The Hurry Up: Texas Wideout Includes Ohio State in Top 10 While Rivals Unveils Latest Rankings for Class of 2018

By Andrew Lind on February 27, 2017 at 7:15 pm
Brennan Eagles
Brennan Eagles
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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.

NARROWING HIS FOCUS

Houston, Texas, Alief Taylor four-star wide receiver Brennan Eagles included Ohio State in his Top 10 on Sunday night alongside Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, TCU, UCLA and USC.

The 6-foot-4, 214-pound Eagles is considered the seventh-best wideout and No. 44 prospect overall in the Class of 2018. The Buckeyes offered him a scholarship late last month.

Eagles recorded 55 catches for 1,069 yards and 13 touchdowns to help the Lions to the state playoffs last fall. He was recently invited to Nike's The Opening, having been named the Houston Regional's SPARQ ratings champion after he posted a 4.51 40-yard dash, 3.95-second shuttle run and a 37-inch vertical jump.

GROWING APART?

All signs seemingly pointed to Mount Holly, New Jersey, Rancocas Valley Regional athlete Iverson Clement becoming a part of Ohio State's Supreme '18 recruiting class just over a week ago, but now the four-star prospect wants to reassess his options a little further.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Clement has repeatedly called Ohio State his dream school, but with four-star Brian Snead already in the fold and Westerville South all-purpose back Jaelen Gill likely to commit on Wednesday, there doesn't appear to be a spot for him in the class right now. Not to mention the Buckeyes' new-found interest in Dayton Dunbar's Tavion Thomas.

Don't get me wrong, Clement is one of the most talented prospects in the country and Buckeyes can certainly take four running backs in the class. But it's clear the staff wants a little more clarity from an overall numbers standpoint before it would accept his commitment.

The question now becomes whether Clement will wait it out or move on entirely.

COMPOSITE SCORE IS A BETTER MEASURE, TO BE HONEST

Rivals.com released its first post-signing day rankings for the Class of 2018 on Monday afternoon, with Ohio State commits Emory Jones coming in at No. 14 overall (top-rated dual-threat quarterback), Snead at No. 23 (fourth-best running back) and Jaiden Woodbey at No. 61 (third-best athlete).

The Buckeyes land at No. 10 in the team rankings, as well, the highest of any program with three commits or less.

Some other notable Ohio State targets include offensive tackle Jackson Carman at No. 4 overall, defensive tackle Taron Vincent at No. 18, athlete L'Christian "Blue" Smith at No. 29, athlete Houston Griffith at No. 42, Gill at No. 44 and wide receiver Kamryn Babb at No. 75.

GOT OPEN

More than 300 of the top players from Florida converged upon the Miami Dolphins Training Facility on Sunday for the latest Nike The Opening Regional camp. Several Ohio State targets were among the 12 athletes invited to July's national finals in Beaverton, Oregon, including:

The players were measured and competed in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle relay and the vertical jump, and LSU commit Nadab Joseph was named the SPARQ ratings champion. Joseph, who received a scholarship offer from Ohio State earlier this month, is reportedly only 82 percent committed to the Tigers.

Austin, Campbell and Chatfield, meanwhile, were named the Most Valuable Player of their respective positions.

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