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.
An up-and-comer
It’s a story as old as recruiting itself.
Scouts go to a practice, game, camp, showcase, whatever to check out the star or the higher-rated, top-billed guy, and someone else catches their eye. They take a keen interest in that kid, help put him on the map, and he turns into a star himself or at least a legitimate contributor at the next level.
That’s what happened to me Friday night.
I’m not a scout. Far from it. And I’m not going to help anyone turn into a star, but I’m reserving this space to put Bryon Threats on the map.
I went to Dublin Coffman’s game against Pickerington North mainly to see Coffman 2020 running back Michael Drennen II and 2021 safety A.J. Kirk — each of who have Ohio State offers — and North’s Jack Sawyer.
Drennen, spending all of his snaps out of the slot, didn’t play in the first quarter, and he was held in check the rest of the game.
Kirk wasn’t at the game. Speaking to several people about Kirk, he hasn’t played in a game yet this season. I’m hoping to get you guys more on-the-record information about him soon.
But telling people I was there to see Drennen and Kirk, I was told by a handful of people some variation of, “Who you need to be checking out is No. 2.”
Threats is listed as a 5-foot-10, 190-pound junior safety, ranked 27th in Ohio’s 2021 class. He won’t stay far down on that list for long.
Threats, who will be able to play either as a defensive back or most likely a slot receiver in college, hasn’t gotten much time to boost his reputation and establish himself as a name to know. He played just half the season as a sophomore due to Ohio’s transfer rules, but the player who 247Sports’ Bill Greene labeled one of the most exciting juniors in the state continues to wow onlookers and is on the right path to potential stardom.
Threats holds offers from Cincinnati, Akron, Georgia Tech, Ohio and Toledo, and he says one of his biggest individual goals is to become a college football player at the Division I level. But he admits he’s got plenty of work to do to get there.
“[I have to] just keep developing as a better player,” Threats told Eleven Warriors. “Keep getting faster, stronger and come back every year harder and stronger. I wanna develop every year.
“I need to humble myself a little more. Take every L as a lesson. I just gotta keep developing and humbling myself.”
Threats is one to keep an eye on as this season continues to progress, and his stock could rise if he heads to offseason showcases and gets himself on the radar ahead of his senior year.
He’s on a positive trajectory, trending upward.
The same can be said about Chris Scott.
I was spending my time on the Pickerington North sidelines focused on how Sawyer was playing, but Scott jumped out. Panthers coaches and personnel won’t stop raving about the 6-foot-2, 175-pound receiver, too.
Scott hauled in a 75-yard third-quarter touchdown catch on a pass from Sawyer, faking a hitch, exploding up the sidelines, snagging the ball and showing some breakaway speed to jump-start a Panthers rally from a 21-6 deficit into a 29-27 victory.
Chris Scott, three-star 2020 receiver from Pickerington North High School.
Scott is a three-star receiver, ranked the 16th-best Ohio recruit and 95th-ranked nationally as a receiver, and he holds offers from Michigan, Kentucky and Cincinnati.
He probably won’t get an Ohio State offer. He’s in the 2020 class, and the Buckeyes are already set at wide receiver with Julian Fleming, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gee Scott Jr. and Mookie Cooper.
But Scott is a winner, and with his attitude and skill set that his coaches rave about, he’ll find his niche at the college level, and he might even get his shot at making the Buckeyes regret passing on him.
Speaking of Jaxon and Julian…
Fleming continues balling out at the preps level, setting a pair of Pennsylvania state records on Friday night by hitting 4,442 receiving yards and 62 receiving touchdowns for his career.
The nations No. 1 WR Julian Fleming set 2 state records tonight!
— MaxPreps (@MaxPreps) September 28, 2019
Shout out to the @OhioStateFB commit. pic.twitter.com/hw4MZuKzbx
In less exciting news, Smith-Njigba suffered a dislocated shoulder in his team’s loss to Longview on Friday, per HornSports’ Nick Harris.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba suffered a dislocated shoulder in Rockwalls loss to Longview tonight.
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisTV) September 28, 2019
Popped out, popped it back in.
The 4 Ohio State commit avoids any broken bones on an ugly hit.
More info on the timetable for his return next week.@TheOldCoach | #TXHSFB
Eleven Warriors was told Smith-Njigba saw a specialist for an X-ray on Saturday, and there were positive signs. The senior suffered a mild Grade 1 AC joint separation, and he will be week-to-week, but the injury is not expected to be a long-term ailment.
Quarterback Jack
I’m not going to get too far into Sawyer’s wow-inducing performance in leading a comeback victory that could change the Panthers’ entire season.
You’ll have to read more about that Tuesday morning – or Thursday afternoon, I’m not sure yet – when my next profile piece drops.
In the meantime, I’ll drop a few tweets right here to keep you occupied:
Jack Sawyer is gonna be a (expletive) star
— Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) September 28, 2019
Two TD passes and a rush TD to lead Pickerington North back from a 21-6 deficit in 3Q to a 29-27 win over Dublin Coffman, the states No. 1 team in D1, Region 2 pic.twitter.com/u1DIsTELvw
Think this was a big win for this program? pic.twitter.com/TTazIgKJ9F
— Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) September 28, 2019
Sawyer is going to be a star. I’ve been covering preps for three years, which doesn’t seem like a long time, but I’ve done it all. Football, boys/girls basketball, baseball, softball, swimming, track, wrestling, soccer, volleyball. Almost everything.
I’ve come across a ton of well-rounded, mature high schoolers with talent, leadership qualities and great interviewing skills to boot (always a plus when you’re paid in-part to interview people).
None have been like him.
And after hearing this quote from Booger McFarland on The Ryen Russillo Podcast on Saturday morning, I immediately wrote it down because I thought it captured what I’ve gathered about Sawyer on Thursday and Friday perfectly:
McFarland on what made NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks such a great leader:
“Most of the great leaders that I’ve been around, they never announce that ‘I’m the leader.’ They never say, ‘Hey, I’m the leader of this team.’ Most of the great leaders, people just gravitate toward them because of what they do, how they act and the life that they lead.”
That was Brooks, and that’s Sawyer. That’s how he was on the sidelines during that rally.
The Buckeyes got themselves an on-field talent with the leadership intangibles to match. He’s going to be the leader of that Ohio State defense by the time he’s a sophomore and junior.
