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.
LECOUNTE HAS BIG HOPES FOR NEXT BUCKEYE VISIT
One of the country's top 2017 prospects, Richard LeCounte from Hinesville, Ga., will be back at Ohio State for their spring game in mid-April. LeCounte considers Ohio State linebacker Raekwon McMillan – who played at Liberty County High School one year with LeCounte – a brother and has been to Ohio State a number of times.
Georgia, Auburn and others have each hosted 2017's 22nd-ranked player a number of times as well, but it was a recent visit to another southern school that has opened LeCounte's eyes.
"Miami really," the 5-foot-11, 175-pound athlete said when asked what school has surprised him the most recently. "They were impressive."
Impressive is a word Rivals.com must have felt described LeCounte: he was invited to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge this spring after an explosive performance in their Atlanta camp. He also feels there's a chance he could still be invited to The Opening after a strong performance at the Nike regional last month.
The dynamic LeCounte has with Ohio State is rare. Yes, he's gotten to know a few of the players in the Buckeyes' 2016 and 2017 recruiting plans, but his closest relationships in Columbus are with the 2014 class, a number of whom could be departed before he'd ever arrive as a freshman at Ohio State. Does that hurt or help the Buckeyes?
"It helps," LeCounte said of the dichotomy. "I get to come to Ohio State and hear more about their every day life experiences as student-athletes, not just recruiting talk. I really just talk to the current players."
LeCounte, offered by Michigan today, said that his visits to Columbus have shown him most of what there is to see at Ohio State. Still, there's one item on the "Buckeye Bucket List" he hopes to check off this spring or fall.
"I've mostly seen everything I've wanted to," he said. "I just want to meet LeBron James now."
JOSH KING VISIT UPDATE
The second big weekend of the 2016 recruiting calendar officially ended on Monday night when Darien, Ill., defensive end Josh King and a handful of teammates from Hinsdale South High School made a stop in Columbus. King is the country's 51st-ranked overall prospect in 2016.
After talking to people in Columbus, there's a few things I know. One, the visit went well, but after being in multiple cities and on the road for much of the last four days – the Hinsdale group also visited Michigan State, Michigan and Penn State – there was likely some travel fatigue that may have dampened the mood a bit.
The Buckeyes have two commitments from defensive ends right now – Jonathon Cooper and Terrell Hall – and so a question that has to be asked is this: if King wanted in, would the Buckeyes take him right now, knowing that Nick Bosa is still out there waiting? Clearly Bosa isn't going to be swayed or "scared" of competition, but numbers are tight and Bosa is a player you must keep room for.
Right now, I think the Buckeyes would rather not give any other schools extra ammunition against them in the hunt for Bosa.
COUNTRY'S TOP PUNTER OFFERED
Could the Buckeyes have landed their next specialist?
BREAKING: La Salle Junior Punter Drue Chrisman OFFERED by The Ohio State Buckeyes. @MikeDyer #bucks #ohiostate pic.twitter.com/682nWbGGuB
— Barrett Cohen (@Barrett_Cohen) March 31, 2015
That tweet is from the director of football at La Salle High School and is referencing the country's best punter, Drue Chrisman.
Chrisman is 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and with the potential of an early NFL-entry for Cameron Johnston looming, the Buckeyes felt compelled to offer the Cincinnati prospect this evening. He visited the Buckeyes last week and it would not be a huge surprise if things moved quickly towards a commitment.
HAMMOND DISCUSSION
Because of a pre-existing relationship with Urban Meyer – thanks to his brother Frankie who played at Florida – Hallandale's Josh Hammond has been a name to pay attention to.
The country's 59th-ranked wide receiver, Hammond is a 6-foot-1, 180-pounder with offers from Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, LSU, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Michigan and nearly two dozen more.
Austin Mack is still at the top of the list and still likely leaning towards Ohio State. There is a combination of current commitments capable of lining up at wide receiver, so it's uncertain how aggressively the Buckeyes will pursue Hammond moving forward, especially with Donnie Corley and Binjimen Victor still on the table.
JUST FOR FUN
I know that I don't talk much about non-recruiting stuff here but I had a chance yesterday to speak with a few folks about Ohio State's quarterback situation and felt it was interesting. Therefore, I've decided to share it with you: deal with it.
I made a comment that I felt it was unusual that so many people had seemingly disregarded J.T. Barrett as a viable option in Ohio State's 2015 quarterback derby. His response was interesting, and helped shed some light on the competition in Columbus.
"I think people here (at Ohio State) kind of forget how good (Barrett) was, too," the source said. "Sometimes we'll be at practice and J.T. – he just does everything right – he'll do something and you'll look over and Urban will be shaking his head and going 'wow, that's incredible' because this is a guy that broke his leg pretty badly five months ago."
Of course, that doesn't mean what Cardale Jones accomplished should be ignored, either.
"Cardale probably made Devin Smith $10 million," he continued. "He does change the offense a bit, and that's not easy to forget. He won us a national title."
Bottom line? These next few months are going to be a lot of fun and full of blistering, hot, takes.
