Welcome to The Hurry-Up, which runs Sunday through Thursday, serving as your last stop for recruiting news and notes nightly. We'll recap the day as it happened and preview the days ahead while keeping our ear to the ground on the Ohio State recruiting scene.
LARKIN CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
At 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, Cincinnati La Salle's Jeremy Larkin isn't too small to be a running back in college football. The 30th-ranked running back in America for 2016, Larkin has been making a name for himself during an unbelievable junior season for the Lancers. A cousin of Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin, the speedster is making a big case for himself to be named Mr. Football in Ohio. With one game left in his remarkable year, Larkin has scored 40 touchdowns against many of not only the state's best football programs, but also the country's. La Salle competes annually in the GCL South, taking on the biggest of the big and dominating. Against Moeller, St. Xavier, Elder and Colerain — four of the country's most recognizable high school programs — Larkin collected 820 of the 2,480 yards he's gained this year.
Still, as the country's 362nd best overall player, Larkin has only one scholarship offer — from Northwestern — at the end of his junior season. I checked in on where the Buckeyes see Larkin, and although he's someone they're paying attention to, it appears he is someone they'd like to see in camp this upcoming spring and summer.
BIG HONORS FOR BUCKEYE COMMITMENTS
When you play high school football in Ohio and you're committed to the Buckeyes, it's not really a surprise when you garner All-State accolades. However, as recruiting changes so much, it's nice to see how the highly-touted go out and back up arbitrary rankings with on-the-field ass-kickery. The All-Ohio teams were released for Division I and Division II on Monday, and that's exactly what happened.
Justin Hilliard was named the state's co-Defensive Player of the Year in Division I as well as earning first team All-Ohio. Denzel Ward from Nordonia, playing for a state title this weekend, was named the Division II co-Defensive Player of the Year and was also first team All-Ohio.
Rashod Berry of Lorain was named first team All-Ohio on defense, despite potentially being a tight end in college; St. Ignatius defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones earned the same honors. Canton McKinley's Eric Glover-Williams was named to the first team All-Ohio offensive team in Division I, but he's likely to at least start his Buckeye career at cornerback. Nick Conner, the talented two-way star from Dublin Scioto, was named second-team All-Ohio in Division II at linebacker, despite missing much of the year with an injured leg.
2016 defensive end Jonathon Cooper was named second team All-Ohio in Division I.
Click here for the full Division I and Division II teams.
JAMEL DEAN ENROLLING EARLY
It's December, and that means we're talking early enrollees. Today it's Cocoa, Florida's Jamel Dean who confirmed with Eleven Warriors on Sunday his intentions to head to Ohio State in January. Dean was in Columbus for his official visit this past weekend, just his second time in Ohio since his commitment last December. The visit confirmed everything that Dean had felt about the Buckeyes and it seems that was reciprocated by the Ohio State staff.
"Dean was here," a source at Ohio State said. "He's a good kid. Glad to have him committed. We think he can make a difference; his size and speed combination is pretty rare."
Dean, 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, tore his ACL last December, but he's back to 100-percent health-wise and looking forward to getting on campus in the next four weeks.
TYLER GERALD LEAVING OHIO?
The Buckeyes second commitment for 2016, Portsmouth's Tyler Gerald, may be moving to Florida for his senior season. Gerald visited Brandenton, Florida and IMG Academy last week, essentially an "official visit" to the football academy/high school. Chris Weinke, 2000 Heisman Trophy winner and former Florida State Seminole, is the man in charge at IMG. While a decision isn't made yet for Gerald, he says it's a likely outcome at this juncture.
"It's not 100-percent yet," Gerald told 11W. "But it's a good opportunity that I'm definitely considering. I have a few people to talk to before I make it a definite decision."
Asked why he'd want to move away from his family a year-and-a-half earlier than he would for college? Simple, says the 6-foot-5, 300-pounder.
"I want to be be able to be good enough to play early at Ohio State," he said plainly. "I look forward to the high level of competition at IMG and it's an extremely demanding academic school as well."
