The Hurry Up: Kendall Milton Finishes Official Visit to Ohio State, Jaheim Thomas Excludes Ohio State from Top Schools

By Taylor Lehman on June 3, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Kendall Milton
@therealkmilt/Twitter.com
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The Hurry Up is your nightly dose of updates from the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping tabs on the latest from commits and targets from around the country.

Kendall Milton finishes up his official visit to Ohio State

Five-star running back Kendall Milton arrived in Columbus for his official visit to Ohio State, and he left Sunday on a positive note.

The visit to the Buckeyes was the first official visit he had planned, and the intention by Milton and his father, Chris, was to see whether or not Ohio State could remain consistent in its treatment and plans of Kendall, in extension from his unofficial visit toward the end of spring practices in April. 

Ohio State did what was needed to remain in consideration for Milton after his official visits, Chris told 247Sports Sunday.

“We have to do our do diligence,” Chris told 247Sports about the other three schools. “We gave our word that we would take those visits, so we need to give them their fair shot.”

Milton has made it clear on Twitter that this quote wasn't meant to position Ohio State as a leader among the group but to simply state that they are onto the next official visits. Regardless, the visit went about as well as it could have for the Buckeyes.

As many recruits have said, the branding strategy Ohio State has for each of its players is a big plus for Milton looking at Ohio State. According to 247Sports, freshman wide receiver Garrett Wilson hosted Milton during his visit. 

Ohio State sees Milton as a player that could come in as an early enrollee and make an immediate impact.

At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, Milton brings exceptional size as a high school junior, and he ran a 40-yard dash in 4.76 seconds at The Opening Regionals in May.

Milton also released his top-four schools – Ohio State, Alabama, LSU and Georgia – on May 17. He sin't expected to make a decision until he's visited all of those schools by early-July. 

Jaheim Thomas releases his top-seven

Four-star Cincinnati linebacker Jaheim Thomas released his top-seven via Twitter on Monday evening. Ohio State was not included. The Princeton High School standout did include Tennessee, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Maryland, Louisville and LSU.

Ohio State extended an offer to Thomas in April after having already offered the other two prospects in the Cincinnati trio – five-star offensive tackle commit Paris Johnson Jr. and four-star defensive end Darrion Henry.

Princeton head coach Mike Daniels confirmed with Eleven Warriors that the three would like to play together at the next level. Thomas said the same thing to Eleven Warriors in April, but he has also been pushing the narrative that he will do what’s best for him. He included it in his tweet and also said so in April.

“We want to go to school together, but at the end of the day, I’m going to do what’s best for me,” Thomas said after the Under Armour All-America Camp in Cincinnati on April 14.

That narrative muddies the water when it comes to the future of Johnson and Henry, as all three Cincinnati recruits made quite a tour of visits during the spring and Johnson continues to hint toward interest in other programs. LSU has been rumored to be the team to watch in the trio’s recruitment process moving forward, and the Tigers were also included in Henry’s top-six on April 29.

The other three teams to intersect between the teammates’ top schools are Cincinnati, Kentucky and Tennessee.

This tweet from Johnson doesn’t clear anything up either.

Henry and Thomas were in Baton Rouge for an official visit May 7, and all three prospects have official visits scheduled with Ohio State on June 21. The three will also be teammates in 2019, as Johnson is set to transfer from St. Xavier to Princeton.

Emeka Egbuka visited by Brian Hartline

The No. 1 athlete in the Class of 2021, Emeka Egbuka, has developed a good relationship with Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline from a distance after the National Combine in San Antonio in 2018.

The uber-dynamic athlete, being recruited as a wide receiver, plays for Steilacom High School in Washington, where he is the top prospect in the 2021 class and is good friends with Ohio State 2020 wide receiver commit Gee Scott Jr. The distance between he and Columbus is “no issue,” he told Eleven Warriors.

But Hartline made his way up to Washington to see his key target on May 29.

“It was good to see him,” Egbuka said. “We have a really close relationship, so seeing him was good. He was just checking in on me. We talk every two or three days, but it was good to see him in person.”

Since that Ohio State visit, Steilacom has welcomed in Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Washington, Michigan and USC.

Egbuka is playmaker wherever he plays. At wide receiver, he caught 72 passes as a sophomore in 2018 for 1,492 yards and 23 touchdowns. On the other side of the ball he recorded eight interceptions in 12 games, and he also returned kickoffs and punts.

He’s quickly becoming the face of Washington high school football nationwide, as he competes in several 7v7 tournaments. He made this clutch catch for his high school’s 7v7 team recently.

Egbuka was in Columbus for the Student Appreciation Day event on March 23, a visit that he said was his favorite of the visits he made this offseason.

Ohio State 2019 signees make their arrivals

Most of the 2019 signees have arrived to campus, as workouts begin Tuesday. The players that were expected to hit Columbus this weekend were Craig Young, Bryson Shaw, Jaden McKenzie, Dawand Jones, Cade Stover, Tommy Eichenberg, Steele Chambers, Jameson Williams, Cormontae Hamilton, Enokk Vimahi and five-star offensive lineman Harry Miller.

Six 2019 signees have already been on campus for a semester, including Garrett Wilson, Zach Harrison, Noah Potter, Ryan Jacoby, Ronnie Hickman and Marcus Crowley.

Angelo Grose chooses Cincinnati

Mansfield cornerback Angelo Grose committed to Cincinnati, he announced via Twitter.

The commitment doesn’t affect Ohio a great deal, but Grose was certainly on the list of in-state talent that could have potentially received an Ohio State offer after good camps this summer. He confirmed with Eleven Warriors that he will not be attending a June camp with Ohio State now.

Grose was receiving a lot of attention from Tony Alford as well as Penn State, but he was looking at needing to have impressive camps for either school in order to get offered. He already had offers from Cincinnati, Ohio, Toledo, Ball State and others non-Power Five schools.

What stood out the most about Grose was his explosion. In track and field, he recorded long jumps over 23 feet, which has been well-documented as similar to the length of Julian Fleming’s long jump. He also cleared 6 feet, 7 inches, in the high jump while standing at 5-foot-10. Alford liked his raw athleticism, but Cincinnati got a good one.

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