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.
Pryor locks in visit
When William Amos Hough (N.C.) four-star running back Evan Pryor released his top six list of final schools a few weeks ago, it came following a pair of January visits to North Carolina and Georgia – the two programs most dangerous to Ohio State in the race to land the country’s fifth-ranked RB – and he told Eleven Warriors he planned on getting to Columbus sometime in March.
Pryor confirmed with us that he will be taking that visit March 18-20, with plans on arriving to the city exactly two weeks from today and staying for about “two-and-a-half” days. That’s a lot of time for Tony Alford to provide some more details similar to what he will be providing this weekend’s biggest visitor, Donovan Edwards, as Alford and the Buckeyes will certainly be breaking down to Pryor how they would be using a two-back system in their offense.
An Edwards-Pryor combo has been talked about for months, and when Buckeye fans saw that photo of the two of them was tweeted on their visit to Georgia, it had to bring with it some squirms. But that could just as easily end up being the exact same situation in Ohio State for the two top-five ranked backs, each ranked in the top 100 overall (Edwards is No. 38; Pryor is No. 84), who have a solid relationship that was formed during that trip.
Neither Edwards nor Pryor knew the other was going to be on that trip, so when they ran into each other, maybe it felt a bit like that Spider-Man meme. Usually, when bringing in two similarly ranked running backs on the same visit, coaches will hope to keep the two at arm’s length.
Your teams worst nightmare ! @DEdwards__ #GoDawgs @DellMcGee pic.twitter.com/mtgNZU3ARQ
— Evan Pryor (@evanpryor3) February 2, 2020
But the two of them were kicking it on that trip. It’s a lot more fun to imagine that players on those types of visits are criminal masterminding behind the scenes and talking about teaming up at that specific school or another school. But, alas, it was a laid-back getting-to-know-each-other feeling out process.
“Nothing about recruiting,” Edwards told Eleven Warriors of what the two talked about on that trip. “It was more like, ‘You live in North Carolina? What’s that like?’ And ‘You live in Michigan with all that snow. What’s that like?’”
The two could very well end up converging from those two different states, and their March visits should go a long way in helping make that either a possibility or an unlikelihood.
Also, how serendipitous would it be if Edwards and Pryor became friends during a trip to Athens and ended up in Columbus? Just food for thought.
Of course, I just wrote all those words about Ohio State and Georgia for Pryor, but North Carolina is a third horse in that race that I’m hearing is absolutely is on just as firm ground with the other two programs.
On Wednesday, those rumblings seemed to gain even more strength, as 247Sports’ Don Callahan reported that Pryor – who has great relationships with the North Carolina coaches – made a trip to nearby Chapel Hill on Sunday, the first day of the quiet period in which recruits can make visits, and he plans on visiting Georgia on March 28.
It sounds very reasonable to expect Pryor to stick with making a commitment sometime soon, and he told Callahan that when he does commit to a program, he wants to do so during a recruiting visit:
Pryor's calendar lists trips to Ohio State on March 18 and Georgia on March 28. He also is looking to visit Penn State in April.
Unless the trip is moved up, Pryor might not make it to Happy Valley. When he revealed his top six publicly, he said there was an 80 percent chance that he'd commit this month. That remains the case.
When Pryor's commitment occurs, it's likely to transpire during a recruiting trip.
"Probably, most likely, I'll [commit] on campus just to be able to look the coach in his eyes and let him know that I'm coming," Pryor said.
Consider Pryor being on commitment watch the entire month of March, especially in two weeks time, and into the early part of April if he’s still uncommitted by then.
Dunn earns offer on latest visit
When South Warren star Jantzen Dunn, the state of Kentucky’s second-ranked recruit in the 2021 class and the No. 22-ranked junior athlete in the country, visited Columbus for the Buckeyes’ game against Penn State, the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder told Eleven Warriors “it was an amazing visit” despite leaving without an offer.
Dunn says he and his dad “loved the atmosphere and energy” at the Shoe, and in their talks with Ohio State coaches afterward, they told him they wanted Dunn “to get a better feel for all they offer on and off the field.”
Now that more than three months have passed, it’s safe to say Dunn got that feel, and he was back on campus Wednesday for the Buckeyes’ second spring practice.
This time, Dunn left with an offer, and that puts Ohio State right in the thick of the race for a talented player with the ability to play both cornerback and safety at the next level.
After an extremely great talk with @ryandaytime I am blessed to receive an offer from THE Ohio State University pic.twitter.com/MpUPpS8dYu
— Jantzen Dunn (@JantzenDunn) March 4, 2020
Dunn is planning on making an official visit to Miami, where his father – former Miami basketball player but Bowling Green, Ky., native Mitchell Dunn – played one season for the Hurricanes in the 90s. Miami, Louisville, Oklahoma and Tennessee are all contenders, and Ohio State now is as well.
That’s especially true considering Dunn has a relationship with Buckeye cornerback Ryan Watts, dating back to their time spent together working out with True Buzz Athletics in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
About 90 minutes after Dunn announced the Ohio State offer, he also announced an offer from Michigan.
Buckeye Nation Go show my dawg some love https://t.co/oIj6uZzASz
— Ryan Watts (@TheRyanWatts) March 4, 2020
Turner includes Ohio State in trimmed list
Ohio State should be considered a long shot right now for St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) star Dallas Turner, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound junior who recently was moved from weakside defensive end to outside linebacker on his recruiting profile.
Turner, the nation’s No. 14-ranked OLB and No. 165-ranked overall player in his class, on Tuesday night announced his list of top 10 schools, which includes three Big Ten schools (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State), three SEC programs (Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina), the major Florida schools and Oregon.
Thank you god for putting me in this position ! #Top10 pic.twitter.com/e1DPfEFujz
— Dallas Turner (@UnoErra) March 4, 2020
It’s worth keeping an eye on Turner going forward, but right now the Buckeyes are higher on North Gwinnett (Ga.) High School’s Barrett Carter as the second linebacker to bring into this class.
