Tag: ohio state recruiting

Cameron Martinez says he still plans to sign with Ohio State … for now

The Detroit Free Press caught up with Ohio State’s only early signing period holdout. He says he still plans on signing with the Buckeyes.

It’s the last remaining fish the Ohio State football staff hopes to catch for the 2020 recruiting class. Cameron Martinez, a four-star athlete out of Muskegon, Michigan had verbally committed to the Buckeyes on July 4. But he decided not to sign during the early signing period in December because of the departure of Jeff Hafley, with whom he had built trust and a relationship with.

And so it remains. Will Martinez still sign with Ohio State on February 5, or will his gaze elsewhere while he figured things out result in either Northwestern or Notre Dame landing his services?

Well, the Detroit Free Press tried to shed some light on where Martinez is leaning at the moment, and if you’re a Buckeye fan, there does appear to be some good news, at least for now.

When speaking with the Free Press, the 5-11, 183 pounder seemed to still be planning on signing with Ohio State.

“Right now it’s Ohio State, at the moment,” Martinez told the Free Press. “I plan on signing with Ohio State… “If I didn’t want to go there,” he said. “I would have decommitted back then.”

So there you have it, but with a bit of a caveat. The only recruit to not sign with the Buckeyes in December has still been listening to other schools and keeping an open mind.

“I have been hearing schools out,” Martinez said. “I’ve told some schools no. I’m still in contact with some schools. Notre Dame talks about setting up a visit, but I haven’t made a decision yet.”

If you’re reading the Buckeye leaves on this one, one could easily surmise that Martinez still wants to wear the scarlet and gray, but was taken a little aback by the Hafley news and wants to see who comes in to take his place. Now that a familiar name is back with the past development history and NFL pedigree that Kerry Coombs possesses, one would think it would only bolster Ohio State’s chances at sealing the deal for a versatile player the Buckeyes so desperately want — and need.

In fact, Coombs is already on the recruiting trail as we speak and it would be a major surprise if he hasn’t already reached out to Martinez.

It might seem a little mixed, but I’d say to be patient on this one, and Cameron Martinez will more than likely be a Buckeye when it all goes down on February 5.

 

Notre Dame Football Offers ‘22 OLB Jaishawn Barham

Jaishawn Barham of DeMatha Catholic in Maryland announced a scholarship offer.

Early on Monday we learned that Notre Dame had offered a scholarship to 2022 outside linebacker Gabe Powers of Ohio, which we discussed on FIW.

As it turns out, Powers wasn’t the only outside linebacker to receive an offer from Brian Kelly and company on Monday as Jaishawn Barham of DeMatha Catholic in Maryland announced a scholarship offer.

Barham is listed a little thicker than Powers but not quite as tall, coming in at 6-3, 230 pounds per 247Sports.

Notre Dame is the 15th scholarship offer Barham has received as the Irish join Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Virginia, Virginia Tech and a few others to offer.

Barham is the eleventh player Notre Dame has offered a scholarship to in the 2022 recruiting class.

Notre Dame Football: Offers Scholarship to 2022 Ohio OLB

Powers is listed at 6-4, 220 pounds, not bad size for a young man who won’t graduate high school for over two more years.

Notre Dame has continued with a busy stretch of their recruiting run as they try to get ahead of the game for 2022.

Most recently Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish offered Outside Linebacker Gabe Powers of Maryville, Ohio to be part of their 2022 class.

Powers is listed at 6-4, 220 pounds, not bad size for a young man who won’t graduate high school for over two more years.

Notre Dame became the twelfth scholarship offer Powers has received, joining Boston College, Kentucky, Colorado, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day visits Cameron Martinez

There’s one big fish still out there for the Ohio State football 2020 recruiting class, and Ryan Day was in to pay a visit this weekend.

The official and traditional signing day for college football is quickly approaching, and although Ohio State has signed almost its entire class already during the early signing period, there’s still one big fish still out there that head coach Ryan Day and staff would love to land.

Four-star athlete Cameron Martinez verbally committed to the Buckeyes back in early July, but he decided to delay his signing until February to keep his options open.

It can all be traced to former Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley’s departure from the program. He was the lead recruiter that had established a relationship with Martinez, and the news of Hafley taking the head coaching job at Boston College gave the MLive’s two-time Michigan high-school player of the year pause.

Since that time, it’s been a busy, flurry of activity for head coach Ryan Day and Ohio State. There was the whole lead up to Fiesta Bowl and the College Football Playoff to deal with that took everyone’s focus and time.

But now, it’s time to get back on the trail and try to let Martinez know he made the right decision in the first place. On that note, Day and special teams coordinator and assistant secondary backs coach Matt Barnes were on the recruiting trail, battling bad weather and travel to watch Martinez play in a high school basketball game over the weekend.

There are reliable sources pointing towards former Ohio State defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs coming back to Columbus to fill the spot left vacant by Hafley’s departure, and that would be a great hire to fill the void. Either way, Day’s selling of the program would likely revolve around him bringing in one of the best defensive backs coaches in America, and the virtues of what the program can offer.

According to a story by MLive, the visit did indeed strike a chord with Martinez.

“It meant a lot to me and also showed a lot,” Martinez said in a text to MLive.com. “They had a busy day and for them to come to the game and then come over (to the house) with the weather being bad, I really appreciated it. I haven’t seen them in a while, so it was good to catch up with them as well.”

So we’ll keep a watch on this and any news regarding a pending hire of sorts. With all the unknowns at the defensive back position, and the need that will be there after this year, getting Martinez, an athlete that could factor in there or at another position down the road will be key.

UGA football among four-star RB Lovasea Carroll’s SEC heavy top five

The Georgia Bulldogs are among the top five for 2021 four-star running back Lovasea Carroll, who plays at IMG Academy in Florida.

The Georgia Bulldogs are among the top five for 2021 four-star running back Lovasea Carroll. Carroll plays at the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida. The 6′, 190 pound running back is from Warrentown, Georgia. He’s received numerous offers from top schools across the country.

Will Carroll be the next back at UGA? He announced his latest edition of his top schools today:

Carroll’s top eight of Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Penn State, Ohio State, Tennessee, and Mississippi State was SEC heavy. He’s now trimmed Mississippi State, Tennessee, Alabama and Penn State from the list. He added the South Carolina Gamecocks to the mix as well.

Perhaps the 2021 RB wants to stay close to home? Regardless, Carroll will play against top competition in his time at IMG Academy.

Georgia’s class of 2021 features a mere two commits at the moment. The Dawgs will look to add numerous commits to both their 2020 and 2021 classes. For now, Kirby Smart and company are focusing more on filling up the remainder of the 2020 class, which is in the top five of classes nationwide. UGA has one RB signed in the class of 2020 in Kendall Milton.

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Four-star 2020 running back Jahmyr Gibbs no longer set to visit Ohio state

According to a report from 247Sports, four-star 2020 running back Jahmyr Gibbs is no longer going to visit Ohio State this weekend.

Ohio State football has locked down almost its entire recruiting class for 2020, but there were still a couple of targets the Buckeyes were thought to be looking to nail down on the conventional National Signing Day. The biggest target is defensive back Cameron Martinez who committed verbally to OSU but held off signing during the early signing period — presumably to see who replaces Jeff Hafley. There’s no doubt Martinez remains the Buckeyes’ biggest priority.

Another one OSU seemed to get on late in the game was four-star running back Jahmyr Gibbs out of Dalton, Georgia. He had been committed to Georgia Tech but has started to garner interest from other schools as the perception of his abilities continues to rise in recruiting circles.

Earlier reports had Gibbs heading to Columbus for an official visit this coming weekend, but according to 247Sports recruiting director Steve Wiltfong (subscription required), that no longer appears to be the case. This is an excerpt from the news.

“247Sports has learned that Ohio State will no longer host Top247 running back Jahmyr Gibbs on an official visit this weekend.

It’s a numbers thing for the Buckeyes who already have 24 signed and Cameron Martinez also committed making 25 for this 2020 class.

Gibbs is currently committed to Georgia Tech and also keeping an eye on Florida and LSU as well. The Gators are scheduled to get an official next weekend with the Yellow Jackets slated for the last one the weekend of Jan. 31.”

https://twitter.com/SWiltfong247/status/1217884435976261639?s=20

So, it looks like the Buckeyes’ efforts will center around keeping Martinez in the fold. With the flip of Clark Phillips to Utah during the early signing period, he’s a talent Ryan Day and staff would love to add to the 2020 class. Defensive back is one of the biggest areas of need right now, and will continue to be in the next recruiting cycle as well.

Michigan recruiting “not the same” as Ohio State says 247Sports’ Director of Recruiting

Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, compared Michigan football recruiting efforts unfavorably against Ohio State.

There are guys that know college football recruiting, and then there are guys that live it. As the Director of Recruiting for 247Sports, Steve Wiltfong would be the latter. So, when he says something about the state of recruiting efforts, folks should perk up and take note.

It’s interesting then that he had some criticism of Michigan recruiting efforts under Jim Harbaugh. According to Allen Trieu’s Notorious B1G Podcast on 247Sports, the recruiting guru believes Michigan is behind Ohio State and Penn State in the way that it goes about identifying and selling players to the program.

He was first concerned with the loss of a key recruiter on staff, assistant coach Chris Partridge.

“They haven’t filled (Patridge’s) role, and we’ll see who they fill it with because Michigan is one of those schools where assistant coach recruiters are incredibly important because they don’t recruit in the same traditional way that almost every other program that we cover does,” Wiltfong said. “There’s not recruiting meetings. There’s just a lot on the assistant coaches’ plates to go out in their territories or in their position rooms and find guys they think are good enough to help Michigan win championships.”

“Chris Partridge was a guy that wasn’t afraid to go into SEC country with his winged helmet logo on his golf shirt and go toe-to-toe for big-time guys and try to get them to come to Michigan. He had some big wins. He also had some close losses. I mean, Willie Gay was a guy who had Michigan in his top two. Otis Reese is a guy who had Michigan in his top two. He really got after it and worked.”

Wiltfong then gave his opinion on where the Wolverine program is in terms of recruiting compared to a couple of other teams he believes are doing it the right way.

“I just don’t think, collectively, this staff is recruiting at a level to win a national championship across the board,” Wiltfong said. “It’s a blow losing a guy in Partridge, who I feel like is one of your best recruiters when the emphasis on recruiting at Michigan isn’t the same as it is at Ohio State and Penn State right now. We’re starting to see it on the field.”

To be fair, we’ve seen it on the field for quite a while now, but we get Wiltfong’s point. The gap may be widening after two blowout losses in The Game by Michigan and all.

 

WATCH: Trio of Ohio State early enrollees show off their new digs

Three of Ohio State football’s 2020 early enrollees took to Twitter to show off their new rooms.

By now, all fourteen of the Ohio State football team’s early enrollees for the 2020 recruiting class have arrived on campus and have found their way to the new housing for the start of college. It’s where they’ll be for the beginning of the next step on their football journey.

If you’ve ever wondered what the living quarters of a big-time college football player looks like, then you are in luck. (Hint: It looks a lot like other students’ rooms do). Three of Ohio State’s more prominent freshman that enrolled early took some time to show off their new digs by way of a video shared by the official Twitter feed of the Ohio State Football.

Get a look at roommates Kourt Williams and C.J. Stroud show off their “west-coast” room, while receiver Julian Fleming shows you what his place looks like. Just click on the below and enjoy.

All we got to say is that one looks much more put together and homely than the other. Someone has got some catching up to do.

Boom! Four star Offensive lineman Donovan Jackson picks Ohio State

Texas 4-star offensive lineman Donovan Jackson has verbally committed to Ohio State for the 2021 class.

It all went as expected.

Four-star offensive guard Donovan Jackson from the 2021 class has announced his verbal commitment to Ohio State. He was thought to be a heavy lean as of late for the Buckeyes, and he let the world know today via a live stream at his high school.

According to 247Sports, Jackson is the No. 11 rated offensive guard in the class and 57th overall target. He is listed as the No. 11 rated recruit in the state of Texas. He chose the Buckeyes over the likes of Alabama, Georgia, and Texas.

For Ohio State, it’s another big one. Jackson makes the ninth commitment already for a top-rated 2021 recruiting class.

Four-star 2020 running back Jahmyr Gibbs to visit Ohio State

Ohio State may not be done with its running back efforts for 2020. Four-star RB Jahmyr Gibbs will visit Columbus on January 17.

Ohio State has put together a consensus top five 2020 recruiting class, but it’s hoping to gain the interest of a kid that would add even more talent at the running back position, a group that didn’t quite pan out like it would have wanted during the early signing period.

Four-star Jahmyr Gibbs is all set to visit Ohio State despite being verbally committed to Georgia Tech as it stands right now. Gibbs has been rising in the running back ratings and beginning to garner more and more attention from big-time programs.

And he is apparently listening.

Gibbs spoke with Eleven Warriors about his recruitment and appears to be open to listening to what Ohio State has to offer. He’s from Georgia, but says that he’ll go where he feels the best fit is.

“(I’m) just gonna go wherever best fits me,” Gibbs told Eleven Warriors. “It’s not (just) the South. It’s wherever fits me.”

So here we go. The Buckeyes lost out on a couple of very high profile running back commits that were thought to be very heavy leans — and even silent commits — when the No. 2 and No. 10 backs (Bijan Robinson and Jaylan Knighton) in the class according to 247Sports went elsewhere and surprised everyone.

Now the Buckeyes are hoping to get in on Gibbs before the February 5 official signing date. There are plans to visit LSU, Georgia Tech and Florida. But first, the No. 16 rated running back in the class will kick the scarlet and gray tires around on January 17.