The Hurry-Up: Ohio State Receiver Targets Braylon James and Carnell Tate Have Discussed Playing Together, Buckeyes Offer Two More Linebackers

By Dan Hope on June 27, 2021 at 8:35 am
Braylon James
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After writing the Hurry-Up here at Eleven Warriors for the past couple of months, it’s time for me to pass the torch.

No, don’t worry (or celebrate, depending on your perspective) – I’m not leaving the site. I am, however, going to be on vacation for the next week, and by the time I get back, incoming Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge (follow him on Twitter) will be on the job, which means the daily Hurry-Ups you’re accustomed to will soon return to their usual frequency. Although I still plan to contribute to recruiting coverage as well, I’ll begin shifting my focus back to primarily team coverage in July, with Big Ten Media Days and the ramp-up to the 2021 football season fast approaching.

Until then, Colin Hass-Hill and Andrew Ellis will have you covered, as Colin is going to be attending The Opening and Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles while Andrew will continue to keep you all informed as always through his articles and message board posts.

Before I relinquish my interim recruiting reporter duties, though, here’s one more notebook on the latest developments in Ohio State football recruiting.

James, Tate have talked teaming up

Five wide receivers in the recruiting class of 2023 currently hold offers from Ohio State, and they’ve all talked to each other about teaming up.

After camping in Ohio Stadium on Wednesday, Braylon James said he wanted to come back to Ohio State for another visit alongside Carnell Tate, who participated in Tuesday’s camp at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as part of his second visit of the month to Ohio State.

James said they’re also in a group chat with Jalen Hale and Johntay Cook II, and that they talk “all the time” about potentially playing for the same college.

“We always talk about teaming up and potentially being a threat on the field,” James said.

James has also previously talked about the possibility of teaming up with the other wide receiver who has an Ohio State offer, Brandon Inniss, though he said they haven’t talked to each other much recently.

“I really don’t talk to Inniss like that anymore, we used to be pretty cool back in the 9th grade, but I know we used to talk about playing together a little bit,” James said.

Inniss said this week, though, that he’d welcome the possibility of joining a deep receiver room.

“I like competition,” said Inniss, who included Ohio State in the list of top 10 schools he released Saturday. “I just gotta work my way in. They just gotta give me an opportunity to, I guess, and then I’m gonna just work my way onto the field.”

Top receivers in the 2023 class teaming up to come to Ohio State would be nothing new for the Buckeyes, who signed four top-100 receivers in the 2020 class and three top-100 receivers in the 2021 class and are on track to sign at least two in the 2022 class. And James, who does not expect to make his college decision until next summer, wants to have at least one other top receiver in his recruiting class wherever he ends up.

“If I can get two, just me and someone else, somebody I can really connect with, yeah, that’d be pretty cool,” James said. “Competition, friendship, all that stuff.”

James already has a current receiver commit recruiting him to come to Ohio State, too, as Caleb Burton was previously teammates with James at Del Valle High School before transferring to Lake Travis for his senior season. He said Burton talks to him “every day” about becoming a Buckeye and joining Burton in Columbus to catch passes from fellow Texan Quinn Ewers.

“He’s still trying to recruit me to Lake Travis, but I decided to stay loyal to Del Valle,” James said. “Our season got cut short, he got injured so we really haven’t got a chance to play together, and he’s really bugging me about, ‘Man, we can be that duo in college and stuff like that, me, you and Quinn.’”

Two more linebackers land offers

While most of the prospects who earned offers after camping at Ohio State this month are in either the 2023 or 2024 classes, as the Buckeyes have already made most of their offers for the class of 2022, they made an offer to a linebacker in the senior class on Thursday after he camped at Ohio State on Tuesday.

Carson Tabaracci, a three-star linebacker from Park City, Utah, landed his offer after going through a workout with Ohio State linebackers coach Al Washington alongside 2023 linebackers Jaiden Ausberry and Ta’Mere Robinson, who both earned offers after Tuesday’s camp.

While the Buckeyes already have two linebacker commits for the 2022 class in C.J. Hicks and Gabe Powers, they’re still looking to add at least one more after Dasan McCullough’s flip to Indiana, and that’s where Tabaracci could come in. At 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds with a 4.57-second 40-yard dash time, Tabaracci is a traditional linebacker who demonstrated good athleticism for his size while going through a variety of drills on Tuesday.

Ranked as the No. 548 overall prospect in the 2022 class, Tabaracci adds Ohio State to a list of more than 20 offers that includes Michigan and Nebraska and eight Pac-12 schools, among others.

While Utah has not been a frequent recruiting pipeline for Ohio State, Tabaracci has a connection to the Buckeyes; Tony Alford’s twin nephews, Max and Sam Alford, are teammates with Tabaracci at Park City High School.

Edwin Spillman, a 2024 linebacker from Nashville, Tennessee, who also participated in that workout with Ausberry, Robinson and Tabaracci, ended up receiving an offer from the Buckeyes as well, announcing his offer from Ohio State on Saturday.

Spillman adds Ohio State to an early list of offers that also includes Boston College, Eastern Kentucky, Georgia, N.C. State and Tennessee.

Webb to commit July 17

Just two days after announcing that he would commit to either Georgia, Ohio State or Oklahoma in August, five-star 2023 running back Treyaun Webb announced Friday that his commitment will be coming even sooner than originally planned.

Webb tweeted Friday that he will now be announcing his commitment on July 17 in an interview with CBS Sports.

As we wrote about on Wednesday, there’s been reason to feel good about where Ohio State stands with Webb, who previously told multiple media outlets after his unofficial visit to Ohio State earlier this month that the Buckeyes had become the frontrunner in his recruitment. He’s made visits to both Georgia and Oklahoma since then, though, and on Friday, 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong – who was tagged in Webb’s tweet announcing his commitment date – placed a Crystal Ball in favor of Oklahoma landing Webb.

Regardless of where he’s leaning right now, there’s little doubt that Alford and the Buckeyes will continue to recruit him hard in hopes of convincing him to come to Columbus, as he’s one of their top two targets at the running back position right now along with fellow Florida five-star Richard Young.

Campbell to commit Sunday

Another Ohio State target who announced a commitment date on Friday was four-star 2022 defensive end.linebacker Jihaad Campbell, who revealed that he will publicize his college decision at 4 p.m. Sunday.

While Ohio State hosted Campbell for an official visit earlier this month, there hasn’t been a ton of buzz about Campbell becoming a Buckeye. He also made visits this month to Clemson, Florida, Rutgers and Georgia, and Clemson is viewed as the frontrunner in his recruitment, as Wiltfong also placed a Crystal Ball in the Tigers’ favor on Friday for the IMG Academy edge defender, who’s originally from New Jersey.

Neal, Holstein headed elsewhere

Two other Ohio State targets also officially came off the board on Friday when they committed elsewhere.

2022 North Carolina defensive tackle Curtis Neal, who also made an official visit to Ohio State earlier this month, announced his commitment to Wisconsin on Friday.

And 2023 Louisiana quarterback Eli Holstein, who earned an offer from the Buckeyes after participating in Ohio State’s first camp of June, announced his commitment to Texas A&M on Friday.

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