The Hurry Up: Jack Sawyer Rated No. 4 by Rivals, David Daniel is Growing a Relationship with Ohio State

By Taylor Lehman on August 19, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Jack Sawyer
Jack Sawyer
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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.

David Daniel Preparing for Junior Season, Talking with Al Washington

Georgia athlete David Daniel might be the next top target Ohio State has for the bullet position. His body type and playing style certainly lend themselves to the position, as he measures in at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and works in linebacker and defensive back packages. 

Depending on what Ohio State does with the bullet position in 2019 could aid in earning further interest from the 2021 No. 37 overall recruit moving forward.

As of now, he’s talked with Al Washington, Greg Mattison and Jeff Halfey but mainly stays in contact with Washington.

“OSU has been in contact with my coaches and me since May,” Daniel told Eleven Warriors. “They came out to my school a few times, and I spoke to Coach Washington and Mattison.”

As a sophomore at Woodstock High School, Daniel recorded 66 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, three interceptions a forced fumble and two blocked kicks.

He lined up primarily out of the safety position, and many of his plays came out of special teams opportunities too. He has very good closing speed and is clearly the most athletic player on the field.

He hoped to visit Columbus over the offseason but was unable to make the trip, which is typical of prospects that live far away. Covering that distance can be difficult for unofficial visits. But he said he hopes to make it in the fall.

“My parents and I talked about it. My coaches said they were asking me to come up for a junior day or camp last season, but we couldn’t make a trip,” Daniel said. “We are going to see if we can do a junior day this year if they invite me back.”

Daniel said he spent the majority of his summer training and preparing for what will be his most crucial high school season, in terms of recruiting, so he only made trips to Clemson, Georgia and Georgia Tech. 

He said he likes Washington and that he’s easy to talk to but that they haven’t had extended discussions about where Ohio State sees him playing within its defense yet. That will likely be saved for a visit in the future.

He hasn’t scheduled any visits to other programs for the fall yet but believes he will get those invites on or after Sept. 1, when coaches are allowed to make direct contact with 2021 prospects.

Right now, he’s focused on having a breakout season his junior year. 

“I just trained more this offseason,” Daniel said. “I worked with different coaches on all aspects of my craft – coaches for agility and speed, coaches for DB work and technique, and strength and weight training, coaches for tackling and pursuit.”

Where Team Captains Rated in Recruiting

In case you missed it, I laid out the recruitments for every Buckeye on the 2019 roster, so that somewhat covered much of what will be discussed in this section. But Ryan Day announced Ohio State’s team captains and starting quarterback Monday afternoon.

They aren’t the highest-rated prospects in their respective classes either. 

Two of the captains are from the Class of 2017. Chase Young, who was rated No. 7 overall – I know, I know, stick with me – and J.K. Dobbins, who was No. 46. Dobbins, who was the seventh-highest rated prospect in a stacked Ohio State 2017 class, has been committed to the program since he verbally committed without ever having seen campus, and Young has been a steal since Ohio State grabbed him from Maryland.

Three of the others have been rated highly too – Jonathon Cooper at No. 33 overall, Jordan Fuller at No. 134 and K.J. Hill at No.153 – but the two captains that would not have been expected to be named captains during their careers, based solely on recruiting ratings, are Tuf Borland and C.J. Saunders. 

Borland was the No. 324 overall prospect in the Class of 2016, and his decision was made after his spring game visit to Ohio State, shocking some recruiting circles by suddenly committing away from Wisconsin. Now he’s a captain. 

Saunders’ situation was drastically different. He wasn’t offered a scholarship. He walked on to Ohio State. Out of Dublin Coffman’s Class of 2015, he wasn’t even given a star rating or an overall rating. He was a three-sport athlete and was a captain for each of those sports and caught 39 passes for 522 yards and six touchdowns as a senior. He’s certainly needed to earn every inch he’s gained in Columbus.

But Monday, he cited his time behind Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon as a prime reason why he was able to grow the way he has. He is competing with Jaelen Gill for the backup H-back role behind K.J. Hill this season, but for where he was before walking on at Ohio State, any contribution is likely more than what was expected, let alone being named a captain.

“I think it’s pretty cool, but I think it’s a testament to our program in that it doesn't always matter how many stars you have or where you’re coming out of high school,” Saunders told the media Monday. “It’s all about the respect you earn once you get here. Once you get to a place like Ohio State, everybody’s good, so it doesn’t matter whether you came from nothing or came from everything. You’ve got to prove it every day.”

Rivals' Top-10 2021 Ratings Released

Rivals continues to release ratings updates into this week, as it appears it will be doing something similar to what it did last week with the 2020 class. Today, though, instead of releasing the top-100 for the 2021 class, it released a top-10.

Within that top-10 was Jack Sawyer, of course, who was rated No. 4 overall – the lowest ranking of the three recruiting sites.

For the prospects who have begun building relationships with Ohio State, this is where they rank in that top-10.

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