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.
Leighs plan to visit
J.T. Tuimoloau, Tristan Leigh and Emeka Egbuka are the three core players left on Ohio State’s recruiting board for the 2021 class, probably in that order if we’re ranking them.
Getting all three on campus for the Oct. 24 Buckeye Bash could go a long way in each of their recruitments, especially Tuimoloau and Leigh. We just talked last week about how important it will be for Leigh to visit that day. On Sunday, Bucknuts’ Bill Kurelic reported that Tristan Leigh and Aidan Leigh – Tristan’s younger brother in the 2023 class who the Buckeyes have also offered – will be visiting for at least the 24th.
“We are planning on going,” Tristan and Aidan’s mother Laura Rigney said.
She confirmed both of her sons will be making the trip.
Rigney confirmed with us that they are all three planning to attend as they will make the 6.5-hour drive from Virginia to Columbus and make a weekend out of it.
As we talked about before, it’s critical for Tristan Leigh to visit with Ohio State’s 2021 commits. Getting to visit with players who will be his future teammates is important to Leigh, as he wants to get to know them to see if there’s a strong vibe between them.
“He’s always been a people person, so getting to know some of these recruits and where they’re going, I could see that playing a little bit of an effect on where he ends up,” said Scott Vossler, Leigh's head coach at Robinson Secondary (Virginia). “He’s one of those guys on our team, so I think he’s really looking for that when he goes to the next level is to be around guys that he considers very close friends.”
As for Egbuka, his mom tells us that they as of now they don't believe Egbuka will be able to make the trip, but they are still discussing it.
Buckeyes offer another 2022 TE
It hadn’t been since a September 8 offer to 2021 offensive lineman Zen Michalski that Ohio State had extended a scholarship offer to any recruit, and it had been even longer than that the Buckeyes had offered anyone in the 2022 class (an August 24 offer to linebacker Malaki Hamrick).
Those droughts came to an end on Sunday, as the Buckeyes offered Georgia tight end Oscar Delp, a 6-foot-5, 220-pounder who does not yet have a recruiting ranking.
After a great call with @OSUCoachKDub I am honored to announce I have received my 15th offer from THE Ohio State University @ErikRichardsUSA @adamgorney @HamiltonESPN @Mansell247 @ChadSimmons_ @Rivalsfbcamps @DemetricDWarren @SWiltfong247 @recruits_west pic.twitter.com/9mhBxzqo2p
— Oscar Delp (@DelpOscar) October 10, 2020
Delp holds offers from Georgia, Florida State, Stanford, USC and Michigan, the latter of which holds one Crystal Ball prediction to land him.
What’s surprising/noteworthy here is that Ohio State offered another tight end in the 2022 class despite the belief here that the Buckeyes are in such a great position with North Carolina’s Benji Gosnell. It’s been my belief for a while now that Ohio State will eventually land Gosnell to pair with Bennett Christian – who Gosnell has become good friends with – as its second tight end in the class, and I still think that happens.
Ohio State is battling Gosnell’s other two schools in his final three, Florida and North Carolina, but with Kyle Pitts looking like a first-round lock and North Carolina continuing to win and climb up the rankings, perhaps the Buckeyes are just trying to make sure they don’t put all their eggs in one basket.
Burden OU commitment could open door for Clemons
When five-star St. Louis receiver Luther Burden committed to Oklahoma on Friday, it dropped the Buckeyes down to four uncommitted receivers who they have offered in the 2022 class.
As we discussed this summer, Ohio State has been focused on those five prime receiver targets – Burden, Caleb Burton, C.J. Williams, Kaleb Brown and Armani Winfield – for a while now. It will be interesting to see if Burden coming off the board winds up being some good news for Darrius Clemons to finally get an offer from the Buckeyes.
Ohio State has continued to show interest in Clemons, and I think the offer will eventually come. If it does, I strongly believe he will wind up in the Buckeyes’ class.
Ballard to be featured
Receiver commit Jayden Ballard doesn’t say too much, but on Wednesday you’ll get the chance to see him talk when he gets his virtual jersey presentation for the All-American Bowl.
Road to the Dome Digital Series to be Released October 14 https://t.co/e2BMhDPNdV
— All-American Bowl (@AABonNBC) October 12, 2020
Ballard will join Jordan Hancock, TreVeyon Henderson, Reid Carrico and Donovan Jackson as the latest Buckeye commit in the 2021 class to be featured in the series.
Donovan Jackson...still good at football
And speaking of Jackson, the man is still good at football. Just watch some of these highlights from his first four games of the season:
I remember in my very first Hurry-Up, I featured some quick highlights of Paris Johnson Jr. from his senior year putting in the same type of work. Jackson’s made of the same stuff. Very bright future ahead for him.
