Although there are obvious limitations in terms of Ohio State's future roster flexibility, it has not dissuaded Kobi Simmons from considering the Buckeyes.
The five-star guard is among the best remaining recruits in the 2016 class. He visited Columbus in the fall and still maintains regular contact with the staff.
Simmons, like the AAU circuit, is winding down in July.
"I'm slowing it down a little bit," he told Scout.com earlier this month. "I start thinking about it more and more each day as the decision starts getting closer and closer."
He hasn't settled on a timeframe for a commitment, but we now know what schools he'll be choosing from. Simmons revealed his top six schools via his Twitter account, Sunday. For a recruit as highly touted as he is, there are two atypical finalists among this group: Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and Xavier.
Simmons is from Alpharetta, Georgia so locale makes the Bulldogs a candidate. Xavier is a bit jarring to see on his list even though Chris Mack has continued their recent tradition of winning basketball. Simmons even planned a visit to Cincinnati in September. Some of his interest stems from Musketeer freshman forward Kaiser Gates, a friend and former teammate of Simmons.
Regardless, the coach that lands him will be happy with his high basketball IQ and athleticism, as demonstrated in this highlight:
Scholarship Limitations
If Simmons eventually commits to Ohio State, it signals that the staff can guarantee him a scholarship. There's no way a player of his caliber does so without having a spot on the roster.
At the moment, there isn't a clear path for Simmons to join Derek Funderburk Jr. and Micah Potter in OSU's 2016 class. Those two, plus the five current freshmen, five sophomores, and junior Marc Loving mean the Buckeyes don't have an available scholarship for next year.
Jake Lorbach is now a scholarship player (congrats to him, by the way):
It's been a great day! Thanks so much to Ohio State, Coach Matta and the rest of the coaches, and my team. Scholarship for my senior year
— Jake Lorbach (@BlitzkriegBach) July 30, 2015
However, as he indicates in that tweet, he is a senior. OSU still has one scholarship left for this upcoming season, but no more available spots until 2018.
I assumed the staff was saving one for a grad transfer this year, but peak transfer season is over. The last remaining scholarship may go to another senior walk-on.
Around The B1G
Michigan poached another recruit from Ohio, this week. We haven't reached John Cooper levels yet but it is an interesting development.
Buckeye offeree and Medina center Jon Teske committed to the Wolverines about a year ago. In adding another to his 2016 class, John Beliein recently dipped into Central Ohio for a Pickerington Central guard:
I'm extremely blessed and excited to announce that I'm officially committing to the University of Michigan!! #GoBlue #MichTape
— Ibi Watson (@ibi_watson_2) July 28, 2015
Watson, a three-star prospect, did not have an Ohio State offer. However, the staff showed some interest in him of late.
Overall, even if Michigan continues to cross enemy borders for recruits, it can be considered a net positive in this case. As well as Watson played this summer, he still isn't rated as highly as Tyus Battle – who, if you remember, decommitted from Michigan in June and flipped to Syracuse.
Good thing for Watson, though, Battle's switch opened up a spot for him.
"When that happened we came up the next week for the high school team camp up there," Watson told Future150.com. "They started evaluating me and I thought, 'maybe I will get a chance to get this offer.'"
