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.
Singleton no longer taking OSU visit
Some bad news for Ohio State to start off today's Hurry-Up as one of the Buckeyes' top-two running back targets in the 2022 class, four-star Pennsylvanian Nicholas Singleton, will no longer be taking an official visit to Columbus in June.
Singleton told Eleven Warriors on March 31 that he had mapped out an official visits schedule of Wisconsin (June 4-6), Penn State (June 11-13), Northwestern (June 15-17) and Notre Dame (June 18-20) and that his Ohio State visit on June 25-27 would wrap up his summer circuit.
However, he has chosen to cancel that visit with the Buckeyes, confirming with Eleven Warriors that he will instead visit Alabama on that June 25-27 weekend and also cancel his Northwestern visit.
While that's tough news for the Buckeyes to lose out on one of their top running back targets, what Singleton's decision does do is help make the running back hierarchy on the board more clear.
It had already started to look like Memphis four-star Dallan Hayden was the 1A target at the position in 2022 – and that's how we saw it when we broke it down on Sunday – but now it's pretty much a certainty that he is the clear No. 1 target there with the others on that list (Damari Alston, Omarion Hampton, Gavin Sawchuk) behind him.
First-rounders by stars, rankings
As it is every year, the NFL draft was littered with guys selected in the first round who were expected to get there from the moment they left high school.
Five-star prospects are rated as such with the idea that you will one day be a first-round draft pick. So if you're one of the 35 or so five-star players in your recruiting class, you're supposed to be shaking hands with Roger Goodell one day and get the photo op with the two of you holding a jersey with the No. 1 on it.
Out of the 32 first-round draft picks last night, seven were composite five-star prospects. That includes four of the top-six players in the 2018 class with Trevor Lawrence (No. 1 overall ranking), Justin Fields (No. 2), Micah Parsons (No. 4) and Patrick Surtain II (No. 6) all being selected within the top-12 picks. The other three were ranked in the top four of the 2017 class: Jaelan Phillips (No. 1), Najee Harris (No. 2) and Alex Leatherwood (No. 4).
Lining the rest of the 32 picks were 10 four-star prospects, 14 three-stars and one two-star. Of those 32 players, 12 were ranked inside the top 100 and 10 were ranked outside the top 500.
We compiled a list of the star ratings and rankings for each of the 32 first-round draftees below. Each player's ★ ranking has a link to his recruiting profile coming out of high school:
- Jacksonville Jaguars – Trevor Lawrence – ★★★★★ – No. 1 overall, No. 1 pro-style QB (2018)
- New York Jets – Zach Wilson – ★★★ – No. 958 overall, No. 38 pro-style QB (2018)
- San Francisco 49ers – Trey Lance – ★★★ – No. 2,005 overall, No. 49 dual-threat QB (2018)
- Atlana Falcons – Kyle Pitts – ★★★★ – No. 162 overall, No. 5 TE (2018)
- Cincinnati Bengals – Ja'Marr Chase – ★★★★ – No. 84 overall, No. 15 WR (2018)
- Miami Dolphins – Jaylen Waddle – ★★★★ – No. 39 overall, No. 5 WR (2018)
- Detroit Lions – Penei Sewell – ★★★★ – No. 57 overall, No. 2 OG (2018)
- Carolina Panthers – Jaycee Horn – ★★★★ – No. 209 overall, No. 22 CB (2018)
- Denver Broncos – Patrick Surtain II – ★★★★★ – No. 6 overall, No. 1 CB (2018)
- Philadelphia Eagles – DeVonta Smith – ★★★★ – No. 62 overall, No. 9 WR (2017)
- Chicago Bears – Justin Fields – ★★★★★ – No. 2 overall, No. 1 dual-threat QB (2018)
- Dallas Cowboys – Micah Parsons – ★★★★★ – No. 5 overall, No. 2 weakside DE (2018)
- Los Angeles Chargers – Rashawn Slater – ★★★ – No. 653 overall, No. 32 OG (2017)
- New York Jets – Alijah Vera-Tucker – ★★★★ – No. 114 overall, No. 14 OT (2017)
- New England Patriots – Mac Jones – ★★★ – No. 399 overall, No. 18 pro-style QB (2017)
- Arizona Cardinals – Zaven Collins – ★★★ – No. 2,141 overall, No. 148 ATH (2017)
- Las Vegas Raiders – Alex Leatherwood – ★★★★★ – No. 4 overall, No. 1 OT (2017)
- Miami Dolphins – Jaelan Phillips – ★★★★★ – No. 1 overall, No. 1 weakside DE (2017)
- Washington Football Team – Jamin Davis – ★★★ – No. 915 overall, No. 60 OLB (2017)
- New York Giants – Kadarius Toney – ★★★ – No. 421 overall, No. 25 ATH (2017)
- Indianapolis Colts – Kwity Paye – ★★★ – No. 426 overall, No. 29 weakside DE (2017)
- Tennessee Titans – Caleb Farley – ★★★ – No. 428 overall, No. 27 ATH (2017)
- Minnesota Vikings – Christian Darrisaw – ★★★ – No. 1,848 overall, No. 171 OT (2017)
- Pittsburgh Steelers – Najee Harris – ★★★★★ – No. 2 overall, No. 1 RB (2017)
- Jacksonville Jaguars – Travis Etienne – ★★★★ – No. 213 overall, No. 15 RB (2017)
- Cleveland Browns – Greg Newsome II – ★★★ – No. 698 overall, No. 62 CB (2017)
- Baltimore Ravens – Rashod Bateman – ★★★★ – No. 367 overall, No. 61 WR (2018)
- New Orleans Saints – Payton Turner – ★★ – No. 2,548 overall, No. 117 weakside DE (2017)
- Green Bay Packers – Eric Stokes – ★★★ – No. 668 overall, No. 63 CB (2017)
- Buffalo Bills – Gregory Rousseau – ★★★ – No. 485 overall, No. 27 weakside DE (2018)
- Baltimore Ravens – Jayson Oweh – ★★★★ – No. 76 overall, No. 4 strongside DE (2018)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Joe Tryon – ★★★ – No. 773 overall, No. 33 strongside DE (2017)
As a final note, because I found this at least semi-interesting, I went through and took a look at how many of these 32 guys Ohio State offered when they were in high school. The Buckeyes offered six of the 32 players: Kyle Pitts, Jaycee Horn, Patrick Surtain II, Michah Parsons, Najee Harris and Jayson Oweh.
Top DL targets
This week we have been detailing the top remaining targets for the Buckeyes at each position:
Today, a quick look at the defensive line:
There's not much we have to discuss here. Curry has been one of the Buckeyes' top three targets, regardless of position, for a while now based on the need for a stud defensive tackle. Curry has the versatility to be used all along the defensive line, however, as a defensive end as well. He is down to a top-12 with Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Clemson and Notre Dame as some of the schools we believe to be in upper echelon there, and Indiana is creeping up there as well.
The five-star defensive end out of Texas seems more destined to stay in the south with the Longhorns, Texas A&M or, probably the most likely destination, Oklahoma. But don't count out Larry Johnson and Ohio State, which will host the No. 21 overall player on June 4 for an official visit. That's the date of the Buckeye Bash 2.0, where fellow Texan Quinn Ewers can make an impression alongside the class' top two peer recruiters, C.J. Hicks and Bennett Christian. This is a situation where the loss of Dasan McCullough hurts the most. He would've been a huge help if he was still in the class.
White, a former five-star defensive end who slid all the way down to the No. 39 overall spot in the class, is taking official visits to Florida, Georgia and Alabama in June, but he is finishing up his circuit with an official visit to Ohio State on June 25-27, which is shaping up to be the Buckeyes' biggest recruiting weekend alongside the June 4-6 weekend.
We've been very high on Jackson since before the No. 5 weakside defensive end was offered by the Buckeyes. He has official visits to Oklahoma and Ohio State (June 25-27) set up, though Clemson remains in the pole position.
Christen Miller, Chris McClellan
Both late offers in the class by the Buckeyes at defensive tackle and both players whose stock has risen considerably in the past two months (with McClellan's absolutely skyrocketing in March).
I think Ohio State will wind up taking Neal as the second or third defensive tackle in the class and would probably commit if given the opportunity. James, on the other hand, still seems like he will wind up at Alabama as of today, but an official visit to Columbus in June could sway him.
Campbell would have been No. 2 or No. 3 in this space just a couple months ago, but the Buckeyes have slipped here for this immensely talented hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker.
The country's No. 7 weakside defensive end loves Ohio State, so perhaps an official visit on June 11 could get things moving here.
Header photo: Nicholas Singleton – Mark Brennan/247Sports
