Counter Intel is the smart Ohio State fan's look at recruiting action taking place at Big Ten and top national programs.
Kiner chooses LSU
Four-star Roger Bacon High School running back Corey Kiner is likely a familiar name to Buckeye fans as he was on Ohio State's radar for quite some time, and the Cincinnati star saw plenty of space in our coverage of him.
However, once the Buckeyes moved on, Kiner had to go find another program that fit what he was looking for, and that program became the defending national champions.
THANK YOU GOD pic.twitter.com/K83TLFZgA7
— Corey Kiner (@CoreyKiner) May 11, 2020
The LSU Tigers aren't a known power in the state of Ohio, but after winning a national championship every school has tons of buzz. In this case, the Tigers turned that buzz into a key recruiting win and a talented four-star prospect ranked No. 10 at running back and No. 7 overall in the state of Ohio.
Kiner fits well into the LSU system, and, hopefully, he can find success in the Bayou.
Michigan, Rutgers land second Ohioans in 2021
Flashback to the 2019 class and the Michigan Wolverines signed three-star defensive end Gabe Newburg from Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio. In the 2021 class, Michigan hit up Northmont again last month for three-star wide receiver Markus Allen, who committed to the Wolverines more than three weeks ago.
With their recent success at Northmont, they chose to go back to the well, and last Sunday Michigan landed three-star safety Rod Moore.
1000% Committed.. Next chapter, Lets go to work @AllenTrieu @SWiltfong247 @Rivalsfbcamps @CoachBobShoop pic.twitter.com/uzqZWWgMZs
— Rod moore 10 (@Rodmoorejr) May 10, 2020
With both Allen and Moore committed, Jim Harbaugh has secured two top-20 players from his home state of Ohio in 2021. Allen should give the Wolverines a big wide receiver with really good hands and a large catch radius. As for Moore, he gives them a rangy player with good ball skills in the back end of their defense. Down the line, both Allen and Moore should be impact players for the Wolverines, and maybe with more Ohio players, Michigan can light more fire in what has been a lopsided rivalry.
Rutgers has also been gaining steam in the Buckeye State. Last month, Greg Schiano landed three-star wide receiver Brayden Fox out of powerhouse Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron.
And in an effort to rebuild the current roster at Rutgers and add more big athletes in the trenches, Schiano set out to find more prospects with tackle bodies. Back in March, that search led him to Hudson, Ohio and the home of three-star offensive tackle Kevin Toth Jr., who committed to the Scarlet Knights on Wednesday.
COMMITTED TO RUTGERS UNIVERSITY #FAMILY #TRUST #CHOP pic.twitter.com/eZQrBpnnKU
— Kevin Toth jr (@Kevin_Toth5) May 13, 2020
Despite being a lower-ranked player and raw prospect, Toth has a ton of potential that hopefully comes to fruition once he gets to Piscataway.
After landing Toth to start the week, the Scarlet Knights added unranked defensive end Henry Hughes to end the week. Hughes is a large human being at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, giving Schiano's defense a potential high-end edge player down the line. After having lots of local recruiting success, it appears Schiano and Co. are looking for national prospects to bolster their class before finishing with more New Jersey prospects.
Purdue lands Michigan wideout
The Purdue Boilermakers have one of the lower-ranked classes in the Big Ten thus far, but they have continued to steadily land prospects. This past week, they went up to Belleville High School, one of the top football programs in Michigan, and landed three-star wide receiver Deion Burks. After signing five players from Michigan in the 2020 class, the Boilermakers and head coach Jeff Brohm are hoping to continue to lay roots in the talent-filled state of Michigan.
As for Burks himself, he is a stoutly built player, standing at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds. With his stature and top-end speed, Burks projects best as a slot receiver for Purdue with the ability to slide to the outside at times. Since Purdue is likely to lose star wide receiver Rondale Moore to the 2021 NFL draft after this season, they are hoping Burks can fill his shoes quickly.
Maryland grabs another local RB
After Mike Locksley's first season as the head man at Maryland, it was clear to see that running the ball was going to be his calling card with the Terps. Another thing that Locksley is aiming to do at Maryland is lock down recruiting at local Maryland powerhouse St. Frances Academy and St. John’s, a national power in the Washington D.C. area.
This past week, Locksley chipped away at both schools, as he secured a commitment from three-star running back Colby McDonald of St. John’s.
McDonald is Maryland's second running back commitment from St. John’s, as the Terps also landed 6-foot, 265-pound bruiser Antwain Littleton from the Cadets. With McDonald's diminutive size and above-average speed, he makes a good pair with the big power back that is Littleton. Looks like Locksley is hoping the two can have similar success at the college level that they are having in high school
Indiana goes to Georgia
The Indiana Hoosiers have shown the ability to dip into the south for talented players in recent recruiting cycles, and 2021 has been no different. After landing three-star Florida safety Larry Smith last month, the Hoosiers have gone south again this month. But this time, it is to the talent-rich state of Georgia and not the Sunshine State.
Last Friday, Tom Allen and his staff landed three-star wide receiver Jordyn Williams from Westover (Ga.) High School in Albany. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Williams is exactly the big-bodied wide receiver that Indiana loves, and if it can develop him in Bloomington he could be a name to remember.
Sooners snag top-150 pair
It is very possible that no one has had a better week on the recruiting trail than the Oklahoma Sooners, who added two top-150 players.
The first was top-40 wide receiver Mario Williams, who is a speedster with great hands out of the Sunshine State and was a former Ohio State target. Oklahoma beat out its top two competitors, Florida and Georgia, for Williams' commitment.
Committed pic.twitter.com/MFpNY371EQ
— Lootrunner.mariooo (@MarioWill00) May 15, 2020
Oklahoma's second commitment came from the 107th ranked player in the country in four-star outside linebacker/edge rusher Clayton Smith. The Sooners beat their rival Texas for Smith's commitment, pulling him straight out of his Texarkana high school.
Both Williams and Smith fill a key need for the Sooners, as Lincoln Riley is always looking for more speed at wide receiver and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch needs to continue to add front seven studs.
Former Ohio State CB target picks Florida State
At one point in the past calendar year, Ohio State was going after four-star Katy (Texas) High School cornerback Hunter Washington pretty hard.
But once Kerry Coombs took over, he decided to take cornerback recruiting in a different direction, and that left Washington to look elsewhere. After considering most of the Texas programs and a lot of SEC schools, Washington instead decided to head to the ACC and play for Florida State.
Last week, when he committed to the Seminoles, he became one of their tops commits in the 2021 class and gave first-year head coach Mike Norvell a huge recruiting win. Washington is a talented coverage player who should make an impact in Tallahassee.
