The camp circuit in Ohio is starting off with a bang this weekend.
Last August, Under Armour's Elite Underclassmen Camp featured a host of blue-chip, high-level talents headlined by Ohio State commit C.J. Hicks’ MVP performance, plus strong showings by five-star linebacker Shawn Murphy and St. Louis cornerback Toriano Pride.
It'll be no different this time around at the Fortress Obetz-hosted event.
This is the fifth stop of the invite-only Under Armour All-America Camp series, a national football skills event featuring some of the best high school and middle school football players across the country. Players will be tested in the 40-yard dash, pro agility, vertical leap and other individual drills as well as head-to-head competitions via one-on-one drills against other top athletes at their respective positions.
The top performers will earn bids to the 2022 Under Armour All-America Game and/or the Future 50 camp in Florida.
Eleven Warriors will be on hand to cover the event throughout the day. The camp begins at 9 a.m. Sunday. Follow Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) and Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) on Twitter for updates, photos and videos.
In the meantime, here are five things to keep an eye on this weekend.
Four Ohio State commits set to compete
This year's field is even more loaded than last year's.
Headlining the event once again is Hicks, but this time he is set to be joined by four other Ohio State commits – though only three of those future teammates will compete.
Dasan McCullough recently underwent surgery to repair a turf toe injury and will be sidelined, only traveling to Columbus to support his fellow Buckeye commits and his younger brother who is competing and to visit Columbus for the first time since he made his Ohio State pledge in August.
Gabe Powers is set to compete alongside Hicks, giving the Buckeyes a pair of linebacker commits in the competition. Offensive line commit Tegra Tshabola will be on hand and cornerback Jyaire Brown is on the roster as well.
— Dasan ccullough (@Dasan2022) April 7, 2021
In addition to those 2022 commits, likely offensive tackle commit Aamil Wagner – a four-star out of Huber Heights who was offered by Ohio State last month – will be competing, as will four-star Westerville South receiver and Penn State commit Kaden Saunders. Saunders put on a show at the Best of the Midwest showcase in February, running a 4.31 in the 40 and torching defensive backs throughout the day.
With Ohio State trending away from offering players such as Saunders, who seems to fit the H-back mold, it doesn't seem likely that the Buckeyes will offer. But perhaps a strong camp performance could change things there.
Other top 2022 prospects scheduled to compete include:
- Four-star Indiana offensive guard DJ Moore, one of the Buckeyes' targets at the position who has an offer from Greg Studrawa and Co. The No. 8-ranked OG in 2022, Moore was supposed to compete at the camp last year but was unable to.
- Penn State TE commit Jerry Cross
- Michigan WR commit Tay'Shawn Trent
- Devon Jackson, the No. 13 OLB in the nation out of Omaha, Nebraska, who has Notre Dame as his Crystal Ball favorite.
- Dane Key, a top-250 overall player and top-35 receiver from Kentucky
- Cincinnati defensive tackle commit and all-around great kid Derrick Shepard, a teammate of Hicks' at Alter High School.
- Michigan four-star athlete Dillon Tatum, who was once recruited by the Buckeyes as a slot cornerback but is likely headed to the Wolverines when it's all said and done.
- Center Grove (Indiana) quarterback Tayven Jackson, the younger brother of Indiana Hoosiers basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis and a teammate of Buckeye priority defensive tackle target Caden Curry, who blew up a bit on the recruiting trail over the past few months with offers from Texas A&M, Florida, Florida State, Auburn, Michigan and Oregon.
First camp look at five-stars
Seeing the Buckeyes' host of commits and getting a chance to evaluate them, seeing how they've improved and catch up with them afterward is going to be one of the highlights of the camp.
But the most exciting aspect of Sunday's competition, personally, is the opportunity to see the four Ohioans in the 2023 class who have been offered by the Buckeyes.
That group is headlined by composite five-star prospects Brenan Vernon (the No. 9 overall player, No. 2 strongside defensive end and No. 1 player in Ohio) out of Mentor and Pickerington Central's Sonny Styles (No. 23 overall, No. 2 in Ohio and the No. 2 safety in America).
Those are two of the top talents in the nation who would be massive building blocks in a strong Ohio class on the defensive side of the ball in 2023. It will be exciting to see what they've got in store.
On the other side of the ball, we're going to get our first camp-setting looks at another pair of potential building blocks in the 2023 cycle with Findlay's Luke Montgomery and Wayne's Josh Padilla. Montgomery is ranked No. 51 overall and No. 4 at offensive tackle while Padilla is unranked in the composite but has marks of No. 161 overall and No. 6 at offensive guard in 247Sports’ rankings.
Much like in 2021, the 2023 recruiting class of Ohio is shaping up to be loaded with talent. Getting those four would be as strong of an in-state quartet to begin a class as Ohio State has ever had. Trevor Carter, Ohio's No. 4 prospect and the only 2023 prospect ranked in the state's top five without an offer from the Buckeyes, is not on Sunday's roster of competitors.
Kadyn Proctor – a teammate of Xavier Nwankpa's at Iowa's Southeast Polk – is traveling from Iowa to participate this weekend as another headliner. The 6-foot-7, 300-pound Proctor is a composite five-star ranked No. 10 overall and No. 2 at offensive tackle in 2023.
Like I said ... loaded field.
Who is this year's C.J. Hicks?
I went and saw Hicks in Dayton the week before everyone saw him at last year's Obetz camp. So I got a sneak peek at how much he had improved himself physically and built himself out to looking like a five-star prospect. I was able to hype him up heading into that day.
And then he met the hype. He showed up looking like a chiseled linebacker prospect and damn near ready to get into a college program. And then he showcased his skill level, strength, ball skills and quickness throughout the day. He looked like a monster and a five-star prospect en route to camp MVP honors.
Out here at the Elite Underclassmen Camp (@TheUCReport) at Fortress Obetz, checking out some of the top 2021, 2022 and 2023 prospects in the Midwest. pic.twitter.com/PE4NGpJld5
— Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) July 11, 2020
I'm looking forward to seeing who, if anyone, will grab that mantle this time around. Other than Hicks himself, obviously.
Who is this year's Toriano Pride?
Pride, who is not in the field to compete at this year's event, was one of the camp's top performers last year, and that helped put him squarely on the map.
“I’d still be ranked in the 300s if I didn’t go to that camp,” Pride told Eleven Warriors in March. “I didn’t have big-time offers until I went to this camp. That was big time.”
Fast forward several months later and he's one of the Buckeyes' top targets in 2022 regardless of position, and they are locked in a one-on-one battle against Clemson for his signature.
Who could take a page out of Pride's book, fly up the rankings and increase his offer sheet this weekend?
Candidates to show up and show out who are still looking to earn an Ohio State offer include Delian Bradley, a 2022 player from Springfield (Ohio) who the Buckeyes are looking at as a slot cornerback; Lakota West defensive back Alex Afari; Eastlake North offensive lineman Ryan Baer; and Bloomington South (Indiana) 2023 prospect Daeh McCullough, Dasan's younger brother, who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 78 overall player, No. 6 safety and No. 2 Indiana prospect for the 2023 cycle.
We like McCullough and Bradley the most to shine in the same vein as Pride. But, as is often the case, there will be someone off the board a bit who impresses with his testing numbers and skill level.
MVPrediction
Hicks is going to win MVP. So we can't give that cop out of a prediction.
Forced to pick someone else, I'm putting my money on Styles to be everything he's cracked up to be as the best overall athlete not named Hicks competing at the showcase.
