The early signing period begins Wednesday. Ryan Day believes all defensive back verbals will still commit despite the Jeff Hafley departure.
There’s a little playoff thing Ohio State is preparing for, but amidst all of that is the Early Signing Period set to go down Wednesday. We’ll forgive you if you’ve lost track of it with all the Fiesta Bowl buzz going on.
It’s like shopping for groceries while still finishing off a gourmet main course.
To add to the drama, one of the Buckeyes’ superstar recruiters who helped sway some talented defensive backs for the 2020 class is exiting the program after OSU’s postseason. It’s not great timing for some pretty talented kids that are supposed to sign tomorrow, but according to head coach Ryan Day, he doesn’t expect any of those players to go elsewhere.
When speaking to the media yesterday, Day was asked about Jeff Hafley and the recruits that chose to come to Columbus in part because of the relationship they built with Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
He’s off to Boston College as the new head coach, and there’s always a worry that there will be defections.
“I talk to those guys every day for the most part,” said Day. “Response has been good. It’s been great. Certainly they’re disappointed that they’re not going to get coached by Jeff, but they’re excited to sign. They’ve been great. It’s been really positive. They understand this is an unbelievable program that’s on the rise. We have a great defensive system. There’s great opportunity in the back end next year. Guys are going to be coming in with an opportunity to play.
“They’re excited to be here. They’ll find out who is going to coach them. They will in time. I promised them I’m going to give them the best situation possible to make sure they can reach their dreams and goals. That’s the whole idea, they committed to me as the head coach, to Ohio State. They understand that. That’s been the response.”
All of that sounds great, and we’ve seen some of the DBs already verbally committed to the 2020 class come out and re-affirm their intentions. One example is Lathan Ransom, the No. 5 rated safety in the country according to 247Sports..
We also saw the class’ No. 26 rated safety Lejond Cavazos reaffirm his pledge to Ohio State.
And Ryan Watts, the flip from Oklahoma that’s rated as the No. 17 cornerback in 2020 class.
So that leaves two other guys; Cameron Martinez out of Michigan, and Clark Phillips III. I’d be surprised if Martinez doesn’t ink his name early Wednesday, but Clark is the one outlier that could be in jeopardy. He took an official visit to Utah and that’s not normally a good sign just before the fax machines begin humming.
Still, Day is confident, so we’ll see what all plays out tomorrow and through the end of the week if there are any hanging commitments. Ohio State is losing Damon Arnette and Jordan Fuller to graduation, and are probably also looking at early departures from juniors Jeff Okudah and Shaun Wade. That’s the entire secondary, so landing all of these guys is a big deal.
