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.
Lejond Cavazos' Commitment Coming Soon
Florida defensive back Lejond Cavazos announced via Twitter on Sunday that he will be committing to one of six selected schools on April 12 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. Ohio State was included on the list.
Cavazos was in Columbus on March 23 for Ohio State’s big recruiting weekend of March and had a lengthy conversation with head coach Ryan Day. He also remained close with No. 1 2020 wide receiver Julian Fleming while on the visit and had a conversation with Dublin all-purpose back Mike Drennen.
I will be announcing my commitment to one of these six schools on April 12th at 6 pm EST. pic.twitter.com/bjbNKHzFMW
— Lej (@lejondaryy) March 31, 2019
The four-star athlete is classified as a safety but said he believes he can play cornerback, and that is what Ohio State is recruiting him as. At The Opening Regional in Miami, Cavazos ran a 4.40-second 40-yard dash and left as the Special Ops MVP, an award that honors the most impressive quantitative-based drills prospect in the showcase, such as the 40-yard dash and the vertical jump.
Cavazos has shown a lot of love to Miami and Ohio State on social media, and it appears it will be a two-school race between the two for Cavazos’ commitment, though he also included Florida, Oregon, LSU and Georgia on his list Sunday.
He was at Florida’s Junior Day on Feb. 2 and visited Miami as recently as mid-February.
Cavazos was committed to Ohio State at one point, and he remained committed for a little more than five months. But once Urban Meyer announced his retirement, the IMG Academy standout de-committed from the Buckeyes. Since then, he has been developing a relationship with Day, and has, in large part, repaired his relationship with Ohio State.
Braiden McGregor Top-10 Released
Michigan four-star defensive end Braiden McGregor told Eleven Warriors at The Opening Regional in Massillon that he might release a top-10 Monday morning, and that’s exactly what he did. The No. 201 prospect overall in the Class of 2020 included the Buckeyes in his latest cut list, as well as Michigan, LSU, Notre Dame, Clemson, Oregon, Florida, Miami, Alabama and Penn State.
Thank you to all of the schools that have recruited me. By no means was this easy to narrow my list. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to build relationships with everyone that has recruited me. With that being said, here are my top ten schools. pic.twitter.com/DTq7JQVNWE
— Braiden McGregor (@BraidenMcgregor) April 1, 2019
“I’ve been asking a lot of hard questions lately,” McGregor said. “The schools down south were really honest with me, and that’s why I plan on going to Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State again. They’re the schools from the Midwest that have been recruiting me the hardest.”
Through March, McGregor visited Clemson, Florida State, Florida, LSU, Alabama and Penn State, and he has his official visit to Notre Dame planned for this weekend. The defensive end said he’s also planning to visit Ohio State sometime in April.
Donovan Edwards' Ankle Still Recovering
Michigan running back Donovan Edwards said he has two goals for the 2019 season: run for 1,300 yards and avoid getting hurt.
The No. 4 running back in the 2021 class – according to 247Sports – came into The Opening Regional in Massillon still recovering from the broken ankle he suffered around November. It didn’t seem to hinder him too much during the drills, but afterwards, Edwards was slightly limping back to his bags.
The West Bloomfield running back said he wanted to show that he was the best running back in the country Sunday but that he didn’t perform as well as he wanted, and part of that was because of his ankle.
“I feel like I could have done better,” he said. “In the drill where we had to juke people off, I feel like I could’ve done better. I feel like I could’ve ran the 40 a little faster.”
The cat-and-mouse drill, where running backs are pitted against two linebackers and are tasked to avoid being touched as much as possible within a 15-yard stretch, was giving most of the running backs trouble, including four-star back Mike Drennen. On two occasions, Edwards just sprinted down the sideline as quickly as he could, versus making several cuts.
West Bloomfield running back Donovan Edwards (@DEdwards__) runs a good deep route. pic.twitter.com/6MPR5L9dLn
— Taylor Lehman (@TaylorRLehman) March 31, 2019
While the ankle is giving him pain, he still has time to continue to recover, and when that time comes, Edwards said he feels confident in what he will do on the field.
“I’ll be unstoppable, for sure,” he said.
Cincinnati Trio Not At The Opening Regional
The trio of five-star offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., four-star defensive end Darrion Henry and four-star linebacker Jaheim Thomas have been doing plenty of traveling during the last few weeks, hitting LSU, Georgia, Georgia tech and Alabama. They also made their way to Ohio State last weekend, when Thomas received his Buckeye offer.
But after putting their names into the list of attendees for The Opening Regional in Massillon, Ohio, on Sunday, the trio did not participate. Given that they’ve likely already received all of the offers they are searching for and really have nothing to prove at this point, particularly for Johnson Jr., it didn’t come as a surprise that they did not participate.
