The Hurry Up: North Carolina Defensive End Jacolbe Cowan Recaps Visit While Ohio State Schedules Pair of Satellite Camps

By Andrew Lind on March 29, 2018 at 6:50 pm
Jacolbe Cowan
Jacolbe Cowan
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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.

LASTING IMPRESSION

Ohio State offered a scholarship in early February to Charlotte Providence Day School four-star defensive end Jacolbe Cowan, but finally welcomed him to campus for the first time on Wednesday.

“The visit was great,” Cowan told Eleven Warriors. “I was very impressed.”

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Cowan is considered the third-best strong-side defensive end and No. 37 prospect overall in the Class of 2020, as he recorded 87 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 10 quarterback hurries, three takeaways and two forced fumbles for the Chargers last season. He holds more than two dozen offers from programs such as Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Penn State, South Carolina and Tennessee, but Ohio State certainly made an impression this week.

“I would have to say the coaching staff, the team’s academic success and the professional development program stood out to me the most,” Cowan said.

While on campus, Cowan and his mother spent a considerable amount of time with head coach Urban Meyer and defensive line coach Larry Johnson, toured campus and met with the program’s support staff.

“We talked a lot about football, but also about off-the-field things,” he said. “They both believe that I would fit well into the program.”

Cowan — who is about to wrap up a five-day spring break trip that included trips to Ann Arbor, Knoxville, South Bend and State College — plans to return to Columbus for a game this fall.

“Ohio State is definitely a school that I will consider on down the road in my recruitment,” Cowan said.

FIRST VISIT'S A CHARM?

As first reported by Eleven Warriors over the weekend, Norfolk, Virginia, Maury four-star cornerback Sheridan Jones arrived on campus Thursday afternoon for a two-day unofficial visit.

His first trip to comes just a few days after he included the Buckeyes in his Top 7 alongside Alabama, Clemson, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.

“Coach Meyer is consistent with recruiting me and also because of the way they breed defensive backs,” Jones said when asked why the Buckeyes made the cut. “I’m also gaining a relationship with the new cornerbacks coach [Taver Johnson].”

The 6-foot, 170-pound Jones is considered the 17th-best cornerback and No. 139 prospect overall in the Class of 2019, as he recorded 26 tackles, 10 pass break ups, two interceptions, one defensive touchdown, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery last season at Virginia Beach Bishop Sullivan — where he was teamed up with Ohio State four-star linebacker signee Teradja Mitchell. 

The Buckeyes offered Jones last August. He then transferred to Maury in February, which was around the same time he announce he was reclassifying from the Class of 2020.

CAMP SZN

Registration for Ohio State’s one-day summer camps opened this morning, but it won’t be the only chance for prospects across the country to perform in front of the staff.

The Buckeyes have also scheduled a pair of satellite camps, with more certain to be announced in the coming weeks.

First, Ohio State will head to St. Charles, Missouri, for Lindenwood University’s “Mega Camp” on June 1 and 2.

The Buckeyes will be joined by more than three dozen schools — including Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Penn State, Texas and UCF — at the small Division II campus located about a half hour outside of St. Louis.

Ohio State has made quite an impression on prospects in the region recently, as it landed four-star wide receivers Kamryn Babb and Cameron Brown out of Christian Brothers College (though the latter will be switching to defensive back at the next level).

The Buckeyes have offers out right now to several prospects in the area, including Trinity Catholic’s Shammond Cooper, Teriyon “Mookie” Cooper, Marcus Washington and Isaiah Williams; Cardinal Ritter’s Jameson Williams; and Parkway North’s Jalani Williams. You can bet some of — if not all of them — will be in attendance.

Various Ohio State staff members will also be in attendance at the Everett Withers football camp at Texas State in San Marcos on June 7. Withers, you may recall, was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach during Meyer's first two seasons in Columbus.

There, they'll be joined by coaches from Houston and Texas, and it should come as no surprise the Longhorns’ staff will be in attendance, given the Buckeyes’ recent success in pulling prospects out of the Lone Star State.

If you recall, Texas took similar steps last summer to stop Ohio State from getting one-on-one time with some of their top mutual targets, as Tom Herman showed up unannounced at a satellite camp at Texas Southern in Houston being co-hosted by Meyer. Five-star cornerback Anthony Cook and four-star wide receiver Al’vonte Woodard were among those in attendance, and both eventually picked the Longhorns despite their strong interest in the Buckeyes.

San Marcos is located halfway between Austin and San Antonio. And given the fact that Ohio State has offers out to more than 25 prospects across the state of Texas, this is a big opportunity for the staff to interact with a number of those prospects.

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