The Hurry-Up: Buckeyes Out of the Mix for Five-Star Cornerback Denver Harris, Optimism Again for End of Dead Period in June

By Zack Carpenter on February 21, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Denver Harris
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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 not in five-star CB's final list

It appears, for now at least, that the Buckeyes are out of the mix for a five-star cornerback.

Denver Harris, the No. 6 overall player and No. 3 cornerback in the nation's 2022 class, released a top four that excluded Ohio State. Instead, the North Shore (Houston) High School star, ranked as the No. 2 prospect in Texas behind Quinn Ewers, has Alabama, Texas, LSU and Texas A&M among his final considerations.

With Will Johnson set to announce a commitment next Sunday that is likely to go Michigan's way, it looks like the Buckeyes might be out on two five-star corners.

Some of Ohio State's other top targets at corner are highlighted by Texas' Austin Jordan, St. Louis' Toriano Pride and Georgia's Ryan Turner.

Goodwin continuing to progress toward five-star status

Yes, we get it. We’ve talked about Kiyaunta Goodwin a lot this week. (And we’re not quite done.)

That’s for good reason. The hulking 6-foot-8, 300-pounder is going to wind up as a five-star prospect (or at least right on the cusp of it) and compete for a top-three ranking among America’s best offensive tackles in the 2022 class when it’s all said and done. That’s something we predicted would build back in the fall, and we were fully confident that Goodwin’s recruitment would eventually evolve into what it’s become – a national battle.

And why is that? Well, the proof is in the pudding:

That 2-minute, 11-second clip was one of a few clips that Goodwin’s trainer, Chris Vaughn, sent us that backs up our belief that he will become a five-star talent. He’s an absolute bull who moves vertically and laterally with the athleticism of a stretch-4 power forward in basketball. There’s still a ways to go for Goodwin to nab that fifth star, but he’s done enough thus far to suggest he’s well on his way.

Goodwin is that true left tackle prospect Ohio State wants and needs in this class with size, strength and athleticism combination. He might be the best pure tackle prospect in the 2022 cycle. He plans on continuing to add muscle and lean out a little more with the goal of playing at 310 pounds in his senior season and likely 320 whenever he gets on a college campus as a freshman.

It’s already been fun to follow this future star’s physical and mental growth, and we suggest you hop on board the hype train if you haven’t already.

Dead period extension

Obviously, the biggest news last week in Disney's Wide World of Recruiting was the extension of the dead period.

The NCAA Division I Council, as a refresher, voted to extend the dead period (again) through May 31. That means a bevy of Ohio State commits and targets (and, obviously, recruits around the globe) will be shunned from being able to take official or unofficial visits and tour athletics facilities, stadiums and visit with coaches.

Division I Council chairperson M. Grace Calhoun says “there is a strong commitment to use the next several weeks to outline the transition plan back to recruiting activities post June 1 and to provide those plans to prospective student-athletes, their families and the NCAA membership no later than April 15.”

So maybe there should be optimism (again) in May that the dead period will end in time for the summer. But (again) we'll have to believe it when we see it with the continued extensions. I'm actually optimistic, but maybe I'm seeing the glass of bourbon half-full and not half-empty.

“Freedom Trail” style tours?

Speaking of the dead period, on the 247Sports Football Recruiting Podcast, host Blair Angulo had a fun, creative idea that, while it may not happen, is actually a pretty good path to go down if you’re a college football program.

Angulo’s idea (while perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek) is to take a page out of the city of Boston’s book.

If you’ve never been to Boston, the city has what is called the “Freedom Trail.” It’s a 2.5-mile trail throughout Boston that is lined with a pair of bricks on the ground that wraps through and around historical landmarks, restaurants, museums and even an old shipping yard with, you guessed it, old ships that you can tour. Pretty cool deal to take a tour on if you ever find yourself in Boston.

Anyway…

Angulo’s idea is to have a similar trail lined up by college coaching staffs on their respective campuses in order to better guide the recruits and their families.

Again, maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I still like it. Visits like the one Bennett Christian and Zen Michalski went on (each of which led directly to ensuing commitments to Ohio State), and the one that Kyion Grayes will go on next weekend, have been dubbed “academic visits” or “self-guided visits.”

RELATED “That’s the Last Thing I Need to See”: Ohio State Wide Receiver Target Kyion Grayes Previews First-Ever Visit to Columbus

But, really, coaching staffs like the one the Buckeyes employ give a pretty detailed picture of the key spots to hit around campus, how to get the best view of the athletics facilities from the outside and other general guidance during these recruits’ time in Columbus. So I guess that’s their version of the “Freedom Trail,” but it would still be fun for them to lay some brick or tape down wouldn’t it?

Bricks or not, it looks like we’re going to be having a lot more of these self-guided visits throughout the rest of this winter and spring, and we will see what summer brings.

Header photo: Denver Harris – Nick Harris/247Sports

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