The Hurry Up: Martell, Mond Highlight OSU Elite 11 Interest, Darrell Simpson Visit Set, Anthony Hines Will See Buckeyes

By Jeremy Birmingham on June 3, 2016 at 5:30 pm
Kellen Mond will try and win the Elite 11 this weekend.
Kellen Mond
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The Hurry Up is your nightcap of Ohio State recruiting news, catching you up on the day’s events with an ear on the ground for what’s next.

MARTELL, MOND SQUARE OFF IN LOS ANGELES

The summer camp season is officially here and this weekend in Los Angeles, 24 of the country's top quarterbacks will meet and compete for the right to be named to the Elite 11, which takes place in Oregon prior to The Opening in July.

If you take a close look at this weekend's participants, you'll see a who's who of college football programs represented. Commitments to Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, Texas, TCU, Texas A&M, Alabama, LSU and others. One school that's not presently represented? Ohio State. That of course could change by the time July rolls around as the Buckeyes' top two targets – Tate Martell and Kellen Mond – are both taking part in this weekend's festivities. Only five of the 24 invitees are uncommitted at this time.

There's no real chance for Ohio State – or any other staff – to evaluate the quarterbacks based on this weekend's camp, but there's no doubt that they'll be reading the press clippings. How these two compete will go a long way towards how they're ultimately viewed by people all around the country, and Martell's reputation as a competitor above all else is well known and he's a favorite to win the competition this weekend.

HAUBEIL CONTINUING TO PROVE HE'S THE NATION'S BEST KICKER

The nation's top-ranked kicker, 2017 Ohio State commitment Blake Haubeil, isn't slowing down or taking his ranking for granted. 

At a recent Kohl's kicking camp, Haubeil continued his domination.

"He charted better than all the other kickers in attendance," his father, Hendrik told 11W. "He hit 9 of 10 (kicks), the only kicker to hit 9. Out of all field goals that day, including charting, drill work, and competition, he only missed 3 kicks –– out of approximately 100. On college uprights."

The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder says he intends to be back in Columbus in the next few weeks to see his future coaches again.

"I've been trying to stay busy with camps and stuff," the Ohio State commit shared. "Kohls kicking just came out with a video of my last camp. It sounds nerdy but I'm looking at that film and critiquing it right now (laughs). I don't know for sure yet (when he'll next visit) but possibly June 14th. I thought I'd be able to stay 2 days, but I have a trip for school in June."

DARRELL SIMPSON VISIT PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEKEND

One of the country's top 2018 offensive lineman, Justin, Texas' Darrell Simpson will be camping with the Buckeyes on June 11th. 

The 58th-ranked overall 2018 prospect, Simpson has two aunts and an uncle that live in Columbus and getting to Ohio State for a visit has been priority for him since being offered in mid-May.

Because of his ties to Ohio, Simpson may be a more realistic option for the Buckeyes in their 2018 class than many will expect. Watch his recruitment closely.

ANOTHER TEXAS STAR VISITING

The Buckeyes would like to add one more linebacker to their 2017 class and although Kennedale, Texas linebacker Baron Browning may be the odds on favorite to fill that spot right now, another Lone Star State star is definitely in the conversation. Plano East's Anthony Hines III, who holds a whopping 90 offers – which as far as I can tell is the most ever – will make a big trip to Ohio State next week.

One thing that could work in Hines' favor is that he's absolutely an inside linebacker – and the country's top-ranked inside linebacker at that – and the Buckeyes will almost assuredly be losing their captain and middle linebacker after this upcoming season. The graphic design department made sure that the 6-foot-3, 225 pound linebacker felt some lover from Ohio State this morning.

Hines was credited with an incredible 205 tackles at East as a junior. He'll be visiting Ohio State next weekend in lieu of heading to Atlanta for the Rivals.com Five-Star Challenge.

SPEAKING OF MARTELL

Two days ago, the Las Vegas five-star quarterback released a Top 7 list on Twitter. The list had a number of interesting teams on it, but one of those "surprises" found their way off his list today.

Will the country's top-ranked dual-threat quarterback systematically remove teams over the next few weeks? Who knows, but Miami is off the list. 

Last weekend in San Diego, Martell took part in the Steve Clarkson QB Retreat and Rivals' analyst Adam Gorney broke down what he saw from him in a video posted to YouTube today.

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