Good afternoon friends and enemies, welcome to the Tuesday afternoon recruiting update and thanks for reading. We're two days removed from the first major recruiting weekend for Ohio State and up to this point, the news coming from the highest-priority targets has been few and far between.
I assure you all of two things: we're working hard to try and get the latest, most pertinent information on Damien Harris, Josh Sweat, Matthew Burrell, and more. Secondly, as soon as we get that information, you'll know what we know. Sometimes, with all the madness around non-stop recruiting we forget that we're dealing with kids who have homework, families and girlfriends to spend time with and we work very hard to be cognizant of the player's privacy and their families requests for scheduled "media time."
Moving on...
RICHMOND CHOOSES OLE MISS...TODAY
It is getting harder and harder to really get a grasp on the concept of the word commitment as it pertains to recruiting, isn't it? Today, one of the more biggest (both literally and figuratively speaking) prospects on Ohio State's offensive line recruiting board, Tennessee's Drew Richmond, "committed" to Ole Miss.
Yes, that was expected. Ole Miss has a big-time presence in Memphis and Richmond's relationship with the Rebels coaches has been built over a long period of time. Ole Miss had been a bit of a dark-horse early, but as evidenced by his decision today, they made up a lot of ground.
Richmond, the country's 7th-ranked offensive tackle, still intends to take all five of his official visits and will be at Ohio State on November 29th when the Buckeyes host Michigan. Does his commitment mean his recruitment is over? Far from it. Ohio State, Tennessee and Alabama are all still involved and in fact, I think it's more likely he ends up at one of those schools come February than Ole Miss. Stay tuned.
MO' SCHOLARSHIPS MO' PROBLEMS
As you may or may not have seen yesterday, the NCAA overturned the sanctions levied against Penn State: all of them. No more bowl ban, no more scholarship reductions, nada. With that news, thousands of Penn State fans took the streets and partied like it was 1999, chanting and cheering for the resurrection of a program that never died and demanding the Joe Paterno statue taken down in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal be returned to its rightful place on their campus and in their hearts. The decision to remove the bowl ban was big, but the ability to recruit back to a full 85 is much more important in the short-term for James Franklin and it's likely going to impact a number of key targets Ohio State has been recruiting for some time.
With 19 commitments already in the fold for 2015, the Nittany Lions now have the ability to aggressively pursue, well, basically as many as they want to try and get back to their full roster. Yes, the Big Ten has some regulations in place that should prevent them from signing an SEC-sized class, but it'd not be surprising to see them try and bring in up to 30 players, especially as Franklin's cachet remains at an all-time high. The program is winning football games, the head coach is swagalicious and good times are rolling.
Ohio State and Penn State are directly competing for a number of players still and the increased availability for the Nittanys means a more difficult fight for the Buckeyes. 11-Dubber KB3RG highlighted a few of them yesterday.
Here's how, as it stands right now, I see those potential contests working out:
Jordan Whitehead: Penn State, although West Virginia seems to be a sticking point as well. Penn State will get his final official visit, the weekend of September 27th and he is slated to decide on October 3rd.
Ricky DeBerry: Not sure where he'll end up, but it will not be Ohio State. I don't anticipate him at Penn State.
Matthew Burrell: I have thought and continue to think Ohio State wins this battle and Burrell signs with the Buckeyes come February.
Micah Abernathy: I think he stays in the south and is unlikely to come down to Ohio State and Penn State, but he says he's still interested in the Buckeyes. Will an official visit happen? Always an important question.
Christian Wilkins: This is one of the more difficult kids to read that I've ever encountered because he basically will not talk to anyone, ever. When he does, he's quick to say no one is a favorite but the Buckeyes are working hard to stay in it. The Connecticut defensive lineman ends up at Penn State despite the Buckeyes' best efforts.
Tim Settle: I know his dad would prefer Virginia, and I think Settle is likely to stay close to home, either with the Cavaliers or the Hokies. He was plainly rooting for Virginia Tech Saturday night and that's not something recruits usually do. Seems like he's not really interested in Ohio State at this point.
