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.
Egbuka provides update
As part of the most recent episode of the 247Sports Football Recruiting Podcast this week, five-star receiver Emeka Egbuka spoke with analyst Brandon Huffman about his strong relationship with Ryan Day.
When Eleven Warriors spoke with Egbuka in the fall about his relationship with Day – one that he says began with a visit from Day to Steilacoom (Wash.) High School in either December 2018 or January 2019 after his semester as a sophomore – he told us about the positive beginnings of that relationship, saying that it was growing stronger by talking with Day each week. (And his relationship with Brian Hartline was growing stronger talking with him just about every day.)
With Huffman, Egbuka reiterated some of the things he loves about both coaches, especially Day.
“I love Coach Day. He’s a really good guy,” Egbuka told Huffman. “Offensive-type mindset. Aggressive style of play, which I’m very fond of – airing out the ball and getting a lot of receivers in the mix. Even though they’re deep at receiver there, the role that they want me to play is something they don’t have a receiver for.”
These are the four schools I will be focusing on furthering my recruitment .. #FIN4L pic.twitter.com/kaudie4x67
— Emeka Egbuka (@emeka_egbuka) May 15, 2020
What exact role that is Egbuka did not go into further specifics during that interview, but that role is one of the Buckeyes’ pitches to him. And we can deduce what role that will be from having spoken extensively with Egbuka and Colby Davies, his head coach at Steilacoom, in the past. Davies’ explanation of Hartline’s vision essentially would put Egbuka as a Swiss Army Knife on offense who can be used in the slot or on the outside because of his unique skillset.
“Coach Hartline has definitely made it clear to Emeka how he was going to fit into their system and their offense,” Davies told Eleven Warriors previously. “I know Emeka sees that and likes that there’s a plan in place and a vision for what he can do.
“When the coaches come over, I think the film jumps out and they know he’s got the physical ability. And I know Coach Hartline has talked to Emeka about where he sees him as a fit in the receiving corps, and I think Coach Hartline has talked to him in the past about being able to be versatile and being inside and outside. Even playing more primarily slot stuff.”
Going back to Egbuka’s relationship with Day, on Wednesday, we ran a story about the impact Day’s personal touch is having on recruits across the country. It’s not exactly rare for a head coach to be as involved in the day-to-day operations of recruiting as Day apparently is and for the head coach to spend as much time talking with recruits as much as Day does.
Day is, after all, in just his second year on the job as the Buckeyes’ head coach, and there’s probably a factor weighing in pretty heavily for Day that he needs to be on the frontlines as often as possible while he’s in the beginning stages of building his own program.
It’s not the same situation for every program in the country. For instance, Egbuka told Huffmann in that interview that he does not talk to Dabo Swinney that often, as the communication between Egbuka and the Clemson coaching staff mostly takes place between Egbuka and receivers coach Tyler Grisham.
Not at all trying to take a shot here at Swinney. For those who have been reading my work here long enough know very well, I have major respect for Clemson and what Swinney has been able to build there, and the Tigers have earned the title of Ohio State’s No. 1 rival on the recruiting trail.
But I still do find it interesting that Swinney is not on the phone with the No. 1-ranked receiver in the country as often as we might think he would be.
Glad to rep WA ! @Zack_Poff_MP @MaxPreps https://t.co/mvrWkj8K4b
— Emeka Egbuka (@emeka_egbuka) May 28, 2020
Egbuka is down to a final-four list of Ohio State, Clemson, Washington and Oklahoma. And as we reported on June 1 after speaking with a couple sources on the matter, Egbuka is unlikely to make a decision anytime soon, and that decision would likely not be until at least August (at the earliest), but October is the likelier month.
Egbuka himself put more confidence into that sort of timeline by telling Huffman that the month of August could be “huge” in determining his decision timeline, saying that if visits are allowed in August that he may elect to take an official visit each weekend that month. He also said he is unlikely to wait all the way until January to commit, with the intent to sign with a program in December.
Latham chooses Bama, what's next?
The writing had been on the wall for nearly a full week, but on Friday, five-star offensive tackle JC Latham made it official, announcing his commitment to Alabama over Ohio State and LSU.
This is a tough loss for Ohio State, no doubt about it. The Buckeyes were the favorite to land Latham since around November, and that seemed to pick up more steam during Ohio State's big run in March and April, so it started to look like a “when not if” scenario for the former Wisconsin player to return to the Midwest to play his college ball. Obviously, though, things change quickly in the recruiting world, and Alabama climbed up the ladder beginning in late April.
We had said plenty of times previously that the Tide were going to start making a run at some point in the 2021 class, and that's now here. They have jumped from being ranked No. 46 in the 2021 class to No. 28, with an average player rating (94.30) that trails only Ohio State (95.34) and Clemson (94.54) for the best in the nation.
Committed!!!! AGTG!!! @IMGAcademy @ghegamin @CoachBA1010 @dzoloty @KJJFlood pic.twitter.com/VXBuaxAEN6
— JC Latham (@TKJaayy) June 12, 2020
But about the Buckeyes ... where do they go from here? Well, first of all, they are going to continue recruiting Latham and hope to get him on campus for an official visit whenever things open back up. So it's not completely over quite yet, but we have to assume it is for now.
We have been talking about it in different Hurry-Ups throughout this past week, but just to rehash it here – the Buckeyes have a few different options remaining at offensive line in this class:
- Do their best to go all-in on Garrett Dellinger, the Michigan four-star who announced a commitment date of June 24, picking between Ohio State, LSU, Penn State and Michigan.
- Try to gain momentum back with Dellinger's teammate, Rocco Spindler, or Virginia five-star Tristan Leigh, who appears to be a Clemson lean.
- Target Michigan four-star offensive tackle Rayshaun Benny, who put the Buckeyes on a trimmed list this spring and who they would have a good shot with.
- Wait a little longer and target a developmental in-state offensive lineman down the road.
Those last two options I believe to be the most likely routes – if Ohio State does indeed opt to pursue another offensive lineman in this class. Now that Latham is off the board, it's looking like the only high-end offensive lineman that the Buckeyes still have a strong shot with is four-star guard Jager Burton, but it appears Burton is also leaning elsewhere, likely to Kentucky or perhaps Alabama himself.
Even though Ohio State did bring in six offensive linemen to the 2020 class, bringing in at least three to this class would behoove the Buckeyes with three starters from the 2020 team likely gone after this season in Thayer Munford, Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers.
Now, I said above that this is a tough loss, and it is. The Buckeyes were leading for a five-star offensive tackle who is likely to finish No. 1 at the position by the time he signs. But depth at offensive line, and specifically offensive tackle, is not a weakness for the program.
First off, Ohio State landed two in-state studs in Paris Johnson Jr. (2020) and Tegra Tshabola (2022). Johnson was a five-star prospect, and Tshabola very well may end as a five-star as well. The Buckeyes will make that trade any day, and they also have former five-star Nicholas Petit-Frere, the former No. 1-ranked offensive tackle and top-10 overall player in America's 2018 class, and Dawand Jones at the position.
They also have the luxury of a five-star stud in Donovan Jackson, the No. 1-ranked offensive guard in the country who has the versatility to play tackle, and Ben Christman, who is ranked No. 104 overall and No. 15-ranked OT in America who at one point was ranked near the top 50.
So, yes, not getting Latham hurts because he's a monster at the end of the line and a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. But the Buckeyes' depth and overall talent at the position – which apparently turned out to hurt them in the Latham recruitment – substantially helps soften. the blow.
