The Hurry Up: Best of the Midwest Brings Out the Stars, Haubeil Working on His Game and More

By Jeremy Birmingham on February 15, 2016 at 7:45 pm
Blake Haubeil and Kerry Coombs at last summer's Friday Night Lights.
Blake Haubeil
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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.

HAUBEIL HEADS WEST TO WORK ON HIS GAME

When he committed to Ohio State last summer, Buffalo's Blake Haubeil knew that the real work was just beginning. This past weekend, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound kicker left the cold of New York for a working weekend in Arizona. 

"(I was there) two days. It was just basically kicking and teaching," Haubeil said of the camp. "I mainly went out there to work with my coach Sam Watts and was just trying to improve my technique. It went well. I'm just coming back from a major sickness, so it was very nice to kick in some good weather."

Already viewed by many as one of the country's best kicking prospects, Haubeil is working hard to reach one of his goals for the upcoming year.

"One area (I'm working on) for me would be my (leg) swing," Haubeil said. "Although I may go 20-for-20 kicking with my dad at my high school, I may only feel I hit 15 'great' balls. So I'm just trying to be as good as possible. A major camp I'll be doing later this year is in May with Kohl's kicking, and then again (with them) in July. That one will hopefully help me get invited to an All-American game."

BEST OF THE MIDWEST ONCE AGAIN BRINGS OUT STARS

Every year, the Best of the Midwest combine in Indianapolis brings a handful of the region's best players to the fore of the recruiting world; Ohio State 2016 signee Jonathon Cooper's rapid ascension through the recruiting rankings started thanks to an eye-opening performance at the camp in 2014.

Monday the combine returned and with it, the opportunity for some big-time players to get big-time attention.

That, of course, is Ohio State 2018 offer Jaelen Gill, who was named as one of the running back MVPs.

Gill–who clocked a 4.36 in the 40-yard dash according to observers Monday–shared the title, as Allen Trieu's tweet indicated, with Pickerington Central's Morgan Ellison, who was a star performer at Nike's The Opening Rating Day at Massillon Washington High School last weekend. 

Other players of note that earned MVP honors:

Welcome back, football.

MYERS MAKING HIS RECRUITMENT EASY FOR BUCKEYES

Because of the attention paid to recruiting and recruits anymore, it's almost a football-miracle if you're able to land a five-star commitment early in his personal recruitment without it involving a million twists and turns before he can sign his letter of intent.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, that doesn't appear it will be the case for Josh Myers, the 2017, five-star standout from Miamisburg, who committed to Ohio State with little fanfare last January.

From Cleveland.com's Ari Wasserman:

"I just hope," Meyer [sic] said, "I can make it as easy as possible on them." 

That's not going to change. Things are quiet now for seniors-to-be, but once the season starts back up again in six months, it's going to be official visit heaven. Myers plans to take one -- to Ohio State -- and nowhere else. 

And when other coaches call? 

"The approach is just to be as respectful as I possibly can be with any coaches from any other colleges that want to talk to me or me to come on visits," Myers said. "It's just going to be, 'I appreciate your interest, but I'm set on somewhere else and I wont be taking any other visits, just to Ohio State." 

The country's third-ranked 2017 prospect has been a fixture at Ohio State since his commitment and if the above story is any indicator, that won't be changing anytime soon.

WESSON VISITING BUCKEYES

Ohio State has one Wesson in their basketball future, 2017 Westerville South star Kaleb Wesson, and tomorrow night could signal that their considering adding another.

Andre is the top uncommitted 2016 player in Ohio, and when the Buckeyes passed on Kobi Simmons, there was a question of whether or not they'd look to fill the Austin Grandstaff vacancy in 2016 or hold off until 2017.

It appears they are–at the least–considering to do so in 2016. A two-time conference player of the year in the OCC, Wesson is a dynamic 6-foot-5, 195-pound wing ranked as the country's 290th overall prospect.

The below highlights are from one game against Marysville back in January. One game.

BROWNING REOPENS RECRUITMENT

Offered by Ohio State last May, the country's second-ranked outside linebacker–Texas five-star Baron Browning–committed to Baylor in July. 

Sunday night, the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder reopened his recruitment and I do expect that the Buckeyes will try and make themselves a player in this race over the next few months as Browning's recruitment is likely to get wide open with teams from all the country interested.

Barry Browning, the older brother of Baron, played at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh, and Michigan, Notre Dame and others are all eager to try and get him to campus. He made a visit to TCU on Saturday and has a planned trip to Texas at the end of the month. 

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