Ohio State Football Recruiting Notebook: 7/5

By Miles Joseph on July 5, 2013 at 2:00 pm
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Welcome to another edition of the Ohio State football recruiting notebook. While this week wasn't near as busy as last week, there's still quite a bit we have to cover in the world of Ohio State football recruiting.

First and foremost, nine of Ohio State's 14 class of 2014 commits participated in Nike's "The Opening" earlier this week at  Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

We'll touch on which Buckeye commits and targets had the best performances on the national recruiting stage later in this week's edition of the recruiting notebook.

We also received some big news on an un-committed class of 2014 five star prospect who has the Buckeyes as one of his top five colleges choices. We'll tell you who after the jump.

There were also several players who held offers from the Bucks that decided to commit to other schools in the past week. We'll tell you who they were and which schools they decided to attend later in the notebook.

Finally, we will take a look into the future of Ohio State football recruiting.

Join us after the jump as we take a look into the past, present, and future of Buckeye recruiting.

THE BUZZ

The biggest recruiting news of the week was news from The Opening in Beaverton, Oregon. Nine Buckeye commits including the likes of Stephen Collier, Terry McLaurin, Kyle Trout, Jalyn Holmes, Dylan Thompson, Kyle Berger, Dante Booker Jr., Damon Webb, and Parris Campbell.

Indianapolis (IN) Cathedral wide receiver Terry McLaurin turned the most heads of the 14 future Buckeyes in attendance. The recent Buckeye commit finished second to Speedy Noil in the SPARQ National Championship competition. This event was won by Buckeye freshmen linebacker Mike Mitchell last year. McLaurin also caught four touchdowns during the seven-on-seven competition during the second half of the camp.

Another Ohio State commit who had a good performance in Oregon was Detroit (MI) Cass Tech defensive back Damon Webb. The 5-11 corner was very impressive in coverage and had multiple interceptions in seven-on-seven play.

Another Buckeye commit who "showed out" at The Opening was Akron (OH) St. Vincent-St Mary linebacker Dante Booker Jr. Booker, a freakish athlete for his size posted a 4.52 40 yard dash time. He also made several game changing plays in seven-on-seven play.

The last player we're going to touch on is Brooklyn (NY) Erasmus Hall athlete Curtis Samuel who is one of Ohio State's top targets. The dazzling athlete posted a 4.36 40 yard dash time to go along with a 41 inch vertical leap. The Buckeyes are believed to be the leader for Samuel as things currently stand. He could play slot receiver or defensive back at the next level. I think the Buckeyes prefer him on the offensive side of the ball.

Class of 2014 five star safety John "JuJu" Smith named Ohio State as one of his top five schools along with Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ole Miss. The standout from California plans on officially visiting Ohio State for the Wisconsin game at the end of September.

Finally class of 2015 five star defensive tackle Tim Settle confirmed to me that Virginia is his new leader. It's still very, very early in the recruiting process for him and I'm not going to flip my Ohio State pick on the 24/7 Sports Crystal ball because of this development.

HAPPY TRAILS

There were many prospects who the Buckeyes either offered or expressed serious interest in at one point in their recruitment who committed to another school in the last week.

Chesapeake (VA) Oscar F. Smith defensive tackle Andrew Brown, a consensus top five player in the 2014 class committed to Virginia. While the Buckeyes offered Brown they never had a great shot at landing him as he never made the trip to Columbus for a visit.

Kenton (OH) linebacker Noah Furbush committed to play for the Michigan Wolverines Monday. While the Buckeyes never extended an offer to Furbush, they expressed some interest in him at one point in his recruitment. 

Two wide receivers the Buckeyes had offered committed to other schools on Tuesday. First it was Gaffney (SC) Senior receiver Shaq Davidson committing to South Carolina. He was considered to be a heavy lean to the Gamecocks for most of his recruitment. Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake wide receiver Artavis Scott followed by committing to the Clemson Tigers at The Opening. He seemed to be very interested in OSU last July after he camped at Friday Night Lights, but that interest died down after he saw other schools.

Finally Ponte Verda (FL) linebacker Dillon Bates will follow in his father's footsteps and play his college ball in Knoxville for the Tennessee Volunteers. 

LOOKING AHEAD

We could see a commitment as early as today from Scranton (PA) Lackawanna C.C. offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. He indicated he could choose from the Buckeyes, the UCLA Bruins (where he is a soft commit), and Arkansas. There's also a chance he could take a couple more visits before deciding. Other schools he could still visit include the likes of Alabama, Arkansas, and Florida State. I still think the Buckeyes will be his choice whenever he decides to announce. This is a situation we'll be monitoring very closely in the coming days.

If Eluemunor commits to OSU as I expect him to, the next commitment could come from Carmel (IN) wide receiver/tight end Austin Roberts who wants to decide later this summer. I thought this race was trending towards USC a couple of weeks ago, but I think the Buckeyes are starting to become the clear favorite. He is planning on attending the Friday Night Lights camp which is expected to be held on July 26th.

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