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.
ABOUT THAT TIME
In a little over two hours, San Marcos, California, Mission Hills four-star wide receiver Chris Olave will announce his college decision among Ohio State, UCLA, USC and Utah.
All signs point to the Buckeyes being his choice.
6 PM PT tonight. #FightOn #GoUtes #GoBucks #4sUp
— Chris Olave (@chrisolave_) January 28, 2018
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Olave took an official visit to Columbus in November and fell in love with the program. But commitments one month later from St. Louis four-star wide receivers Kamryn Babb and Cameron Brown seemingly ended all hope of him becoming a Buckeye.
Olave had been trending toward the Bruins until two weeks ago, when offensive coordinator Ryan Day — armed with the idea of taking the best player available instead of simply addressing a lack of depth at certain positions — made a trip west to attend one of his basketball games. Even with with six returning starters and three signees in Babb, Brown and L’Christian “Blue” Smith, the staff views him as simply too talented to pass up.
The opportunity to play for Day and wide receivers coach Zach Smith and compete against one of the nation’s premier secondaries in practice every day appears to have swung things in Ohio State’s favor.
MORE TALENTED THAN YOUR SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS
Olave wasn't the only wide receiver who made a decision this weekend, as Cincinnati Summit Country Day School three-star Xavier Johnson announced on Saturday afternoon he had accepted a preferred walk-on offer from the Buckeyes.
All glory be to God! pic.twitter.com/C6TEVInLv3
— Xavier Johnson (@J5Xavier) January 27, 2018
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Johnson is considered the 169th-best wide receiver and No. 1,128 prospect overall in the Class of 2018, which — as The-Ozone’s Tony Gerdeman pointed out — is ahead of wideouts who have accepted scholarships from programs like Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Oklahoma, just to name a few.
Johnson was named Division V honorable mention after he racked up 2,274 all-purpose yards and 25 touchdowns for the Silver Knights last season, which includes four kick and three punt returns for scores. He turned down offers from Cincinnati, Iowa State, North Dakota State and a handful of Mid-American Conference schools to walk-on at Ohio State.
Johnson becomes the 10th in-state prospect — and 11th senior overall — to accept a preferred walk-on offer from the Buckeyes, joining Dublin Jerome athlete Robert Cope and linebacker Cade Kacherski; Big Walnut linebacker Abe Myers; Piqua linebacker Ben Schmiesing; Berlin Center Western Reserve linebacker Jack Cappabianca; Mason defensive tackle Zaid Hamdan; Bedford wide receiver Davion Johnson; Worthington Kilbourne long snapper Roen McCullough; Massillon Washington wide receiver Austin Kutscher; and Arizona wide receiver Luke Donovan.
OOZING WITH TALENT
Marietta, Georgia, four-star wide receiver Ramel Keyton included Ohio State in his Top 10 on Saturday evening alongside Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina State, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Top 10 pic.twitter.com/yXSQoJF1aX
— Ramel Keyton (@Wlmel10) January 27, 2018
“We’ve been talking a lot and [former coach Kerry Coombs and new defensive assistant Alex Grinch] came down to visit a couple times,” Keyton told Eleven Warriors. “I’m starting to feel more comfortable with them and they’re recruiting me hard.”
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Keyton is considered the 32nd-best wide receiver and No. 184 prospect overall in the Class of 2019, as he hauled in 59 passes for 1,294 yards and 16 touchdowns to help the Blue Devils to the state quarterfinals last fall. He was named honorable mention all-state for his efforts.
Marietta may be among the nation’s most talented teams next year. In addition to Keyton, the Blue Devils have four rising juniors among the Top 100 prospects in the Class of 2020, including four-star quarterback Harrison Bailey, four-star offensive tackle Jake Wray and four-star defensive ends Arik Gilbert and B.J. Ojulari.
The Buckeyes have offered scholarships to four of the five, and I anticipate they’ll make a trip to campus together sooner rather than later — especially with the Wray’s strong ties to the program.
“I’m supposed to visit up there either spring or fall for an official,” Keyton said. “I can see myself playing at Ohio State, too.”
Given the in-state Bulldogs already hold commitments from two receivers in five-stars Jadon Haselwood and Dominick Blaylock, maybe pulling Keyton out of the Peach State won’t be as difficult as was once expected.
SOMEWHAT FAMILIAR
With seemingly every position but offensive tackle addressed in the current recruiting cycle, Ohio State has been able to focus much of its efforts this month on future classes.
In fact, staff has handed out nearly a dozen offers in the last week alone, with one going Clovis, California, Buchanan four-star running back Kendall Milton on Friday afternoon.
Extremely blessed and honored to say that Ive received my first B1G offer from THE Ohio State University !! AG2G! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/QGHIGuGKlk
— Kendall Milton (@therealkmilt) January 26, 2018
“It means a lot coming from a top program like them,” Milton told Eleven Warriors.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Milton is considered the fifth-best running back and No. 55 prospect overall in the Class of 2020, as he accumulates 1,514 total yards and 25 touchdowns for the Bears last season. He holds more than a dozen offers from programs such as Arizona, Arizona State, Florida State, Oregon, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington and Washington State.
Milton was actually on campus for a wrestling tournament roughly four years ago, but hopes to make his first trip back soon for his first visit in a recruiting capacity.
