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.
Buckeyes lead for Henderson
TreVeyon Henderson was excited to finally get to Ohio State's campus for his first visit on a scheduled trip April 10-11 for the spring game. When informed the Buckeyes were canceling all recruiting visits until at least April 15, he was understandably disappointed because of how much he was looking forward to getting to campus.
Once the NCAA made it a nationwide mandate for schools to allow recruiting visits, and once Henderson noticed the effect those cancellations had on his peers, it changed his approach to the process after previously wanting to be as patient as possible and slow play his recruitment.
“It’s sped things up because I see a lot of recruits are speeding theirs up, and I’m not trying to miss out on any opportunities,” Henderson told Eleven Warriors.
About two hours after the commitment of Evan Pryor to the Buckeyes on Monday night, Henderson “took some weight off my shoulder” and released his top-nine schools.
“I’m just telling schools it can come at any time,” Henderson said.
That it is a commitment, and as of right now, the five-star running back out of Hopewell (Va.) High School – the No. 2-ranked player at the position and No. 17-ranked player overall nationally – says the Buckeyes are in the driver's seat for that commitment.
“It’s mainly those nine, but Ohio State’s standing out over all of them,” Henderson said. “They’re still leading. You can’t fall in love with one coach. Say that coach goes onto a different school, you’ve gotta still be able to see yourself going there. I can see that a lot (at Ohio State).”
Where will I end up? #Final9 pic.twitter.com/W815OX6Yqb
— TreVeyon Henderson (@TreveyonH15) March 17, 2020
Henderson believes he compares to J.K. Dobbins on the field, but the comparison would extend to recruiting as well if he were to commit. If Henderson ends up proving the 15 Crystal Ball predictions for a commitment to Ohio State accurate, he will be doing so without ever having stepped foot on campus. (That is, if his commitment truly is around the corner.)
Dobbins never made a trip to Columbus until after he had already committed, but he did so in large part because of how tight he was with Tony Alford and the trust he had in the man who would become one of his closest relationships over the next few years.
That relationship with Alford, and what he has detailed about Ohio State's program from afar, are key reasons (in addition to his relationships with Ryan Day and Al Washington, whom Henderson called “Coach Al”) why a Henderson commitment could be in the cards.
“Coach Alford’s been sending me a lot of things,” Henderson said. “I know a lot about Ohio State even having not visited there. He’s sent me a lot of stuff about the football program; just information that I need, and I didn’t even have to tell him, like, ‘Coach, can you send me this?’ He just sends it out of nowhere so that helps a lot.
“Most of these colleges, there’s information that I need. A commitment can come at any time so this is information I need so I can make my decision.”
What sort of things is Alford sending him?
“Just about football and about their running backs and about how many games they’ve won; NFL Draft picks, running back stats,” Henderson said. “Academic-wise, what they do off the field. He sends me stuff about Real Life Wednesdays and the business school – all sorts of things. Just helpful information.”
Henderson, Pryor tandem?
If Henderson comes into the fold, it would complete the Buckeyes' 2021 running back recruiting in a lightning-quick fashion – much, much faster than anyone anticipated, and a very impressive turnaround for Alford following the misfires in the last cycle.
Henderson would be teaming up with Pryor for a dynamic one-two punch at the position that Henderson believes would “be very hard for teams to stop us together in the same backfield.”
geesh
— TreVeyon Henderson (@TreveyonH15) March 23, 2020
Henderson and Pryor have had several conversations, building upon a relationship that picked up steam back in January when the two both visited Georgia. That semi-famous photo of Pryor and Donovan Edwards at the Bulldogs' facilities that everyone (OK, just yours truly) seems to talk about all the time? Henderson was actually on that visit as well, though he was not around for their photo shoot and was spending some time with Georgia's running backs coach at that time.
“(Evan and I) have had a lot of conversations,” Henderson said. “It’s been going on for a while. I’ve seen him down at Georgia when I was down there. Ever since then, we’ve been talking a lot.”
Finalists for Washington, Davies
The nation's No. 15-ranked cornerback, Hunter Washington, released his top 10 list of schools he's looking at on his Twitter account Monday afternoon.
The Buckeyes have found themselves on that list, in addition to Texas, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, TCU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU, Florida State and Arizona State.
Philippians 4:13 (This one for you granny) #TopTen pic.twitter.com/8Mz5osRSZn
— Hunter Washington (@Hunter_DB7) March 23, 2020
Washington, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound junior from powerhouse program Katy High School in Texas, is the No. 33-ranked player in the state and is tucked just inside the top 200 nationally at No. 197.
Washington's recruitment to Ohio State picked up last summer when he visited Columbus and had insightful talks with Jeff Hafley. As of mid-February, communication with Kerry Coombs and the rest of the Buckeye staff had not been consistent, but he had planned on visiting in late March before the nationwide recruiting visit cancellations were put in place.
Also putting out his final list of schools on Monday was Mater Dei (Calif.) four-star cornerback Jaylin Davies, the 11th-ranked corner and 111th-ranked overall player in the nation.
Decisions Decisions... #Top7
— Jaylin Davies (@jaylin_davies) March 23, 2020
Edit by: @ChiefNitro pic.twitter.com/jfAMqu2D0F
Ohio State is on the list with Alabama, Texas and four Pac-12 schools. Davies told us in February that six of those same schools were part of the contingent he was focusing on, though Texas A&M has now been replaced with Alabama.
Davies is another top-rated corner who the Buckeyes are still keeping tabs on, and Davies told Eleven Warriors that Columbus was one of three visits he had already planned out, with his Ohio State visit being planned for June.
In running back news, it looks like Lamar Consolidated (Texas) High School four-star running back Brandon Campbell is no longer considering Ohio State.
Final 6
— Brandon (BC) Campbell 4 RB (@2021BC) March 23, 2020
O Give Thanks To The Lord For He Is Good: For His Mercy Endureth Forever~ 107:1 pic.twitter.com/CEtH6onEWB
Campbell, the No. 22-ranked running back who currently sits at No. 325 overall in the class, was offered by Alford in January, and his coach told Eleven Warriors that Campbell was planning a March visit. Any visit would have to be postponed until the summer, most likely, but that visit will presumably no longer be in the works after he omitted the Buckeyes from his final six.
