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.
2022 class off to strong start buoyed by Hicks, McCullough
Ohio State’s 2022 class is shaping up to be another juggernaut, even this early in the process, and C.J. Hicks’ wish list – which we hit on in Friday’s Hurry-Up – is a non-exhaustive but still star-studded group of blue-chippers.
Since Hicks is the face of the class thus far, he has been the prime commit who fans have been seeking out answers from in regards to who the Buckeyes will land next.
“They keep asking me, ‘Who’s the next boom? Who we gonna get next?’” Hicks told Eleven Warriors. “We about to get another one soon. The defense is about to be stacked. That’s all I’m gonna say. We about to get stacked.
“When Ohio State posted that (graphic) about every corner that’s started for us has been drafted and it said BIA, me and Dasan (McCullough) texted each other and said ‘Let’s send this to every corner we’re recruiting. We sent that to all the 22s, and we sent it to Will (Johnson). He said he really wants to take a visit, but we don’t know when visits are gonna happen. He just said he might have to make that move sooner than later. Me and him have been talking about it. If we get him, that’s gonna be nasty.”
We comin pic.twitter.com/i50OhfWRle
— CJ Hicks (@imcjhicks) August 26, 2020
Ever since McCullough committed on Aug. 18 – and, really, even before that – the Kansas star has been doing his part in peer recruiting. Him and Hicks have been the most active on social media and behind the scenes. The 2022 cycle would be in good hands with either one of them leading the way, but with both of them working in tandem it's even stronger as this class should start building toward another elite haul top to bottom.
McCord impressed with 2022, will lend a helping hand
The Buckeyes’ 2022 cycle is trying to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, and that’s another item we have discussed of how Hicks and the current junior commits are gunning for an even better class than Ohio State’s 2021 class.
It’s not a rivalry, per se. More of just some competitive juices flowing between the two groups, which is exactly what Ohio State’s coaching staff loves to see – competition to see who can land the best recruits. After all, it’s all going to the same place.
No one in the 2021 class knows that much better than its quarterback, Kyle McCord, who has certainly taken notice of what his fellow future teammates are doing in the class below him.
“That class is looking good,” McCord told Eleven Warriors. “They’re off to a good start. That 2022 class is coming together real nice.
“It’s really good to have that friendly competition knowing that (both classes) are gonna come together in about a year, so that’s pretty sweet knowing that C.J.’s kind of leading the charge and that they’re off to a hot start right now.”
Lets ride #WhosNext https://t.co/UpxUMJBmhh
— Bennett Christian (@BennettC87) September 2, 2020
The five-star Philadelphia product has watched film of Ohio State’s most recent 2022 pledge, three-star tight end Bennett Christian, and doesn’t agree with the ratings.
“That was huge,” McCord said. “He’s an animal. I think he’s really underrated.”
And in addition to his duty as a peer recruiter in his own class, McCord is planning on doing the same by giving a helping hand to Hicks and Co.
“I’m gonna try to recruit for the 2022 class a little bit as well and try to get the momentum going, and hopefully we’ll have back-to-back No. 1 classes,” McCord said. “That’d be awesome.”
“Buckeye Bash” still coming together
We've been on this for a while now, but Ohio State – spearheaded by Jack Sawyer – has been looking to hold its own version of Oklahoma's Sooner Summit this fall, and there is still progress being made toward it actually happening.
The official name, Sawyer told us, is called the Buckeye Bash after all. (A similar title to the Buckeye Bash & Barbecue that the program held last summer.)
Although nothing has been made official, the commits are working on putting it together. If it does come together, it will all be hosted at Sawyer's home in Pickerington. The hold up, of course, is getting everyone on the same page and finding a weekend where they can get as many commits as possible. Of the 19 commits, there are only two out-of-state guys who have been playing in games so far this season (Jantzen Dunn and Andre Turrentine each made their season debuts on Friday night).
Five of the six Ohioans (Sawyer excluded) are playing, but the other 11 have either not started games yet or had their seasons pushed back to the spring. Still, working out the logistics of gathering everyone will still take some time, but there continues to be a push made to make it happen.
Header photo: Mike Roach – 247Sports
