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.
Donovan Jackson Reflects on Spring Game Visit
Texas offensive tackle Donovan Jackson was in Columbus for Ohio State’s spring game on Saturday for just his third visit since being offered as an eight grade standout a couple years ago.
“I expected to get the same spiel I get from other visits, but Coach (Greg Studrawa) and Coach (Ryan) Day made it known that I have a home at OSU.”
Jackson, rated as the No. 9 offensive tackle in the 2021 class by 247Sports, had made one other visit besides participating in a summer camp in Columbus and said he feels like his relationship with the coaching staff is building toward something good.
When the No. 9 Texas recruit received his offer in eighth grade, former Ohio State coach Greg Schiano was the one to extend the offer and Urban Meyer was the head coach. Now the staff is taking on a new look under Day, though Studrawa is a lasting figure for Jackson at Ohio State, but that doesn’t necessarily affect the way Jackson views the program.
“It hurt for a little bit,” Jackson said about Schiano’s departure. “But I’ve learned to fall in love with the University, not the coaching staff.”
What Jackson said he really likes about Ohio State is its Real Life Wednesday program as well as its internship program that will ensure opportunities for him after school.
A big pull for Ohio State in Jackson’s case, though, he said, is his family in Ohio. His mother’s side of his family is from Cincinnati and that is what is providing an extra push for Ohio State through the coaching changes especially.
“Having the majority of my family living in Ohio is a big pull towards the University,” Jackson said. “My mother raised me to be a Buckeye.”
Along with Ohio State, Jackson is getting heavy attention from Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama and Stanford.
Jack Sawyer, Jaxon Smith-Njigba Receive All-American Invitations
Five-star Ohio State defensive end 2021 commit Jack Sawyer announced that he has been invited to the 2021 Army All-American Bowl. This is unsurprising, as the No. 2 overall prospect in the class will be getting several invitations and honors before he eventually signs. The Buckeyes had seven signees in the 2019 All-American Bowl on Jan. 5, 2019.
I want to thank god for blessing me to play this game. I want to thank my family, teammates and coaches for pushing me and turning my dreams into reality. I am honored to be selected to play in 2020 ARMY ALL AMERICAN GAME on NBC in January pic.twitter.com/ID0WpfUN08
— Jaxon Smith-Njigba (@jaxon_smith1) April 18, 2019
Ohio State wideout commit Jaxon Smith-Njigba also received an Army All-American Bowl invitation, this one for the 2020 game though. He joins Paris Johnson Jr., Luke Wypler and Gee Scott Jr. as 2020 Ohio State commits with invites to the 2020 bowl.
Summing Up Offers from this Week
As the spring game passed by, Ohio State has continued to extend offers to prospects they were hoping to see in person throughout the week. The most notable of those offers being Ironton linebacker Reid Carrico.
So thankful to receive an offer to The Ohio State University!! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Y0qqm2lCXB
— Reid Carrico (@CarricoReid) April 13, 2019
Carrico had been showing up on some radars of teams near Ironton, such as Marshall, but Ohio State got in early with the running back-linebacker hybrid prospect. Now with an offer, it doesn’t seem like Carrico’s commitment could be too far off, though he is beginning to gain some interest from bigger schools across the nation after being rated the No. 9 prospect in the state by 247Sports and getting his offer from the Buckeyes.
Another prospect who wasn’t able to accept his invitation to the spring game but showed out at the Under Armour All-America Camp in Cincinnati the day after was Westerville safety Ricky Hyatt Jr., who could potentially fill the bullet position. After putting together one of the better defensive back performances at the camp, the No. 20 2020 Ohio recruit was offered a couple days later.
Perhaps the most notable offer of the week was to No. 77 overall 2020 prospect Noah Sewell. Sewell is the top prospect coming out of Utah and self-reports a 4.79 40-yard dash at 6-foot-2 and 266 pounds. Sewell is classified as an athlete but is being recruited as a linebacker. His brother plays for Oregon, and schools he's leaning toward are Alabama, LSU, Oregon and Texas A&M.
The No. 7 running back in the 2021 class also got an Ohio State offer this week. Cody Brown, out of Georgia, who is rated as the No. 114 player in the class, rushed for 1,588 yards and 25 touchdowns as a sophomore at Parkview High School.
John Young Sets Commitment Date
Four-star offensive tackle John Young, one of the top Ohio State tackle targets left in the 2020 class, announced his commitment date via Twitter for April 29. Young is expected to choose Kentucky, but he’s also strongly interested in Ohio State, Auburn and Louisville.
