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.
GARY VISIT COULD BE START OF BUCKEYE/WOLVERINE BATTLE
Last night, ESPN.com recruiting analyst Tom VanHaaren dropped a pretty important nugget about the country's top-ranked 2016 recruit, New Jersey's Rashan Gary.
#ESPNJr300 DT Rashan Gary says he's going to try to visit Ohio State this weekend (Saturday). Potential Michigan visit before spring break
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) March 24, 2015
A source at Ohio State confirmed the visit is expected for this weekend.
"We're really trying to get the three big ones from New Jersey," the source said. "Gary would be huge."
The "three big ones" from New Jersey are Jarrett Guarantano, Kareem Walker and Gary. Walker is already committed to the Buckeyes and Guarantano has been their primary quarterback target for some time, but Gary has played his recruitment incredibly close to the vest. The rumors have long been that Michigan will be the team toughest to beat – Paramus Catholic sent two players to Ann Arbor in 2014 and the Wolverines just poached their head coach Chris Partridge – and he's also slated to visit Michigan this weekend.
Walker – the country's top-ranked running back – told 11W that he had considered making the trip this weekend with Gary, but one element of the trip made him reconsider.
"I know he's visiting," Walker told me. "I would try to visit with him but he's visiting 'TTUN' too."
Walker said he intends to visit Columbus for Ohio State's spring game and hopes he'll be able to bring Gary back with him for that weekend. Instead, Gary will make this weekend's visits with a different trio of New Jersey standouts according to NJ.com's Todderick Hunt: wide receiver targets Ahmir Mitchell and Bradley Hawkins and defensive end Ronald Johnson.
Mitchell is the country's 88th-ranked overall prospect and has the Buckeyes second on his current list, trailing only the home-state Scarlet Knights. It will be his first visit to Columbus. For Hawkins and Johnson, Camden High School teammates, it will be their second visit: they each visited Columbus in October when the Ohio State toppled Rutgers.
WALLACE EXCITED TO SEE OHIO STATE
As has been discussed, Guarantano is not alone on the Buckeyes' list of potential quarterbacks for 2016. This weekend they'll host DeSoto, Texas quarterback Tristen Wallace, who has quietly crept up their list in recent months. Offered by former Buckeye offensive coordinator Tom Herman, new quarterback coach Tim Beck has kept Ohio State in the battle for the country's third-ranked dual-threat quarterback. Wallace and his family will drive north to Ohio – along with a 2017 teammate KD Nixon – and he hopes to arrive in Columbus on Friday with the plan of staying until Sunday.
Wallace said this visit is about getting a better feel for what Ohio State offers as a school.
"I know it's a long drive, but it's worth it," Wallace told 11W. "I need to get a feel for the campus life, and how everything is there. I want to get a better feel for the coaches and the facilities."
The last time Ohio State went searching for a quarterback in Texas, things seemed to work out pretty well. In fact, the biggest difference between Wallace and current Buckeye J.T. Barrett might be that this Texas staff hasn't been asleep at the wheel: Wallace has an offer from the Longhorns.
SIBLEY ADDS OFFER FROM WOLVERINES
Todd Sibley, Jr. could be Ohio's best running back for 2017, and although he's grown up rooting for the Buckeyes – and has an Ohio State offer – he was absolutely thrilled to receive an offer from Michigan last night.
I have just received my 4th offer from The University of Michigan I'm so excited #GoBlue #Blessed pic.twitter.com/RbjKTGwqEd
— T Sib (@ToddSib23) March 24, 2015
The Wolverines are the fourth offer for Sibley – Akron, Kentucky and Ohio State have offered previously – but if there's one school that could keep him from the Buckeyes at this point, it would be Michigan. He's visited there previously and will make a trip up north next weekend for Jim Harbaugh's first spring game in Ann Arbor.
I would still expect Sibley to end up at Ohio State, but there's no doubt that Michigan's offer has caught his attention.
THADDEUS MOSS HOPING TO HEAR FROM OHIO STATE
The son of our generation's most ridiculous high school athlete is hoping to hear a bit from Ohio State. Thad Moss, the son of future NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss, told Eleven Warriors he's pretty fond of what the Buckeyes are doing.
"I really like (Urban) Meyer and I like the way they play football, to be honest," Moss told 11W. "They're a school I have interest in but I haven't had much contact with them."
Moss is a 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end/defensive end for the Victory Christian Center School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's currently in possession of scholarship offers from a number of schools, including Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan, Boston College, Duke, Marshall, and Nebraska.
Ohio State's tight end situation for 2016 is somewhat crowded, and that's a likely reason Moss hasn't yet heard from the Buckeyes. Jake Hausmann, who's already committed to Ohio State, and Perry's Luke Farrell – who added offers from Iowa and Arkansas today – is thought by many to be leaning towards the Buckeyes. Moss isn't hellbent on playing only tight end, though.
"Some coaches have talked to me about playing tight end, some have talked to me about defensive end," he added. "I don't have a preference."
