The Hurry-Up: Gabe Powers Now a Five-Star and No. 1 OLB in America, C.J. Hicks Moves Into Top 100, First 2023 Rankings Released, Buckeyes Offer St. Louis Cornerback

Powers a five-star

A few minutes before Gabe Powers announced his commitment to Ohio State on Eleven Warriors' Facebook Live feed, Powers' father, Mike, joked that the younger Powers should be introduced as the No. 1 outside linebacker in the 2022 class.

At the time, on Aug. 1, Powers was ranked No. 47 overall and No. 2 at OLB in the nation in the composite rankings, though he was No. 1 at OLB in the 247Sports rankings. So, as Gabe told his dad, “They can't do that. They have to go by the composite.”

Well, we're going by the composite rankings now, and Powers is ranked the No. 1 OLB in America. In 247Sports' latest rankings update for the 2022 class, Powers was rated as one of 36 five-star prospects in the composite, and that billing came with a move into the No. 34 overall spot and No. 1 OLB spot.

A few other noteworthy Ohio State targets who made moves:

• Grosse Pointe South (Mich.) five-star cornerback William Johnson, who we have written about multiple times at Eleven Warriors, is ranked No. 9 overall.
• Del Valle (Texas) five-star receiver Caleb Burton, who is emerging as the No. 1 receiver in the country and is following in Julian Fleming and Emeka Egbuka's footsteps as Brian Hartline's top target at the position, is No. 12 overall.
• North Shore (Texas) five-star cornerback Denver Harris is ranked No. 16 overall.
• Cardinal Ritter College Prep (Mo.) five-star receiver Luther Burden is ranked No. 18 overall.
• Stonewall Jackson (Va.) five-star linebacker Shawn Murphy, the Buckeyes' top target at Mike linebacker in the 2022 class, is ranked No. 20 overall.
• St. Frances Academy (Md.) five-star defensive tackle Derrick Moore, who we said on Sunday has Ohio State and Oklahoma as the two early leaders, is ranked No. 23 overall.

Hicks moves into top 100

Oh, and another major mover was Ohio State commit C.J. Hicks, a player who was originally a five-star prospect when the initial 247Sports Top 100 was released last summer but who slipped past No. 160 overall in the spring. As we predicted back in July, we believe Hicks could eventually earn his way back into five-star territory before it's all said and done after the effort he put into building his body over the past eight months.

Truly Blessed thank you @Rivals @rivalsmike @JosephAHastings https://t.co/WJlmxlj5r3

— C.Hicks (@imcjhicks) August 17, 2020

It's not a surprise at all to see Hicks move into the No. 83 overall slot and No. 3 spot at outside linebacker nationally, especially after Hicks skyrocketed into the No. 4 overall spot by Rivals this week.

This now gives Ohio State two of the top-three outside linebacker recruits in the nation in Powers and Hicks, and Dasan McCullough – who moved into the No. 53 overall spot – remains ranked the No. 7 athlete in the country and could eventually find his way into listed as a top-five OLB as well.

With the new rankings, Ohio State now has an average player rating of 96.65 in its five-man 2022 class, which still ranks No. 2 behind LSU with 128.75 points.

Here's another note on Hicks from Rivals' Mike Farrell, who made a big-time comparison between Hicks and an NFL standout:

LB CJ Hicks — Hicks is a huge kid who can play safety or linebacker and he reminds me a lot of Shaq Thompson, who went on to become a first-round draft pick.

However, as we've mentioned before, Buckeyes linebackers coach Al Washington sees another comparison for Hicks.

“I’m being recruited to play outside linebacker, but he wants me to be able to rush the edge like I do now,” Hicks told Eleven Warriors previously. “He said he’s gonna help me do that and help me be the best player I can be. He said he wants me to be a linebacker, and he also wants to be that hybrid position like Pete Werner.

“(He compared me to) Malik Harrison. He was smash mouth football. That’s what Coach Washington called it. I watched his highlight tape, and that’s a bad boy.”

Vernon, Carter highlight top 100 release

It was basically Rankings Release Week at 247Sports, and version No. 2 was the release of the first 2023 class rankings. 

On that Top 100, the two highlights for our purposes were the inclusion of Ohioans Brenan Vernon and Trevor Carter.

Vernon, a strongside defensive end at Mentor High School, is ranked No. 9 overall in the initial rankings and No. 3 at SDE. That's not too much of a surprise, as introduced Vernon to Eleven Warriors readers in June and labeled him as the No. 1 candidate to wind up at the top Ohioan in the 2023 class.

It's also not much of a surprise to see Carter, a rising sophomore at Ironton High School, included at No. 75 overall and No. 15 at athlete on that list. Carter is another player who we have touched on multiple times, as teammate Reid Carrico is continuing to mentor him at Ironton.

Buckeyes offer St. Louis CB

Kerry Coombs and Co. are dipping back into the St. Louis pool, extending an offer to three-star Lutheran North High School cornerback Toriano Pride.

Blessed To Receive An Offer From Ohio State University ! #GoBuckeyes @DB_CoachCoombs @ryandaytime @Clint_Cosgrove @JoshHelmholdt @SWiltfong247 pic.twitter.com/pE5aoiTXsf

— 5 (@toriano2x) August 19, 2020

Pride is a 5-foot-11, 172-pounder ranked No. 32 at cornerback and No. 9 in Missouri in the 2022 class. He also has offers from Auburn, Florida State, Iowa, Oregon and Tennessee.