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.
Jack Sawyer at the Pickerington North Combine
Pickerington North put on its third annual combine Thursday night at Pickerington High School North, where it welcomed in around 30 colleges to watch its players. Some colleges that attended were Penn State, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa State and some other non-Power Five programs.
The star of the show, obviously, was five-star defensive end Jack Sawyer, who is committed to Ohio State as the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2021 class. Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson and linebackers coach Al Washington were there to watch him participate.
Ohio State commit Jack Sawyer runs a 4.65 40-yard dash at the Pickerington North Combine. He was shooting to beat 4.80. pic.twitter.com/vADltxZgtV
— Taylor Lehman (@TaylorRLehman) May 9, 2019
The combine was initially scheduled to take place outside in Panther Stadium, where the coaching staff had lines painted and drills organized, but rain and wind forced them to move into the fieldhouse, where the surface was a basketball gym-like floor.
The team went through drills like bench press, broad jump, pad drills, cone drills and the 40-yard dash, doing two reps for each drill and moving through the circuit for about a half-hour. The second half-hour of the combine was voluntary for the majority of the team except for defensive linemen and receivers. Sawyer stuck around to do some pad drills with his teammates.
Jack Sawyer. More pad drills. pic.twitter.com/BmG9FSZ6CZ
— Taylor Lehman (@TaylorRLehman) May 9, 2019
Afterward, Sawyer greeted Johnson and Washington and then had more extensive talks after the gym cleared of prospects and coaches. Washington and Johnson did not talk to any other recruits.
Sawyer ran his 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds. He said that the year before, he ran a 4.80 but felt that he had a bad start because he had no practice leading up to the event. He wanted to see his time move closer toward 4.60 after having had practice in the drill since last year.
Sawyer also bench pressed 185 pounds 12 times, emphasizing the goal of his to add more strength and weight as he progresses through high school.
Tunmise Adeleye has long-awaited contact with Kenny Anunike
Tunmise Adeleye initially met Ohio State as a freshman at a Houston summer camp. Graduate assistant Kenny Anunike was at the camp scouting players, and Adeleye jumped out to him.
Adeleye, who had a disadvantage against higher-rated recruits and older prospects, didn’t lose a rep all camp. His performance was impressive enough to earn an Alabama offer the next day. Anunike walked over to the 2021 defensive end after the camp was finished and expressed how much he liked his style, and when asked how interested he was in Ohio State, Adeleye laid it out for the assistant coach.
“I told him straight up, ‘Since fourth grade, Ohio State’s been my childhood dream school,’” Adeleye said. “That was the last time we talked.”
Adeleye had called Anunike on occasion since that camp, but Anunike was never able to pick up. With rules against contacting recruits electronically before their junior seasons, Anunike was unable to return calls. On Thursday though, Anunike picked up and he had defensive line coach Larry Johnson with him.
“He said he was so happy to hear from me because he’s been trying to get to me,” Adeleye said. “He said, ‘I have Coach Johnson here. He wants to talk to you.’”
Johnson told Adeleye that he liked his motor on the field and his ability to get to the quarterback. As a sophomore at Tompkins High School in Katy, Texas, in 2018, Adeleye sacked the quarterback eight times and recorded 53 tackles with 11 tackles for loss.
He is rated as the No. 47 prospect overall in the 2021 class by 247Sports and the No. 6 defensive end. The Buckeyes didn’t extend an offer on that phone call, though, but Adeleye should be in line for one soon.
"Ohio State has a history of really good pass rushers, and he wanted to let me know that he saw that in me, so we’re just going to take it one step at a time,” Adeleye said. “To be honest, I am only waiting for two more schools to offer, which are Ohio State and Georgia. Once those two schools have offered, I’ll kind of compile my top-10 list and move from there.”
Adeleye has offers from some of the top programs in the country, including Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Auburn, Florida, Baylor and Florida State. He eventually received that Houston offer he was after when he met Anunike. He only had offers from Texas A&M and Baylor at the time.
He also said he would like to visit Ohio State this summer if they can get something orchestrated.
DeaMonte Trayanum to visit Ohio State in June
Akron standout DeaMonte Trayanum has set up four official visits for June. His Ohio State visit will be a mid-week trip on June 17-19. He’s also hitting Arizona State on May 17-19, Wisconsin on June 7-9 and Penn State on June 20-22.
Trayanum is going to graduate from Archbishop Hoban in December, so he’s needed to expedite his process a bit. He’s said that he will be making his commitment in July.
The four-star No. 5 Ohio prospect is being recruited at a few different positions – safety, linebacker and running back – but Ohio State likes him in the backfield.
Statistically, Trayanum is a monster for Hoban, running 106 times for 1,313 yards and 26 touchdowns, as well as recording just over 60 tackles, eight sacks, 10 pass breakups and five forced fumbles.
Muhsin Muhammad III tames a snake
There was a snake on the field during practice at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, a couple days ago. Thankfully, four-star wideout Muhsin Muhammad III was there to take care of the situation. Yes, that is also Josh McCown, who played football in the NFL. His son, Owen, is a freshman on the team.
The Wide Outs @myersparkfball dont just catch footballs, we catch snakes!
— Josh McCown (@JoshMcCown12) May 9, 2019
My man @MooseMuhammad got the practice started right. Snake was safely carried to the woods and the guys crushed practice! pic.twitter.com/GJuMsKUx8N
