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.
Chase Harrison Preparing for First Full Year at Quarterback
Chase Harrison is a premiere in-state talent at the quarterback position, and as he continues to grow, he will improve as well. Harrison’s Centerville team had just a 2-8 season in 2018, but, entering his sophomore season, the Dayton quarterback has proven that he has the tools to play at a Division I level.
He posted a few highlights from his scrimmages against Dublin Coffman and Pickerington Central, where he put on display some of his touch and improved field vision.
“I am more confident and comfortable this year, for sure,” Harrison told Eleven Warriors. “Everything is slower, and I can see the field better. I can focus on pre-snap reads and know where my progressions are. It is my second year with offense, so I can just play and not think as much.”
That’s dangerous for other area programs to hear because Harrison has the physical skillset to be one of the top quarterbacks in the state. Last season, he split time with an older quarterback, but this year, the team is Harrison’s.
The Dayton product visited Ohio State during the spring, and Kevin Wilson made two visits to him. Then Harrison participated in Ohio State’s one-day camp in early-June. That’s the last of the contact he’s had with Ohio State, as the Buckeye staff was focused on getting its 2020 class committed during the summer.
Outside of Wilson, Harrison has been developing a good relationship with Mike Yurcich as well.
“I feel good about my relationships with the coaches,” Harrison said.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Harrison visit Ohio State for a game in the fall, though he doesn’t have any visiting plans nailed down yet.
Harrison is among a growing stable of quarterback targets within his class. That list includes No. 19 overall prospect Maalik Murphy, Texas pro-style quarterback Quinn Ewers, New Jersey pro-style quarterback Steve Angeli, Indiana pro-style quarterback Brady Allen and Columbus pro-style quarterback Jeffery Beverly.
Darrion Henry Solid in His Commitment
In Monday’s Hurry Up, I detailed how Paris Johnson Jr. and Darrion Henry are preparing each other for Ohio State by practicing against each other during their last season’s – and in Johnson’s case, his first season – at Princeton.
Also, included were how Henry is just getting back to lifting with Princeton’s team after having a long 5-month recovery from shoulder surgery in mid-December. But, in what was the biggest news of the day, Johnson told Eleven Warriors that he will remain committed to Ohio State until he signs in December.
Henry has his own version of that.
“I’m fully committed,” Henry told Eleven Warriors on Monday. “Just being fully committed took a lot of stress off my back. We can just focus on the team now, and I think we have a good chance of winning state.”
Henry has been transparent about how strong his commitment to Ohio State is, ever since he announced his commitment in early-July. It was the end result that most thought would come – “ever since I got the offer,” he said about fans believing he was going to Ohio State – but Henry made sure to take his time with the process.
He said he didn’t want to make a decision until his family was comfortable with wherever he would choose to go. That meant waiting for his parents to develop a relationship with Ohio State.
“After the second or third time my parents really got up there and got a good feel for it,” Henry said about when he knew it was time to commit. “Ever since then, and then since they got a good relationship with Coach Day.”
Now, the four-star defensive tackle, who will be playing defensive end during his senior season, is working on getting himself back into the shape he was in before he needed surgery after his junior season.
New Rivals Top-100 Ratings
Rivals released its new top-100 ratings for the Class of 2020 on Tuesday, and, for the most part, Ohio State’s commits remained in similar places.
Jack Miller was the only prospect to drop out of the top-100. He also saw a drop from 247Sports. As I wrote when he saw his first ratings drop, much of it is due to his injury he suffered, and has since recovered from, around the time when he was playing on national stages. It’s nothing to panic about because he still has one of the top arms in the country, and those ratings will likely restore once he plays in games as a senior.
Another noteworthy jump among the Ohio State commits was Gee Scott Jr., who leaped 14 spots to No. 36 overall. Mookie Cooper was also bumped 14 spots to No. 41. Julian Fleming’s four-spot jump pushed his composite rating to No. 3 in the country.
Bijan Robinson, who, of course, was nearly a Buckeye just a few weeks ago, finally received his fifth star, after being bumped seven spots to No. 19 overall in Rivals’ top-100. He’s now No. 18 overall in composite ratings.
