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.
Tatum's skillset and versatility “not normal for a 10th grader”
As soon as Donovan Edwards walked into the conference room at West Bloomfield (Mich.) High School, he began making his pitch.
“That’s the man right there. Always ready to work,” Edwards said, looking at a digital touch screen Smartboard clinging to the wall as Hudl highlights are shown of his sophomore teammate Dillon Tatum. “That's the dude.”
This is Edwards’ pitch any time he speaks with Division I college coaches, and he’s doing the same with a recruiting writer. Any opportunity he gets to highlight Tatum, he’s going to take that chance and run with it.
“Donovan beats me to the punch before I can,” Lakers head coach Ron Bellamy says when asked if he pitches Tatum’s name to college coaches.
Tatum is a 5-foot-10, 180-pound rising star at West Bloomfield, an all-around, do-everything-well athlete who serves as a nickelback, kick returner, punt returner, slot receiver and is the No. 2 running back for the Lakers, working in tandem with Edwards when opponents stack the box with eight men and Edwards goes to the slot or out wide.
Tatum is an explosive athlete who ran a 49.1 in the 400 meters and 21.9 in the 200 as a freshman and was one of the top sprinters in America for his 14-year-old age group. This past year on the football field, he racked up more than 500 yards rushing with four touchdowns of 50-plus yards on offense, and in his first three film clips, he does something different in each one to showcase his versatility.
“He’s played kick returner, running back, nickelback. Now he’s playing receiver,” said Bellamy as the fourth clip plays. “It’s ridiculous. That’s not normal for a 10th grader to be doing that. To play high level with all those positions. That’s the first thing college coaches say.
“If I had to project, I would say (he’ll play nickelback/slot corner in college), but he can play all over the field. You’ll see him blitzing, playing against the run, he can play the safety position. He does a lot of stuff. He’s unbelievable. He’s recognized right now as one of the top cover guys (in the state). He's about to blow up.”
Tatum is the next man up to follow in Edwards’ footsteps once he moves onto college after this coming season. Tatum has 20 offers to his name, a February 27 offer from Ole Miss joining Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Cincinnati and Colorado, among others.
Don’t be surprised if Ohio State throws its hat in the ring on Thursday or Friday when Tatum, Edwards and Bellamy make the trip to Columbus for an unofficial visit.
If Tatum continues to rise, it would behoove the Buckeye staff to get in on him early like they did with an offer to Edwards at the beginning of his sophomore season in 2018. If nothing else, an offer could get the ball rolling in his possible recruitment, though he may end up needing to camp with the Buckeyes this summer in order to drum up additional interest.
“When you watch his film, you’ll be like, ‘Oh. Dude’s for real.‘” – West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy on sophomore Dillon Tatum
“He’s a kid where he’s gonna come in there, and he’s gonna wow the room,” Bellamy said. “He’s gonna go into coach (Ryan) Day’s office and talk to coach Day, talk to Tony (Alford), talk to Kerry (Coombs). Kerry’s gonna love him.”
Before arriving at West Bloomfield, Tatum had not played any defensive back, but the quick learner picked up things up rapidly. Tatum is essentially the Swiss Army Knife of the Lakers’ defense, being used in several different positions and being thrown all over the field. Bellamy compares him to Tyrann Mathieu in terms of how the Lakers use him.
“When you watch his film, you’ll be like, ‘Oh. Dude’s for real,’” Bellamy said. “It’s intriguing when you look because we’re a base man-to-man team. What coaches love about (Dillon) is he’s smooth. No wasted movement.”
As for being in the offensive backfield, Tatum and Edwards are completely different. While Edwards is a complete back with the ability to run people over, Tatum is more of a blazer and is a bit shiftier.
“He’s not gonna be Donovan at running back. They’re two different types of backs, but he’s got some stuff,” Bellamy said. “If you watch his footwork, he’s so young that he’s not physically developed like Donovan is right now. They’re both different types of running backs – Donovan’s more of the patient, then boom. Dillon’s a slasher.
“I guess I would call them thunder and lightning when you put them in the backfield. He’s thunder while the kid is lightning. Donovan will run you over. Dillon’s not gonna run you over right now.”
Tatum will need to add some muscle over his next two high school years, but he's got potential to become one of the state of Michigan's top-ranked recruits by the time his career is over. Keep an eye on him.
Former Ohio State commit James enters portal
Following the Buckeyes’ first spring practice on Monday morning, Day spent about 25 minutes discussing the first practice session and giving very early evaluations. One of the first questions he was asked was whether or not Ohio State may end up looking toward the transfer portal to add depth at certain spots, especially as running back and defensive back are looking thin early on.
“We're pretty full right now, but you always have to look at it and be a part of it,” Day said. “I think that it's changed. I think probably even three to four years ago it was almost like taboo to talk about something like that. But that's the way things are going. So you always have to keep an eye on it.”
About 2-3 hours later, reports came out that Indiana running back Sampson James is transferring out of the Hoosiers program.
Obviously, it was pure coincidence that Day made those transfer portal comments around the same time, but James’ situation is very interesting to monitor. Making it even more intriguing is Tuesday's news that Master Teague will miss all of spring practice with an injury he suffered on Monday.
James is the top guy to take a look at in the transfer portal as the native of Avon, Ind., committed to Ohio State in March 2018 but flipped to the Hoosiers about seven months later, leaving Alford with just one running back (Steele Chambers) in the 2019 class. But Florida Gatorade Player of the Year Marcus Crowley quickly came into the fold, as Crowley received an offer less than a week after the James flip and committed less than a month later.
STAYING HOME pic.twitter.com/MUWsF91rRj
— Sampson (@Sjames_2) October 7, 2018
Perhaps the two could both end up in scarlet and gray after all, as the Buckeyes could be in search of another running back if Teague misses time in the fall.
Day said on Monday that they expect Crowley, who is listed as unavailable on the team's spring status report, will be back before the start of the season. But it's possible he will sit out the entire spring while recovering from injury. Miyan Williams, who was in attendance for Monday’s practice, will also be brought into the fold in a few months to add some depth.
In a bit of unfortunate foreshadowing on Monday, or perhaps Day knew more than he was letting on, Day said that one injury during spring practice could change things. Teague's injury and the unknowns with Crowley could certainly push the Buckeyes into looking James' way.
“Once we get to the summer, we'll be whole,” Day said. “But, yeah, we're one injury away from a little bit of a crisis right now (at running back), but in the end when it comes to September we're going to be OK.”
