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.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LIST
The spring evaluation period is winding to a close, which means prospects from all over the country have started to narrow down their list of offers. St. Louis Christian Brothers College four-star wide receiver Kamryn Babb, who many assume will eventually land at Ohio State, will do so later this evening.
Releasing my top schools at 7pm..
— Kamryn Babb (@kamm_o) May 29, 2017
The 6-foot-1, 189-pound Babb is considered the seventh-best wide receiver and No. 41 prospect overall in the Class of 2018, though he missed five games last season with an undisclosed injury. He still managed to haul in 45 passes for 784 yards and 14 total touchdowns to be named first-team All-state.
Babb is without a doubt Ohio State's top wide receiver target, but Michigan and Missouri loom large in his recruitment. He visited Ann Arbor for the Wolverines' Spring Game last month and the Tigers have the home-state pull on their side.
Babb plans to take an official visit this fall, which will mark his second trip to Columbus in a year. He isn't expected to announce his college intentions until the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January, however.
ALMOST THERE
The remainder of Ohio State's Select '17 recruiting class will arrive on campus this coming weekend, and the player of the bunch expected to make to biggest impact in Year One is none other than four-star wide receiver Trevon Grimes.
The Buckeyes are in desperate need of playmakers out wide, and the 6-foot-3, 202-pound Grimes has all the tools to become a go-to receiver at the next level — that is, if he fully recovers from a torn ACL he suffered in St. Thomas Aquinas' nationally televised triple-overtime loss to Bishop Gorman last September.
It's the exact same situation as what defensive end Nick Bosa — who attended the same high school as Grimes — went through last year, and he ended up recording 29 tackles, seven sacks for a loss and five sacks as a true freshman. Grimes is still going through rehab, of course, but told 247Sports he'll be ready by the time fall camp rolls around.
“I'm around 85 to 90 percent [right now],” he said.
Doctors have told Grimes his knee could potentially be stronger than what it was before, and he anticipates being an even better receiver as a result. Wide receivers coach Zach Smith would love nothing more.
“You never know until they get here,” Smith said at a media availability this spring. “Obviously, on film, recruiting and evaluation, he is [someone who could play early]. Rehab is going really well. He's killing it. He's doing really well. It's gonna be about when he gets here, how he transitions and how mature is he is. And if he's one of those kids that comes in with the mentality to play as a freshman. Because they all want to. They all think they're going to. But some kids come in and they can't seem to feel the speed of the game at this level. The offense feels fast. For whatever reason, we're going to have to see where he's at. I anticipate he makes a push for it, though.”
Ohio State had the 81st-best (or 48th-worst) passing attack in the country last year. New offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and quarterbacks coach Ryan Day are tasked with improving that, but a healthy Grimes — who averaged more than 18 yards per reception in high school — would certainly help.
HOOAH
Nineteen Ohioans and all but one of Ohio State's 10 commits were recently nominated to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. They are all in the running to be among the 100 officially selected to play in the all-star exhibition in San Antonio, Texas, in January 2018.
Notable nominees include, in alphabetical order:
- Fairfield five-star offensive tackle Jackson Carman
- Stockbridge, Georgia, four-star defensive end Brenton Cox
- Toledo St. John's four-star linebacker Dallas Gant
- Westerville South four-star running back Jaelen Gill
- Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller four-star defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins
- Franklin, Georgia, Heard County five-star quarterback Emory Jones
- Cincinnati Winton Woods four-star linebacker Christopher Oats
- Owasso, Oklahoma, four-star safety Josh Proctor
- Dayton Dunbar four-star wide receiver Joseph “JoJo” Scates
- Huber Heights Wayne four-star wide receiver L'Christian “Blue” Smith
- Cleveland Heights four-star defensive end Tyreke Smith
- Seffner, Florida, Armwood four-star running back Brian Snead
- Springfield four-star defensive tackle Leonard Taylor
- Dayton Dunbar three-star running back Tavion Thomas
- Bradenton, Florida, IMG Academy five-star defensive tackle Taron Vincent
- Bellflower, California, St. John Bosco four-star safety Jaiden Woodbey
- Franklin, Tennessee, four-star offensive tackle Max Wray
Gill and Jones have already accepted their nominations, while Proctor and Woodbey have committed to play in the Under Armour All-America Game that same week. Nine Ohio State commits played in San Antonio last season, and it looks as if the Buckeyes are on their way to being well-represented in both games once again.
