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.
I have now decided to shut down my recruiting process and focus more on these 10 schools #WRU pic.twitter.com/iRmk3NvqKy
— Brennan Eagles (@_BrennanEagles_) February 27, 2017
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.
No more top 6 ... I'm open to other schools & more schools. Reason being , a lot has happened with teams and there staff #Savage18 Me
— Iverson Clement (@Swaggy__ai) February 26, 2017
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).
NEWLY UPDATED 2018 #Rivals100@RivalsMike on 5-STARS: https://t.co/gfNRlZYKVB
— Rivals.com (@Rivals) February 27, 2017
VID: https://t.co/Zf3OxQk52l
RANKING: https://t.co/K8Kg3ygVLg pic.twitter.com/2XFjdOybf2
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:
- Miami Central five-star running back James Cook
- North Broward four-star wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr.
- Chaminade-Madonna four-star athlete Xavier Williams
- Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas four-star cornerback Al Blades Jr.
- American Heritage four-star cornerback Tyson Campbell
- Fort Lauderdale American Heritage three-star defensive end Andrew Chatfield
Finals Invites from #TheOpening Miami pic.twitter.com/4RDi3cA7Wg
— The Opening (@TheOpening) February 26, 2017
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.