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.
GUARANTANO STILL PLANNING ON OHIO STATE VISIT
It's time for the weekly Jarrett Guarantano update, friends. The country's 6th-ranked quarterback once again visited his home-state Rutgers Scarlet Knights over the weekend and gave NJ.com's Todderick Hunt an in-depth update on where things stand.
Basically, not much has changed for Guarantano, which is probably a good thing as far the Buckeyes are concerned. He's scheduled to visit Tennessee two weeks from now and told Hunt that he'll make a trip to Columbus shortly thereafter. The Buckeyes continue to pursue Guarantano as earnestly as anyone else and Urban Meyer, Ed Warinner and Tim Beck are involved in his recruitment. Guarantano was expected to be an early commitment for the Buckeyes, but it appears at this point his recruitment is likely to extend towards the end of spring football. Could a spring game visit to Ohio State be in the works? That would be an ideal visit weekend from the Buckeye perspective, if they could arrange it. Guarantano has continued to talk about his desire to play big-time football and what better way to demonstrate that than with 85,000 people or more showing up for an inter-squad scrimmage?
BUCKEYES HOPING TO GET CLOSER TO WALLACE
Towards the end of last week, another of Ohio State's top quarterback targets in 2016, DeSoto, Texas standout Tristen Wallace, re-opened his recruitment, decommitting from Texas Tech, where he pledged in early January. Wallace is the country's third-ranked dual-threat quarterback and at 6-foot-3, 225-pounds and with a 40-yard-dash regularly run in the 4.4 range, it's easy to see why Wallace is so well-regarded, physically. Although he's recovering from a broken leg that cost him most of his junior year, the Buckeyes are just one of the teams vying for a better shot with Wallace.
"He's a really talented kid, a special kind of athlete," one source close to the Buckeyes shared. "He'd fit our system really well, but we know there's some challenges in getting him away from Texas."
Those challenges include A.) signing a player from Texas, especially a quarterback, who has offers from Texas and Baylor and is likely to add one from Texas A&M and TCU before too long and B.) Claude Mathis, the DeSoto legend and former coach of Wallace, is now on Chad Morris' staff at SMU. Keeping Wallace and other Dallas area stars at SMU is a major priority for Morris as he hopes to turn the Mustangs into a viable program in the already loaded Lone Star State.
RIVALS 2017 GROUP COULD BE SPECIAL FOR BUCKEYES
Rivals.com released their initial Top 100 for the 2017 class and if the early returns are any indication, it could be another special year for the Buckeyes. While the Rivals rankings are not in numerical order, but rather alphabetical, a total of eight prospects were granted "five-star" status, including Ohio State commitment Josh Myers. Myers is one of only two five-stars for 2017 to have already made a verbal pledge: Dylan Moses, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has committed to LSU.
Here are the other six 2017 five-star prospects, per Rivals.com:
- Calvin Ashley // OT// Bradenton, Florida // IMG Academy
- Deangelo Gibbs // DB // Suwanee, Georgia // Peachtree Ridge
- Trevon Grimes // WR // Fort Lauderdale, Florida // St. Thomas Aquinas
- Najee Harris // RB // Antioch, Califorinia // Antioch Senior
- Darnay Holmes // DB // Newbury Park, California // Newbury Park
- Devon Hunter // DB // Chesapeake, Virginia // Indian River High School
The Buckeyes are the leaders for Grimes, who earned an invitation to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge on the strength of his performance this weekend at the Rivals Camp Series in Miami. He was also awarded wide receiver MVP honors during last week's The Opening regionals in Miami.
Ashley is a 6-foot-7, 270-pound offensive tackle at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. His roommate? Buckeye commitment Tyler Gerald, who, according to Ashley, is doing his best to espouse the virtues of the Ohio State program. Still, for the Buckeyes to land Ashley from the likes of Florida State, Florida and Miami would be a shock.
Darnay Holmes is close friends with fellow 2017 Top 100 Keyshawn Johnson, Jr., who as you know, is a cousin of current Buckeye wide receiver Mike Thomas.
As expected, the Buckeyes are involved with a host of players on the Rivals 100. Two other commitments, Shaun Wade and Bruce Judson, each made the initial cut as well as key Ohio State targets Richard LeCounte, Eric Crosby, Khalan Laborn, Kayden Lyles, Anthony McFarland, Donovan Peoples-Jones, JaVonte Richardson, Shawn Robinson, Aubrey Solomon, Jeff Thomas, Lamont Wade and Marcus Willamson.
COUGHLIN DECISION COMING, BUCKEYES OR GOPHERS?
This past weekend, Eden Prairie, Minnesota linebacker Carter Coughlin made what is likely to be his final college visit before he makes his college choice. Minnesota and Ohio State, along with Oregon, are the final three schools for Coughlin, the country's 22nd-ranked outside linebacker and 284th-ranked overall prospect.
The Gophers obviously have a number of built-in advantages for their home-state star, Minnesota's top-ranked player. Coughlin's father and grandfather both lined up for the Gopher football team and his mother played tennis at the school. The question for Coughlin likely comes out to the dreaded "head versus heart" I so often speak about. It's incredibly difficult for a kid with that much family legacy at his home school to commit elsewhere this early, so it shouldn't be a surprise if he commits to Minnesota this week. Of course, we're not talking about college football also rans in Ohio State or Oregon, and if there's one thing that can lead you away from home, it's the lure of national titles. Either way, we'll get an answer soon as a decision is expected this week.
DELANCE DECOMMITS FROM SOONERS AMID FRATERNITY CONTROVERSY
Just two days after a junior day visit to Norman, Oklahoma 2016 offensive line commit Jean Delance has de-committed from the Sooners on the heels of a now-exploding national news story involving racist chants from a fraternity on campus that were caught on camera. From a football perspective, the loss is a big one for the Sooners – Delance is the country's 16th-ranked offensive tackle – but the damage done to the school with recruits could be much bigger; stories of this nature rarely die quickly.
Oklahoma is hardly alone in having idiotic factions on their campus, but they're the most recent to have their entire school's reputation dented by morons with a smartphone. The school should be applauded for their quick action in removing the fraternity and I've got no doubt that the entire administration is embarrassed and outraged at the turn of events. Unfortunately, football, which is the truly the least important aspect of this kind of story, becomes the vehicle with which it gets delivered. Delance will find that no matter what school he attends, there will be some people who don't deserve the pulpit they have for their voices. If he doesn't feel Oklahoma is the right school or football program for him, that's his choice, but I hope that it's based on a more comprehensive issue than the chanting of a group of entitled jack-asses.
