Urban is doing everything he can to show Gesicki they want himWelcome to another edition of the Ohio State football recruiting notebook. We'll wrap the week up for you and give a preview of what's coming up next.
Well folks, the week we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. Oh by the way, it also happens to be Ohio State's biggest recruiting weekend of the year.
With over 50 football recruits expected to be in attendance, the magnitude of this weekend can't be overstated. We'll discuss the athletes visiting and the impact of this weekends visits.
While not as big as this coming weekend, this past weekend saw a few recruits visit campus. We'll review their visits and talk about what they mean moving forward.
Urban Meyer's staff made one new scholarship offer this week, we'll take a closer look at the latest offer and how his recruiting process is starting to play out.
One highly-touted 2014 recruit that was initially expected to visit this weekend was asked to reschedule his visit. We'll discuss what the series of events means for his recruitment and what impact it may have on the 2014 class.
Lastly, we'll catch up on how the current members of "The Dream 14" fared this past week and preview this week's slate of games.
Join us after the jump to learn about the week that was in Ohio State recruiting and preview this weekend's events.
The week that was
With the Buckeyes back in town this weekend, a few recruits got to witness a dominant performance by Ohio State. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the recruits in attendance because I already wrote about them last week and none of them currently have scholarship offers from Ohio State. The one guy I didn't talk about last week was 2015 OL Rob Dowdy (Westerville, Ohio), who was a late add to the visitor list.
The Buckeyes "Love" what he can do with the ballLike the others in attendance, Dowdy doesn't currently have an offer from the Buckeyes, but he is starting to build up a solid offer list. The 3-star currently has offers from Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and West Virginia.
Dowdy has also attracted interest from other Big Ten schools, including Michigan and Penn State. At 6-foot-6 and 280 lbs, Dowdy is quite athletic for his size and is pretty long as well. He certainly has a lot of potential and an Ohio State offer could come sometime down the road. This coming weekend Dowdy will be in Tuscaloosa to watch the Tide host Ole Miss.
2015 running back/athlete Bryce Love (Wake Forest, N.C.) picked up an Ohio State offer this week, becoming the 11th running back offered by the Buckeyes thus far. The 4-star is listed at 5-foot-9, 180 lbs. and reportedly runs a 4.30 in the 40. Love already has a pretty big offer list that includes Clemson, Stanford, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Arkansas and several others. Check out Love's highlights:
Tyler Luatua, regarded as the top TE in the nation by most recruiting services, was planning on visiting Ohio State until some "shady business" went down.
"And the shady business just started... No More OHIO STATE" - Tyler Luatua via Twitter (9/22/2013)
It sounds like Urban asked Luatua to reschedule his visit due to Mike Gesicki and 3-star TE DeAndre Goolsby also being on campus, with the staff feeling that Gesicki was closer to committing than Luatua. Don't take this as Gesicki being a silent verbal to Ohio State, as he seems very intent on taking an official visit to Penn State, but this can be interpreted as the staff feeling confident in their chances with Gesicki combined with him being higher on their board. Whether or not Urban used Luatua to show Gesicki how much they want him is a little gray, but is certainly a possibility, and if that was the goal it worked:
"The buckeyes keeping it real. #THEohiostate" - Mike Gesicki via Twitter (9/22/2013)
This weekend will go a long way in determining where Gesicki ends up, though I am personally pretty confident that he signs with Ohio State but Penn State and Wisconsin are also factors here. As for Luatua, this probably eliminates any chance of him signing with Ohio State and his recruitment now shifts soley to a Alabama-Notre Dame battle. I think he winds up at Alabama as the opportunity to play at a top program with his brother (a current offensive lineman at 'Bama) is ultimately too much to pass up.
High school football preview
Be sure to check out Birm's complete report on last week's games here.
| Position | Player | School | Opponent | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Stephen Collier | Lee County (Ga.) | Eastman Dodge County (Ga.) | 4 total TDs, 1 interception in 43-14 win. Already has 17 total TDs and over 1100 total yards through 4 games. Visiting this weekend. |
| WR | Parris Campbell | St. Vincent-St. Mary (Ohio) | at Akron Hoban (Ohio) | 178 yards and 2 TDs on 15 carries, gives him 10 TDs on the year (4 games), 5 of which have gone for at least 48 yards. Visiting this weekend. |
| WR | Terry McLaurin | Cathedral (Ind.) | at Louisville Trinity (Ky.) | Lost 15-6 to fall to 2-3 on the season as offense struggles. McLaurin scored only TD in defeat, giving him 7 on the season. Visiting this weekend. |
| OT | Jamarco Jones | De La Salle (Ill.) | Westchester St. Joseph (Ill.) | Team won 55-28 as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery. Visiting this weekend. |
| OT | Kyle Trout | Lancaster (Ohio) | at Pickerington North (Ohio) | Lost 27-12. Visiting this weekend. |
| OG | Marcelys Jones | Glenville (Ohio) | Cleveland John F. Kennedy (Ohio) | Won 34-0. Conflicting reports on his whereabouts this weekend, probably coming to Columbus with Lattimore and Smith though. |
| OG | Demetrius Knox | All Saints Episcopal (Texas) | Dallas Episcopal School (Texas) | Won 58-21. In Columbus this weekend for official visit. |
| DE | Jalyn Holmes | Lake Taylor (Va.) | at Norfolk Maury (Va.) | Team won 41-0 as he served final game of suspension. Visiting this weekend. |
| DE | Dylan Thompson | Montini Catholic (Ill.) | at Aurora Marmion Academy (Ill.) | 3 sacks last week in 30-7 win, giving him 8 sacks through 4 games. Visiting this weekend. |
| OLB | Kyle Berger | Ignatius (Ohio) | Paramus Catholic (N.J.) | Rehabbing torn ACL, team won 49-10. Possibly visiting this weekend. |
| OLB | Dante Booker | St. Vincent-St. Mary (Ohio) | at Akron Hoban (Ohio) | Led defensive effort that held Cardinal Mooney to zero rushing yards on 33 carries. Visiting this week. |
| CB | Damon Webb | Cass Tech (Mich.) | Detroit Central (Ohio) | Opposing offenses continue to avoid "Webb Island." Also added 55 receiving yards last game. Visiting this weekend. |
| S | Malik Hooker | New Castle (Pa.) | Bridgeville Chartiers Valley (Pa.) | 123 receiving yards and 2 TDs last week. Visiting this weekend. |
| ATH | Noah Brown | Pope John XXIII (N.J.) | Morris Hills (N.J.) | 2 receiving TDs on 2 catches in 68-13 win. |
| ATH | Sam Hubbard | Moeller (Ohio) | Cincinnati St. Xavier (At University of Cincinnati) | 9 tackles in 24-12 win. Visiting this weekend. |
| ATH | Lonnie Johnson | West Side (Ind.) | Bye | Running and receiving TDs in 58-18 win. |
| ATH | Curtis Samuel | Erasmus Hall (N.Y.) | at Bronx Lehman (N.Y.) | 116 rushing yards and 1 TD on 7 carries, as his team won 42-0. |
| K | Sean Nuernberger | Oldham County (Ky.) | at Mt. Washington Bullitt East (Ky.) | 6/6 on touchbacks, 3/4 on extra points. 20/20 on touchbacks, 11/12 on extra points, 5/8 on FG this season. Also averaging over 40 yards per punt. Visiting this weekend. |
| TE | Tyler Luatua | La Mirada (Ca.) | Bellflower (Ca.) | Originally planned to visit this weekend, asked to reschedule due to Mike Gesicki also being in town. |
| TE | Mike Gesicki | Southern Reg (N.J.) | at Toms River North (N.J.) | In Columbus for official visit this weekend, visiting Penn State in October and plans to announce following Penn State visit. |
| OT | Chad Mavety | Nassau C.C. (N.Y.) | at Lackawanna College (Pa.) | Won 23-6. Visiting on November 23rd (Indiana game) |
| OT | Damian Prince | Bishop McNamara (Md.) | at Archbishop Carroll (D.C.) | Won 29-25. No official visits scheduled yet. |
| DT | Thomas Holley | Abraham Lincoln (N.Y.) | New Utrecht (N.Y.) | Won 28-6 |
| ILB | Raekwon McMillan | Liberty County (Ga.) | Hephzibah (Ga.) | Won 49-0. Visiting for Penn State game on 10/26. |
| S | Erick Smith | Glenville (Ohio) | Cleveland John F. Kennedy (Ohio) | Won 34-0. Visiting this weekend. |
| ATH | Marshon Lattimore | Glenville (Ohio) | Cleveland John F. Kennedy (Ohio) | Won 34-0. Visiting this weekend. |
| ATH | Eric Glover-Williams* | Canton McKinley (Ohio) | Uniontown Lake (Ohio) | 189 rushing yards and 3 TDs, 103 passing yards and 2 TDs last game. Visiting this weekend. |
Weekend Visitors
As I said, this weekend is probably Ohio State's biggest recruiting weekend of the year. Here's a complete rundown of every recruit expected to be in attendance for the game (Not including current commits).
| Class | POS | Player | Hometown | OSU Offer? | Rating | Comment/Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | WR | Johnnie Dixon (OFFICIAL) | Palm Beach Gardens (FL.) | YES | 4-star | Initially thought to be on the outside looking in after Noah Brown's commitment, but there still seems to be serious interest from both sides. 3-team battle between OSU, Bama and Miami (FL.) |
| 2014 | WR | Travis Rudolph (OFFICIAL) | W. Palm Beach (FL.) | YES | 4-star | Once committed to Miami, then appeared a lock for the Florida Gators but Florida State, Ohio State and Alabama have closed the gap. Vanderbilt was the fifth school in his top-5, announced about a month ago. This will be his first official visit. |
| 2014 | TE | Mike Gesicki (OFFICIAL) | Southern Reg. (N.J.) | YES | 4-star | Clearly Ohio State's top TE target. Read full story above on him and Luatua. Really like Ohio State's chances here. |
| 2014 | TE | DeAndre Goolsby (OFFICIAL) | YES | 3-star | The staff really likes him at TE as well, but a commitment from Gesicki would probably end his recruitment from Ohio State. That being said, Ohio State would be very happy to have him, and asking Luatua to reschedule instead of him is somewhat telling. | |
| 2014 | S | Erick Smith | Cleveland (Ohio) | YES | 4-star | Nothing has really changed here, Buckeyes remain the favorite. |
| 2014 | ATH | Marshon Lattimore | Cleveland (Ohio) | YES | 4-star | Ditto. |
| 2014 | ATH | John Smith (OFFICIAL) | YES | 5-star | One of the top players in the nation, USC has been thought to be the favorite, although Smith has been disturbed by USC's poor start and with Lane Kiffin's future in question other schools have moved in. This will be his first official visit, with others scheduled to Notre Dame, Oregon, Alabama and Michigan. As his recruitment moves towards being more national and open, the Bucks have a chance to make a big move this weekend. | |
| 2015 | QB/ATH | Kai Locksley | Baltimore (MD) | YES | 4-star | Wrote a little more about him in this article. Maryland is early leader as Locksley's father, Mike is the offensive coordinator for the Terps. Great athlete but adamant about playing QB in college. |
| 2015 | RB | Andrew Dowell | Lakewood (Ohio) | NO | 4-star | Brother of David Dowell. Currently only holds offers from a few MAC schools, and a bit under the radar due to missing most of last year with a hip injury. Runs 4.52 at 6-foot-1 and could see an offer from Ohio State sometime in the future. Camped at FNL this summer. |
| 2015 | RB | Darrin Hall | Youngstown (Ohio) | NO | 4-star | Offers from Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois and Cincinnati among others, with Notre Dame offer possibly coming soon. Ohio State wants to evaluate him more before deciding on a possible offer. |
| 2015 | RB | Mike Weber | Detroit (Mich.) | YES | 4-star | Teammate of Damon Webb, one of the top players in Michigan for 2015. Michigan, Michigan State and Tennessee standing out early, but Ohio State is making waves at Cass Tech and could be a major player after this weekend. Webb is recruiting him pretty hard too. |
| 2015 | TE | Jackson Harris | Columbia (TN.) | NO | 4-star | One of the top TEs in the nation for 2015, with offers from Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and others. Vanderbilt is the early leader(his first offer). Buckeyes have only offered one TE for 2015 so far, so Harris could be a name to watch. Buckeyes could offer him this weekend, but they will probably offer him sometime down the road. |
| 2015 | OT | David Moorman | Pinckney (Mich.) | NO | NR | Offers from a couple of MAC schools right now, but Buckeyes are near the top of his list. He has also visited Michigan State, Michigan and Indiana. A bit under the radar, but right now it's hard to see an offer coming any time soon. |
| 2015 | OL | James Daniels | Warren (Ohio) | NO | 3-star | Offers from Penn State, Michigan State, Iowa and Indiana, as well as a couple MAC schools. Son of former Buckeye LeShaun Daniels, and his brother plays running back for Iowa. Mutual interest from Daniels and the staff, offer possible in the future. |
| 2015 | OL | Larry Wells | Kenton (Ohio) | NO | NR | Great size at 6-foot-8, currently Akron is his only offer. Cincinnati, Indiana and Bowling Green also showing interest. Ohio State is looking at him as a left tackle, as pass-blocking is his strength. |
| 2015 | OL | Matt Jones | Hubbard (Ohio) | NO | 3-star | Teammate of RB target Larry Scott. Offers from Kentucky, West Virginia and Toledo. Visited OSU for San Diego State game. Projects as a guard (6-4, 290 lbs). |
| 2015 | OL | Drew Richmond | Memphis (TN.) | YES | 4-star | Big OL target for Ohio State in 2015. Considered a top-10 offensive tackle in his class, with offers from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Florida State and several others in addition to Ohio State. Grew up an Ohio State fan and they are one of his top school right now along with Bama, Vandy, Florida State, Tennessee and Virginia. Visited Ohio State in June and loved it. Buckeyes are in good position for him. |
| 2015 | OL | Matthew Burrell | Woodbridge (Va.) | YES | 4-star | Another one of Ohio State's top O-line targets for 2015. Already has a huge offer list including Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Penn State and more. Has visited Virginia Tech for a game and Michigan for the "Under the Lights 2" game. Has declared Florida his "Dream School" but Ohio State has a chance to make a big impression on him this weekend and he is a top priority for the staff. |
| 2015 | OT | Noah Listerman | Cincinnati (Ohio) | NO | 3-star | Considered a big sleeper in the 2015 class. Cincinnati is his only offer so far, but Ohio State is interested and that interest is definitely mutual. Listerman has great size at 6-foot-7 and an Ohio State offer could be coming in the future. |
| 2015 | DE | Darian Roseboro | Lincolnton (N.C.) | YES | 4-star | Highly touted SSDE in 2015 class, with early offers from Clemson, Auburn, Michigan, Tennessee, and N.C. State. N.C. State is standing out so far for Roseboro. |
| 2015 | DT | Josh Jordan | Columbus (Ohio) | NO | NR | Not a lot of information on Jordan, but he has good size at 6-foot-3, 299 lbs and is a local product. Georgia Tech is showing early interest. Jordan had some really strong camp performances last summer that he will look to build on. Good video and info on him here. |
| 2015 | DT | Elijah Taylor | Cincinnati (Ohio) | NO | 4-star | Early offers from Illinois, Louisville, Michigan State, West Virginia and others. Michigan State is standing out for him but he likes Ohio State too. Considered a top 10 player in Ohio and he could get an offer from Ohio State in the future. |
| 2015 | DL | Joshua Alabi | Detroit (Mich.) | YES | 4-star | Also a teammate of Damon Webb, leaning towards Michigan State, Michigan and Tennessee (who have all offered) as well. Also holds offers from Wisconsin, Illinois and Nebraska. Webb is recruiting him hard and Ohio State has a chance to make a big impact on him this weekend with Webb and Mike Weber in attendance too. The Buckeyes are doing all they can to form a pipeline with Cass Tech and Webb has been instrumental. |
| 2015 | DL | Brandon Tiassum | Indianapolis (Ind.) | NO | 4-star | Indiana is currently his only offer, and has also visited Purdue for a game this year (which he really enjoyed). Two-way player (D-tackle and Offensive Guard) at 6-foot-5. Tiassum is a player to watch as the offers should begin to roll in for him. |
| 2015 | LB | Anthony McKee | Columbus (Ohio) | NO | 4-star | Offers from Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia and others. One of the top LBs in Ohio, but Ohio State is probably waiting on him to add a little more size before they offer him. That being said there is definitely mutual interest. |
| 2015 | LB | Darrin Kirkland | Indianapolis (Ind.) | NO | 4-star | Top ranked player in Indiana, has offers from Illinois, Indiana and Louisville, but Ohio State is the school that's standing out for him. Offer could be coming in the future once the Buckeyes get to see him play a bit more. |
| 2015 | LB | Nick Conner | Dublin (Ohio) | NO | 3-star | Kentucky is the only offer for him right now, but he really likes Ohio State too. He is pretty early in the process, but Kentucky is showing him the most love right now as he already visited them this year. |
| 2015 | LB | Justin Hilliard | Cincinnati (Ohio) | YES | 4-star | Highly-touted prospect at a position of need in the state of Ohio. Everything points to Hilliard being one of Ohio State's more important targets in 2015. Making his 2nd of 3 visits to Ohio State this weekend, but he also has a lot of interest in Iowa, Michigan and Notre Dame too. It will be important for Ohio State to make an impression on him this weekend. |
| 2015 | LB | Markus Bailey | Hilliard (Ohio) | NO | NR | Boston College and MAC offers so far. Visited for Friday Night Lights and is hoping to earn an Ohio State offer. Buckeyes are definitely his favorite school, just a matter of whether or not he is offered. |
| 2015 | LB | Marquise Copeland | Bedford (Ohio) | NO | NR | Toledo and Louisville have offered. Indiana and Michigan State also showing interest. There is a good chance he winds up at another Big Ten school. |
| 2015 | S | Reggie Rogers | Akron (Ohio) | NO | 3-star | Kentucky and Toledo have offered so far. Camped at Friday Night Lights and has visited Kentucky for a game this year. |
| 2015 | DB | Ashton White | District Heights (MD.) | YES | 4-star | The Buckeyes really like White and they are the early favorite for his services. Virginia Tech and Maryland have also offered. Earned offer from Ohio State at camp this summer. Ohio State continues to recruit the east coast hard and White could be a good one. Good size for a CB and runs a sub 4.5. May grow into a safety but he's a playmaker and Ohio State is in a great position to land him. |
| 2015 | CB/WR | David Dowell | Lakewood (Ohio) | NO | 4-star | Twin brother of Andrew Dowell. A little more highly touted than Andrew, as he is a little more versatile. Holds offers from Illinois, Tennessee, Kent State and Toledo. More likely than Andrew to receive an offer, which is certainly possible down the road. |
| 2015 | ATH | Brian Cole | Saginaw (Michigan) | YES | 4-star | Michigan and Michigan State battle right now, but he also seems pretty high on the Buckeyes. He's a dynamic athlete at 6-foot-2 and running in the 4.4 range. I played against him in high school and as a freshman he was the real deal. Another good chance for Ohio State to continue to make inroads into Michigan. Top player in the state of Michigan. |
| 2015 | ATH | Jordan Whitehead | Monaca (Pa.) | YES | 4-star | Whitehead already has several offers, including Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers, Pitt and West Virginia. Ohio State is standing out for Whitehead though, who Birm wrote a great article about this summer. He is being recruited by Fickell and Coombs, and is one of the Buckeyes top targets for 2015. |
| 2015 | LS | Liam McCullough | Columbus (Ohio) | NO | NR | Offered as a preferred walk-on to play long-snapper. Has scholarship offers from Michigan State and Wisconsin that may be too much to pass up, but he really likes the Buckeyes. |
| 2016 | WR | Teryn Savage | Raleigh (N.C.) | NO | NR | Florida currently recruiting him the hardest, but likes Ohio State a lot. Attracting interest from many big name programs including Florida, LSU and Michigan. Speaking of Michigan, here's a good lesson on what not to do on this site. Here's a good interview with Teryn. |
| 2016 | DE/TE | Prince Sammons | Cincinnati (Ohio) | NO | NR | Sammons is a freakish athlete from Nigeria with a great story. Prince's parents passed away a few years ago and Brandon Sammons and his wife decided to adopt him out of Nigeria. Sammons started for his varsity basketball team as a freshman and is incredibly athletic at 6-foot-8. This year he decided to play football for the first time as a sophomore, and some are already calling him the best player in Ohio for 2016, just 4 games into his career. He really likes Ohio State and is also considering Michigan (who he visited for the Notre Dame game). Obviously it is very early but I'm really excited to watch him develop and I think there's a strong chance he ends up at Ohio State, who has a great chance to impress him this weekend. |
| 2017 | QB | Danny Clark | Massilon (Ohio) | NO | NR | I've written about him a bit in the last few weeks. He has openly declared Ohio State his leader, just waiting on an offer. |
Looking ahead
Be sure to frequent the site and follow the Eleven Warriors team this weekend on Twitter for the latest updates as there will be a lot of content. This is Ohio State's biggest weekend of the year for recruiting and the Eleven Warriors team is on it.
Hopefully we'll get to meet many of you tonight at the Gold Pants social and tomorrow at Eat Too, Brutas.
