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.
Week 6 FNL preview
Ohio State is set to have 12 commits in the 2021 and 2022 cycles who will be in action as we kick off another week of high school action.
Here is a snapshot of the players who will be in action:
| Player (Class) | Team | Opponent | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| OG DONOVAN JACKSON (2021) | EPISCOPAL (TEXAS) | @ ANGLETON | 7 p.m. |
| WR JAYDEN BALLARD (2021) | MASSILLON WASHINGTON | CANTON MCKINLEY | 2 p.m. |
| DT MIKE HALL (2021) | STREETSBORO | @ NORTON | 7 p.m. |
| LB REID CARRICO (2021) | IRONTON | CINCINNATI SYCAMORE | 7 p.m. |
| S JAYLEN JOHNSON (2021) | LA SALLE | ARCHBISHOP MOELLER | 7 p.m. |
| OG BEN CHRISTMAN (2021) | REVERE | @ MAPLE HEIGHTS | 7 p.m. |
| S/CB ANDRE TURRENTINE (2021) | ENSWORTH (TENN.) | @ FATHER RYAN (TENN.) | 7 p.m. |
| LB C.J. HICKS (2022) | ARCHBISHOP ALTER | CHAMINADE JULIENNE | Thursday, 7 p.m. |
| LB GABE POWERS (2022) | MARYSVILLE | OLENTANGY (LEWIS CENTER) | 7 p.m. |
| ATH DASAN MCCULLOUGH (2022) | BLUE VALLEY NORTH (KAN.) | BLUE VALLEY | 7 p.m. |
| CB JYAIRE BROWN (2022) | LAKOTA WEST | MASON | 7 p.m. |
| OT TEGRA TSHABOLA (2022) | LAKOTA WEST | MASON | 7 p.m. |
Pickerington North five-star defensive end Jack Sawyer has opted out of his senior season. Ohio State's two running back commits in 2021, TreVeyon Henderson (Virginia) and Evan Pryor (North Carolina) have also opted out with their schools' seasons pushed back to the spring. (In North Carolina, private schools are allowed to play, though public schools like Pryor's William Amos Hough cannot.)
Defensive tackle commit Tyleik Williams (Virginia) will also not be in action this fall due to the state's postponements, while cornerback Jordan Hancock (Georgia) also opted out of his senior season despite his state moving forward with a fall season.
Quarterback Kyle McCord and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., of Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep, are still looking to play as an independent this fall. Cornerback Jakailin Johnson and De Smet (St. Louis, Missouri) are still attempting to play as well.
In injury news, Mike Hall is already set to return to the field. Hall broke his right hand and was expected to miss the final two games of the regular season, but he is slated to be back in action on Friday. Jantzen Dunn, meanwhile, is still out with a quad strain. Dunn saw a doctor on Wednesday, and the evaluation went well. He will miss this Friday's game before returning in two weeks following South Warren's (Kentucky) bye week.
Tight end commit Sam Hart, after opting out originally with his state postponing football, is now set to play in Cherokee Trail's (Colorado) season opener next Friday, as the Colorado High School Activities Association reversed course and approved fall football. Defensive back commit Denzel Burke was slated to play in Saguaro's (Arizona) season opener this week, but its opponent, Chaparral High School, had a player test positive for COVID-19 and the game was canceled.
After taking a team sabbatical last week, our squad here at Eleven Warriors will be getting back out into the light again this week.
I will be heading over to see Floyd Central (Indiana) offensive tackle – and likely soon-to-be Ohio State commit – Zen Michalski as he looks to lead his team to a 5-2 start.
Dan Hope is heading back over to Marysville to get Round 2 of seeing Gabe Powers after seeing the 2022 linebacker commit in the season opener. Colin Hass-Hill will be driving over to see the Brenan Vernon vs. Blake Miller showdown between Mentor and Strongsville.
Ohio playoffs set
The Ohio High School Athletics Association has announced seedings and matchups for the state playoffs. You can check out the brackets and matchups here.
Here are the matchups featuring Ohio State commits:
Division I, Region II
No. 7 Marysville (Gabe Powers) vs. No. 10 Dublin Jerome (7 p.m., Oct. 9 at Marysville)
Division I, Region IV
No. 1 Lakota West (Tegra Tshabola, Jyaire Brown) vs. No. 16 Cincinnati West Clermont (7 p.m., Oct. 9 at Lakota West)
Division II, Region 7
No. 2 Massillon Washington (Jayden Ballard) vs. No. 15 Columbus Walnut Ridge/No. 18 Columbus Independence winner (7 p.m., Oct. 16 at Massillon Washington)
Division II, Region 8
No. 2 Cincinnati La Salle (Jaylen Johnson) vs. No. 15 Morrow Little Miami/No. 18 Loveland winner (7 p.m., Oct. 16 at Cincinnati La Salle)
Division III, Region 9
No. 2 Streetsboro (Mike Hall) vs. No. 15 Niles McKinley/No. 18 Ravenna winner (7 p.m., Oct. 16 at Streetsboro)
Division III, Region 10
No. 8 Revere (Ben Christman) vs. No. 9 Medina Buckeye (7 p.m., Oct. 16 at Revere)
Division III, Region 12
No. 6 Archbishop Alter (C.J. Hicks) vs. No. 11 Dayton Dunbar/No. 22 Cincinnati Aiken winner (7 p.m., Oct. 16 at Archbishop Alter)
Division V, Region 19
No. 1 Ironton (Reid Carrico) vs. No. 16 New Lexington/No. 17 Williamsport Westfall winner (7 p.m., Oct. 17 at Ironton)
Henderson, Carrico presented with All-American jerseys
As we previewed on Wednesday, two of Ohio State’s top commits in the 2021 cycle – Henderson and Carrico – became the third and fourth members of the Buckeyes’ No. 2-ranked recruiting class to be featured athletes in the All-American Bowl’s weekly virtual jersey presentation ceremony.
You can watch their segments below. Carrico’s segment begins at the 7:35 mark. Henderson’s segment begins at the 11:10 mark.
Carrico: “Can’t wait to get to San Antonio and play some football with some other top recruits around the country. It means a lot to me because I feel like I’m a sign of hope for all the small-town kids throughout the U.S., and they need to know that if they want their hopes and their goals, they just need to get it for themselves.
Henderson: “Being an All-American means a lot to me. Definitely a special moment for me,” Henderson said during the presentation. “I wanna thank God, thank my family, thank my coaches, my teammates and my friends and everybody else that supported me along the way. I can’t wait to get up there and show off my skills and put on for my city, Hopewell.”
In an interview with 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong, when discussing his selection to the All-American Bowl, Henderson talked about how crucial getting onto the field for drills and snaps in game action will be, as he will have missed his entire senior season. (Virginia, at this point, does not have a plan to play high school football in the fall, and it’s likely that Henderson will remain opted out of the season even if the season does wind up moving forward.)
“It’s very important,” Henderson told Wiltfong. “That will be my first time touching the field again this year. It’s very important, all the hard work in the offseason I know it will at least pay off for one game.”
And, as Henderson is wont to do, he talked about how he is still grinding and even being the top-ranked running back by 247Sports’ metrics (he’s No. 2 in the composite rankings) isn’t good enough.
“I still feel like I have more areas to improve in and become a better running back,” Henderson told Wiltfong. “I’m not satisfied being the No. 1 running back because I know when I get to college that doesn’t matter anymore. I’m still working out every day and trying to get better to be the best I can be.”
Carrico, meanwhile, also spoke with 247Sports, talking to Allen Trieu a little bit about the Buckeye Bash, which we reported this week is set for Oct. 24 and will feature most of Ohio State’s commits in the 2021 class.
“We're meeting on October 24th,” Carrico told Trieu. “I don't really know how it came about. I think it came about because we don't get our official visits. A lot of guys going to that meeting day are early enroll guys or and we don't get our official visits, so it's taking the place of that.”
Prysock is a corner…
When it comes to Ohio State’s defensive back recruiting, any time the Buckeyes offer a new prospect in the secondary, one of the first questions we ask them is what position Kerry Coombs, Matt Barnes and Co. are projecting them to play if they come to Ohio State.
Doesn’t matter what position they’re listed at in their recruiting profiles, the staff sees what it sees. So it goes with California four-star prospect Ephesians Prysock, who is listed as a safety, but, well, if there was any question what position he wants to play in college that mystery is gone now:
I am a CORNER. NOT a safety, NOT a wide receiver.
— EPHESIANS (@ephe5ian5) September 30, 2020
Of course, if you read the fine folks at Eleven Warriors, you already knew Ohio State was looking at Prysock as a cornerback from when we spoke with him in mid-May following his Buckeyes offer announcement.
“They see me as a cornerback,” Prysock said. “They like the fact that I’m tall with speed and quick feet.”
As Dan pointed out in our group chat, that sort of mentality might remind Buckeye fans of this. Also reminds me of my uncle, a punter at Texas Tech in the 80s, who was used as a receiver in practice for one play. He got absolutely crushed on a post route by Tech's safety, his facemask almost completely smashed in. As he laid on the ground with the coaches hovering over him, he said, “Coach, I am a punter. NOT a receiver. Don't ever put me there again.”
Always good to have some strong convictions.
Header photo: Jyaire Brown
