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.
Nichols top five
Ohio State's search for more top-level offensive line prospects in the 2022 class picked up a major update on Wednesday.
Georgia blue-chipper Addison Nichols, ranked No. 103 overall and No. 3 at offensive guard out of Greater Atlanta Christian, set his official visits schedule with a release of a top-five featuring Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee, USC and Florida.
Top 5 pic.twitter.com/3x3VSO8zib
— Addison H. Nichols (@ahnichols22) April 28, 2021
Nichols, a 6-foot-5, 305-pounder, is in familiar territory as an interior lineman ranked outside the top 100 overall (happens with many guys listed as OC or OG), but he brings value in his versatility to either become a guard or tackle at the next level. (He's listed as an OT, after all, despite his rankings coming as an OG.)
His official visits line up like this: Georgia (June 4), Florida (June 11), Ohio State (June 14), Tennessee (June 18) and USC (June 25).
It's going to be busy month of June for the vast majority of 2022 and 2023 prospects before the quiet period of four-and-a-half weeks (June 1-June 27) turning right back into a dead period from June 28-July 24 and then another blitz of a quiet period from July 25-31.
Nichols is no different, and we are sure to see a rash of commitments this summer. The educated guess here is that it's a hectic month of June visits-wise but that we don't see a blitz of commitments until those first couple weeks of July as prospects wrap up all the visits they want to take then go into decision mode once June comes to a close.
More on Moore
We’ve spent the better part of the last two weeks at Eleven Warriors profiling guys in recruiting classes who are still miles from filling their potential and seemingly eons from even stepping foot on college turf. From a pair of stud offensive tackles prospects to a cornerback who has the infrastructure in place to become a star and two of the gems in Ohio’s own class – one who is already clear to be a bonafide five-star and the other who is on a mission to remain that way – we’ve had a focus on the further-further future.
We did so again earlier on Wednesday with a profile of five-star quarterback Dante Moore that we encourage you to check out.
At this point, Moore does not yet have an Ohio State offer and has not yet communicated with Ryan Day or the Buckeyes’ staff. As noted, that could change if/when he gets down to Columbus for an in-person evaluation.
He was, however, in town for the Under Armour Camp Series in Obetz two weeks ago, earning an invite to the Under Armour Future 50 that’s dished out to America’s elite prospects. While he was mostly there in order to throw to his Martin Luther King Jr. (Michigan) teammates and help them earn more offers and college interest, the No. 15 overall prospect in the 2023 class wasn’t taking the day lightly.
“I’ve always got something to prove,” Moore said. “LeBron James, in my eyes, is the best basketball player to ever play basketball. He’s not going into the games to slack off because he’s the best player. He always wants to better himself. So I’m going into camps wanting to better myself, learn while I’m there and learn from the coaches there. Me being a high-ranked recruit, I’m really blessed to be where I’m at right now. But I’m really there to just get better myself and help my receivers out.”
The two most important offers on the table for Moore right now are Michigan and Notre Dame.
If he was going to make a decision today, it’d be hard not to lean toward the Wolverines, based on his Detroit location and some ties to the program by way of his relationship with his quarterback trainer, former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner. He says he’s not going to be swayed by that or by his ties to Ohio State (if given the opportunity to play there) by way of his childhood fandom of the Buckeyes and his roots as a Cleveland native. Very much something to keep an eye on, though.
Top WR/TE Targets in 2022
As we did with quarterbacks and running backs on Monday, we're running through the hierarchy of top remaining targets in the 2022 class at each position. Today, we hit on receivers and tight ends.
Tight ends
Benji Gosnell, Bennett Christian
Just to get this out of the way really quickly, the Buckeyes are done here. They wanted two tight ends in this class and got them early with the one-two punch they wanted. Gosnell (North Carolina) and Christian (Tennessee) each strong family ties to another program so the Buckeye coaches will have to continue to sustain relationships with each (they will), but there's no worry to think they won't wind up in the class come signing day.
Receivers
With Caleb Burton and Kyion Grayes already in the class, the list starts (and nearly ends) with Antwi and Williams. The Buckeyes are searching for a third receiver in the class to stack onto the Burton-Grayes combo, and landing a big, physical guy with plenty of speed who lines up on the outside appears to be the direction they are heading with the third WR.
Alabama and Texas A&M are Ohio State's main competition for Antwi, who released a top schools list in March that excluded the Buckeyes and then promptly put them back on it days later. He has an official visit set for June 18 in Columbus before a July 5 decision date.
Don't believe Ohio State has as much heavy interest in Brown as it does in Antwi and Williams. Brown is on the smaller side for a receiver prospect (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) and believe they want a bigger receiver instead of a slot guy.
WR to be named
With states such as California, North Carolina and Virginia getting around to football in the spring, more junior tape is coming out to give coaches a better and more complete evaluation. We could see another offer down the pike after the spring slate or even after the 7-on-7 and camp circuits this summer. Jay Fair (out of Texas) and Omar Cooper (out of Indianapolis) are a pair of receivers to keep an eye on. Fair told Eleven Warriors in March that he had been building a "strong" relationship with Hartline for about two months.
Flipping
Luther Burden (Oklahoma) and Armani Winfield (Texas) are the other receivers on the board in a very exclusive group of guys that Brian Hartline and Co. have offered. Winfield was an Ohio State lean at one point but committed to the Longhorns.
Header photo: Addison Nichols – Don Callahan/247Sports
