The Hurry-Up: Clemson Hosts Several Key Ohio State Targets, Cameron Kittle Accepts PWO Offer, Luke Farrell Explains Why He Joined Buckeyes

By Zack Carpenter on March 6, 2020 at 7:20 pm
Luke Farrell
Luke Farrell
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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.

Another big Junior Day for Clemson

Clemson’s huge January weekend late in the month – one that brought in the nation’s No. 1-ranked overall player, No. 3 receiver, No. 7 strongside defensive end and No. 2 tight end – was the key talking point in college football for about 24 hours afterward. As it should be. 

It was as successful as a recruiting weekend as a program can possibly have, and it epitomized where that program is at in the national landscape.

That came on the heels of one of the Tigers’ big Junior Days in which it hosts a handful of the nation’s elite-level 2021 recruits. It’s possible that Clemson could be headed for another similar weekend – or at least grabbing one big commitment – after the next couple of days.

Five of Ohio State’s highest-priority targets in 2021 – receiver Troy Stellato, running back TreVeyon Henderson, linebacker Barrett Carter and cornerbacks Jakailin Johnson and Jordan Hancock – are all visiting Clemson this weekend for the school’s latest Junior Day. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see one of those players commit on Sunday or Monday so we’ll now play the waiting game to see if that happens. This budding Ohio State-Clemson rivalry on the recruiting trail feels like it's close to being full bloom.

If the Tigers have another multi-player haul in a single weekend, perhaps it could add some pressure on Ryan Day and the Buckeyes to go against their personal weekend approach and start holding their own big Junior Days in a similar fashion. Doubt that happens, but it’s food for thought. 

In addition to Clemson getting visits from major Ohio State targets, Oregon is hosting five-star receiver Emeka Egbuka, the nation’s No. 1-ranked pass-catcher. 

Buckeyes pick up PWO

Cameron Kittle – a two-time all-state quarterback in the class of 2020 from Trimble High School in Glouster, Ohio – announced on Friday that he is joining Ohio State as a preferred walk-on. 

“It is surreal, for sure, and I’m so excited to get everything started,” Kittle told Eleven Warriors. “My high school coach and (Ohio State director of high school relations Ed) Terwilliger have known each other for a good while, and they were talking at a coaching clinic and got talking about me and that’s how the relationship with him started.”

Kittle, who also has a good relationship with Buckeyes assistant director of player personnel Justin Perez, says that he has spoken with the Ohio State coaches about playing defensive back, “but I will play anywhere the coaching staff sees fit.”

“We offer a lot to our offense”

Hey, did you know Ohio State has a track record of not throwing to the tight ends?

Luke Farrell did when he was getting recruited, all the way back in 2015, which Farrell laughed about on Wednesday morning and said “feels like forever ago.”

Before signing with the Buckeyes in the class of 2016 as the No. 7-ranked tight end in the nation and as a top-10 player in the state from Perry, Ohio, Farrell was a top-200 overall recruit with offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State and Wisconsin.

When asked if any program negatively recruited against the Buckeyes – i.e., driving the point home that Ohio State doesn’t throw the ball to its tight ends – Farrell suggested that even if they did, the negative recruiting essentially bounced off of him like teflon. 

“From what I remember, every school you go to will throw up stats,” Farrell said. “I mean, that’s not really – when I was going through the process, I had a lot of things besides that in mind across the board, from schools to coach relationships to all that. So that wasn’t really a huge part of my decision.”

The tight end and the position’s usage are especially noteworthy due to the fact that Hilliard Bradley (Ohio) tight end Jack Pugh, the nation’s No. 13-ranked at the position and the 10th-ranked junior in the state, was in attendance for Wednesday’s practice. Pugh, who has offers from Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan and Iowa State, does not yet have an offer from Ohio State but one could be coming soon.

If he does pick up a Buckeyes offer, a commitment might end up coming down the road soon after for the in-state talent. If he does get an offer and ends up joining Ohio State’s 2021 class, he would do so knowing that his position doesn’t often touch the ball, and he would have to have a mindset like Farrell’s if enters the program – as does any tight end who comes to Columbus. 

“I get that question a lot,” Farrell said when asked how often he’s ‘When are they going to start throwing the ball to the tight ends?’

“And, I mean, a lot of times, it comes from people that don’t fully understand the position, which it’s hard to because we’re asked (to do) so much, and I feel like we offer a lot to our offense that doesn’t always get seen. But we take pride in that.”

Crippen decommits from Notre Dame

Greg Crippen, a four-star offensive guard from the IMG (Fla.) Academy ranked 11th at the position and 221st overall nationally, decommitted from Notre Dame this week. 

Though there are a handful of players ahead of Crippen on the Buckeyes’ board, notably Jager Burton at guard and Crippen’s teammate JC Latham at tackle, Ohio State could try to get back in the hunt with Crippen. The 6-foot-4, 285-pound junior last visited Columbus for the Buckeyes’ game against Michigan State.

Pair of trimmed lists

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for more top-10 lists, well, we’ve got ‘em! 

The most important for Buckeye fans is the trimmed list for Cincinnati four-star running back Corey Kiner, which features the usual suspects of Ohio State, Michigan and others. The only notable item from that list is the fact that Pitt – one of the six schools that had been recruiting Kiner the hardest – was omitted from the list.

Four-star 2021 receiver Dekel Crowdus of Frederick Douglass (Ky.) High School also dropped a top-10 list this week, which features Ohio State, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas and Michigan. Crowdus is the No. 43-ranked receiver, No. 33-ranked player in Kentucky and No. 245-ranked overall player in the 2021 class.

Edwards visits, Tatum lands offer

As expected, West Bloomfield (Mich.) running back Donovan Edwards made his way to campus for a Thursday and Friday visit and flashed a photo of himself in scarlet and gray on Twitter. (After several fans replied to the tweet with their ploys to come to their school, Edwards later deleted the tweet.)

Next up for Edwards is a scheduled visit to Notre Dame on March 20, then a visit to Florida and a visit to Michigan on March 30, in addition to visits he hopes to make to places such as Oregon, USC, Texas and others.

Also, as we expected after talking with Edwards and West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy last week, 2022 defensive back/running back Dillon Tatum received an offer from Ohio State on he and Edwards' visit to Columbus.

Tatum, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound sophomore, is a rising star at West Bloomfield with a versatile skillset he has used to play running back, slot cornerback, safety, kick returner and punt returner. He projects best, as of now, to be a slot cornerback at the next level, and he has offers from Arizona State, Florida, Michigan, Michigan State and Miami, among others.

You can read more about Tatum in Tuesday's Hurry-Up.

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