Good morning friends and welcome to your Sunday recruiting rewind-slash-update. As Ohio State's football camp moves full-speed ahead, the recruiting efforts necessarily slow but that didn't stop the week that was from offering some ripe pieces of recruiting fruit, including the surprise commitment of Miam's Carlton Davis.
A number of Ohio State targets litter the initial 247Sports.com 2017 rankings, including quarterback commitment Danny Clark, who spoke with us this week about his upcoming sophomore season. One of Clark's biggest (and yes, earliest) targets for 2017, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) wide receiver Trevon Grimes also updated us on his recruitment, naming the Buckeyes his current leader.
Outside of Clark and Grimes, we also introduced a few new names to the board: Gunnar Hoak, who might be the state's top class of 2016 quarterback, 2017 defensive back prospect Marcus Williamson from nearby Westerville, and another Columbus standout, 2016's Austin Andrews. Finally, we wrapped up the week with an inside look at Michael Onwenu, who the Buckeyes hope will be the next in their developing Cass Tech pipeline, and Mike Williams, a former teammate of Demetrius Knox, who received a Buckeye offer late in the week.
Here are a few other things that are worth talking about.
SPITING IRISH?
As Buckeye fans, you'd think that the first reaction to any and all alleged impropriety at a rival football program's expense would be something along the lines of Well, we know it can happen to anyone, so let's be thankful it's not Ohio State, right? Of course not. The first reaction is — unfortunately — almost always: Hahahahaha! You guys suck! Now all your recruits are belong to us!
So, as news broke on Friday of academic fraud/dishonesty under the Golden Dome, I was flooded with one question from readers: Can Ohio State use this to their advantage?
A natural question, certainly, but still remarkably cynical. Doing my job though, I followed up with a few recruits that are entertaining Ohio State or Notre Dame decisions. Of those, one is already committed to Notre Dame and two are still narrowing down their college choices, but the Buckeyes and the Fighting Irish are widely considered the favorites. What I found was this: kids are significantly more objective than fans clamoring for blood from their rivals while wearing a thinly-veiled, faux-outraged "integrity of the game" facade. Also, kids aren't paying attention to the same stuff adults are, at least not in the middle of a Friday afternoon.
"I haven't even heard of a Notre Dame academic scandal," said one of the key targets for the Buckeyes and the Irish in the 2016 class. "It's definitely a concern, but I'd wait for the whole story to come out before I decide if it impacts me."
Hmmm...strangely adult decision making, nameless recruit. Surely we can find a bit more disappointment from someone else.
"I'm not paying a ton of attention to it," said a 2016 five-star talent considering Ohio State and Notre Dame, and not really anyone else. "It was the students and the players own fault for cheating or whatever they did, it was not the football staff."
Another player, committed to the Irish but with a Buckeye offer was similarly disaffected.
"I've just heard the general stuff," the 2015 prospect said. "It's not impacting me at all right now so I won't even think about it unless more comes out that impacts the future."
There you have it, Buckeye fans. Yes, the scandal is a blight on Notre Dame, but based on what's currently known, it won't impact much in the way of recruiting. Of course, as Buckeye fans know more than most, these things have a way of lingering and dropping surprises so who knows how "deep it went" at Notre Dame, right?
Garner, North Carolina running back Nyheim Hines remains a player to watch for Ohio State. One of the fastest players in the country, Hines says he stays in touch with the Buckeyes regularly.
"I talk to Urban Meyer and other coaches at Ohio State weekly," Hines told 11W. "I'm definitely considering an official visit there, but I've got no idea where or when my officials will be yet."
Of all the players who camped at Ohio State this summer, there may not have been anyone who stood out more to observers and coaches than Mesquite, Texas athlete DeAndre McNeal. With offers from Ohio State, Alabama, Texas Tech, Miami, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Texas, Vanderbilt and a host of others, McNeal's recruitment continues to be as wide-open as the discussion about his future position. Is he a receiver? A tight end? A linebacker? No one really knows but we do know that he'll announce his college choice on December 20th, one day after his Poteet High School teammate Malik Jefferson. Whether or not McNeal will be at Ohio State when they host Illinois as his teammate will be, that remains to be seen. Remember folks: offers >> rankings.
One 2016 player most people felt would be a Buckeye soon after getting an offer, Gahanna Lincoln's Jonathon Cooper, isn't ready to narrow his list down just yet. He is, however, attempting to bring his weight up.
"I'm eating a lot of calories a day, I want to be at 235-240 pounds coming out of high school," Cooper told Eleven Warriors. "I eat an apple and cereal and a protein bar for breakfast, usually at lunch I'll eat Subway or something like that because I work out for a few hours. For dinner I'll eat two burritos from Chipotle if we go out and if we stay in it's all chicken, broccoli, rice, corn and more chicken (laughs)."
The Buckeyes, who offered the four-star after a strong camp showing at Friday Night Lights, see Cooper as a defensive end in their defense and that's what he wants to play in college. He says a decision could come towards the end of his junior season and the Buckeyes, along with Kentucky and Michigan State, are near the top of his list. We'll have more with Cooper later this week.
We told you about the offer to 2017 CB Deangelo Gibbs and I got the chance to talk with him a bit following his offer. He's not really that into the recruiting scene yet, but he did have a few interesting things to say. Despite being a Georgia native and growing up in SEC country, Gibbs says he never followed any particular team growing up and that the SEC, while a great conference, doesn't have any built-in edge for him. He's also not entirely familiar with Bradley Roby or Cameron Heyward, who each starred at his high school. He knows "they were both really good players and they chose a great school."
