The Hurry Up is your nightcap of Ohio State recruiting news, catching you up on the day’s event with an ear on the ground for what’s next.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS VISITORS LIST CONTINUES TO GROW
Earlier today we added a few names to the Friday Night Lights visitors list, so I wanted to take a moment to inspect them here. Each name is a 2017 target, and with such a limited number of spots left in 2016, that's not exactly surprising.
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Ja'vonte Richardson // Wide Receiver // Maple Heights
- Richardson, a 6-foot-3, 200-pounder from Maple Heights, is a high school teammate of 2016 Buckeye commitment Kierre Hawkins and athletically is very similar to Hawkins. He's big and he's fast but, like Hawkins, is raw. Richardson missed a couple opportunities to impress the Buckeyes this summer by not making it to Columbus for their one-day camps and because of that he's behind Jaylen Harris on the in-state 2017 recruiting board. Despite being a bit more polished and explosive than Harris, his performance at FNL is going to be an important one.
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Dakari Carter // Wide Receiver // Streetsboro
- There may not be a player in attendance more likely to "wow" the crowd than Dakari Carter. One of the fastest players in the state, Carter is a track superstar who is working to prove that he's a football player as well. He's got offers from Cincinnati, Toledo, Bowling Green, Ohio and Akron and is a guy the Buckeyes are eager to see catch the football. His slight frame (5-foot-9, 155-pounds) may be a red flag but no one on the field next Friday will be able to run with with.
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Robert Hainsey // Offensive Line // Monroeville, Pennsylvania
- One of the best offensive lineman at the Columbus regional of Nike's The Opening regardless of class, Gateyway High School's Robert Hainsey will return to Columbus for a chance to work with Ed Warinner and the Buckeyes. A four-star prospect, Hainsey is ranked as the 26th-best offensive tackle in 2017 but I wouldn't be surprised if he got a look as an interior line prospect moving forward.
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Connor Heyward // Athlete // Suwanee, Georgia
- Every year there's a player or two that Buckeye fans are going to root for, and there's no doubt that Connor Heyward is one of those players for 2017. At 6-foot-1 and almost 200-pounds, Heyward is a versatile athlete that could play a number of positions and is likely to work out at defensive back next week.
FARRELL DISCUSSION CONTINUES
Earlier today I made a bit of a boo-boo when I neglected to include Perry, Ohio's Luke Farrell in my list of the "11 Most Important Recruits" left for 2016. Farrell is absolutely a top remaining target for the Buckeyes, a point that was reiterated to me this afternoon after that list published. Yes, people around the WHAC are reading and paying attention.
"Dude, Farrell belongs on that list," a text message I received from someone I talk to regularly said. "I don't think people understand that he's never been 'the second option' at tight end. He's as important as Hausmann to the class."
Farrell will be in attendance for Friday Night Lights, but I wouldn't expect him to work out. What about a commitment? I am sure the Buckeyes are going to hope that the atmosphere around the event pushes him towards a decision that night, but knowing Farrell I wouldn't expect him to get caught up in the emotions of the night. The plan has been to commit in early August, and I expect him to follow through with that.
DEVRON DAVIS OFFER UPDATE
Last night's Hurry Up featured a segment on Devron Davis, a JUCO defensive back from California who, two nights ago, claimed a Buckeye offer in a now deleted tweet.
Again, people read this column and if something isn't "right" they're not shy about letting me know if something stinks, and that was the case with Davis. There was no offer, no contact between he and the Buckeyes and Ohio State is not chasing any JUCO defensive backs at this point.
Why does this happen? There's a lot of guys out there that create offers out of thin air, thinking that if no one fact checks they'll gain something by showing an offer from a place like Ohio State. Self-promotion on Twitter, where so many new-age "media" people hang out and propagate whatever myth you pass off as fact, is part of the game and requires due diligence on our part before it's shared. Unfortuantely, in the case of Davis, he reported his offer after midnight and felt it would slip through the cracks, but the truth is always just around the corner.
MARYLAND MAKING MOVES
Two years ago, Michigan State hired Curtis Blackwell, a Detroit-native with big ties to Sound Mind/Sound Body and connections all over the state of Michigan. That move was made to help the Spartans keep the Mitten's best players from heading to Ann Arbor and elsewhere, providing them an "in" with nearly every big-time prospect in the Detroit area, especially at talent-rich Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, where Blackwell hails from.
Yesterday, in a move that they hope yields similar results, Maryland hired Cory Robinson, the founder of "Next Level Nation," one of the most prestigious and well-known training outfits in the Baltimore area. Robinson was the defensive backs coach for St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, and coached Buckeye commitment Kareem Felder and also has very close ties to Clemson commit and five-star linebacker Rahshaun "Shaq" Smith, who is now at the IMG Academy.
You can bet that among Robinson's first order of business is to try and seal the borders of the DMV, including working overtime to try and flip a pair of kids committed to Big Ten opponents: Ohio State pledge Terrell Hall and his best friend, Michigan State commit Abdul Adams.
