 commitments received some bad news this morning: Bruce Judson tore his hamstring on Wednesday, just hours after advancing to the Florida High School track regional finals.

 Best wishes to Judson for a speedy recovery.

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