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.
A LEGACY TO UPHOLD
On Thursday evening, the Ohio State football Twitter account shared a highlight montage of walk-on players participating in preseason camp. The message? “[We] couldn't do it without you boys.”
The timing of the video was impeccable, too, considering the staff handed out several preferred walk-on offers last night to some unheralded in-state prospects. Among them, Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller two-star running back Colin Thurman.
Blessed to receive an offer from THE Ohio State University as Preferred Walk-On. My Grandfather Edward Beamon played for OSU. Go #Buckeyes! pic.twitter.com/HFRjkaQgVY
— V5 (@Colin_Thurman5) August 11, 2017
“It means a ton to even have the opportunity to play for my dream school,” Thurman told Eleven Warriors.
The 5-foot-10, 197-pound Thurman is considered the 111th-best player in the state and the No. 184 running back overall in the Class of 2018, as he rushed for 998 yards and five touchdowns for the Fighting Crusaders last season. He attended a one-day camp last summer and has maintained contact with assistant coordinator and area recruiter Kerry Coombs and running backs coach Tony Alford in the year since.
Thurman, as you may have noticed, is the grandson of former Ohio State defensive tackle Edward “Eddie” Beamon, who racked up more than 250 tackles in four seasons with the Buckeyes in the mid-1970s. He holds six scholarship offers from Brown, Bucknell, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Morgan State and Navy, but will seriously consider the walk-on offer from Ohio State.
“Like I said, it's my dream school,” Thurman said. “Right now, I'm going to play my best on Friday nights and hopefully get a scholarship. But, either way, I'm considering the Bucks.”
DJ PROBABLY SCOUTED THIS KID
The staff also extended a preferred walk-on offer to Piqua two-star linebacker Ben Schmiesing, who said he was shocked to get a message from assistant director of player personnel Eron Hodges on Thursday night.
Extremely excited to announce that I've been offered the opportunity to be a preferred walk-on at THE Ohio State University! pic.twitter.com/mhxWV2AVeF
— Ben Schmiesing (@Ben_Schmiesing) August 11, 2017
“It means a lot to me,” Schmiesing told Eleven Warriors. “Growing up in Ohio, my family and I have always been big Ohio State fans. We've always watched the games on Saturdays, so knowing I have the opportunity to be able to fight for a spot to be one of those guys playing for the Buckeyes on Saturday is such an unbelievable feeling.”
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Schmiesing is considered the 115th-best player in the state and No. 199 outside linebacker overall in the Class of 2018, as he racked up 65 tackles, four interceptions, two forced fumbles, two defensive touchdowns and one fumble recovery for the Indians last season. He also pitched in 806 yards and 10 touchdowns rushing and 294 yards receiving with three touchdowns.
As mentioned, Schmeising was pretty surprised to get the offer — Thursday marked the first time he'd been in contact with any member of the coaching staff. He does hold offers from Davidson, Dayton and Ohio Dominican, but said it'll be hard for anybody to top Ohio State now.
“It's a great school, there's no doubt about it,” Schmiesing said. “I will absolutely consider this. I've been talking to Penn and Harvard pretty seriously, so I'd like to see what they have to say before I make any decisions. I'm hoping my senior film might bring in something else, but Ohio State is definitely at the very top of the list right now.”
I SALUTE YOU, YOUNG MAN
And last but not least, Hodges also offered a walk-on spot to Akron Archbishop Hoban two-star wide receiver Garrett Houser.
Just received a preferred walk-on to play football at The Ohio State University pic.twitter.com/tPPn9hjTfr
— Garrett Houser (@The_gh6) August 11, 2017
“It means a lot,” Houser told Eleven Warriors. “It's been one of my favorite schools ever since I was a kid.”
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Houser is considered the 116th-best player in the state and No. 413 wide receiver overall in the Class of 2018, as he hauled in 30 passes for 946 yards and nine touchdowns to help the Knights to their second-consecutive OHSAA Division III state championship. And though he's pretty familiar with playing on the field at Ohio Stadium, he said he'll stick with his pledge to Navy.
Houser earned a full-ride from the Midshipmen back in June and committed on the spot over offers from Albany, Notre Dame College, Robert Morris and Youngstown State.
“I am still 100 percent committed to the Naval Academy,” he said. “It was definitely a life-time decision that I made to better my future. It's such a great school and I couldn't pass up on the offer.”
BEST IN THE BUCKEYE STATE
Earlier this week, Rivals unveiled its list of the Top 100 prospects in the country for the Class of 2019, which included Ohio State offensive tackle commit Doug Nester and several additional targets. The recruiting service followed that up by ranking the Top 15 players in each state on Friday.
STATE RANKINGS:Top player in each state? We unveil our 2019 State Rankings. @RivalsWoody spotlights key storylines: https://t.co/41FlsOLV3N pic.twitter.com/Tlh3VqIKir
— Rivals.com (@Rivals) August 11, 2017
The list is as follows, with the first four among those included in the Rivals100:
- No. 1 – Olentangy Orange four-star defensive end Zach Harrison
- No. 2 – Cincinnati Walnut Hills four-star defensive tackle Jowon Briggs
- No. 3 – Michigan four-star offensive tackle commit Nolan Rumler
- No. 4 – Lexington four-star defensive end Cade Stover
- No. 5 – Lakota West four-star defensive end Steven Faucheux
- No. 6 – St. Francis DeSales four-star offensive lineman Rodas Johnson
- No. 7 – Cincinnati Anderson four-star offensive lineman Zeke Correll
- No. 8 – Springfield four-star defensive back Moses Douglass
- No. 9 – Reynoldsburg four-star athlete Mershawn Rice
- No. 10 – Westerville Central four-star athlete Cameron Phillips
- No. 11 – Pickerington Central three-star defensive tackle DeWayne Carter Jr.
- No. 12 – Cincinnati Moeller three-star offensive lineman Zach Carpenter
- No. 13 – Massillon Washington three-star linebacker Jamir Thomas
- No. 14 – Mentor three-star defensive end Noah Potter
- No. 15 – Reynoldsburg three-star linebacker Dezman Cooper
Ohio State is the overwhelming favorite to land Harris, Briggs, Stover and Correll in 2019, with the rest of the list still awaiting offers. Of those, I expect Johnson, Douglass, Rice, Thomas, Potter and Cooper to garner serious attention from the Buckeyes before it's all said and done.
