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.
EVERGLADES BALL HAWK
The son of the late former Miami standout safety of the same name, Alphonso Blades Jr. once infamously threw up the “U” in the middle of Florida State's Doak Campbell Stadium.
Fun FSU visit yesterday #Storm18 pic.twitter.com/1Lkm5mzWQF
— Al Blades (@AlBlades_Jr) April 12, 2015
He was committed to following in his father's footsteps until the Hurricanes fired head coach Al Golden, and now the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, St. Thomas Aquinas cornerback told Eleven Warriors he's getting a lot of attention recently from Ohio State.
“We talk daily,” Blades said. “Coach [Zach] Smith, coach Kerry [Coombs], coach [Mark] Pantoni and Urban [Meyer], himself.”
The 6-foot, 170-pounder has yet to secure a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes but feels the time is coming. It's an offer he covets.
“The tradition they have and the play their defensive backs have been showing lately [stands out],” Blades said. “A lot of ball hawks.”
With his ties to the Miami program, it will be hard for Ohio State to pull him out of the Sunshine State — he admitted that distance is already an issue with trying to visit. But Blades, who calls himself a leader and a freak athlete, definitely has the Buckeyes on his mind.
BEST DEFENSIVE END IN THE CLASS OF 2018?
I mentioned last week one player to keep an eye on is Plantation, Florida, American Heritage defensive end Andrew Chatfield. The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder has been dominant for the undefeated Patriots so far this season, and told Eleven Warriors on Monday that he expects Ohio State to offer soon.
Though he's considered the sixth-best weak side defensive end in the Class of 2018 by 247Sports, Chatfield has surprisingly only been offered by schools like Bowling Green, Iowa State, Mississippi, Syracuse, Temple, Wisconsin and USF.
Watching his highlight tape, though, you'll see it's only a matter of time before big-time schools enter the race.
Chatfield told me he has his eye on a few schools in particular.
“Ohio State, Miami, UCF and Florida State,” he said.
Once the offer comes, Chatfield hopes to make it to Columbus for a game.
GOT A FOOTBALL JONES
It's been only two months since Franklin, Georgia, Heard County quarterback Emory Jones committed to Ohio State. But in that short amount of time, the second-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2018 says that head coach Urban Meyer has gone from selling him on the program to texting him prior to games with tips.
2018 Ohio State QB commit Emory Jones compares his game to former Buckeye Cardale Jones https://t.co/EACIuLLGmF
— Scout Recruiting (@scoutrecruiting) September 15, 2016
In an in-depth interview with Scout.com ($), Jones talked about how he grew up and Ohio State fan and compares himself to national championship-winning quarterback Cardale Jones.
At only 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, Jones has to put on some muscle to get to Cardale's 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame. But his arm strength and ability to extend plays with his legs when needed fits the bill.
WOODBEY A GREAT PICKUP
We've talked about at length how Ohio State has not been able to get on the same page as five-star cornerback Jaiden Woodbey in terms of an unofficial visit. But that hasn't stopped the Buckeyes' coaching staff from reaching out to the Bellflower, California, St. John Bosco standout at every possible chance.
2018 four-star ATH Jaiden Woodbey says #LSU and #OhioState are standing out most in his recruitment pic.twitter.com/XAXhNdp1wb
— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) September 19, 2016
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior has a rather impressive list of scholarship offers from 19 of the top schools in the country, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, USC and Washington.
Woodbey plans to release a Top 10 when the Braves' season ends in December, and I'm confident that Ohio State will be included. The issue, however, is that Woodbey attends every USC home game — his father played for the Trojans — and getting him on campus just once next year for an official visit may not be enough to pull him away.
