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.
Edwards sees Ohio State's lack of depth up close
There is no silver lining to Master Teague’s Achilles injury or Marcus Crowley’s spring absence. Those two are important to Ohio State’s hopes of a return to the College Football Playoff, and their inability to develop this spring will hurt the Buckeyes.
*Stephen A. Smith voice*
However ...
The timing of Teague’s injury could actually end up being a benefit for Ohio State’s future at the running back position itself.
In a huge, much-anticipated visit from Donovan Edwards, the nation’s No. 3-ranked running back from West Bloomfield (Mich.) High School who is either No. 1, 2 or 3 on the Buckeyes’ running back board for the 2021 class, saw up close on Friday how badly Ohio State needs a running back in the next class. Yes, Edwards has been hearing that from coaches, but it was a different thing entirely for him to see it with his own eyes in a practice setting.
“One of the eye-opening things I think he saw was there’s not much depth in the running back position at Ohio State,” West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy, who drove Edwards down to Columbus for the Thursday-Friday unofficial visit, told Eleven Warriors. “He saw that. It was good for him.
“That was one thing he responded to. … It was pretty obvious that there’s not that much depth at that position.”
West Bloomfield (Mich.) High School running back Donovan Edwards and West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy both visited Ohio State this past week.
Edwards and Bellamy got into town late Thursday, spending the night in Columbus for Edwards’ first overnight visit in the city. The next day, Edwards visited practice and as planned, he paid close attention to Tony Alford and Brian Hartline as they conducted practice for their position groups.
“He got a chance to watch practice and ask questions and kind of see the preparation,” Bellamy said. “He liked the tempo of practice and the competitiveness of it. He’s been there before. He’s familiar with the coaches and some of the players.
“He got the chance to wake up and see the facilities. We were there for quite some time. We got a chance to interact with some of the early enrollees – primarily the receivers and quarterbacks that were there. It was good, man. It was a cool experience.”
Thank you @OhioStateFB and @ryandaytime, we appreciate you welcoming us to Columbus. @CoachTonyAlford @DB_CoachCoombs pic.twitter.com/uj4MNk201y
— Ron Bellamy (@19Bellamy) March 9, 2020
Edwards was an observer during practices, but he did get to catch up with Alford in person and spend time with several coaches, including Mickey Marotti. The coaches put Edwards through what Bellamy called “a platform session,” which gives the players advice on how to build their brand.
Eventually, Edwards and Bellamy got their opportunity to get some important information.
“When you start getting comfortable, you start asking the tough questions,” Bellamy said. “That’s what we did – about recruitment, schematically how you see him fitting in. Different things of that nature. And just questions about recruitments of other (running backs).
“Coach Day did a great job answering our questions and some of our concerns. He was able to show myself and Donovan some of the different things they do offensively and how they incorporate their backs into the game plan. That was pretty neat. I let (Donovan) do his thing. I gave him some space and let him do his thing in the times that we were meeting with the coaches one-on-one.”
Another important step in this recruitment and this visit was for Edwards to get more familiar with some of the younger players on the team – ones who could be his future teammates and the guys he would be sharing an offense with. C.J. Stroud, Paris Johnson Jr., Julian Fleming and Gee Scott Jr. are just some of the players whom Edwards got a chance to talk with. And there was one special visitor.
“The guys were super cool,” Bellamy said. “He also got a chance to go into the weight room, and Jeff Okudah was in the weight room. Donovan got a chance to meet him. It was cool. They’re high school kids so that’s huge, for high school kids whose lives are about to change forever.”
The next step in this recruitment is the Ohio State coaches hoping to complete their original plan. Edwards and Bellamy told the Buckeye staff that it had the option of when they wanted Edwards to visit, and they chose the first week after the dead period. Now, they are hoping to get Edwards’ final unofficial visit of the spring before he begins taking official visits.
The Buckeyes hope to get Edwards back for the April 11 spring game, or shortly after, and bring Edwards’ father for a visit. From there, Ohio State’s goal is to land an official visit from Edwards.
As for where the top-40 recruit goes next, he plans on taking unofficial visits to both Florida and Florida State, in addition to upcoming visits at Notre Dame and Michigan. There are plans for trips to other schools as well, with the possibility of visits to Oregon, USC and Texas. The plan is still to trim his list to seven or 10 schools in March and five schools in May.
“I’ll talk to him more about it,” Bellamy said. “One of the things I wanna talk to him one-on-one about. He enjoyed his visit. He enjoyed the experience. It was cool. They did a good job. That’s why Ohio State’s one of the top programs in the nation. They do things the right way.”
Tatum “ecstatic” about offer
Edwards and Bellamy were not alone on their trip to Columbus. They were also there with Edwards’ running back/defensive back teammate Dillon Tatum, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound rising sophomore with more than 20 offers, including Florida, Miami, Michigan and Michigan State.
During the visit, Tatum got the chance to meet Kerry Coombs, but it was Alford who offered Tatum, and the future 2022 star reacted like you would expect.
After a Great Visit I am very delighted to announce that I have received a offer from The Ohio State University #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Kj8JxfD53H
— Dillon Tatum (@PrimeTimeDill) March 7, 2020
“He was ecstatic, man,” Bellamy said. “That’s a great school. Heck of a football program. Coach Day’s done a great job in his short tenure at Ohio State. It’s one of those things where the kid’s like, ‘Wow.’ It’s one of those offers that’s an attention-getter for programs across America. Like, ‘Woah. Who’s this Dillon Tatum kid?’”
As we talked about a week-and-a-half ago, Ohio State’s coaches do see him as a slot corner for right now.
“But like I said, he’s also got a really good skillset at running back,” Bellamy said. “You’ll probably see his recruitment take off. He’s a good player.”
Alford will maintain a relationship with Tatum, and during our interview with Bellamy, Kerry Coombs texted Bellamy. Don’t be surprised if Coombs continues keeping tabs on Tatum over the next year as the Buckeyes have put themselves squarely in Tatum’s recruitment.
Edwards and Tatum also took an unofficial visit to Michigan State on Sunday, getting to meet Mel Tucker and his staff for the first time. They were in attendance for the Spartans’ win over Ohio State on the basketball court.
