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.
Egbuka down to three, plans to sign in December
Ohio State remains in the pole position for five-star receiver Emeka Egbuka, the nation's No. 1 player at the position in 2021, and one team has fallen off his list of contenders.
Egbuka, who released a final four of Ohio State, Oklahoma, Washington and Clemson in mid-May, is now down to just three schools as he has eliminated Clemson, he told 247Sports' Brandon Huffman:
“It’s more like a top three,” said Egbuka. “Ohio State, Oklahoma and Washington.”
“I haven’t talked to Clemson in a long time, so it’s really just those three schools,” said Egbuka.
For several months now, Egbuka has been attempting to make a visit to Oklahoma, the only one of those three programs he has yet to visit in person.
“I kind of figured that I’d have to visit Oklahoma by my own means, since it’s the only place I haven’t been,” said Egbuka. “I figured I’d go with my dad or go with my mom and check out Norman and see what it’s about. So that hasn’t changed that aspect. My dad and I have some airline points to redeem since we had to cancel before so I’ll probably do that at some point.”
While Egbuka doesn’t have a date locked in yet, he knows he wants to see Oklahoma with their quarterback commit, Caleb Williams.
“If I do go, I’ll definitely contact Caleb so he’ll be there too.”
Egbuka said he’s not ready to make a decision on where he’ll sign and a big reason for that is his reluctance to make a choice without seeing Oklahoma.
“I’m pretty sure that by the time I make a decision, I’ll have taken a visit to Oklahoma,” said Egbuka. “I won’t have made a decision on any school without seeing them.”
The Sooners continue to prioritize the nation’s No. 1 receiver.
“Seeing Oklahoma will be pretty key for me and they continue to recruit me hard,” said Egbuka. “I talk with coach (Dennis) Simmons maybe 2-3 times a week and I talk with coach (Lincoln) Riley all the time, and I think maybe I talk to him more than coach Simmons.
#taylorD @emeka_egbuka crafting pic.twitter.com/XaKHhYQZqG
— Courtney Taylor (@CoachCT86) November 7, 2020
Though the recruiting dead period is soon going to be extended through April and despite the fact that Egbuka has not yet visited Oklahoma and doesn't want to make a decision until he gets to Norman, the nation's No. 8 overall player is still planning to sign early:
“I kind of have a timeline in my head, but nothing official,” said Egbuka. “A lot of it is based on my high school, how many games we’ll play, when we play, if we play at all. If we don’t end up playing, then I’ll look to enroll early. My plan right now is that I will sign in December, but I guess it’s possible I could wait till February. I think by that time, we’ll have most of the details on a season, if we have a season or a small amount of games
When it comes to Ohio State, Egbuka says that he speaks with Brian Hartline “at least five times a week,” speaks with Ryan Day about a once a week and talks with several different Buckeye players:
“I talk mostly with coach (Brian) Hartline and coach (Keenan) Bailey and I also talk to coach (Ryan) Day,” said Egbuka. “I talk to a lot of the players too- I talk with Gee Scott, he’ll coach me up on some things and send me clops. I talk with Julian (Fleming), Jaxon Smith-Ngijba, Chris (Olave), Garrett (Wilson) and Justin (Fields) too. It’s pretty cool to get on the phone with him and talk with him. I also talk with CJ Stroud.”
The Buckeyes still hold eight of the the nine Crystal Ball predictions that are in for Egbuka, with one prediction having him slated to pick Oklahoma.
Michigan Crystal Balls for five-star CB
Speaking of Crystal Ball predictions, as we noted in Monday's Hurry-Up, Michigan gained momentum for five-star cornerback Will Johnson – the No. 8 overall player and No. 3 cornerback in the 2022 class – over the weekend, and there were suggestions that the Wolverines would soon gain the Crystal Ball picks for the Grosse Pointe South (Michigan) star.
Those rolled in today, as Michigan is now the favorite to land Johnson, the state's top-ranked prospect.
Johnson is one of the many players who had been rumored to potentially be committing to Ohio State soon, after both he and Domani Jackson had put the Buckeyes in their Instagram bio. But it appears the smoke may have lessened for both players to commit to Ohio State in the near future.
Goodwin officially an All-American
Kiyaunta Goodwin is one of Ohio State's highest-priority targets in the 2022 class, and the potential five-star offensive tackle – one whose ceiling comes as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft years from now – has a very bright future ahead of him.
On Monday night, Goodwin took an extra step toward him reaching his potential, as he officially became a member of his class' All-American Bowl.
Big Man is Official
— All-American Bowl (@AABonNBC) November 17, 2020
Kiyaunta Goodwin (@K_Goodwin2022) has committed to the 2022 All-American Bowl @NBCSports #AllAmericanBowl pic.twitter.com/AR4GaNkhh7
“It’s cool to hear, but you could be the No. 1 guy now but five years from now, you’re not the No. 1 guy and you could be the No. 100 guy,” Goodwin told Eleven Warriors in October. “It really doesn’t matter to me right now. It’s cool to hear, but I’m worried about being No. 1 right now. I wanna be the No. 1 tackle in the country right now.
“My goal’s to take care of my mom. She’s the most important person in my life. I’ve seen her struggle, and she’s done a lot for me. So I wanna be able to take care of her and give her what she deserves and be able to create generational wealth to where my kids don’t have to worry about anything, where they’re able to work hard and not have to go through what I went through.”
The Buckeyes are the leader in the clubhouse for Goodwin, with three Crystal Ball predictions currently placed for him to wind up in Columbus.
