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.
INCOMING BOOM?
If it were up to him, Dinwiddie, Virginia, four-star linebacker K'Vaughan Pope would have committed to Ohio State when he visited for a one-day camp last month. He was not able to, of course, as the staff first wanted to see his final junior transcripts.
Kids in the commonwealth go to school through late June, but Pope's transcripts have now been delivered. He is just waiting for linebackers coach Bill Davis to return from vacation and give him the go-ahead.
“Nothing's changed [since my last visit],” Pope told Eleven Warriors at Nike Football's The Opening Finals, acknowledging that he'd like to commit sometime this week. “That's the plan.”
If the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Pope doesn't get the green light, he has no problem waiting. He knows where he wants to go and doesn't have any plans to take any other visits.
Pope has played well this week. And though he's not on Team Vapor Speed, which features eight future Buckeyes, they've been recruiting him pretty hard — with fellow Virginian Teradja Mitchell leading the charge.
“We've been talking. A pretty cool guy,” Pope said. “He keeps telling me, 'Come to O State."
All that said, Pope has enjoyed himself in Oregon this week. It's been a learning experience, and he's thankful to have had the opportunity.
“I think I've been doing pretty good," Pope said. "Everybody out here are dogs apparently. I just want to work on my craft and be better than the next guy and the next guy.”
COURTESY VISIT
Las Vegas Bishop Gorman five-star linebacker Palaie Gaoteote was arguably Ohio State's top priority at the position before his commitment to USC in mid-February. And though the Buckeyes have backed off a bit in their pursuit since, the 6-foot-2, 235-pounder plans to take an official visit this fall.
“I just want to see the world, honestly,” Gaoteote told Eleven Warriors. “Just see what different environments are like. Just see what different colleges provide, whether it's school-wise or football-wise. Just being there overall and enjoying the recruiting life.”
Gaoteote visited campus for the first and only time last October's win over Northwestern, and it was an experience that will be hard to replicate.
“[It was] top notch,” Gaoteote said. “Coach [Urban] Meyer treated me good. The players treated me good. I really bonded with some of the players and some of the coaches. And just seeing how the Buckeyes roll was really special.”
You could make an argument for Ohio State to be Gaoteote's runner-up, though it doesn't really mean much for a prospect who is 100 percent committed. He points to his relationship with Meyer and the rest of the staff as the biggest reason why.
“Everything from coach [Meyer to coach Davis to coach [Greg] Schiano and everything about the defensive support staff. It's just great," Gaoteote said. "Coach Meyer is a strong and stable head coach, so you know everything there is straightened out. And he's going to be there for a long time, so that's one thing that stands out. Coaches come and go, but he's going to be there for — shoot — probably the next 10, 20 years.”
Most prognosticators believed Gaoteote would end up in Columbus because of his relationship with former Gaels Tate Martell and Haskell Garrett. That didn't happen, of course, but they still give him a nudge from time to time.
“They'll come in and see how I'm doing, but they're like my older brothers and they respect my decision 100 percent,” Gaoteote said. “They're kind of just going to leave me alone on that, but every once in a while they'll jump in and see how I'm doing and how I'm feeling about USC and Ohio State.”
SOME TIME AWAY
A few weeks back, Ohio State safety commit Jaiden Woodbey announced he'd be taking a break from Twitter. Rumors of a flip to Oklahoma hit an all-time high, and he was ready for a break from the constant chatter on social media.
“I just felt like I needed to be secluded somewhere," Woodbey told Eleven Warriors. "I felt like by doing that, I'm able to focus on football, execute better and focus on my play rather than my recruitment.”
The 6-foot-2, 204-pound Woodbey committed to the Buckeyes in February following his first unofficial visit. It was the staff's knack for sending defensive backs to the National Football League and the culture of hard work that sealed the deal for him.
“I like how the coaches let me know, 'If you want to work hard and be great, then you gotta come here,'” Woodbey said, noting he's still being recruited by programs like Oklahoma and USC. He plans to get back to Columbus again in the next month or so, though. “I feel like every school is going to give me a good opportunity, but I just feel like Ohio State is going to be the best one.”
This week has offered Woodbey the chance to link up with some of his future teammates. All eight commits in attendance are on Team Vapor Speed, with four-stars Sevyn Banks and Josh Proctor also in the defensive backfield.
“It's fun,” Woodbey said. “I feel like as we go along, we're going to do better and better.”
The team has done just that, and will play for the 7-versus-7 championship this evening.
