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.
Day hits recruiting trail
As media gathered early Sunday afternoon at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, it watched as ESPN’s cohort of host Rece Davis and analysts Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway revealed LSU to be the top seed in the College Football Playoff and Oklahoma as the No. 4 seed.
Shortly after, Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron joined Davis on a phone call to discuss the selection. Earlier, Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley had been interviewed from his jet in the anticipation of his team being selected.
Both Orgeron and Riley did not gather with their respective teams to watch the CFP pairings show, instead opting to hit the recruiting trail right away on the day after capturing conference championship crowns to kick off the second week of the December contact period.
Ryan Day, however, hung back at the Woody to join his Buckeyes’ watch party (as did Clemson’s Dabo Swinney) before being ushered in to meet with reporters for a brief interview session.
Day was quick and concise, and almost instantly after wrapping up, he hustled off to jump in his car and visit as many in-state 2020 commits as he could, visiting with Paris Johnson Jr., Darrion Henry-Young and Trey Leroux, among others.
What fantastic home visit @ParisJohnsonJr, @sydneyyjjohnson & I had with @ryandaytime and @CoachStudOL. #GoBucks #BuckeyeNation pic.twitter.com/cedwL8JwI4
— Monica Johnson (@MonicaCLJohnson) December 9, 2019
Go Bucks!!! @R2X_Rushmen1 @ryandaytime pic.twitter.com/rBldEA0pCa
— Darrion Henry-Young (@darrion_henry) December 8, 2019
Had a great home visit with Coach day! @OhioStateFB @ryandaytime pic.twitter.com/aRfqzsn5WR
— Trey Leroux (@trey_leroux) December 8, 2019
Day was joined in his visit with Johnson by Greg Studrawa, and his visit with Henry-Young was a tag-team effort with Larry Johnson. On Monday, Studrawa made his way up to Michigan for an in-home visit with Grant Toutant.
Appreciate you taking the time to come out and visit with the Family. Had a great home visit @CoachStudOL #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/B7aliyeeig
— Grant Toutant (@toutant_grant) December 9, 2019
That’s how Sunday, Monday and the rest of the week line up for Day, as the Buckeye coaches are scattered throughout the country to visit with as many 2020 commits as they possibly can between now and next week’s early signing period from Dec. 18-20. (They cannot make in-home visits with 2021 recruits during this period.)
Day talked about the hectic nature of the recruiting game last week, as he does his best to get to the soon-to-be future Buckeyes one last time and get them to make sure they understand how valuable and prioritized they are (all while having to navigate traveling to different awards ceremonies honoring the current Buckeyes who blew up this season and preparing for the CFP semifinal game against Clemson).
“Certainly is a challenge because we have so many midyear guys coming in and only one week on the road, really only four days,” Day said. “It's going to be a bear to try to get out there and see everybody, get all that done.”
That’s the life of a college football coach. Even after winning a Big Ten championship in an emotionally exhausting game; even after what had to be a nearly sleepless night after celebrating and getting back into Columbus a little before 4 a.m., the Buckeye coaches were back on the road looking toward the future of the program and locking down those who could help sustain what’s building here.
All while dressed in that stylish red blazer.
Stroud visits Michigan
The most important visit of the past weekend, as far as the Buckeyes are concerned, was C.J. Stroud’s trek over to Ann Arbor for his official visit with Michigan.
While I said on Friday that I don’t believe Stroud will wind up with the Wolverines because of them coming into the fray so late, it’s obviously noteworthy that he has shown genuine interest in Jim Harbaugh’s program.
Stroud will now await his official visit to Ohio State this coming weekend, which could go a long way in sealing the deal for him to come to the Buckeyes, who are still rumored to be the favorite in this recruitment.
And, by the way, it turns out that those “We Want C.J.” chants from the Wolverines’ student section on Friday night were for Michigan basketball walk-on C.J. Baird.
Michigan students chanting We want CJ for top 2020 quarterback target CJ Stroud (@CJ7STROUD) who is in attendance. pic.twitter.com/AD06WfTd3l
— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) December 7, 2019
In other 2020 quarterback news, Jack Miller was announced as his team’s Offensive Player of the Year after he bounced back from injury to have a standout season.
Congratulations @jackjamesmiller Proud of you. Chap Football Offensive Player of the Year! pic.twitter.com/fRl5FdGfoe
— Jack Miller(thedad) (@cocoabeach_28) December 9, 2019
Buckeyes offer 2022 OL
Ohio State dished out its second offensive line offer in the 2022 class, as 6-foot-5, 265-pound sophomore Joe Brunner from Whitefish Bay, Wisc., announced his Buckeyes offer on Monday night.
Im honored to have received an offer from The Ohio State University, Thank you coach @CoachGMattison pic.twitter.com/aDDCAMzLjK
— Joe Brunner (@brunnerjoe_) December 10, 2019
Wisconsin, Iowa, Notre Dame and Northern Illinois are the other early offers for Brunner, who has an early four-star rating from 247Sports and is ranked as the No. 1 offensive tackle in American and the No. 1 prospect in Wisconsin in the 2022 class.
Phillips, Ransom ranked No. 5
Rivals has been rolling out its updated class rankings at each position over the last week, and Clark Phillips III and Lathan Ransom were each rated No. 5 at their respective position (cornerback; safety).
With Ohio State expected to lose at least 75 percent of its starting secondary, and with a very good chance it loses 100 percent of it, bringing in a top-notch defensive backs class in this cycle is arguably the most important need, right up there with quarterback (though there are several positions of big need to restock after this season).
Fryar receives All-American jersey
Josh Fryar is not the star of the 2020 class. He’s ranked as a three-star offensive lineman out of Beech Grove (Ind.) High School, and he’ll be a developmental prospect who’s been evaluated as someone who won’t see the field until further down the road in his Buckeye career but can be a really good long-term option.
So, with all that being said, the Buckeyes will have a hell of a developmental prospect waiting in the wings over the next year or two.
Fryar, the No. 3-ranked senior in Indiana, received his All-American Bowl jersey on Monday.
This kid may drive me crazy at times but we laugh hard at the dumb things. He will always be a big Loser in my book. Congratulations on making the #allamericanbowl pic.twitter.com/yYfvEdxCud
— Tabitha (@thacker30) December 9, 2019
Fryar is one of eight 2020 Buckeye commits who have been named to the All-American Bowl roster, and he is one of three offensive line commits, joining Johnson and Luke Wypler.
Pretty impressive for a player whose ranking puts him at No. 17 in this Ohio State class out of 25. Speaks to the depth of this class.
