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.
Editor's note: About 90 minutes after publication of this article, Ryan Day and Ohio State announced that it has suspended all official and unofficial visits through April 20 and will not recruit off-campus this spring due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Pryor previews visit
As Evan Pryor’s recruitment heats up, with Crystal Ball predictions dropped for Ohio State and North Carolina and upcoming visits to Columbus (March 18-20), Georgia (March 28) and UNC (sometime after the Georgia visit), the four-star running back is still staying as even-keeled as he has when Eleven Warriors first spoke with him back in September.
“It’s not stressful. It has gotten crazy, but stressful’s not a word I use. I’m enjoying it,” Pryor said. “I just take the same attitude about it. Just having more conversations with the fam to make sure I’m making the right decision.”
As for what that right decision is, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound junior will soon have more clarity on that as he approaches a commitment.
“North Carolina and Ohio State are pretty even right now,” Pryor said. “These next few visits will tell a lot about where I’m going so just trying to make sure I’m meeting with and talking with the coaches to make sure I’m finding the right fit for me and my family.”
Pryor, who believes he is being equally prioritized by both Ohio State and North Carolina, says that he has spoken extensively with Ryan Day and Tony Alford, and it’s crystal clear that “my offer is fully committable.”
So when he heads to Columbus next week, he won’t have any questions about whether or not the Buckeyes would accept a commitment from him. Rather, he wants to get “an overall look at the backs” and, like Donovan Edwards saw last week, get an up-close look at the Buckeyes’ lack of depth in the backfield.
“Seeing that they’re skinny at the position is definitely something I’ll be looking at,” Pryor said. “I know they wanna take two – just seeing how they work the two-back system and also just getting that feel, that family feel, with relationships. Sitting down with Coach Day more and all that.”
I’ve been saying for a long time now that I believe Pryor will end up with the Buckeyes, and I’ve been feeling confident that it will be an Edwards-Pryor tandem haul. It’s very possible that Pryor becomes the first big domino to drop for Ohio State’s running back recruiting next week if he feels the timing is right, as he’s been on record saying that he wants to commit on a recruiting visit.
“If I go on campus and feel like this is the fit for me and my family’s happy, I’m gonna commit,” Pryor said. “I feel like it can be an any-day thing now, at this point.”
Just like Edwards and TreVeyon Henderson have told us, a two-back system is attractive to Pryor as well, so the Buckeyes have that going for them as well.
“These next few visits will tell a lot about where I’m going so just trying to make sure I’m meeting with and talking with the coaches to make sure I’m finding the right fit for me and my family.”– Evan Pryor
“It’s not something that runs me away. It’s actually something that attracts me more; the two-back system,” Pryor said. “I just wanna see some stats. I know they know how to get two backs the ball because of Mike Weber and J.K. (Dobbins) there at the same time. So I just wanna see how it would go now because I think Ohio State’s kind of changed with Justin Fields back there and the kinds of quarterbacks they recruit. I think that’s something that I’ll have to ask.
“I feel like with Justin Fields, the quarterbacks they got in 2020 and also Kyle (McCord) – they’re guys who are able to use their legs in a lot of situations. So instead of just straight handoffs, there are more read options and things of that nature.”
Edwards is, of course, a strong candidate as the other running back to pair with Pryor, and the two have a good relationship since they each visited Georgia in January.
“We talk here and there. We don’t really talk about recruiting like that. Just if we see something on Instagram or something like that, we’ll hit each other up,” Pryor said. “Just building that genuine relationship – not just putting ourselves into recruiting or anything. I think Donovan’s a cool guy, and he’s someone I think I could see myself working with if we both end up at the same place.
“It’s not a lot of recruiting talk that goes on. We just handle our business and things like that that we like to keep to ourselves. But just feeling each other out as people, I feel like that’s huge for us.”
Relationships with UNC coaches
Back when we talked with Pryor in October, he talked about how difficult it would be to potentially say no to the North Carolina coaches and leave the state. It’s hard to blame him, as Pryor has a relationship with Mack Brown since he was hired in November of 2018, and he’s had a relationship with running backs coach Robert Gillespie since he started coming into William Amos Hough High School during Pryor’s freshman year.
“I was one of the first people he talked to in terms of recruits,” Pryor said of Brown. “He was just telling me how important I am there in the state as a running back and what I could do for in-state recruiting as a whole. Coach Brown and I have a very strong relationship. And Coach G and I, we’ve had a relationship for a long time as well. He was there since the last staff was there. That’s going back, I’d say, about three or four years – all the way back to my freshman year with Coach G. That’s a pretty solid relationship.”
It’s very impactful for the Tar Heels to be prioritizing in-state recruits and having been involved with Pryor for so long, especially with Gillespie.
“It’s huge. It’s gonna be a tough decision because you’ve been around (Gillespie) for a long time,” Pryor said. “He’s like family at that point. You’re building relationships, and I have a lot of love for those people because they’re looking out for you and want the best for you. Our relationship is great.”
Hancock commits to Clemson
Well, we had been waiting to see if Clemson’s latest Junior Day would result in a commitment from any of Ohio State’s biggest targets who visited over the weekend.
It took a few days, but on Wednesday, the Tigers landed a commitment from North Gwinnett (Ga.) High School’s Jordan Hancock, the No. 6-ranked cornerback and No. 82-ranked overall player in the nation.
Blessed To Be In The Position Im In..
— jordan hancock (@jordanhancock_7) March 11, 2020
No Turning Back, Im All In Till Its Over
C O M M I T T E D
#ALLIN #WE2DEEP21 pic.twitter.com/XwgO4ghTGw
Ohio State had been involved with Hancock longer than most other programs, and a lot of that was due to Jeff Hafley’s evaluation of him.
When Hancock visited Columbus for the Buckeyes’ game against Wisconsin in October and left with a scholarship. He absolutely loved talking with Hafley, telling Eleven Warriors a couple months ago that, “When I went up there, we talked for like an hour about football. If I didn’t have to leave, we would’ve been talking for even longer.”
That was back when Hancock was barely ranked in the top 300 overall and in the top 25 among cornerbacks and top 25 in the state of Georgia. That part was one of the many reasons that the Buckeyes seemed to have a great line on him – they had been recruiting him well before he was truly on the national radar.
Day, Al Washington and Matt Barnes did a good job of building a relationship with Hancock, and the Buckeyes were throwing the kitchen sink at Hancock, who told us he had heard from at least 10 Ohio State coaches from October-January.
But it’s telling that when Clemson came calling with an offer in early January, the Buckeye coaches began picking up their efforts in earnest. It wasn’t enough, though, as Clemson keeps on rolling.
