The Hurry-Up: Top Safety Target Derrick Davis Jr. Staying Patient, Top Schools List Coming

By Zack Carpenter on June 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm
Derrick Davis Jr.
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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.

Davis keeping everything close to chest, top list coming soon

On Monday, we spent the entire Hurry-Up space discussing Mater Dei (Calif.) linebacker Raesjon Davis, the Buckeyes’ top remaining target remaining – and really only remaining target – at the position.

Tonight, the focus is squarely on a player who many had long believed could be another target at linebacker – Gateway (Monroeville, Pa.) High School star Derrick Davis Jr. However, if you’ve been following our coverage of Davis – when we wrote about him in February, or in March, or in April, or in May – then you know 1) How special of a player I think he is. 2) That outside linebacker is not in the cards.

While Derrick Davis, the No. 2-ranked safety and No. 55-ranked overall player in America’s 2021 class, could be a candidate for Ohio State’s bullet position, the majority of his snaps would be at safety. There have already been, and will continue to be, many comparisons made between Davis and Kourt Williams II – a possible star-in-the-making for the Buckeyes’ defense – and I believe those to be apt comparisons. (See below for another point on Williams.)

We have been covering Davis so extensively because he’s a player with the type of talent who can help take a defense to an elite level. So he deserves that type of digging in order to find out 1) Where the Buckeyes plan on using him? 2) What are their true chances of landing him? 3) What type of person he is off the field? 

Positional fit

To answer No. 1, one source told me matter-of-factly it’s “not even a question” that the plan is to have him at safety. “That’s been the deal all along.”

When asking that question, the response was short and simple and was essentially a yeah, let’s move on. Nothing more to say on that.

Odds of landing him

No. 2 is obviously the most difficult to answer, but as of June 9, the answer is very good, and it appears we will have a public answer on the programs standing in Ohio State’s way, sooner than later, as we’ve been told Davis is planning on releasing a top schools list in the near future.

I previously reported in late February that Davis had not been planning on making a commitment until after his senior season had concluded. It appeared that was beginning to change as I was told Davis was starting to lean toward announcing his commitment prior to the season. Then, everything changed once again as the NCAA continued extending the dead period and Davis was unable to make return trips to any of his top schools. 

As a top-ranked recruit, Davis is in the enviable position of being able to patiently play the waiting game – like Emeka Egbuka, who we touched on last week – and after digging into his recruitment, I expect a decision from Davis will not be coming until the fall. Likely September, at the earliest, or October, as he continues to stay in limbo awaiting the reopening of visits. 

As he continues putting together his evaluations, Davis has a litany of great options to choose from. He has a fantastic relationship with Terry Smith, who was the head coach of Gateway for 11 years before becoming Penn State’s assistant head coach, defensive recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach. Smith lived in the same area of Monroeville as Davis did during his time as Gateway head coach.

There is the opportunity for Davis to do something special at a school that has been recruiting him longer than anybody, Penn State, with someone he has known for a long time coaching him up (Ohio State was not far behind Penn State, offering Davis on Feb. 19, 2018, just two months after the Nittany Lions offered on Dec. 13, 2017).

There is the opportunity for Davis to join Kerry Coombs and become the next defensive back to compete for a national championship and leave Ohio State as a first-round draft pick. There is the opportunity for Davis to head to one of the nation’s premier programs, Clemson, that has won two of the past five national titles and was the runner-up in two of those five years.

And that’s not even mentioning the opportunities he has to join other SEC powers like Georgia or even Alabama.

When looking at Davis’ recruitment, it’s a situation very similar to J.T. Tuimoloau where everything is kept incredibly close to the vest. Things are kept so much in-house with Davis that oftentimes schools themselves are confused as to whether or not they are in the picture anymore or not.

But what we do know, from talking with Davis and others involved in his recruitment, is that some things incredibly important to him are:

1. Having talent around him. He wants his iron to be sharpened with iron, and he made mention with us how the Buckeyes’ loaded 2020 receiver core has caught his eye:

“Just really working on getting great footwork and just competing in practices. Competing against the great guys,” Davis told us in February. “You talk about a receiver group that’s just out of this world. Just compete, compete, compete. You’re talking about the top guys in the nation and being the No. 1 recruiting class (at receiver). That’s just going to work every single day. Every single day you’re just gonna compete.”

2. Having a coaching group in place that understands who he is and how they need to approach him in order to take him where he wants to go. That’s where Matt Barnes comes in, as the assistant secondary coach (who works mainly with the safeties) has made a major impact on Davis, and the two are continuing to strengthen their relationship. Barnes has been an under-the-radar recruiter whose presence has been impactful with several recruits, but to this point none are bigger than his involvement in Davis’ recruitment.

Off the field

Answering No. 3 is important because you’re going to want to know who the athlete is under the helmet if he does join the program. 

When Eleven Warriors recently spoke about Davis with Don Holl, Gateway’s fifth-year head coach who has seen plenty of players come in and out of the building, he never hesitates in sounding off on Davis’ dedication, character and family foundation. 

“I don’t want to make it seem like he’s a 40-year-old guy. He’s a kid and he has fun, and he’ll joke around. He does kid things,” Holl said. “But I think it has a lot to do with his support system. I think his mom and dad are really strong. He’s a good, mature kid who does the right stuff. The unspoken part that’s obvious is he’s just so talented. But it’s pretty neat that they always say your best player is your hardest worker or best character guy, and you have something. 

“He could be a lot of different ways – ‘I don’t have to do this because I’m the best guy, and I’m so much better.’ Or not have to listen because ‘I’ve got it all figured out and wanna go to the NFL.’ Or, he can be the way he is, which is he just does his job, and he does it well. He’s respectful and a hard, hard worker who understands what it takes to be great. He could be a lot of ways, but the way he’s been has been perfect for us.”

Davis told us previously: “To me, at the end of the day, I’m still shocked that I’m getting recruited by these schools. Like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just talked to Urban Meyer.’ It’s still cool, at the end of the day, and that just goes with being a kid. Having fun. Not letting it control you.”

One of the Gateway program’s key pillars is built on the phrase “Be Where Your Feet Are,” and that’s something Davis has taken to heart.

“I just try to keep it pretty low-key,” Davis said. “Right now, I’ve just gotta keep it level. Still a high school student. A high school kid. Still a teenager. So at the end of the day, like I said earlier, just be a kid.”

Davis, Williams similarities

Back to the parallels between Davis and Williams:

Williams was recruited to play the bullet, but the 2019 season saw the position essentially disappear. During the one spring practice open to the media, we saw Williams practice exclusively with the defensive backs as a safety. On Monday, as we spent all day watching players shuffle in and out of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Williams pulled up with cornerback Cameron Brown, as the freshman was grouped with the defensive backs during voluntary workouts, which is just further evidence that Williams is in line to play safety, at least for now.

If Davis finds himself in scarlet and gray, I could see him fitting the same type of role as Williams. And perhaps there will be a day where we see Williams, Davis and Lathan Ransom on the field at the same time, with Williams or Davis being utilized all over the field with their versatile skillsets. 

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