This week marked the end of the month-long "quiet period," meaning coaches can once again travel to recruit players.
From Sept. 9 until the end of March – excluding a short span in November and December – college staffs will be scouring the country for the top prep talent. In this period, coaches will attend open gyms, in-home visits with recruits' families and, eventually, scout them during high school games.
With what has transpired the last few weeks, Thad Matta and his staff certainly aren't lacking in work to do during this timeframe.
Ahmad Picks West Virginia
As is the case with many recruits, the eventual decision seemed rather abrupt but the process was years in the making.
Esa Ahmad, a four-star recruit in the 2015 class, verbally committed to the Mountaineers, yesterday. According to Cleveland.com's David Cassilo, it started with a West Virginia assistant coach spotting Ahmad two years ago, escalated with head coach Bob Huggins' continued presence in his recruitment and ended with a commitment following Huggins' visit with Ahmad in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Ahmad had originally planned an official visit to Columbus this weekend and Matta was scheduled to attend an open gym at Shaker Heights High School. As it turns out, both of those were canceled. Ahmad already visited Ohio State's campus, unofficially, multiple times, so – save for the official word of another, open scholarship for 2015 – there wasn't much more for Matta to sell.
What's Next for OSU?
It all comes at a bad time for the Buckeyes, fresh off being left out of Carlton Bragg's top five and a decommitment from Mickey Mitchell. Combine all of that with Luke Kennard's pledge to Duke and the top three in-state recruits, according to 247Sports' Composite rankings, are headed out of state.
You might be thinking "what's wrong with Matta's ability to recruit Ohio?" As I've written in the past, the Buckeye head coach has done a terrific job recruiting the Buckeye state during the course of his career. Bragg or Kennard's candidacy notwithstanding, he's kept 83 percent of Ohio's All-Americans from leaving. Nationally, in-state "capture rates" of all-americans are around 30 percent during the Matta era.
This year's freshman class includes 2014's top Ohio recruit Jae'Sean Tate and center Dave Bell, who some consider to be the second best in-state prospect from that class. A.J. Harris, the No. 1 rated point guard in Ohio is a 2015 Buckeye commit.
Nationally, Matta might be recruiting as well as he ever has been. Ohio State has a strong group of incoming freshmen and, between Harris, Daniel Giddens and Austin Grandstaff, has one of the nation's top classes for next year.
Specific to Ahmad, Tate, Marc Loving and Keita Bates-Diop are all capable of playing Ahmad's position. So, Matta couldn't guarantee a starting spot for Ahmad, as he would have more competition in Columbus than he will at West Virginia.
Other Staff Visits
UPDATE: Mickey Mitchell recommitted to Ohio State, tonight. Full story here.
Former Buckeye pledge Mickey Mitchell came to Columbus for the Virginia Tech game, and while there's still a chance he might re-commit, this is interesting to note:
Hogg (@Dj_hogg1) is the fourth 2015 Texas Titan to commit, with three to the Big 12. @TxTitansCoach #salute pic.twitter.com/nov5E9DqMQ
— The EYBL Circuit (@D1Circuit) September 7, 2014
If he wants to join some AAU teammates in college and be close to family, Texas A&M is an option. The Aggie staff does have a history of recruiting him, as well.
Elsewhere, Ohio State is trying to attack a point (guard) of weakness. With Mitchell's decommitment and Ahmad heading to West Virginia, Matta may choose to bank scholarships for the class of 2016. If this week is any indication, one of those will go to a capable distributor and ball-handler:
- Curtis Jones, who took an unofficial visit to Ohio State this past weekend, is also expecting a visit from Buckeye coaches. The Huntington Prep combo guard is a fairly new name and doesn't currently have an OSU offer, but Maryland, N.C. State, VCU and West Virginia are after him.
- Recent offeree and 2016 five-star point guard Kobi Simmons (Alpharetta, Georgia) reportedly met with Ohio State, yesterday.
- According to SNY.tv, the Buckeyes will also visit five-star Tyus Battle (Edison, New Jersey), next week. Battle stands 6-feet, 6-inches tall, and his high school coach compared him to Kyrie Irving.
- In non-guard news: while he didn't end up visiting Ahmad, Matta was in the Cleveland area, this week, and checked in on St. Edward center Derek Funderburk.
