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.
“Miniature Mahomes”
Tayven Jackson’s teammates at Center Grove (Ind.) High School, or at least one of them, have a nickname for their young standout quarterback – one who is starting to get recruited by Ohio State and who is slated to get on the phone with Kevin Wilson sometime this week or next to open up communication lines for the first time.
“He’s like a miniature Mahomes,” said Center Grove defensive lineman Caden Curry, telling Eleven Warriors that Jackson reminds him of the Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback. “One thing is he has the athletic ability. It’s crazy how much he can do with the ball. He can run with it. He can pass it. He’s just gotta build into his body and get stronger, and he’ll be a really good quarterback.”
“He’s just fast with the ball, he can move out of the pocket, he can play with the running back and also throw the ball 50 yards downfield to somebody if he needs to. He’s got an arm on him. For the past two years, we’ve been a run-dominant team. But with him now at quarterback, we can open it up a little bit more. But we’re still mainly a running team. We’ll see what he can do this year to open it up some more and get some passes out there for him.”
One thing that might be even more impressive than Jackson’s arm – one that Jackson says can actually unleash a ball 75 yards – that reminds Curry of Mahomes?
“Well, he’s definitely got the hair down,” Curry says.
Jackson is the son of Ray Jackson and the nephew of Chris Jackson – a cornerback and receiver, respectively, who graduated from powerhouse Mater Dei High School (California), played at Washington State and got some experience in the NFL.
He is also the half-brother of Indiana basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis, and his sister was a former high school All-American in volleyball who was recruited by Ohio State before she went to medical school and became a doctor.
Center Grove (Ind.) quarterback Tayven Jackson is like a “miniature Mahomes,” says his teammate Caden Curry.
Coming from such a highly athletic family has helped the two-sport athlete, who excels in football and basketball, throughout his young career.
“They teach me a lot of stuff,” Jackson said. “(My dad and uncle) know so much about football. They have so much football IQ so I just listen. I don’t really talk about. For me, I don’t really know anything, and they know everything. So I just open up. I’m like a sponge, and I just soak it all up.”
“(The recruiting process) is pretty new. My brother was a McDonald’s All-American. He got every school so, again, I was just like a sponge. I just watched him and whatever he did. So I just saw how he handled the recruiting process, and he’s been on my back going through this with me. So it’s nice to have everyone and have my whole family be there with me.”
Some of the advice Jackson got from his older half-brother was to make good relationships with the coaches who recruit you and that it’s not all about being a five-star and getting an offer right away. Instead, it’s more crucial to make relationships with coaches “because if you go to that school, you’re gonna be there for 3-4 years, so you might as well make a great relationship with the coaches.”
During the 2019 season, the 6-foot-5, 185 pound Jackson threw for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns on 92-of-175 pass attempts. But those numbers could improve for Jackson, who is hoping to remain on the Buckeyes’ radar going forward. Ohio State’s coaches have told Jackson’s head coach at Center Grove, Eric Moore, that they want to see more junior season film before they think about extending an offer.
“I haven’t talked to them yet, but Coach said they like my footwork, they like the way I throw the ball, they like how I’m a dual-threat like Justin Fields,” Jackson said. “That’s what Coach said to me, but I can’t wait to get on the phone with them and talk to them because Ohio State’s just a big school. It’s one of my favorite schools.”
Jackson only holds two offers right now, from Indiana and Central Michigan, but he says every Big Ten school and USC have been showing interest.
Ohio State would probably be the early leader for Jackson if he were to receive an offer from the Buckeyes, as he has already loved what he’s seen there. In 2016, when his brother was being recruited by Ohio State, Jackson was essentially able to go on an unofficial visit to Columbus for the Buckeyes’ comeback against Penn State in The Shoe.
The atmosphere there left a lasting impression, as did the program’s facilities.
“It was just a blessing to be there,” Jackson said. “It was crazy all the blessings they have and all the machines and everything. I went in the weight room, and it was just crazy. It wasn’t about me. It was about my brother. So, again, I was in the background just chilling. I was just in the shadows.”
While there, Jackson was hoping that one day he would be in his brother’s shoes, being recruited by big-time programs. Soon enough, his potential recruitment to Columbus will begin once he gets on the phone with Wilson.
“I’m just gonna be a sponge,” Jackson said. “Just gonna soak up everything and ask him what I gotta work on, what he sees in me and what he has to say about Ohio State. Ohio State is gonna be a big school that if I get recruited there and get a scholarship, it’s gonna be a big school and a top contender to go there.”
Payne learning Alford’s style, not stressing about OSU offer
Some of the questions that West Bloomfield (Mich.) 2022 prospect Dillon Tatum has asked Ohio State running back Tony Alford during their calls include the young Michigan standout asking him, “‘What type of things do you do differently than other colleges across the country?’”
“Because I’ve seen every year you have these running backs that go to the NFL, and they recruit all these great talents,” Tatum said. “And it’s like, ‘I wanna know, what do you do particularly for all these running backs compared to all these colleges?’
“He said, ‘I make them work harder, and they have that will to wanna play football and wanna play at The Ohio State University.’”
For Cincinnati La Salle running back Gi’Bran Payne, who is being recruited by the likes of Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Penn State but does not yet have an Ohio State offer, it’s been a pretty similar grilling to find out more about Alford during their conversations.
“The questions I ask are if my major’s available and stuff like that. Stuff with school first and then I’m asking questions about how he coaches and how if it’s different from other coaches I’ve talked to,” Payne, who plans on majoring in sports marketing or sports management, told Eleven Warriors on Saturday. “It’s just building a relationship. We talk about my film and stuff, and it’s getting stronger.
“Just that he does something different with every player. Some coaches will be doing the same things with each player, but each player can’t do the same thing. So you have to teach each player differently, and he has that. So he tells me how he does it. I’ve seen drills. We do chalk talk through the phone so he shows me some things through there.”
Cincinnati La Salle running back Gi'Bran Payne continues working toward an Ohio State offer..
Payne, who says he has been lifting and running frequently to stay in shape and has put on about five pounds of muscle in the offseason, released a top 10 on July 4 that included those five programs mentioned above but not Ohio State.
Payne is teammates with Ohio State commit Jaylen Johnson and former Buckeye commit Devonta Smith, who decommitted from Ohio State and committed to Alabama.
“They’re both in my head,” Payne said. “Tay actually just made a post that said you’re not leaving without me. Jaylen talks heavily about me to the Ohio State coaches so they know everything about me, really.”
Cincinnati La Salle RB GiBran Payne (@upnexxt03)
— Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) July 11, 2020
Payne is the No. 8 Ohioan in the 2022 class. Holds offers from Alabama, Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/axAL98bZtT
Payne says he still has “a strong relationship with Coach Alford” and the two talk “pretty frequently,” but he isn’t stressing about the fact that they haven’t offered yet.
“I’ve been on a call with the whole staff and just telling me that I’m a top priority for them and that my time will come and they can see themselves offering me,” Payne said. “I don’t pressure any coaches. Like I say, my time will come. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. I’m just patiently waiting, being humble. I’m not rushing it.”
OSU is No. 2 in initial Composite rankings
The first few members of Ohio State's 2022 class have aspirations of building a class that's even better than the lauded 2021 class that ranks No. 1 in the country. That lofty goal has gotten off to a good start, as the Buckeyes are ranked No. 2 nationally in the debut of the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2022 cycle.
With three commits, the Buckeyes (74.71 points) have the second-most total points in the country behind LSU (125.06), which has five commits. Ohio State has an average player rating of 95.15, which trails LSU (95.84) and Alabama (98.50; two commits) for the best average player rating among programs with multiple commits in the class. (Auburn is the fourth team with multiple commits in the class; its two commits have an 88.66 per-player average.)
The Buckeyes' three commits are:
- Jyaire Brown (No. 113 overall, No. 14 cornerback, No. 3 Ohio)
- C.J. Hicks (No. 118 overall, No. 8 outside linebacker, No. 4 Ohio)
- Tegra Tshabola (No. 144 overall, No. 15 offensive tackle, No. 5 Ohio)
Some notable Ohio State targets in the top 50:
- No. 1 QB Quinn Ewers
- No. 2 SDE Shemar Stewart
- No. 11 WR Caleb Burton
- No. 15 CB William Johnson
- No. 24 WR Luther Burden
- No. 25 LB Shawn Murphy
- No. 26 CB Denver Harris
- No. 31 QB Maalik Murphy
- No. 46 LB Gabe Powers
- No. 47 OL Zach Rice
- No. 49 OL Earnest Greene
Hancock drops OSU graphic
Ohio State's top cornerback target in the 2021 class, four-star North Gwinnett (Ga.) standout Jordan Hancock, decommitted from Clemson on Tuesday night. And it looks as if Hancock, ranked No. 77 overall, No. 6 at cornerback and No. 9 in Georgia, could be headed to Columbus.
On Friday afternoon, Hancock dropped an Ohio State graphic, which seemed to imply what his intentions might be.
suwanee, georgia columbus, ohio? pic.twitter.com/NNEXP7fJqM
— jordan hancock (@jordanhancock_7) July 17, 2020
It appears we will find out how serious Hancock is about going on the Georgia-to-Ohio route in the not-too-distant future.
Top photo: Tayven Jackson
