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.
“First-class manner”
During the prolonged dead period, of which we are still in the middle of, it has been more than a year since recruits were able to make official or unofficial visits. Of course, there is light at the end of the tunnel as we seem to be (cautiously but optimistically) headed toward a quiet period starting in June.
On Monday, Ryan Day was asked during his media availability what plans, if any, Ohio State has been able to put forth when it comes to what the program will do once the dead period does mercifully come to a close.
In essence, he said the Buckeyes are putting together initial plans, but there isn’t a whole lot they can do without further guidance from the NCAA on what will be allowed on visits – for example, whether they will be able to put athletes through drills to get their testing numbers and verified height/weight numbers, whether or not in-person evaluations will be part of the equation at all, the maximum number of players allowed on visits, whether social distancing guidelines will be heavily enforced, etc.
“Well, we’ll see what we can do,” Day said. “There’s not much, in terms of preparation, that we can do other than talk to recruits and their families about coming to visit if it does open up here in June. I think there’s gonna be some restrictions on how many people can come in. We’re talking about a year and a half since recruits can come on campus. That’s really two classes that haven’t been here. So they’re gonna be coming over the walls, so we’re gonna have to be smarter than all of that. For the 2022 class, we’re gonna be able to do some official visits here, which’ll be great to get them back on campus. We’re gonna wait to see what the university says about testing and that stuff when they come on campus.
“There’s also some talk about possibly having camps or even in-person evaluations here when they get here. So we’re waiting to find out to have some direction on what to do, and we’ll kind of go from there. But it’s kind of like, ‘hurry up and wait and see what’s gonna happen here.’ But we do have some contingency plans in place from talking to the families about getting them here because I know there’s a lot of people that are excited to get on campus and get around the program.”
Ohio State, of course, has done just fine on the recruiting trail in both the 2021 and 2022 classes despite the dead period crushing all official/unofficial visits and in-person evaluations.
The Buckeyes are doing that all while doing it without cheating or finding any loopholes in the process, Day said on Monday.
He was asked his thoughts on other programs creating such loopholes during the dead period or otherwise gaming the system (i.e. Cheating) during recruiting.
He did not name any schools specifically, just doing a bit of subtweeting when he sounded off on how Ohio State runs its ship compared to other programs across the nation.
“It’s been hard for the recruits, it’s been hard for us, and I know it’s been hard for their families,” Day said. “People are dying to get on campus, but we are in a dead period right now. We’re always gonna do things the right way here, and if there’s people out there that aren’t, then shame on them. If recruits wanna go to a place like that that is gonna bend the rules – if that’s what’s going on – then more power to ‘em. But that’s not gonna how we’re gonna do it here.
“We’re always gonna do things in a first-class manner and be above board on everything. We’re dying to get people on campus and be around them and host them on visits and have meals with them and laugh with them and look them in the eye and show them our culture. That’s the biggest thing is to show them our players and see what’s here. That’s been hard for all of us. But in the meantime, we’re gonna take the high road and do things the right way. I think our recruits and our families respect that, and hopefully that’s what they wanna be a part of.”
Montgomery earns All-American bid
One of the four 2023 prospects to earn an Ohio State offer from the Buckeye State, Luke Montgomery will be a nationally recognized recruit throughout the next two years.
He's already starting to get that reputation, earning an invitation to the All-American Bowl and accepting that bid on Monday.
Dreams Do Come True
— All-American Bowl (@AABonNBC) March 29, 2021
Luke Montgomery (@lukeMonty8) has committed to the 2023 All-American Bowl. #AllAmericanBowl pic.twitter.com/7i3na1TNo9
There are plenty of top recruiting targets in the 2022 and 2023 classes we have already seen earn and/or accept bids to the bowl, and they seem to be coming in droves of late. That includes Kadyn Proctor, Earnest Greene, Caden Curry, Luke Hasz and Victor Burley among others.
Rankings updates
On the subject of Montgomery becoming a national recruit, the Findlay, Ohio offensive tackle was listed at No. 65 overall in the first Rivals rankings of the 2023 class.
Not including unranked offensive guard Josh Padilla, the Buckeyes' other two in-state offers in the cycle also earned rankings with Brenan Vernon coming in at No. 9 and Sonny Styles at No. 26. Both are future five-stars, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Montgomery eventually earn that billing too.
The Top247 rankings, beyond just the top-100 the site has had out for several months, are coming out on Wednesday.
Header photo: Ryan Day, Sevyn Banks – Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
