VICTORY
Ohio State beats Penn State, 20-13, in a thrilling top-five matchup at Beaver Stadium.
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.
The group of three cornerback prospects that sit atop Ohio State’s recruiting board is not an exhaustive list, but it’s certainly the three names that we have heard the most about over the last several weeks.
Ohio State would love to flip Domani Jackson from USC, Michigan commit Will Johnson will be a name to still keep an eye on (though that ship has almost certainly sailed), and Texas’ Denver Harris may decide to put the Buckeyes back into the fray after putting out a top four list sans Ohio State (though he’s likely to stay in the south).
But those aren’t the three names we’ve been looking at under a closer microscope of late.
Rather, it’s the trio of Toriano Pride, Ryan Turner and Austin Jordan that has emerged as the one in which Ohio State’s third cornerback in the 2022 class is most likely to come from.
We’ll take a look at the recruitments of each remaining target this week, starting with Pride.
Toriano Pride
The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder out of St. Louis’ Lutheran North High School recently released a top seven featuring Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama and Georgia – the four schools that are near the top of that list thus far. Pride broke down that list with us last week.
Top 7.... @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/S4tviqKf7k
— Toriano Pride Jr (@toriano2x) March 5, 2021
Pride’s recruitment is likely going to come down to an Ohio State vs. Clemson battle, and the Buckeyes may have a slight advantage if you take into account the four-star’s allegiances. He’s been high on Ohio State for a while, he admits, and that dates back to his time before he was even a high school recruit.
Pride and his family are family friends with Ezekiel Elliott’s family, and they visited Columbus for the 2015 spring game, which helped plant a bit of a seed to where we stand today with the young corner.
“Zeke, he’s from St. Louis, and our parents are close. I went up there for the spring game, and we got to meet Urban Meyer, Zeke and all them,” Pride told Eleven Warriors. “We really met because I had a high school coach that trained him. He went to John Burroughs in St. Louis, where I’m at. His dad got all of us tickets to the spring game. He had a broken wrist or something. It was around that time, we went over there and watched. They did that Fast Man Challenge, and Zeke won. It was fun. We got to speak to Zeke, I got to shake Urban Meyer’s hand. We didn’t get to talk to him that much, but we got to shake his hand and meet him. It was a good time.”
That visit helped Pride get an early view of Ohio State and its facilities and its program as a whole. Even though things have changed in the years since, it still gives him some familiarity. That was one of three total visits Pride has made to Columbus, which is also a net positive.
“That puts a lot of weight on my decision because I’ve been to Ohio State a few times,” Pride said. “It’d be different if I’d never been to Ohio State. I know what the city is like, the college campus, I’ve been in the stadium, I’ve been in the facilities. They’ve probably added a bunch more stuff probably, but as a younger teen I’ve been in the facilities. That puts a good (factor) into my decision because I’m not really blind to everything they have up there.”
That’s why, during one of his many conversations with Kerry Coombs (he says he has them near daily with the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator), Coombs essentially told him that there wouldn’t be much of a point for him to come visit until the dead period was lifted. He’s already seen most of what Ohio State has to offer, now it’s just time for him to meet the coaches in person.
“The only thing that would play a big role is meeting the coaches,” Pride said. “Because I’ve been up there a lot of times, but I’ve never met the coaches, I’ve never met Coach Coombs. And everything is a lot different when you meet someone face-to-face over talking on the phone.
He says he speaks with Coombs, Ryan Day and Mark Pantoni every week, which is helping bridge the gap until he can meet up close and personal. Meeting them and asking questions such as what his chances are of seeing the field early in his career and what the cornerback numbers at the program are looking like over the next few years are some of the bullet points he wants to hit on.
Pride is adamant he won’t be making a late decision, one that drags into his senior season. He wants to be committed by July or August, which makes visits even more imperative.
“It’s real important because I don’t wanna be a late commit,” Pride said. “I don’t plan on committing super late. Some people commit right before signing day, and I don’t wanna do that. I wanna make sure my spot’s secure.
“At first, (the dead period) wasn’t that stressful, but now it’s getting stressful because they keep pushing it back. So now it’s getting super stressful.”
Mitchell's top 12
One item we did not hit on this week was a very, very early release of a top-12 list by a player who is likely going to continue his ascension as one of Ohio State’s top cornerback targets in the 2023 class. (If not the biggest target.)
Tony Mitchell trimmed his list this week to a group that includes Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and LSU.
Top 12... pic.twitter.com/kaKHoDadv9
— Tony Mitchell (@DatGuyTM) March 7, 2021
Mitchell is an early five-star candidate who’s ranked No. 1 at CB and No. 19 overall in the 2023 class and No. 3 in the state of Alabama.
Oregon offers JTT in basketball
On Tuesday, Dana Altman’s Oregon basketball program followed the lead of Mike Hopkins and Co. in the Washington Huskies’ program.
The Ducks offered five-star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau a basketball scholarship, and if you watched any of his highlights it’s easy to see why.
Tuimoloau is down to a final five of Ohio State, Alabama, USC, Washington and Oregon, with Oregon being seen as the darkhorse in a recruitment that is still likely to come down to the Buckeyes and the Crimson Tide.
