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.
Buckeyes make Givens’ final list
When Andrew released his 2022 big board on Wednesday – a board in which the two of us had 10 identical players on our boards out of a possible 11, with some fairly minor shuffling as to which guys are in which spots – it was no real surprise that it was offensive tackle-heavy.
As we’ve stated ad nauseam, and will continue to do throughout this cycle, it’s priority No. 1 in this class as the Buckeyes seek out at least five offensive linemen, possibly six, and probably need at least two or three offensive tackles.
So it was good news, then, that on Wednesday evening priority five-star OT Gunner Givens – No. 7 in the first 2022 Heat Check – included the Buckeyes on his top-six list of finalists.
Top 6 @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/9FT2I7ehRa
— Gunner Givens (@givens_gunner) November 4, 2020
Ohio State needs athletic offensive tackles in this class, and Givens is as athletic as they come. Givens, who played tight end until his sophomore year, might have the best lateral quickness of any offensive line prospect in the class and according to Jamie Harless, his head coach at Virginia’s Lord Botetourt High School, he is a “once-in-a-lifetime type of player.”
“Gunner is an extremely physical player,” Harless told us shortly after the Buckeyes offered in August. “He plays the game very violently, and he is a finisher. Gunner also plays with an extremely high motor. I'm not sure I can identify a weakness other than he's nowhere near where his potential ceiling is. I think he's a future NFL player who has first-round potential.”
Ohio State has typically gotten out in front of high-profile players’ recruitments, creating bonds with the players early in their careers, and that’s made a key difference as the Buckeyes have battled the other elite programs across the country. Hopefully the fact that they got in on Givens’ recruitment later in the process – for instance, offering him more than two months after Clemson and nearly four months after Alabama and Notre Dame – than the other offensive line bluebloods won’t hurt them here.
Givens broke down his top six with 247Sports' Brian Dohn, saying the Buckeyes have done a solid job in his recruitment:
Ohio State: "Ohio State getting a bunch of commits in the 2022 class. They are playing for national championships. The coaching staff has been amazing to me. I have family up in Ohio, which is another huge deal to me."
Offer dished to Chase Young comp
Anyone being compared to Chase Young coming out of high school is extremely high praise and perhaps a bit too much. Young, after all, was a transcendent five-star talent coming out of Maryland in 2017.
But so goes it for Duncanville's (Texas) Omari Abor, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound prospect in the 2022 class who was offered by the Buckeyes this week.
Very To Blessed To Say That I Have Received An Offer From The Ohio State Buckeyes #GoBucks @barr_starr @CoachSamuels11 @mcnatety @CoachShelton10 pic.twitter.com/Qz9mT7XmGU
— mr br (@BigSmooth___) November 4, 2020
“Most of my comparisons were me being (compared to) Chase Young,” Abor told Eleven Warriors. “They try to compare me with Chase Young because of my upper and lower body and my pass rushing. But I just try to get better every day.”
Abor has also been compared to Joey Bosa, but the country's fifth-ranked strongside defensive and 93rd-ranked overall player in the cycle tries to shrug those comparisons off even with schools such as Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan and USC making a push for him.
Abor shows explosiveness off the snap on the edge for Duncanville, the same program that houses Ohio State 2022 four-star offensive tackle offers Jaylen Early and Cameron Williams, and his ceiling and athleticism are two additional reasons Larry Johnson and Co. have been in contact.
“We’ve been talking and building a relationship for at least five months, maybe more. I know (Johnson's) a great coach,” Abor said. “I know in every position they send people to the league.”
Offer dished to Ramsey comp
So much of the Twitter hype in the 2022 class centers around a pair of five-star cornerbacks ranked in the top 10 overall in Domani Jackson (No. 3 overall, No. 1 CB) and Will Johnson (No. 7 overall, No. 3 CB).
On Thursday morning, however, the Buckeyes officially entered the race by extending an offer to yet another five-star cornerback ranked in the top 10 in Jacksonville's Jaheim Singletary.
Blessed to receive an offer from The Ohio State University ... @OhioStateFB Thank You @CoachTonyAlford @DB_CoachCoombs @rivalsmike @SWiltfong247 @KoreenBurch pic.twitter.com/8GtyygfZmk
— Jaheim Singletary (@Jaheim2_) November 5, 2020
Singletary, a 6-foot-1, 170-pounder from Robert E. Lee High School, is ranked No. 9 overall and No. 4 at CB in the 2022 cycle, and he comes in at No. 2 among Florida prospects in his class.
The last five-star cornerback to come to the Buckeyes by way of Jacksonville, Shaun Wade in 2017, has worked out pretty well for the program. (Remember, five-star Tyreke Johnson was ranked as a safety in the 2018 class.)
But there's another former five-star cornerback whom Singletary has been compared to by the folks at 247Sports with Andrew Ivins, who covers the Florida region for the network, seeing a bit of Jalen Ramsey in Singletary:
A physically imposing defender with a 74-inch wingspan. Already built well. A ball magnet of sorts that picked off eight passes as a freshman and broke up eight more as a sophomore despite missing some games due to injury. Has the ability to not only redirect wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, but also flip his hips and run with them. Does a good job of timing his breaks once in coverage, but often times relies too much on his length to make plays. Will need to get faster at the next level. Should develop into an impact player for a Power 5 program and eventually play on Sundays.
Header photo: Gunner Givens – Scooter Waller/247Sports
