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.
UNDERRATED PROSPECT DREAMS OF OHIO STATE OFFER
I've mentioned before that one prospect I'm particularly interested in is Pickerington, Ohio, Central's Morgan Ellison. The three-star running back has only a handful of offers from Mid-American Conference schools, but showed glimpses of something special during workouts at Friday Night Lights.
“[It] was a great experience, especially competing with the best of the best,” Ellison told Eleven Warriors. “Really showed who could play ball with the best.”
No coach I'm A RB!! All God tho! #Zone6 pic.twitter.com/1Iflunonwk
— MORGAN-ELLISON (@MorganEllisonFB) July 25, 2016
Ellison is perhaps the most under-recruited prospect in the state because he missed nearly all of the last two years of high school football; he suffered compound fractures in both legs during the second game of his sophomore campaign. Quite simply, teams don't have enough tape on Ellison to truly see how good he is.
“I will have to do great the first few games and show colleges that I can play at the highest level,” he said. “Breaking both of my legs have made me a stronger person and player. It taught me not to take anything for granted because it can be taken away from you in a matter of seconds. It also taught me to keep God first in everything you do, because without him, I could not do any of this. And it's just a blessing really. It makes me work harder every day.”
Now fully healthy, the 6-foot, 217-pounder recently earned the highest SPARQ rating of any player at The Opening – Columbus Regional. As Cleveland.com's Bill Landis pointed out, Ellison's 35.6-inch vertical and SPARQ score of 131.19 were comparable to the NFL Combine numbers put up by former Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott and Heisman winner Derrick Henry, respectively.
“That's not to compare Ellison to two of the best college running backs in the country last year, because there's more to it than numbers,” Landis said. “But it is to show what kind of athlete Ellison is.”
Schools like Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin have all shown interest in Ellison, but he covets an offer from Ohio State above all.
“To get an Ohio State offer would be great,” he said. “Being born here in Ohio and always watching them as a kid. Beanie Wells used to be my favorite player, [and] that actually was the reason I started to wear No. 28 in Little League. So that would be a blessing.
“Me and coach [Tony] Alford have really started to form a great relationship,” Ellison continued. “He is a great coach and has showed me a lot of new things that will make my game better. Me and coach [Urban] Meyer have talked a little before Friday Night Lights, but after that camp, he has started to talk to me more and is getting to know me more. And he likes what he sees.”
Ellison understands that scholarship numbers are getting tight for the Buckeyes and that a higher-ranked prospect like Cam Akers would have to go elsewhere in order for him to sign with Ohio State. However, Ellison said he's excited for the next few months to unfold.
FOUR-STAR ATHLETE SHARES TOP 3 AHEAD OF VISIT
In a follow up to yesterday's edition of The Hurry Up, four-star athlete Jermaine Eskridge confirmed to Eleven Warriors that he will be on campus on Wednesday. The 6-foot-3, 180-pounder from Tampa, Florida, who was once committed to Kentucky, revealed his Top 3 on Twitter on Monday night.
now it's time to run up a check on that field pic.twitter.com/PNCqd7e4oM
— EJ2 (@Iam_Jermaine4) July 26, 2016
The 22nd-ranked prospect in the state of Florida for the Class of 2018, Eskridge is projected to be a cornerback or wide receiver at the next level. He has amassed nearly 50 offers thus far, and is close to making a final decision.
Eskridge told us that running back coach Tony Alford and co-defensive coordinator Greg Schiano will be his hosts for the day, which is no surprise as he fits the cornerback mold that Schiano has preferred since his days as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
CHANGE OF PLANS FOR CALIFORNIA SAFETY
Four-star safety Jaiden Woodbey had planned on attending Friday Night Lights with his current teammate and Ohio State commit Wyatt Davis. Neither prospect from St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) were able to make it, but Woodbey still has his sights set on a visit.
“I won't be able to get out there until probably we are out there for our game,” he told Bucknuts.com. “I still definitely want to visit.”
St. John's Bosco will play St. Xavier in Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium on Aug. 27 as part of the GEICO ESPN High School Football Kickoff. The game will be televised by ESPNU at 5 p.m., so it will be the first time that fans will get to see Davis — a five-star offensive guard who committed last month — in action.
Woodbey, meanwhile, has an impressive list of scholarship offers from the schools such as Alabama, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and USC.
The country's third-best safety and the No. 31 overall prospect in the Class of 2018 by 247 Composite, Woodbey has considered Ohio State his leader since the Buckeyes offered him in mid-June.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS ABSENTEE OPENS UP
Michigan commit Leonard Taylor also expected to attend Friday Night Lights with two of his teammates, 2019 defensive tackle Isaiah Gibson and defensive back Moses Douglas. However, the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder from Springfield, Ohio, ran into some issues that did not allow for that to happen.
Taylor told Bucknuts.com that a combination of car issues, a youth camp in Springfield in which the trio were involved and a minor injury kept them from making the hour trip to Columbus.
Most prognosticators think that Taylor — whose uncle was a captain for Ohio State under Woody Hayes — will ultimately flip to the Buckeyes.
He has scholarship offers from programs such as Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Tennessee, though it's clearly a two-horse race for the 22nd-ranked prospect in the Class of 2018.
His teammates are also high on the Buckeyes, as well, though neither has a scholarship offer just yet. Gibson, a 6-foot-2, 263-pound defensive lineman has heard from offense and defensive line coaches Greg Studrawa and Larry Johnson, while Douglas has spoken with Studrawa and defensive back coach Kerry Coombs.
CAN'T CATCH 'EM ALL
A pair of Michigan natives may play large roles for Ohio State this season, as head coach Urban Meyer said today at Big Ten Media Days that both redshirt freshman running back Mike Weber, of Detroit Cass Tech, and true freshman offensive lineman Michael Jordan, of Plymouth, will probably start when the Buckeyes open the season against Bowling Green on Sept. 3.
Ohio State — most notably defensive back coach Kerry Coombs — continues to search the state for the next great prospect that can stick it to the rival Wolverines. However, it seems that Weber's old teammate, five-star wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, is starting to slip away.
Cass tech does it better pic.twitter.com/s5BFAvDSjn
— Mike Weber (@mikeweberjr) July 23, 2016
247Sports Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong's recent Crystal Ball forecast has the 6-foot-2, 192-pound prospect heading to Michigan. All signs have pointed toward the Wolverines for a while, too, as the last 11 predictions have Peoples-Jones staying in state.
Ohio State is still heavily involved in the recruitment of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, St. Thomas Aquinas' Trevon Grimes and Corona, California, Centennial's Tyjon Lindsey, so losing out on Peoples-Jones would be no surprise to anyone.
