The Hurry Up is your nightcap of Ohio State recruiting news, catching you up on the day’s events with an ear on the ground for what’s next.
SCATES SURPRISED BY ATTENTION BUT NOT SETTLING
As Rivals.com released their initial 2018 Top 100 list a few weeks ago, with a number of Ohioans you know on the list, you may have found yourself curious about who the heck Joseph Scates, from Dayton Dunbar High School, is and how he's on the list.
It may be time to get familiar.
Scates is 6-foot-3, 180-pounder who has burst onto the recruiting scene these past few months, including a big performance at the Best of the Midwest Combine in Indianapolis in February. The addition to the Top 100 on a national recruiting network like Rivals has Scates feeling grateful, despite feeling a bit of surprise he was included.
"It's really a honor to make Top 100, it actually was a surprise," Scates told Eleven Warriors. "I mean, being ranked 73rd in the country is really an honor for me, I never would of thought. In middle school and pee-wee I played fullback and nose guard. To get to high school and switch my position to wideout was kinda weird for me at first but I worked on my game a lot and I've become better at the position."
It was not really a body transition that helped Scates improve, but a focus on the details of the game.
"I've always been a tall, long type of player but I couldn't really catch when I was younger," Scates said. "I was always faster and stronger then most kids, that's why I played nose guard (laughs). I could, and still can, block very well so that's where the fullback came in. My uncle always told me that I was going to be a wide receiver so when we had free time, we'd just go catch the ball and he would have me do the different routes and a lot of different stuff."
Scates has scholarship offers Pittsburgh, Iowa State, Cincinnati and Toledo at this point but he's hearing from a lot of the region's top programs, including Michigan State, West Virginia, Louisville, Penn State and others. He's had a little bit of discussion with the Buckeyes and says he'll make his way to Columbus this June and camp with Ohio State.
"Im going up (to Ohio State) in June for a visit," Scates said. "They wanted me to come to their spring game, but I had a track meet so they said I can come in June, and that it wouldn't hurt my recruitment."
OMAR MANNING ADDS OHIO STATE OFFER
There are a number of big-time 2017 wide receivers on Ohio State's radar, as you certainly know by now, but last night the Scarlet and Gray extended an offer to another.
Blessed to receive an offer from The Ohio State University#Zone6 #GodisLove pic.twitter.com/ZiPcVo1sgj
— O.Manning (@globoi_8) April 27, 2016
Omar Manning, a four-star prospect ranked as the country's 21st-ranked wideout, is from Lancaster, Texas and checks in at 6-foot-3 and 205-pounds.
Manning is a prototypical big-bodied receiver who currently holds offers from Bama, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame and others.
Right now, the Horned Frogs are the leaders on the 247Sports.com crystal ball and it's never easy to get a player out of Texas, but the Buckeyes have been more visible in the Lonestar State over the last few months thanks to a push from Tim Beck, who offered Manning.
The question many of you have is going to be "What does this mean for So-and-So?" The answer is nothing, it doesn't impact any of the longstanding targets at wide receiver. It just lets Manning know they're interested and would like to get a chance to see him again, hopefully at a camp in June.
If he shows up and shows out, then you never know what happens, but until he visits, it's all just chatter.
PENNSYLVANIA 2018 JAHAN DOTSON GETS BUCKEYE OFFER
Let's stay on the new offer train, this time a little closer to home but in the 2018 class.
Jahan Dotson fits the mold of what the Buckeyes like and look for in their inside wide receivers almost perfectly.
Dotson is an early four-star prospect by 247Sports.com from Nazateth, Pennsylvania. H was offered by the Buckeyes–Ed Warinner specifically–late last week.
Extremely Excited and Thankful to announce that I have received an offer from the Ohio State Buckeyes pic.twitter.com/VAQ7HVqTa4
— Jahan Dotson (@JaHeisman_5) April 21, 2016
Ohio State will lose their two inside slot-type wide receivers (Dontre Wilson, Curtis Samuel) in the next two seasons so it's going to be important to find another capable and explosive player to fill the role. Dotson checks those boxes.
He holds early offers from Bama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan and basically every big-time program in the country and will be a national recruit without question.
2018 CALIFORNIA FIVE-STAR WIDE RECEIVER HEARS FROM ZACH SMITH
The fourth and final installment of #WideReceiverCrushWednesday focuses on Jalen Hall, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound wideout from Los Angeles. He, like Dotson, has added an Ohio State offer in the last week.
Just got invited to join the #Zone6 family. Thanks to the Ohio State Staff for the offer #1st&TEN #HawkinsFootball pic.twitter.com/cXw8DuNyOE
— Jalen Hall (@FutureOfFig) April 22, 2016
Ranked as the country's seventh-best 2018 prospect, Hall is the top-ranked receiver in his class. He has recently visited Michigan and Notre Dame and lists 26 offers.
Hall told Rivals.com that he heard from Zach Smith who extended the scholarship offer.
(Zach) Smith the WR coach and he offered me. He just said that he liked my game and planned to come visit me very soon and that he wants me to get out there ASAP to see things.
Ohio State has spent much more time in this current recruiting cycle in California than they have in recent years and it's been Smith who has spearheaded the efforts, especially with the wide receivers.
Smith will certainly be out to see Tyjon Lindsey and Darnay Holmes in the next few weeks, so if the relationship with Hall is to take off, it'll be soon.
