Welcome to The Hurry-Up, which runs Sunday through Thursday, serving as your last stop for recruiting news and notes nightly. We'll recap the day as it happened and preview the days ahead while keeping our ear to the ground on the Ohio State recruiting scene.
LJ SCOTT AND THE BUCKEYES
Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Ohio State's still looking for a running back in 2015 and while the Buckeyes haven't given up the pursuit of Damien Harris, they're still working hard on Hubbard's L.J. Scott, per Cleveland.com. In fact, while Scott will be at Michigan State wearing green this weekend, it's more and more likely he'll be on campus in Columbus when the Buckeyes host Michigan November 29th. Will he be prepared for the media onslaught and the "stay-home" pressures that come from a visit to the home- state Buckeyes? He told Ari Wasserman he would.
"I think I am prepared, but I'm probably not because (Ohio State) is going to be hitting me pretty hard," Scott said. "I just am going to do what's best for me. I won't turn them down or just ignore them or anything. I'll still show them the respect and take a visit and everything if they want me up there. They want to talk to my mom as well, so I'll show the respect and take a visit."
Here's what we know: Ohio State was very surprised when Scott picked Michigan State suddenly in July. The Buckeyes, who have a 2016 pledge from Scott's backfield running mate George Hill, believed that they had made up the ground the Spartans had established on them early in the process. Ohio State's Chris Ash, the lead recruiter on Scott, has continued to stay in touch with him throughout the summer.
What do the Buckeyes need to do in order to flip Scott? There's a train of thought that it may involve his brother, Isiah Scott, a wide receiver/linebacker at Hubbard. Isiah has a few scholarship offers, including Cincinnati and Kentucky, but as of yet nothing from Ohio State or Michigan State, which are the only legitimate contenders for L.J. Would the Buckeyes offer Isiah to bring in his brother? I don't think so, but that doesn't mean they won't provide a gameplan to get them both in Columbus. Of course, Michigan State will provide a similar plan, I am sure.
MIKE WEBER OFFICIAL VISITS
What if the Spartans become the eventual winner in the Mike Weber sweepstakes? The Michigan commitment told ESPN.com's Tom Van Haaren he'd be making official visits to a number of schools.
#ESPN300 Michigan RB commit Mike Weber said via text he plans on visiting Miami, Michigan State, Ohio State and USC. Last visit undecided
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) November 2, 2014
There's a chance that Weber could visit East Lansing this weekend and the Spartans have long been near the top of his list. He committed to Michigan over the summer on the heels of Scott's decision to verbal to Dantonio and MSU. Now, as Scott and Weber are both at least considering other schools, the two could both end up in different situations than they'd imagined. I reached out to one source in Detroit about his take on the Cass Tech standout.
"I heard all summer that Ohio State was Weber's favorite," the source shared. "I think when he committed to Michigan he was just playing it smart, thinking that the Buckeyes still had Damien Harris locked up. I know that (Josh) Alabi is all over him trying to get him to come to Ohio State with him, and obviously there's other guys from Cass that he knows in Columbus. He loves Kerry Coombs, but he wants the Buckeyes to make him a priority, so we'll see what happens whenever he visits down there. Don't sleep on USC though, he really liked the visit out there, too."
MORE VAN JEFFERSON DISCUSSION
As we've discussed previously on the Hurry Up, the Buckeyes have not given up their pursuit of Ravenwood, Tennessee wide receiver Van Jefferson. This week, the normally reserved wide receiver who spurned the Buckeyes in August for Georgia, opened up a bit about his recruitment to 247Sports.com. The Cliff notes? Jefferson will likely visit a couple schools, and yes, like we told you on October 2nd, the Buckeyes are still in play. One of the reasons? The emergence of JT Barrett and the revamped passing offense in Columbus. I discussed the latest on Jefferson with the same source who let us know the door wasn't completely closed a month ago.
"There's a chance with Van, he just needs to make a visit," the source said. "Mom has always seemed to like the Buckeyes the most and it's Van's 'dream school,' so who knows? Maybe he makes a trip and falls back in love with things in Columbus? It's not outside of reality to think it could happen. Ohio State would love to have him, he's been very high on their list for a while. They love his football IQ and his quiet confidence. They think he's an All-American type of talent."
BIG WEEKEND ON TAP FOR LUKUSA
One of Michigan's top 2016 talents, Traverse City lineman Thiyo Lukusa released his top six schools via Twitter earlier this week. The schools that made the cut? Michigan State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Nebraska and Auburn. Most, including myself, have believed Lukusa's decision would eventually come down to the Spartans, Wolverines and Buckeyes but it appears (for now) that Michigan has lost their chance to secure the country's 28th-ranked offensive tackle.
This weekend, as the Buckeyes travel to East Lansing, so too will Lukusa. He told me early last month that the outcomes of the game he attends (UM/MSU, OSU/MSU and UM/OSU) would have a serious impact on his choice. Right now, I'd say it's safe to assume that the Spartans are in the driver's seat, but the Buckeyes are hoping to leave an impression.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON ROUNDTREE
As noted, Rashad Roundtree will make his college decision tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. on Twitter. The most likely destinations are Ohio State or Georgia, with some late scuttlebutt Thursday that the Duke Blue Devils could be swooping in and stealing one. I have talked to people at Ohio State, talked to people in Georgia and although I've heard conflicting reports, I'm sticking with my gut and believe that he picks Ohio State. Why? Nothing I've been told would lead me to believe otherwise. As a kid in Georgia, the drumbeats for the in-state team should be louder, and instead they've gotten less and less audible.
Here's the bottom line: no one knows what Roundtree is doing right now except for Roundtree and his parents. Ohio State's coaching staff, normally pretty confident, has thrown up the "¯\_(ツ)_/¯" on this one and feel like they're going to find out tomorrow when the rest of us do.
His father gave a little insight into his son's recruitment with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, and one interesting tidbit stuck out to me.
Will he still visit schools after he commits?
“No, he doesn’t plan to unless something happens. He has pretty much visited a lot of schools over the summer. All the ones he is really interested, he’s already visited. He’s comfortable now with making a decision and with getting ready for the upcoming season for that program.”
Roundtree's last four college visits were to Ohio State and Georgia, and he's made two trips to each of them. I guess at this point all there is left to say is stay tuned tomorrow morning.
