The recruitment of Ohio State's top defensive back target has hit the home stretch.
Five-star cornerback Anthony Cook checks in as the No. 14 player in the entire country. He's been the top target for Urban Meyer and Greg Schiano for some time now, but a familiar foe has made this recruitment a difficult one to get a read on.
The Houston native has had a relatively quiet recruitment, but the competition has mostly been consistent throughout the process. Ohio State, Texas, LSU, and Clemson have been the schools most closely associated with the country's No. 2 cornerback. In early August, Cook officially narrowed things down to three with the Buckeyes, Longhorns, and Tigers remaining in the hunt.
The Buckeyes signed five cornerbacks for the Class of 2017. Thus far Kendall Sheffield, Jeffrey Okudah, Marcus Williamson, and Amir Riep have all seen playing time. Five-star signee Shaun Wade has been bitten by the injury bug, but he certainly will be a big part of the secondary at some point in time.
Denzel Ward is a junior but is likely in his final season. Damon Arnette is a redshirt sophomore and Sheffield could play two more seasons if he so chooses. Arnette and Sheffield have had their struggles this year, but there's certainly still a chance that one or both could elect to test the NFL waters. Outside of those three, it's the aforementioned 2017 signees that should be the future at cornerback.
Ohio State currently has one 2018 cornerback pledge in four-star Floridian Sevyn Banks. New Castle, Pennsylvania's Marcus Hooker is listed as a corner, but his future likely is at safety. Taking a pair at the position will be ideal for this recruiting class.
We've had Anthony Cook right around the top of our recruiting board for months now. We have also included him in all of our 2018 class projections. His Oct. 30 commitment is quickly approaching, and Tom Herman's push for the Lone Star State's top prospect has moved from "slight concern" to "real concern."
The five-star took his official visit to Austin a little over a week ago, and it sounds like things couldn't have gone any better for the Longhorns. Cook is extremely familiar with the program and has friends and teammates playing for and currently committed to Texas.
The biggest thing Tom Herman needed to do was show that the program is on the up and up. Has that happened so far? Mostly yes.
There's no doubt Texas is in much better hands than it was a year ago, and it's paying dividends on the recruiting trail. The Longhorns have the No. 2 class in the country and trail only Ohio State for the top spot. Four of the state's top five players have pledged to Herman and Cook would give Texas a clean sweep.
For the class of 2017, the Longhorns didn't sign a single player ranked in the state's top 15, which is simply unheard of for its premier program. Ohio State, on the other hand, signed three Texas natives. Jeffrey Okudah, Baron Browning, and J.K. Dobbins — respectively ranked No. 2, 4 and 6 in the state.
On the field, Herman's first season has been a mixed bag. Texas had the home loss to Maryland — a team the Buckeyes just waxed by 48 points — to open the season, but then looked more respectable in a narrow road loss against USC. The offense looked abysmal in the win against the Cyclones but was much improved this past weekend against Kansas State.
Why the next four weeks of Anthony Cook's recruitment will be so crucial in determining his final decision. https://t.co/pnO2OOgJvW
— Peter Bean (@PBatBON) October 2, 2017
We've touched on this before, but Cook is a player who is looking for a program that wins. Texas still has to face Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor before the Oct. 30 commitment date. The Longhorns are now listed as co-leaders alongside the Buckeyes, and these next three games could absolutely impact the recruitment.
If you're wanting Cook to end up in Columbus, then you obviously are hoping for a Texas team that's 3-5 at the end of the month instead of 6-2.
Ohio State has been at the top of the list for a long while, but it's definitely a concern when the home school makes a push like this late in the process. Still, coming off a visit to Austin that Cook basically described as being perfect, it's a positive that the Longhorns reportedly were just able to tie things up rather than gain the lead in this one.
He already visited Ohio State for the game against Oklahoma and is slated to be in Baton Rouge this weekend. LSU has a solid history of producing defensive backs, but it would be a major surprise if the Tigers make a move.
Cook is friends with Okudah and Browning and Ohio State has been the frontrunner for some time, but the pull to Austin is also very real for the early enrollee.
Texas Tom isn't going down without a fight for his state's top player.
