The Hurry Up is your nightcap of Ohio State recruiting news, catching you up on the day’s events with an ear on the ground for what’s next.
HILL AT FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS?
One of the more interesting members of Ohio State's 2016 recruiting class is Hubbard, Ohio's George Hill. Interesting because well, George really doesn't have much time or concern for being recruited anymore. He committed last summer – the first in his class – for a reason: he's not into the whole thing.
Still, people want to make the 6-foot-tall, 210-pound running back/athlete into a story because he doesn't come to Ohio State as much as maybe would be preferred. Rest assured, folks, it appears that the country's 98th-ranked prospect will be in Columbus for Friday Night Lights, at least according to Scout.com guru Bill Greene. If Greene speaks on something involving Northeast Ohio, it pays to listen, so if he's saying Hill will be there, Hill is – at the very least – planning on being there. Whether he's working out or not, that's up in the air, as it is with every Ohio State commit that plans on attending.
Because of his desire to stay off the grid, it's hard to really get a clear picture of what Hill's future holds, but he and the Buckeyes don't appear to have any disconnect, despite what is rumored. Michigan State remains in hot pursuit, thanks in part to their 2015 signing of LJ Scott, but as long as Abdul Adams remains committed to the Spartans, I don't think there's any real concern of Hill signing anywhere other than with Ohio State.
2017 RUNNING BACK HAS OPTIONS
The Buckeyes have a 2017 running back commitment, and it's likely that the coaching staff will look for at least one more in that cycle and a number of excellent options are in Ohio. Yesterday at Dublin Jerome High School, I was talking a bit with a pair of Rivals analysts, Marc Givler and Ryan Donnelly, about that topic and it got me thinking about which players could end up joining Todd Sibley in the class of 2017.
Givler and Donnelly agreed that they felt the state's top running back for 2017 may not be Sibley but Cincinnati La Salle's Jarell White. White, at 5-foot-10, 190-pounds, is a four-star back with four early offers and Ohio's eighth-ranked prospect according to 247Sports.com.
After White, a sleeper name to watch is Cleveland Benedictine's Decavilon Reese, who, like White is 5-foot-10 and 190-pounds. The Bengals' standout is a bit more physical, similar in size and stature to Toledo Central Catholic's Michael Warren, Jr. The Fighting Irish running back is a four-star talent and the country's 100th-ranked prospect.
Warren and Reese will be at Ohio State for Friday Night Lights, but it's not yet known if White will be on-hand.
COOPER CONTINUES TO DAZZLE
It's The Summer of Coop and it's hard to stress just how thoroughly Ohio State commitment Jonathon Cooper has blown up the recruiting scene. What's next for the newly-minted five-star defensive end? Blowing up his senior season at Gahanna Lincoln.
You can next see Cooper at Ohio State for Friday Night Lights. He told 11W that he doesn't plan on working out, but if I know the defensive end at all, you can almost bet that he'll end up putting in some work.
MALONE-HATCHER WILL VISIT FOR FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
If there's a player in the class of 2017 that could rival the success Cooper has had this summer next summer, it could be St. Joseph, Michigan defensive end Corey Malone-Hatcher.
Already standing 6-foot-3 and 246-pounds, CMH is bigger than Cooper and even if he doesn't possess the same lightning first step, he's already got the attention of Ohio State's Larry Johnson, Sr. The Buckeyes' defensive line coach offered Malone-Hatcher last July, six days after he impressed Ohio State's staff at last year's Friday Night Lights.
The country's 13th-ranked defensive end will return to this year's version of Friday Night Lights, according to his father.
"We will be there," Orlando Malone told Eleven Warriors. "Coach Johnson has been in touch a lot and also singled him out at Sound Mind/Sound Body to get a chance to work with him."
