The Hurry Up is your nightly dose of updates from the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping tabs on the latest from commits and targets from around the country.
MAJOR KEY[STONE]
Erie, Pennsylvania, four-star offensive guard Fredrick "Juice" Scruggs announced on Twitter late Monday night that he received a scholarship offer from Ohio State.
O-HBeyond blessed and extremely excited to receive an offer from THE Ohio State University!! pic.twitter.com/kMp5ZstDg5
— Juice (@JuiceScruggs) September 13, 2016
The 6-foot-3, 270-pound Scruggs is considered by 247Sports Composite rankings the seventh-best player in the state and No. 9 offensive guard in the Class of 2018. He currently holds 11 offers from schools like Akron, Iowa State, Michigan State, Penn State, Syracuse, Toledo and UCLA, among others.
AWKWARD MOMENT
While Ohio State offensive coordinator Ed Warinner is sitting in the press box this weekend looking for ways to knock off Oklahoma, his son - Powell Olentangy Liberty three-star linebacker Edward Warinner - will be an unofficial guest of the Sooners.
"The hardest part of this isn't what I'm going to wear, it's going to be sitting in the [Oklahoma] section, and if Ohio State does something really well, it's going to be hard for me to keep my cool," Warinner told Cleveland.com. "I think it would be kind of Bush League if there's that one kid in the section screaming, but I want Ohio State to win."
The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder is considered the 32nd-best player in the state for the Class of 2018 and holds offers from Army West Point, Rutgers and a handful of Mid-American Conference schools.
The Buckeye and Sooners have not yet joined the race, but the elder Warinner believes this could be an excellent opportunity for his son.
"I've known Bob Stoops for 25 or 30 years. We're very good friends," he said. "The linebacker coach at Oklahoma worked with me at Army for seven years, he was my next door neighbor. And I know the recruiting coordinator. They are taking a serious look at him.
"They knew we were coming in for the game obviously to play, so that’s just between my son and my wife when they go down there," he continued. "But the other Big Ten schools, we obviously play all the Big Ten schools who are going to recruit him, so he’s going to be visiting those places, too. This is going to be fairly regular.”
IN LIMBO
When Cleveland Heights four-star receiver Jaylen Harris included Ohio State in his Top 5 schools in early August, many wondered if the Buckeyes would even have room for him because of looming commitments from five-stars Trevon Grimes and Tyjon Lindsey. Nevertheless, the staff continues to recruit the 6-foot-5, 210-pounder despite the scholarship crunch.
“Ohio State has been talking to me about getting down there for a game,” Harris told 247Sports ($). “I think I could make an official visit if I wanted to.”
Harris is also looking to travel this fall to Alabama, Michigan State and Penn State, all of which were included in his final schools along with Tennessee.
“Those are not the schools I'll visit for sure, but those are the ones that talked to me about dates,” he said. “I just have to talk to my family about it.”
Now this is all speculation on my part, but Harris seems to be in a holding pattern at this point. He's already said he has no problem with competition at Ohio State, so he may simply be waiting to see how things unfold as we get closer to signing day.
“It's funny,” he said earlier this month. “One day I wake up and want to take all my officials. The next day, I don't want to take any. Then some days, I want to take just a couple. I'm all over the place. I'm not too sure.”
FOUR'S A PARTY
The teammate of three Ohio State commits at Las Vegas, Nevada, Bishop Gorman, four-star safety Bubba Bolden recently told Rivals.com's Adam Gorney ($) that he's planning to visit Columbus before making a final decision this fall.
Four-star S Bubba Bolden now planning #OhioState #Buckeyes visit https://t.co/XG8wIl0vJk pic.twitter.com/kNRbcdrFJ6
— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) September 12, 2016
The former USC commit cited his relationship with wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey, specifically, as reason for his interest in the Buckeyes.
“Tyjon is like a brother. Tate [Martell] is like a brother. Haskell [Garrett] is too. They're recruiting me,” he said. “Me and Tyjon have a connection. We're not rich kids and we came from nothing, and now we're here making it big-time, making big-time plays and having offers. He and I want to stick together, and I think we can and we could do big things.”
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Bolden is considered the fourth-best player in Nevada — behind his three teammates — and the 11th-best safety in the Class of 2017. He has offers from Arizona State, Colorado, Florida, Louisville, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA and USC, but I think Ohio State has become a real player in his recruitment.
It seems likely he'll take an official visit whenever Lindsey does, which will likely be the Nov. 5 matchup with Nebraska. Martell announced his intentions last week to visit at that time, and it would probably be ideal for them all to travel together.
