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.
Shawn Murphy Accidentally Visits Ohio State
Shawn Murphy, a 2022 inside linebacker out of Manassas, Virginia, was in Columbus for a visit to Ohio State on Tuesday. He had made his way into Ohio to visit family in Youngstown, while Ohio State sent Matt Barnes to Virginia, where the secondary and special teams coach would meet Murphy in his hometown.
After learning that Murphy was not in Virginia and was in Ohio, the Buckeyes invited him to come by the campus and make a visit instead. On that visit, Murphy was able to meet head coach Ryan Day.
“He’s a real nice guy and knows what he’s doing,” Murphy said of Day. “It was a great visit. I enjoyed a lot of it, and their Real Life Wednesdays was the biggest part that stood out.”
Murphy is already a highly coveted 2022 prospect. He has offers from Michigan, Penn State, Florida, Tennessee and others, and he was named First Team All-District with 80 tackles and five sacks. The Stonewall Jackson High School linebacker will be one of the best in his class when the 2022 cycle is rated.
Great visit #buckeyes pic.twitter.com/OWCfkNSxUu
— shawn (@theicedupshawn) April 23, 2019
Ohio State will be entering its name on his offers list soon, he said. It can be challenging when coaches are not allowed to make electronic contact with recruits until their junior years though.
“One of the recruiters called my dad saying they are most likely going to extend an offer after they see me and do their research,” Murphy said.
If Murphy does receive that offer soon and before any other 2022 prospects, he will be the fourth high school freshman to receive an offer from Ohio State and the first one on the defensive side of the ball.
Darrion Henry, Jaheim Thomas Could Release Cut Lists Soon
Four-star Princeton 2020 recruits Darrion Henry and Jaheim Thomas have been seen making visits, receiving offers and participating in camps recently – most recently Henry at the Ohio State spring game and Thomas at the Under Armour All-America Camp in Cincinnati. But not much has been heard from either Cincinnati standout about progress within their recruitment.
That was until today, when both recruits tweeted a nearly identical message that they’d be releasing cut lists soon.
Dropping my list soon ...Stay tuned!!!!
— D Hen (@darrion_henry) April 25, 2019
Dropping my List soon... Stay Tuned
— Jaheim (@JaheimThomas454) April 25, 2019
The pacing of these messages seems to reflect what Princeton head coach Mike Daniels told Eleven Warriors in February, that Henry wasn’t planning on committing anywhere in February or March and could possibly wait until the summer to announce it.
While most signs lead to Henry committing to Ohio State, Henry and Thomas have done nearly everything together during the last few months of their recruitment, and with current Ohio State commit Paris Johnson Jr. in the fold and his little-known commitment to Ohio State or other SEC programs, that certainty of Henry’s commitment has also waned.
While Henry and Thomas are surely going to include Ohio State in the unknown number of schools on their lists, these tweets further cement the fact that these two recruits in particular are continuing to approach these decisions together.
Two California Prospects Earn Ohio State Offers
Ohio State extended a couple California offers to two prospects out of John Muir High School in Pasadena on Wednesday night.
Cornerback Jamier Johnson and wide receiver Calen Bullock, both in the 2021 class, announced their offers via Twitter.
I am extremely blessed and Humble to say I have received an offer from Ohio State @Prowaytraining @CoachJeffHafley@adamgorney @BrandonHuffman@GregBiggins @BlairAngelo@JohnMuirHS pic.twitter.com/dIKdzlvUHr
— King_bullock3 (@CalenBullock) April 25, 2019
Johnson represents just the second cornerback offer Ohio State has made in the 2021 class. The class’ No. 3 cornerback, Tony Grimes, is the other. The cornerback spent two seasons at Northview High School in Covina, California, before transferring to John Muir. He played in 23 games as a freshman and sophomore, picking up four interceptions, 30 pass deflections and 59 tackles. He also scored nine touchdowns as a receiver in 2018.
All of Bullock’s highlights from his sophomore year in 2018 were defensive plays that he made while serving a downfield safety role, where he showed a good ability to not only track a ball in the air but attack it at its highest point and battle in traffic. He’s classified as a wide receiver but has been jumping back and forth between receiver and athlete.
Josh Fryar Earns 'Bama Offer After Blake Fisher
In yesterday’s Hurry Up, Blake Fisher was detailed as an Indiana offensive lineman that earned an Alabama offer, and last night, there was another Indiana offensive lineman that announced an offer from Alabama – Josh Fryar.
Yessir!! Dont sleep on Indiana offensive lineman!! #RollTide https://t.co/uQxcFKWtR0
— Blake Fisher (@bfisher_54) April 25, 2019
Where Fisher and Fryar tie to Ohio State is that the Buckeyes are targeting both of them in their respective classes. Fisher is the No. 2 Indiana prospect in the 2021 class, and Fryar is the No. 2 Indiana recruit in the 2020 class.
Fryar was at Ohio State’s spring game and left impressed. With Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson’s time in Indiana, he’s been the primary recruiter for both of the linemen.
