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.
Colby McDonald Has a Good Ohio State Visit
Three-star 2021 running back Colby McDonald made his way to Columbus for a visit last weekend, and he left feeling good about where he stands with the Buckeye staff.
“I really enjoyed myself there,” McDonald told Eleven Warriors. “I loved the facility and everything they showed me. I had a good conversation with the running backs coach (Tony Alford).”
McDonald is a bruising back, standing at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds entering his junior year, and he has enough speed to make defenses pay in space, especially with that size. His role in the offense will continue to increase in the 2019 season, but he’s already made a reputation of breaking big plays for St. John’s College High School because of how hard he runs through the holes in the line.
He’s been in contact with Ed Terwilliger, director of high school relations and an assistant running backs coach, since June, but his conversations with Alford stood out to him the most after leaving Ohio State.
He left with an even better impression of Ohio State than he came in with, he said.
“I really liked what the coaches were telling me and how they kept it real with me instead of just boosting my head,” McDonald said. “They told me they really liked my tape, and they just need to see me in person and they will be keeping in contact through out the year.”
McDonald plans to come back to Columbus for a game at some point in 2019.
He has offers from Tennessee, Maryland, Kansas, Boston College and Massachusetts, and he said in addition to those schools, he’s been hearing a lot from Notre Dame, Syracuse, Florida, Alabama and Kentucky.
New 2022 Ratings Include One Ohioan
After releasing the latest 2020 class ratings a couple weeks ago and the 2021 class shortly after, 247Sports released its first ratings for the 2022 class in the form of the first top-100 for the incoming high school sophomores.
Only one Ohioan was included in the top-100, and he’s a top target for the Buckeyes. Archbishop Alter athlete C.J. Hicks was rated No. 24 overall and No. 3 in the nation at his position. He has already received quite a bit of praise from Ohio coaches at the high school level and participated in one of Ohio State’s two one-day camps, working with secondary coach Jeff Hafley, in June. His interest in the Buckeyes is extremely high.
All but a few of the prospects Ohio State has offered were included in the top-100. The Buckeyes don’t typically plan to recruit prospects until this point in the 2022 class, but there are always exceptions. Fourteen 2022 prospects have Ohio State offers, but that number will jump after the football season.
It’s important to keep in mind that these ratings will change drastically as time goes by and are essentially considered works in progress. However, these are some of the standouts after the ratings were released.
- No. 3: Virginia inside linebacker Shawn Murphy
- No. 10: California cornerback Domani Jackson
- No. 19: California quarterback Maalik Murphy
- No. 22: Colorado running back Gavin Sawchuk
- No. 56: Texas safety Christian Driver
- No. 60: Florida offensive tackle Julian Armelia
- No. 69: Georgia running back Jamie Felix
- No. 85: Texas running back Emeka Megwa
- No. 96: Texas defensive tackle Bear Alexander
- No. 99: Pennsylvania inside linebacker Anthony Johnson
Lawrance Toafili Commits to Florida State
Florida running back Lawrance Toafili announced Wednesday night that he has committed to Florida State.
— Lawrance Toafili (@LToafili_3) August 8, 2019
I addressed this in the Hurry Up earlier this week, but Toafili's commitment to Florida State isn't a surprise. The No. 13 running back in the 2020 class was nearly set to commit to Florida State when Ohio State learned Bijan Robinson and Jaylan Knighton were going elsewhere. The window for the Buckeyes had closed.
That doesn't stop the sting when a former target commits elsewhere, though, even though Ohio State has a new plan at the running back position.
