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.
2020's cycle is heating up
The 2020 recruiting cycle is beginning to heat up as the spring continues on. The majority of the top recruits are beginning to release their final or second-to-last cut lists, and this weekend kicked off the high-speed motion of that progression, as Ohio State was included in four cut lists.
St. Thomas Aquinas wideout Marcus Rosemy released his top-10 list, and the No. 12 wide receiver listed Ohio State among the nine others. Rosemy is leaning toward Ohio State and Georgia at this point in his recruitment, with Ohio State having the edge.
Rosemy still has not made it to Columbus for a visit, but he and Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline have developed a good relationship. Hartline was down in Florida to watch St. Thomas Aquinas practice last week, and upon offering 2022 offensive tackle Julian Armelia, said he’d like Rosemy, Armelia and 2020 offensive tackle Marlon Martinez to visit Ohio State soon.
Rosemy is one of two top wideouts in the country that have serious interest in Ohio State. With time moving forward and interests narrowing, it seems to be Rosemy and No. 1 receiver Julian Fleming that are top targets at the position in addition to commits Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Gee Scott, Jr.
Extremely Thankful To Be Where I Am Right Now Heres My Top 10 Schools . pic.twitter.com/JbzpBzWGmO
— Marcus Rosemy (@rosemy_marcus) May 3, 2019
In addition to Rosemy’s cut list, 2020 four-star wideout Muhsin Muhammad III, who just received an Ohio State offer in late-April, put the Buckeyes in his eight, along with Texas A&M, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Oregon, Michigan State and Auburn. It appears that Ohio State has gotten in too late for the No. 117 national recruit as he leans toward his famous father’s alma mater, Michigan State.
Five-star North Carolina defensive end Desmond Evans released a top-10 list, and Ohio State was included. While it doesn’t seem like Evans will choose the Buckeyes and probably leads toward North Carolina, Clemson or Alabama, it’s still significant for Ohio State to be included in the list of the No. 16 overall prospect in the class.
New Jersey defensive end Amin Vanover listed Ohio State in his top-10 as well. It’s tough to tell where he leans, but Vanover is the No. 330 player overall and the No. 16 strong-side defensive end.
Top 10 pic.twitter.com/0JJFrAcdGG
— Amin vanover (@vanover_amin) May 2, 2019
Kelvin Gilliam working on pass rush to earn Ohio State offer
Virginia 2021 defensive end Kelvin Gilliam has expressed mutual interest with Ohio State recently. He’s been in contact with linebackers coach Al Washington since September and has visited campus as well.
The No. 15 weak-side defensive end is continuing to develop his relationship with Ohio State, and while he does that, he’s receiving interest from schools like Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina and South Carolina – all schools that have offered him so far.
Ohio State is waiting to offer until it sees “how well (he) can progress into his junior year.”
Gilliam has shown strong potential and playmaking ability, particularly in the run-stopping game, but he wants to improve his pass rushing during his junior year in 2019.
“Most of them just want to see how well I can play the position but most colleges love a good edge rusher,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam said he wants to progress to the point where he is perceived as a defensive end who can rush the passer but also can defeat the run as well.
The Virginia defensive end has made visits to Michigan State, North Carolina and North Carolina State since the beginning of March.
Gavin Sawchuk is very fast
Colorado 2022 athlete Gavin Sawchuk, who attends the same high school as Ohio State 2020 offensive tackle target Roger Rosengarten, received and offer from Ohio State in mid-March. The Valor Christian speedster has earned offers from other programs too, such as Michigan, Oregon and Iowa.
He recently tweeted video of himself running the 100-meter dash for Valor Christian, and it’s a blazing 10.62 seconds. Getting in with early with Sawchuk might eventually lead Ohio State to a big-play threat down the road. Sawchuk scored on 13 percent of his touches as a freshman, carrying the ball 76 times for 665 yards and catching nine passes for a total of 11 touchdowns.
Blessed 10.62 #BeUncommon #SNHABD pic.twitter.com/UhMzkBaaek
— Gavin Sawchuk (@G28football) May 5, 2019
Recruits committing elsewhere
Clemson continues to stack what looks like will be the best class in 2020. The Tigers added their third five-star commitment of the class over the weekend, as the No. 2 running back in the country, Demarkcus Bowman, announced his commitment via YouTube. Bowman is one of the handful of top running backs that Ohio State had good mutual interest with in the 2020 class, but the Buckeyes have shifted their focused to other top backs like Bijan Robinson and Kendall Milton instead.
The top quarterback in the class also committed to Clemson, announcing via Twitter on Sunday afternoon. DJ Uiagalelei added his name to the impressive list of commitments pledged to Clemson, giving the Tigers a healthy lead above LSU and Alabama for the best class in the country. Uiagalelei’s commitment doesn’t hurt Ohio State because it already has its 2020 quarterback, but it does seem to give Clemson another good option after Trevor Lawrence leaves college in two or three years.
This is all Gods work and Gods timing, I am blessed to say I AM 100% COMMITTED!!!!
— DJ Uiagalelei (@DJUiagalelei) May 5, 2019
Happy birthday Mom #FiLaGaNgBuSiNeSS @manecoagency pic.twitter.com/QaU31Rfovt
Defensive end Fadil Diggs also pledged to a school other than Ohio State this weekend. The No. 6 defensive end in the 2020 class committed to Texas A&M, he announced via Twitter. Diggs and the Buckeyes had a good relationship early in his recruitment, but Texas A&M was the likely choice by Diggs for the latter half of the cycle. Ohio State is still in good relations with Cincinnati four-star defensive end Darrion Henry and have a few options outside of him as well.
Illinois four-star defensive end Rylie Mills announced that he will be committing Monday at 6 p.m. as well. He's likely to choose Notre Dame, but Ohio State is among the top three schools, along with Wisconsin, expected to be in consideration.
