Buckeye Blogger NetworkWe will keep score….batting .300 gets you into Cooperstown, lets see how we do.
Curtis Grant – Buckeye
Aundrey Walker – Buckeye
Cardale Jones – Fork Union then Buckeye, but will probably pledge today with his teammate.
Ja’Juan Story – Florida, but not without a fight.
Darius Jennings – Sticking with Wake. Could he surprise us? Do we turn the heat up if we lose Story?
Drew Kaser – Punter from Walsh Jesuit, could we find some room for him late?
We will discuss Keith Wells and Duron Carter later, as they are not high school guys and don’t have to sign this week.
Time to give 'em the ol' razzle dazzle!
Joe: Michigan State? Nope… USC? Nope… FSU? Nope… in articles he may lead us to believe he is looking around, but he is all Buckeye!
Jim: 100% Buckeye. He will announce on national letter of intent day on Fox Sports.
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We have more thoughts on the rest of the recruits after the jump.
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We talked about this a bit earlier, but it sounds as if the next wide receivers coach at The Ohio State University will be former Tennessee and current Florida running backs coach Stan Drayton, according to the Cleveland Post Dispatch’s Doug Lesmerises.
While initially brought to us by an insider at Buckeye Planet named “Shakerbuck“, this news was all but confirmed on GatorBait.net (affiliated with Rivals.com) in an interview with Buckeye target and current Gator verbal Ja’Juan Story. Story said that it was shared with him over this past weekend’s recruiting visit to Columbus.
It is expected that this announcement may not be made official until after February 2nd in order to honor Drayton’s commitment to the recruiting process at his current institution, as coach Will Muschamp seeks to finalize the first class of his tenure. Of course a Tressel hire would be one to keep his word and finish with integrity.
Drayton is a Cleveland area native, and is rumored to be returning home in part to be closer to family. Widely recognized as a top assistant and a dynamo in recruiting circles, it will be interesting if this decision has any impact on the decisions of Story and Virginia Linebacker Curtis Grant, also a Gator target.
At any rate, and at any date, we’re excited to welcome coach Drayton to the staff and to the Ohio State family
UPDATE: It’s official! Interesting that the gig would start the day before National Signing Day- Read More
Mr. Longo, we hardly knew ye.
According to Doug Lesmerises of the Plain Dealer, second year offensive lineman Sam Longo has asked for and been granted a release from Ohio State.
Longo redshirted in 2009 and never really made a splash in 2010 in extremely limited action. With so many incoming offensive lineman in the 2011 class, he may have seen the writing on the wall.
Regardless, we wish Sam the best of luck wherever he decides to transfer to.
This transfer opens up an additional scholarship for the coaches to use in the 2011 or 2012 class. In either case, Buckeye fans can get excited about one additional Buckeye with untapped potential as the recruiting wheel keeps on spinning.
My personal preference would be to stay put with Aundrey Walker and one additional player (most likely Curtis Grant) in 2011 and bank the scholarship for an extremely loaded 2012 class in which Ohio State has limited scholarship numbers as it is.
That being said, if a player like Ja’Juan Story or Darius Jennings wanted to jump on board, you obviously wouldn’t say no.
Georgia linebacker James Vaughters has re-confirmed his commitment to Stanford($) after briefly re-opening his recruitment when Harbaugh left for the NFL.
Vaughters to Ohio State was always a long shot, but a scheduled official to Columbus left a glimmer of hope for the Buckeyes. Now that visit is cancelled following his re-commitment and the glimmer is gone.
All is not lost, however, as the Buckeyes still have a shot at Virginia LB Curtis Grant. According to some, the Buckeyes may even be leading at the moment. Ohio State has an above average shot at the very least, and with Vaughters out of the picture, all recruiting energy can be channeled in Grant’s direction.
Grant still has a visit left to UNC, and “we will know more” afterwards.
Also, Aundrey Walker visted USC last weekend and rumors swirled of a silent verbal as you would imagine. I am still far from worried about Walker. A trip to SoCal one weekend with a trip to Florida (State) the next… what Ohioan wouldn’t enjoy that in January?
Trips like that are half the reason Glenville recruits delay committing in the first place.
The buzz is that Walker and Grant are both Buckeyes.
That would be a fantastic finish to a top 5 recruiting class.
With Ejuan Price now in the 2011 class, tBBC takes a look at what is on the horizon for the 2011 class.
Price takes Ohio State’s count to 21 recruits. At this point, no one is sure how much room is truly left in the class (transfers could bump the number up), but we do know that there are 5 guys still very much on the radar screen.
Curtis Grant
FL LB Curtis Grant
He visited Florida this past weekend and left with good things to say but he still has Ohio State on the brain as well. Grant has a visit to UVA next week and UNC is his last visit. We are still in this one and I think it is a Florida/tOSU battle.
FL WR Ja’Juan Story
He will be visiting tOSU next weekend, and before the visit he will host an in house this week with JT. The good news is a player from Florida doesn’t visit Ohio in late January for the fun of it. There is true interest here, but I still don’t see him leaving Florida.
Glenville OL Aundrey Walker
All signs point Buckeye, and we can expect an announcement close to signing day. The other thing to look for is his jump up the national rankings after his performance at the Army All-American Game.
GA LB James Vaughters
He is down to Ohio State, Stanford and Florida. The question is: will he be loyal to a school who lost their coach or can Ohio State or Florida sway him? He is set to visit Florida this coming weekend and Columbus the following weekend.
MD ATH Darius Jennings
He is still down to UVA, Wake Forest, and the Buckeyes. He visited Wake this past weekend and was set to decide sometime after that. There is still no solid time table, however.
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Once again, I’m not sure how much room we have, but would we take all 4 of these guys + Price? I don’t see Vaughters and Grant attending the same school and think Jennings goes to Wake.
I say we land Walker and either Vaughters or Grant, but not both.
That would put us at 23.
Aundrey Walker is a big guy, you can watch him in action tomorrow in the Army All-American Game.
With the recent commitment of Doran Grant, the 2011 recruiting class is close to being finished… two or three additional players close.
It is safe to assume that Aundrey Walker will be one of those players.
Yes, it appears that Walker has safely navigated through the treacherous Glenville academic waters and will do the usual Tarblooder dance by committing on or close to signing day.
It is also safe to say that one of the other spots will be filled by a linebacker. Who that linebacker will be is the big question left in 2011, and the answer could be an exciting one for Buckeye fans.
There are three main players vying for the final linebacker spot. Interestingly enough, two of them are back on Ohio State’s radar thanks to coaching changes at Florida and the possibility or Jim Harbaugh leaving Stanford. Read More
This week you will all have the ability to see a number of our incoming frosh in different all-star games. When everyone gets excited about hats, you know it’s a good time…
Under Armour Game
The first game of the week will be the Under Armour Game. This game is really starting to take over as being the premier all-star game, obviously the ESPN television spot helps. The game takes place Wednesday @ 7 PM Eastern.
The Buckeyes have 3 current commits in this game and 4 guys on the watch list. On the commit list are Florida OLB/DE Ryan Shazier, Dayton Huber Heights Wayne star QB Braxton Miller, and Canton McKinley DE Steve Miller.
Others to watch are AVSM CB Doran Grant, Florida WR Jujuan Story, Florida CB Jabari Gorman, and Maryland ATH Darius Jennings
Two Alabama commits might peek your interest as well being the two Ohio boys playing in the game LB Trey Depriest and OL Ryan Kelly (will not play due to injury in his last high school game).
