The Drought is Over
Caleb Downs scores Ohio State’s first punt return touchdown since 2014.
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.
SPEED RACER
When you turn on his highlight tape, the first thing you notice about St. Louis Cardinal Ritter College Prep four-star wide receiver Jameson Williams is his speed.
He is, after all, a track star who won the state championship this spring in the grueling 400-meter dash and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles — which run back-to-back on the schedule. His best time in the latter event is a time of 37.28 seconds, which broke the state record set by former Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott.
With that said, it’s easy to see why Williams the Buckeyes’ top target at the wide receiver position. The staff believes he would be a great complementary piece to five-star commit Garrett Wilson, seemingly reminiscent of the Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn Jr. combination of yesteryear.
The 6-foot-2, 170-pound Williams included Ohio State in his Top 5 back in early June alongside Alabama, Nebraska, Oregon and UCLA and took an official visit to Columbus just a few weeks later. He subsequently called the Buckeyes the team to beat in his recruitment during The Opening Finals in Dallas.
“They treat me like the best thing,” Williams told Eleven Warriors. “If I choose Ohio State, I feel like those coaches would be father figures to me and help me to try to get to where I want to go.”
Williams — who caught 36 passes for 1,062 yards and scored 19 total touchdowns last season (three kick returns and one interception return) — is in no hurry to make a decision on his future as he readies for his senior year. He’s confident he can lead the Lions to the state championship this fall, too.
“I've had the confidence. It's always in me,” Williams told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which named him the third-best player in the state as part of its Super 30 countdown. “The year we went 6-6, [I believed] we were winning state. When we went 9-2, we were winning state. It's going to happen.”
Williams plans to officially visit the four other finalists in September and early October, which means a decision is likely to come shortly thereafter. All signs continue to point to the Buckeyes being his choice, but don’t count out the Crimson Tide or Ducks just yet.
IS MR. ROGERS' NEW NEIGHBORHOOD IN ATHENS OR COLUMBUS?
Oak Park, Michigan, five-star offensive guard Justin Rogers announced earlier this week that he will make his college decision in the near future — a significant departure from his original timeline that would have ended his recruitment during his senior season.
I mentioned at the time how the 6-foot-3, 311-pound Rogers, who is considered the top-rated offensive guard and No. 14 prospect overall in the Class of 2020, has not been shy about his affinity for the Buckeyes early in the process. He’s visited campus so many times in the last year that we’ve lost count, too.
However, a pair of visits to Georgia this summer have made things quite interesting. A handful of 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions have been placed in favor of the Bulldogs in the days since his announcement, and the vibe surrounding his looming decision is quite different than at any other point in his recruitment.
If Rogers follows through with his commitment — which, if you're into vague tweets without any context, could very well come Sept. 1 — Georgia will likely be his choice. That said, I’m not changing my own prediction away from Ohio State because I believe there’s a good chance he actually doesn’t make a decision anytime soon.
After all, he’s teased announcements in the past only to back away from it or overemphasize the magnitude of said announcement (teasing big news to only then release a Top 13 list). There’s no denying Rogers loves the spotlight that comes along with the recruiting process, and an early commitment takes quite a bit of shine away from a prospect.
Furthermore, even if Rogers does commit to the Bulldogs soon as some anticipate, there are still 16 months until the Early Signing Period. Every team in the country will continue to court him until the ink dries on his National Letter of Intent, and things could eventually swing back in the Buckeyes’ favor.
MOMENT OF TRUTH
The next few days will undoubtedly be a pivotal moment in Ohio State football history.
A university-appointed investigative committee is set to share its findings on head coach Urban Meyer with respect to his knowledge of and actions regarding the domestic abuse allegations against former wide receivers coach Zach Smith on Wedneday morning, and a decision on his status will soon follow — thought it’s unclear exactly when president Michael Drake will make the final call.
There are, of course, two main courses of action for Drake, which are to either relieve Meyer of his coaching duties or reinstate him from his paid administrative leave. The latter could also come with a suspension, but that would have little to no impact on the Buckeyes’ recruiting efforts.
Meyer might have to mend a few fences with some commitments, since other programs have used the last few weeks to plant seeds of uncertainty. But so long as he remains the head coach, Ohio State should make it through this period relatively unscathed.
The only loss, it appears, would be uncommitted Texas four-star athlete Peyton Powell, who most expected to pledge his services to the Buckeyes following his official visit in June but delayed his decision date and is now trending toward Oklahoma.
However, if Meyer is ultimately let go — a result which I don’t expect, though there is no way of knowing exactly what is going to happen in the coming days — there will certainly be consequences on the recruiting trail. Pledges like the aforementioned Wilson, Georgia five-star center Harry Miller and Florida four-star cornerback Jordan Battle are highly coveted entities, and have already acknowledged they’d look around at other schools if Meyer was no longer in charge.
With that said, we’ll find out Meyer’s fate soon enough and if things are going to return to normal for Ohio State — or if I'm going to be super busy in the coming days.
