The 11W Recruiting Mailbag is your one-stop shop for all things Ohio State recruiting. You have questions. We have answers.
Assuming there is one, who's a currently off-the-radar [to us normal humans] recruit who ends up either in the class or gets serious attention by National Signing Day. - JohnnyKozmo
There's absolutely no way anybody could have predicted last June that Ohio State would have flipped three-star wide receiver Ellijah Gardiner from Missouri just days ahead of signing day. And why would we? The Buckeyes were among the favorite for five-stars Trevon Grimes and Tyjon Lindsey and the assumed leader for four-star Jaylen Harris at this time last year.
But that's the beauty of recruiting.
When Lindsey decommitted and eventually pledged his services to Nebraska, Ohio State director of player personnel Mark Pantoni and assistant Eron Hodges narrowed a list of 60 prospects down to 10. They evaluated each one, and after several meetings and an official visit, offered Gardiner a scholarship. He flipped just hours later.
It's not often the staff has to scramble like that, though, so my answer isn't going to be as far off the grid as Kemp, Texas. Instead, I'll give you three names to keep in mind: Louisville three-star receiver Rondale Moore, Virginia four-star linebacker K'Vaughan Pope and Missouri three-star defensive end Daniel Carson, each of whom already have offers from the Buckeyes.
Ohio State is expected to once again take three wideouts this cycle, and St. Louis' Kamryn Babb and Huber Heights Wayne's L'Christian "Blue" Smith are among the staff's top targets. But Moore, who only recently earned an offer from the Buckeyes, continues to shoot up the rankings after he ran a 4.33 40-yard dash and squatted 530 pounds. He's cut from the same cloth as Lindsey and could fill the gap in the slot.
Ohio State has added two linebackers in the last month in four-stars Dallas Gant and Teradja Mitchell, and names that continue to be linked the Buckeyes include Solomon Tuliaupupu, Michael Harris, Christopher Oats and Xavier Peters. Don't forget Pope, though.
He and Mitchell live about an hour and a half apart, and linebackers coach Bill Davis stopped by to watch him practice during his last trip to Virginia. The two have built a strong relationship in a short period of time, and my sources — the same ones who were confident in Mitchell landing with the Buckeyes clear back in early April — expect the two to play alongside one another in college.
Carson is the least likely of the three to end up in Columbus, based on the fact that Ohio State already holds commitments from a pair of defensive ends and remains in hot pursuit of five-star Micah Parsons and four-star Tyreke Smith. But he has the utmost respect and admiration for defensive line coach Larry Johnson, and the two talk almost daily. If the Buckeyes are willing to take seven defensive linemen this cycle, I believe Carson would jump at the opportunity.
How do you feel about the team's positioning with a couple of highly rated prospects in the 2019 class out of Belleville, Michigan, Julian Barnett and Devontae Dobbs. Can Urban really steal two of the state's top prospects from Ole Jimmy? - BucksIan
Absolutely, and I'm confident in the Buckeyes' chances.
The Wolverines haven't made Dobbs a priority, and Jim Harbaugh's sole pitch thus far is the idea of staying home — "The best players in Michigan play for Michigan." They haven't offered Barnett yet, either, which seems crazy to me since he's among the Top 100 players in his class nationally.
Ohio State defensive backs coach and area recruiter Kerry Coombs, meanwhile, reaches out to both prospects almost every day. Their relationships go back almost two years to the Sound Mind/Sound Body camp held in Detroit in late June 2015, and he'd love nothing more than to plant another flag in the state up north.
Having already lost 14 of the last 16 games in the series, Michigan can't afford to lose two of the top three players in the state to its rival. I expect Harbaugh to turn up the heat in the coming months as a result.
However, let's not forget both prospects were invited to Ann Arbor for the Wolverines' Spring Game in April, but decided to come to Columbus instead.
It might already be too little too late.
How big do you see this class, and how many current Top 100 recruits do you see in it? - FitzBuck
Though the early signing period in December got all of the headlines, one underreported but just as important part of the new NCAA legislation put a cap on the number of players allowed in each recruiting class.
Programs are now limited to 25 scholarships per cycle, which effectively does away with oversigning by delaying a prospect's enrollment.
That said, Ohio State is about halfway done with its 2018 recruiting class, so long as everyone committed remains. As currently constructed, nine future Buckeyes occupy a spot among the Top 100 prospects in the country.
Of those, I expect at least seven more to commit to Ohio State — Parsons, Anthony Cook, Jackson Carman, Tyson Campbell, Kamryn Babb, Matthew Jones and Jeremy Ruckert.
That number could balloon to as many as 10 if everything falls the staff's way — Zamir White, Brennan Eagles and Tuliaupupu, anyone? There's no doubt we're talking the top-rated recruiting class at that point.
With the pretty solid confidence in Emory Jones for this class, who do you think we have a better shot at, Michael Johnson Jr. or Roschon Johnson? Who do you like better. - Cpewster
To answer your question(s), Michael Johnson. He's already been to campus once, a trip of which he spoke highly. If he comes back again for an unofficial visit in the fall, there's no doubt in my mind Ohio State will be among the favorites to land him in 2019. Oregon and Michigan will be there, too.
However — and I say that with a ton of emphasis — I believe neither will end up in Columbus. Why? Because there's a kid in Allen, Texas, named Grant Tisdale who will be better than both.
Tisdale has yet to start a game at the high school level, but played a considerable amount for the state runners-up. He'll be under center full-time this fall, and his rankings will soar as a result.
Ohio State quarterbacks coach Ryan Day was in Texas this spring to watch Tisdale, and said the junior-to-be reminded him of starting quarterback J.T. Barrett. That's high praise for any kid coming out of the Lone Star State.
Tisdale hopes to make it to camp this summer, most likely Friday Night Lights in July. If things progress how I anticipate, he may even end his recruitment then and there.
What happened/is going on with Ohio State's pursuit of Palaie Gaoteote? - SeltsaC
Fans and recruiting analysts alike were surprised when Gaoteote committed to USC in mid-February. Everyone assumed his relationship with former teammate Tate Martell and cousin Haskell Garrett gave Ohio State the edge.
I, however, was not one of them.
I'd long said the Trojans' resurgence and his Polynesian roots made it an uphill battle for the Buckeyes.
Gaoteote has not taken a single visit since, and remains 100 percent committed to USC. Ohio State continues to reach out to him, with Meyer and Davis leading the charge. But unless he takes a visit this fall, this one is over.
Do coaches and recruits sit on announcing commitments as a strategy to get other recruits or keep other coaches/teams guessing? - Afonzai
I don't know of an instance in my brief time on the recruiting trail where the staff told a soon-to-be committed prospect to hold off on his announcement to gain an upper hand elsewhere. Nor do I think the staff worries too much about what other coaches are doing.
I do recall two situations, however, where a recruit accelerated his timeline to help the Buckeyes get things moving in a positive direction.
When Jaelen Gill committed to Ohio State back in March, he mentioned how he'd known for a while he wanted to be a Buckeye. The staff did, too, and they decided together it would be best for him to make it public sooner rather than later.
It's hard to believe now, seeing as Ohio State sits No. 2 overall in the team rankings, but the Buckeyes held only three commitments at that point in time. Gill and his family offered their home to any prospects looking for a place to stay during their visit, and his pledge helped the class build some much-needed momentum.
Max Wray, meanwhile, planned to announce his commitment in May, but did so ahead of the Spring Game to get the day started with a bang... I mean, a boom. There were more than 50 prospects on campus that afternoon, and his pledge created a buzz among them that eventually led to Josh Proctor's announcement at halftime.
How does the conversation develop between a recruit and the staff when the recruit is being offered, but the offer is not committable? - OH2MD
Typically, a verbal offer is just the first step in the process. It's saying, especially with out-of-state prospects, that the staff is simply interested in building a relationship with you.
It's a foot in the door, not an invitation to commit.
The staff would be very clear if it were more than that, as we've seen in the past where an offer is extended and the prospect commits within hours, days or weeks. The key, as with any relationship, is communication.
And while the staff has to be extremely honest from the very beginning in letting each prospect know exactly where they stand in the grand scheme of things, recruits also have to be very self-aware.
I've had sources tell me a prospect got overeager and tried to commit with several higher-rated targets still left on the board, and even some who have tried to make the call without an offer. I'm just glad it's not my job to tell a kid no when that happens — and, yes, it happens more than you think.
It's a little bit different for in-state recruits, though, given the fact that Ohio State slow-plays most of them. With most ready to commit on the spot, the staff will only offer those they're willing to take right then and there.
What would be your five dream official visits if you were a recruit? - SFlaBuckeyes13
Honestly, I would have committed to the Buckeyes the moment I earned an offer and would have shut down my recruitment entirely.
But for the sake of this discussion, let's just say I'm a top-rated recruit from Columbus. By the time my senior season rolls around, I've already been to Ohio State a number of times and have seen everything the campus has to offer, both academically and athletically. There's no need for me to use one of my five all-expenses paid visits to go somewhere familiar.
That means my first stop is Hawai'i — that is, if they'd have me knowing the chances I'd actually end up there are slim to none. But you have to try, right?
Next would be Oregon. Their facilities are among the best in the country, and being the uniform enthusiast that I am, I'm not going to turn down the opportunity to try on hundreds of different helmet and jersey combinations.
Florida State and Texas piqued my interest when I was younger, so they'd certainly get a visit. Something about the warm weather, their uniforms, beautiful women and history of sending players to the next level resonated with the teenage version of myself.
I'm not sure about No. 5, though. USC would probably get a look for all of the above-mentioned reasons, but it would also be tough to turn down an invitation from Alabama and/or Clemson given their recent on-field successes.
