Just a few days after starting his job as Ohio State’s new safeties coach, Perry Eliano hit the recruiting trail.
From Texas to Georgia to anywhere else in between, Eliano spent multiple weeks visiting potential future Buckeyes. His visits ranged from seeing prospects the Buckeyes have already offered, such as five-star cornerback AJ Harris, to making several new offers to recruits in various classes.
While on the trail, Eliano noticed a notable advantage he hadn’t had while he was recruiting players as Cincinnati’s cornerbacks coach for the past two seasons. This time around, not only was Eliano able to claim his accolades of assisting in the development of Jim Thorpe Award winner Coby Bryant and 2021 first-team All-American Ahmad Gardner, he was also representing one of the most nationally recognized college football programs in the country.
“There’s a different response,” Eliano told reporters Monday when asked about what it’s like recruiting for Cincinnati compared to OSU. “Cincinnati is great, but there’s definitely a different response when you have the Block O on your chest. People say we are a national brand from New York, to California, to everywhere in between. There was definitely a different response from (recruits) because I had a Block O on my chest, but those relationships had been built. And then I’ve developed new relationships with schools I had never been in. At the end of the day it’s exciting because it’s all about players, but it’s about the right type of players.”
Newfound advantages aside, Eliano said there wasn’t any new learning curve recruiting for a new school on his first few days on the job. On the trail, he was deploying most of the same recruiting tactics he has been for his entire coaching career.
“I think (recruiting) starts with you as an individual coach,” Eliano said. “Guys want to play for coaches and establish relationships with coaches that they feel good about. It’s got to start there. Now with the logo on my chest, it doesn’t hurt because it gets you in doors and gets you opportunities. Just like we want to coach at the highest level, young men want to play at the very best and highest level and play for national championships. It works hand in hand.”
Without him even knowing it, OSU targets are backing Eliano up on the relationships aspect being crucial. While on the road, Eliano has continued to recruit some players he had been vying for while employed at Cincinnati, albeit now he’s recruiting those athletes to play for Ohio State. Four-star 2024 Texas wide receiver Micah Hudson was an example of such a player, as Eliano visited him at his high school and presented an offer on Jan. 18. While Hudson was impressed by the big-name offer he received, he told Eleven Warriors he was touched Eliano continued to recruit him at a different school.
“I’d say (Eliano is) pretty good because he’s a man of his word,” Hudson said. “He showed that he really cared about me coming down all the way from Ohio just to see me. I think that’s a pretty big factor on someone wanting to go somewhere, is loyalty with somebody they can trust. Someone that’s straight up and real.”
Overton down to 5, reclassifying to 2022
Following the signings of Omari Abor and Carson Hinzman on Wednesday, Dan penned a pretty comprehensive breakdown of Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class, which appeared to be finalized after Christen Miller chose Georgia.
Well, it was all but finalized until the third-ranked recruit in the class of 2023 dropped some pretty significant news Thursday morning.
Five-star defensive end Lebbeus Overton announced he is reclassifying to 2022 and that he has narrowed his list down to five finalists: Ohio State, Texas A&M, Georgia, Oklahoma and Oregon.
BREAKING: Five-Star DL Lebbeus Overton is down to 5 Schools and will reclassify to 2022
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) February 3, 2022
The 65 265 DL from Alpharetta, GA is ranked as the No. 2 Player in the nation (#2 DL)
Where Should He Go? https://t.co/xkpxIaTC3v pic.twitter.com/GcztbVvmGJ
According to 247Sports, Overton will take an official visit to all five schools, so the Buckeyes will get their chance to convince him Columbus is the best place for him. While the Buckeyes are currently seven scholarships over the NCAA’s 85-man limit, Ohio State would move mountains to make the numbers work if it could get a player of Overton’s caliber.
However, Texas A&M is viewed as the favorite for Overton in most recruiting circles. Whether or not Jimbo Fisher gets mad at sports writers and fellow SEC coaches for making allegations centered around an NIL slush fund, the Aggies have a chance to make another incredible addition to their already historically elite No. 1-ranked 2022 recruiting class.
Overton has a lot of respect for defensive line coach Larry Johnson, though, and visited Ohio State over the summer. He also toured Ohio State’s basketball facilities on his visit, as he is considering being a dual-sport athlete in college.
“The relationship I built with Coach Johnson and talking to Coach Day, you can tell they know what they’re doing,” Overton told 247Sports.
A piece of recruiting advice
To any coach that’s out there, don’t dance with a recruit in a video, even a supremely talented one, if he’s going to turn you into an Internet meme and then go to Alabama instead.
Danny Lewis, the recruit who Brian Kelly danced behind and helped get over 8 million views on this mesmerizing video, said he's picking Alabama over LSU. https://t.co/vvSwPJpBlu
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 2, 202
