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.
Aaron Armitage says Ohio State offer "means a lot"
New Jersey defensive end Aaron Armitage isn’t going into his recruitment blindly. The 2021 No. 12 defensive end understands where programs stand on a national stage and the reputations they’ve created for themselves on a micro level.
For Ohio State, he already knows of defensive line coach Larry Johnson without having met him, and he also believes Ohio State is in position to win a national title in the next couple of years.
“They are third in the country right now, and they have Justin Fields,” Armitage told Eleven Warriors. “I believe if he can stay healthy, they will have a great shot at winning the title.”
He’s also used a seed of a relationship with defensive coordinator Greg Mattison to his advantage. Mattison, while at Michigan, was recruiting Armitage’s teammate, David Ojabo, who eventually signed with Michigan, and while Mattison was recruiting Ojabo, Armitage had a few conversations with him.
Then Mattison, along with secondary coach Jeff Hafley, extended an Ohio State offer to Armitage on May 8. Besides his conversations with Mattison and Ojabo, Armitage had never spoken with Ohio State.
“My coach at Blair Academy, Jim Saylor, informed me about the offer,” Armitage said. “He told me, ‘Coach Mattison and Hafley have offered you and would love to see you on campus during the summer.’”
Blessed to have received an offer from Ohio State University.
— Aaron Armitage (@armitage_aaron) May 8, 2019
@SaylorBlairFB @MikeCoyle12 @chatfootball @mccarthy_report @RivalsFriedman @BrianDohn247 @TodderickHunt @alexgleitman @Birm @CoachGMattison pic.twitter.com/QwSh4BqNn1
Armitage said he is doing his best to get to a summer camp in Columbus this summer, maybe in June, not only to compete in front of the Buckeyes’ staff and see what the program is like but to also be coached by Johnson.
“I would love to meet him,” Armitage said. “It would be an honor to be coaches by him for a day to see what it’s like.”
He has several offers from Michigan, Penn State, LSU, Wisconsin and others, but the school that has really jumped out to him is Virginia.
“A few other schools as well, but I’ve mostly heard from Virginia,” Armitage said. “They were my first offer, so I am grateful for them having hope in me.”
Schematically, though, Armitage has watched several teams play. He watches a lot of college football and a lot of defensive lines. He’s already had an eye for Ohio State before his offer, noting the pressure that the Bosas and others have applied to opposing quarterbacks in the last half-decade. He’s also excited to see current Ohio State defensive end Chase Young play too.
“I can’t wait to see him play next season,” Armitage said. “He’s going to tear it up.”
Kedrick Bingley-Jones sets his commitment date, status of 2020 defensive line recruitment
North Carolina defensive tackle Kedrick Bingley-Jones announced via Twitter that he will be announcing his commitment Aug. 3.
That commitment date cuts his recruitment fairly short for the number of official visits he has scheduled at this point. Bingley-Jones has only announced his official to Ohio State on June 21.
On August 3rd I Will Be Making My Final Decision#Flyhighgrandma
— Kedrick Bingley-J. (@kedrickbingleyj) May 20, 2019
Last June, Bingley-Jones received his Ohio State offer and was in Columbus for Friday Night Lights, and after the event, he told Eleven Warriors that Ohio State was at the top of the list with teams like Tennessee and Georgia. His 247Sports Crystal Ball has been all over the place with North Carolina, N.C. State and Florida as possible landing spots for the defensive tackle, so there is no destination for sure yet.
Bingley-Jones’ commitment would be big for Ohio State, though, as the Buckeyes have a handful of recruits they’re involved with but no locks yet. No. 5 defensive tackle Vernon Broughton included the Buckeyes in his top-six Monday, and No. 19 defensive tackle Coziah Izzard. After those three, Dayon Hayes, who was in Columbus for a visit this weekend two weeks after he was offered, and Dane Middlebrook are the two most anchored prospects at the position for 2020.
It’s not particularly a position of need for Ohio State, but adding one, and certainly one of the first three mentioned, wouldn’t hurt.
Broughton has been recruited hard by the SEC and by Texas, where he will likely end up committing. While Larry Johnson is a great recruiter and a highly respected defensive line coach, it's hard to imagine a reality where he pulls Broughton, a Houston native, out of Texas.
Besides Bingley-Jones, whose interests are tough to pin down at this point, Hayes might be the defensive tackle recruit listed above that has the most mutual interest with Ohio State and is a slightly underrated prospect out of Pittsburgh, as he's rated No. 51 at his position but the No. 3 recruit out of the state.
Braiden McGregor to commit Friday, likely not to Ohio State.
Michigan defensive end Braiden McGregor announced via Twitter that he will be committing Friday.
— Braiden McGregor (@BraidenMcgregor) May 19, 2019
This comes as a bit of a surprise because after The Opening Regionals in Massillon on March 31, McGregor told Eleven Warriors that he had used his tour of SEC unofficial visits in February and March as preparation for some Midwestern, Big Ten visits coming up, including one to Ohio State. He said his mindset heading into those visits was to ask "the tough questions" and get the best idea of where he fits into each program, but it appears McGregor is comfortable with his current situation.
Since that day, though, the No. 5 defensive end has made two visits – his official to Notre Dame on April 5 and his official to Florida on May 17. Ohio State would want to see McGregor extend his recruitment out past the summer and get him on campus if it felt good about its chances with him.
McGregor will likely choose Michigan, though Notre Dame is giving the Wolverines a sweat. At this point, McGregor either didn't see enough from Notre Dame or Florida to outweigh his affinity for Michigan, or there has been a sudden change of heart after his Florida visit.
No Hurry Up May 21-28
If you haven't seen it yet, there will not be a Hurry Up on May 21-28. It will return Wednesday, May 29. Here is the forum post explaining why.
