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.
BEING PULLED IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS
On what was set to be the eve of his college announcement, Houston Lamar five-star cornerback Anthony Cook told 247Sports’ E.J. Holland Sunday afternoon he would hold off on making a decision.
The 6-foot, 180-pound Cook, who is considered the second-best cornerback and No. 14 prospect overall in the Class of 2018, is still torn among finalists LSU, Ohio State and Texas. If he would have made his decision tomorrow afternoon, most believe the Longhorns would be the pick.
As a matter of fact, I was on the verge of changing my 247Sports Crystal Ball prediction — which has been on the Buckeyes for more than a year — when the news broke.
Despite Ohio State being perceived as the leader in Cook’s recruitment since the staff offered him a scholarship in July 2016, there wasn’t much confidence in and around the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in recent weeks. Recent official visits to Austin and Baton Rouge had seemingly shifted the momentum, and some believed the Buckeyes may have fallen into third place in the race for Cook’s services as as result.
But head coach Urban Meyer and defensive coordinator Greg Schiano used Ohio State’s open date last weekend to their advantage, and made sure meeting with Cook’s coaches was their first stop bright and early Monday morning. Though they could not talk with Cook, it was obvious he was still weighing his options.
It’s no surprise, given all three schools have positive attributes. If he chooses Texas, Cook will get to play close to home with some of his best friends and former and current teammates. LSU, meanwhile, is just an hour farther from home and has a long history of sending defensive backs to the National Football League.
Ohio State sits at a disadvantage because of distance, but makes up for it with a long-running relationship and a similar — if not greater — ability to prepare him for the next level. Cook honestly can’t go wrong at any school, which leads to his uncertainty.
Cook doesn’t have a new decision date in mind, though the hope — at least from the Buckeyes’ perspective — is he continues to weigh his options for the foreseeable future. The longer he takes, the more time the staff has to convince him Columbus is the place for him.
An unofficial visit next month wouldn’t hurt, either, given his last memory of Ohio State is a somber campus following his official visit for the loss to Oklahoma. Coaches are also allowed to make in-home visits with prospects in December, which would conceivably give the Buckeyes a better shot to land his pledge.
BEAR CUB
While Meyer and Schiano were in Houston last Monday, defensive line coach Larry Johnson was in Mentor to check on three-star defensive end Noah Potter. We should have known then the Buckeyes were going to do everything they could to keep him home.
The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Potter returned to campus for Saturday's game, his third visit this season, before which Meyer called him into his office inside Ohio Stadium and offered him a scholarship.
DOUBTERS THIS ONES FOR YOU!! Thankful to receive an offer from THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/bjsYDdlFns
— Noah Potter (@noah_potter10) October 28, 2017
“To get an offer to play for one of the best defensive line coaches in the world is amazing,” Potter told Eleven Warriors.
The Buckeyes don't typically offer in-state prospects this early in the process, but did their due diligence by reaching out to coaches on the Cardinals' schedule to inquire about Potter. Each one raved about his skills on and off the field, and anticipate he'll develop into one of the nation's best before he graduates in 2019.
As Mentor heads into the first round of the playoffs, Potter — the younger brother of Ohio State basketball center Micah — has 51 tackles, 29 quarterback hurries, seven sacks, six tackles for loss and two forced fumbles this season. He holds double-digit offers from schools like Boston College, Bowling Green, Iowa State, Kent State, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Penn State and Toledo.
The Nittany Lions, meanwhile, are certainly the biggest threat to the Buckeyes' chances. He was in Happy Valley for their win over Michigan last weekend and came away impressed by the atmosphere, but it's hard to see him going against the program he grew up rooting for.
You may recall Meyer once told Potter he was going to put a dead horse at the end of his driveway and screws in my tires so he couldn't leave the state. He also wears No. 97 as a nod to former Ohio State and current Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa.
“I started to love defensive end when Joey Bosa started to play well, and I was like 'I could do that,'” he said.
Sounds like it's only a matter of when, not if, he follows in Bosa's footsteps.
REAP WHAT YOU SOW
When Ohio State lands a commitment from a top-rated prospect, we often talk about how their relationship with the staff goes back years. For example, the aformentioned Johnson has known five-star defensive tackle pledge Taron Vincent since he was in eighth grade.
Now unless the Buckeyes are recruiting a legacy, it's rare to say a commitment is decades in the making. But that may very well be the case for IMG Academy safety Lejond Cavazos, who visited campus for the second time on Saturday.
But more on that in a second.
Ready to get back The Shoe already...#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/IptFMgqQm9
— Lejond Cavazos (@lejondaryy) October 29, 2017
“It was a crazy atmosphere. I loved it,” Cavazos told Eleven Warriors. “Went to walk through with the team and everything else as if I'm a part of it.”
Like most prospects from the Class of 2020, the 6-foot, 185-pound Cavazos is not yet ranked by any major recruiting sites. If his play this season with the Ascenders is any indication, though, there's no doubt in my mind he'll be among the top defensive back prospects in his class.
Cavazos — who transferred to IMG this summer from Cibolo, Texas, Steele — holds more than a dozen offers from programs such as Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA and USC. Ohio State extended an offer during his three-day visit for the Spring Game back in April, though, and has led ever since.
“They are my top school, and it's mostly because my dad and Urban have known each other for 20-plus years,” Cavazos said, explaining Meyer — then the wide receivers coach at Notre Dame — recruited players at Dallas' famed Carter High while his father, C.J., coached there. “Therefore, I trust my career in his hands. As well as coach [Kerry] Coombs. He has a great background and produces great corners. And I will probably be playing corner there as well.”
The elder Cavazos later added, “Urban was a young, white man recruiting black kids. We have been friends since then. [It's] crazy that he now wants my son.”
The biggest competition for the Buckeyes seems to be the Crimson Tide, as Cavazos will take an unofficial visit to Tuscaloosa for their game against LSU next weekend. But given his relationship with the staff and how excited he was to be back on campus this weekend, I have a hard time seeing him anywhere other than Ohio State.
Cavazos has long planned to make a decision ahead of or during his junior season. Maybe we'll see it happen sooner?
“It could be a possibility, but as of now, I have a couple more unofficials I have to take,” he said. “Then we'll see from there.”
#RESPECTMYDECISION
Tonight's edition of The Hurry Up doesn't include any information about prospects who were on an official visit or are still on campus on Sunday because 1. I want to respect their space, and 2. They'll be much more willing to talk about the visit in the days following.
I'll catch up with them soon, though, so stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for more about quarterback commit Emory Jones and wide receiver target Kamryn Babb, among others.
