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.
TURNING POINT?
To say the timing of Ohio State’s offer to Oak Park, Michigan, four-star quarterback Dwan Mathis was surprising would be an understatement.
It appeared as if the staff had zeroed in on Houston St. Pius X four-star Grant Gunnell as their top target at the position, and his official visit late last month put the Buckeyes at the forefront of his recruitment as he heads toward an early June decision.
So why offer Mathis — who’s been working toward this moment for more than a year, but committed to Michigan State after he camped at Ohio State and went home without an offer twice last summer — now?
Both Day and head coach Urban Meyer have admitted this year’s group of quarterbacks is not particularly deep, and many of those signal-callers who do hold an offer from the Buckeyes are now committed elsewhere. If Gunnell doesn’t pick Ohio State — or pushes back his decision timeline considerably — the list of backup options was slim to none.
Enter Mathis, who was once again the best quarterback on the field at Nike Football’s The Opening Canton Regional at Massillon Washington on Saturday afternoon.
“I performed pretty good,” Mathis told Eleven Warriors following the event. “I started out a little rough, but I kept it going. I didn’t get down on myself or any of that. It’s football. Stuff like incomplete passes are gonna happen. You just gotta bounce back. The guys out here were good, but I still feel like I’m the best quarterback in the nation. I’m always going to feel like that.”
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Mathis exudes confidence and refused to hang his head when the Buckeyes didn’t offer him a scholarship last summer. He recognized communication with the staff had dropped off and he simply found another program that made him a priority.
“I’m not sure if they were pursing another guy or something like that,” Mathis said.
He’s kind of right, as Ohio State focused most of its attention last fall on trying to hold onto then-four-star commit Emory Jones and then finding his replacement, Matthew Baldwin, late in the cycle. Many — including myself — also believed the Buckeyes were going to end up with Texas four-star Grant Tisdale this year, but the staff never went all-in on his pledge and he committed to Ole Miss last month.
“I just feel like it was a blessing in disguise. Stuff doesn’t come to you when you really want it, it comes to you when you really need it or when you don’t expect it. I feel like it’s a blessing because some guys don’t have anything,” Mathis said. “Coach Day just told me now they're gonna come at me harder than they ever did before. They're really gonna recruit me this time. I just gotta be ready for it."
Mathis reiterated he remains 100 percent committed to Michigan State. He told Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio and quarterbacks coach Brad Salem the same thing when they called him on Thursday afternoon. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t going to get interesting moving forward.
“It just mixes things up a lot,” Mathis said. “Some guys at the camp were like asking me about Ohio State. Everyone kept asking me what I’m gonna do.”
Mathis was back in Columbus on Sunday for Rivals’ adizero camp at Hilliard Bradley. Afterward, he and a large contingent of prospects from Michigan stopped by Ohio State for a few hours. Mathis anticipated the visit would happen, but it wasn’t going to impact his recruitment one way or the other.
“If a couple of my teammates stop there, sure. If they don’t, then so be it,” Mathis said. “Right now, I’m just focused on getting better as a person and an individual; getting faster and stronger; and getting my teammates acclimated to our new system. Stuff like that. I’m not really focused on the process. I’ll let that handle itself like it did in the past.”
RECRUITMENT-ALTERING VISIT
Adding another layer to the increasingly complicated quarterback situation is that Day — on the same day he offered a scholarship to Mathis — also stopped by Walled Lake Western to watch three-star quarterback Sam Johnson III throw.
“Our relationship is pretty good,” Johnson told Eleven Warriors during Saturday’s event. “He’s a cool guy and coach, and I like the way he coaches.”
The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Johnson is considered the 15th-best pro-style quarterback and No. 412 prospect overall in the Class of 2019, as he threw for 2,115 yards and 23 touchdowns for the Warriors last season. He’s been on Ohio State’s radar since he attended the midsummer Friday Night Lights recruiting extravaganza as a rising sophomore, but the staff never offered and the two sides lost touch for a bit.
Now, Johnson is actually set to announce his college decision among Boston College, Iowa, Missouri and Michigan on Monday afternoon, but he was also in Columbus this afternoon for an unofficial visit.
“I just want to see how it is and take a peek how it is as far as depth chart,” Johnson said. “I like Ohio State.”
There’s no doubt the Buckeyes’ renewed interest could certainly throw a wrench in Johnson’s plans, too, even if he doesn’t land an offer today.
“Probably, most likely,” Johnson said. “It’s something I’d have to look more into and talk about with my family, but it’s Ohio State…”
HAVE TO MAKE SURE
Chicago Phillips Academy four-star tight end Jahleel Billingsley took a small detour on his way to Massillon and swung by Ohio State for an unofficial visit on Friday afternoon.
Im in My Bag pic.twitter.com/RIM7NXOpdT
— JahleelBillingsley (@JahleelKnowsss) May 5, 2018
“The experience was great,” Billingsley told Eleven Warriors. “It’s Ohio State. Who wouldn’t like Ohio State?”
The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder is considered the 10th-best tight end and No. 283 prospect overall in the Class of 2019, as he hauled in 14 receptions for 243 yards and three touchdowns to help the Wildcats to the state title last season.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson offered him a scholarship back in early March and he included the Buckeyes in his Top 7 alongside Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Ole Miss, Penn State and TCU shortly thereafter.
“[We have] a pretty good relationship,” Billingsley said. “We talk a lot about football, but more about academics and the 40-year plan, not the 4-year plan, and how to be a man.”
While on campus, Billingsley and his father spent a considerable amount of time with Wilson and Meyer.
“It was weird. It was uncomfortable at first,” Billingsley said. “It was a good uncomfortable, though, like I felt welcome. It was good.”
Ohio State was considered the favorite to land Billingsley’s pledge when he trimmed down his list of offers, but things quickly shifted in favor of the Illini following an unofficial visit in late March.
The program recently picked up commitments from St. Louis five-star quarterback Isaiah Williams and Texas four-star cornerback Marquez Beason, and there’s a lot of momentum for the program on the recruiting trail right now. A big part of that is Williams’ former high school coach, Cory Patterson, who was hired as Illinois’ tight ends coach earlier this spring.
“They recruit really well there,” Billingsley said. “When I visited, there was a lot of energy. I like the coaches.”
Even with Friday’s visit, it seems like the Buckeyes are looking up at the Illini. Billingsley — who punched his ticket to The Opening Finals on Saturday — plans to take an official visit with the Gators later this month, and then hopes to announce his college decision this summer.
“It’s about comfortability, but somewhere that I can get the best of both worlds: academics and football,” Billingsley said. “I feel like Illinois will turn it around if they can get the right players. They got the right coaches."
