Pretty powerful photo here.
Darrion Henry, Lejond Cavazos, Ryan Day, Julian Fleming, Paris Johnson Jr. and Clark Phillips
(Photo from
@ParisJohnsonJr
โs Instagram)
Julian Flemingโs commitment to Ohio State means two five-star receivers in as many classes have become Buckeyes. Flemingโs commitment in particular is significant less than a year after the departures of Zach Smith and Urban Meyer. Brian Hartline locked this down for OSU.
Lejond Cavazos becomes the first cornerback to commit to the Ohio State Class of 2020. Thatโs big for a multitude of reasons, the first being that Ryan Day re-earned an Urban Meyer commitment.
Ohio State linebacker commit Cody Simon didnโt even know he was going to go through ratings tests today and still tested in at least the 98th percentile for each test.
JP Andrade on committing to Ohio State as a walk-on: โIโm not a Buckeye yet. I have to earn it! Once I get that stripe off, then Iโll be a Buckeye. Proud to be a part of such an amazing program!โ
With the talented WRs in the 2020 class, some might be thinking, "How will Ohio State find room for all of them on the field?" That's the thing about these four guys, they all play in different ways. There is room for all of them. That's maybe the most dangerous thing about them.
Tom Allen on whether Indiana will wear black uniforms during the evening game Saturday: "No. That ainโt happening...Our colors are cream and crimson.โ
#iufb
Lejond Cavazos tells me he will be in town for Ohio Stateโs big recruiting weekend next weekend. Expect a lot of recruiting to be done on his part, with officials coming from Clark Phillips, Lathan Ransom, Kourt Williams and others.
Every great game Mike Penix has this season, I find myself pondering the many things Indiana couldโve done to keep him, because โhis time here ran its courseโ is unacceptable and a loser mindset. IU let him and the fanbase down. They should answer to that.
Some news:
Today is what I expect to be my final day as a sports reporter. Seems pretty surreal to type that out.
I should say this was a decision anticipated long before the COVID-19 outbreak halted the sports media industry.
Mookie Cooper confirms his commitment has been moved up to next week at some point. Heโs making the video this weekend. Said heโs already notified the team heโs committing to.
Ben Christman is the No. 44 overall recruit in the 2021 class and the No. 9 offensive tackle in the country. Ohio State now has commitments from three of the top-five 2021 Ohio prospects in the class.
McCord, more importantly, is the first scholarship QB to commit to Ryan Day and is the teammate of four-star wideout Marvin Harrison Jr., who is also very high on Ohio State but is not expected to decide until after he visits Clemson this summer. The two are good friends.
Watched Justin Fields and Matthew Baldwin today. Both made high-quality throws. Fields put some 20-yarders on a rope, and Baldwin dropped in some tough deep passes. Both arms appear to be more than effective. Still a lot more to learn moving forward, obviously.
Tom Allen was emotional when asked about what he would tell Fred Glass going into the Gator Bowl. Glass was standing behind the media when Allen was asked the question.
#iufb
Jack Miller on who he thinks Ohio State's next commitment will be: โIf everything keeps going the way I want it to and I keep putting in that work, I would say hopefully some kids from down south โ Tucson, Arizona."
Itโs surreal that the Kalen DeBoer and Mike Penix duo began in Bloomington, Indiana. Watching it unfold was so special.
Good for the Huskies, man, and all the current UW staffers from that 2019 IU team.
If Elijah Malone and Connor Essegian are on the IUBB roster next year, I'm afraid Assembly might explode with the Noble & LaGrange County power. I'm not sure that's containable.
2020's No. 1 wide receiver Julian Fleming (
@julian_040
) was at Ohio State's spring practice today during Student Appreciation Day. Johnnie Dixon spent some time with the Pennsylvania wideout too.
Lathan Ransom can do anything on a football field. These are his career stats so far (buckle up).
130 tackles (6 TFL), 11 INT, 11 deflections, 2 recoveries, a forced fumble, 2 sacks, a blocked punt, 4 punt return TDs, an INT return TD, 8 receiving TDs, 759 receiving yards.
JP Andrade will jump on as a preferred walk-on at Ohio State. He threw for nearly 10,000 yards at Bonita High School. Rewrote its passing record book. He's a really intelligent kid and has no qualms with waiting for his opportunity, he told me.
Five-star Pickerington defensive end commit Jack Sawyer is here at Ohio Stateโs one-day camp. He will be working out with Larry Johnson. He worked out in last weekโs one-day camp too.
Notes from The Opening Finalsโ first day:
- OSU WR commits dominate
- Kendall Milton has made his decision
- OSU commits are recruiting hard
- Cody Simon is extremely athletic
- Julian Fleming is *fast* fast too
With the commitment of four-star DB Larry Smith, Indiana's 2021 class is now ranked No. 22 (tied with Iowa State) in the nation, according to Rivals.
#iufb
Ransom is the teammate of 5-star RB Bijan Robinson and has a desire to play with him. He said this at The Opening.
โWeโre not going to change one of our decisions to play with each other, but weโve been playing since we were younger, and weโve watched each other grow up.โ
Enormous credit to this
#iuwbb
staff. Remember when they lost by 32 to Stanford and then 27 to Iowa? Had major concerns about the Big Games, but they just took a historically great team down to the wire. Thatโs years of coaching and intentional fostering of culture.
Some career news: Iโve reported on my final game for KPC and will be moving to Columbus to work for Eleven Warriors. This experience in Kendallville, IN, is one Iโll never forget. Thank you, everyone.
BREAKING: No. 4 2020 cornerback Clark Phillips has committed to Ohio State. The four-star prospect will enroll early. Phillips is a big commitment for new secondary coach Jeff Hafley, who has ties to the West Coast and was Phillips' primary recruiter.
ESPN dropped its ESPN300 for the 2021 class, and
@jacksawyer40
is now No. 1 in the nation with ESPN's No. 2 overall rating applied to his composite rating.
Just noticed an Eli Ricks has been added to IMG Academyโs 2019 roster. IMG is one of the schools rumored to be a landing spot for LSU commit Elias Ricks this fall. Heโs very close with OSU commit Lejond Cavazos, who attends IMG and is working on getting him to flip to Ohio State.
Mike Drennen, four-star running back out of Dublin Coffman, is a surprise participant here at The Opening in Massillon. Major mutual interest with Ohio State.
Since many folks know already, Iโd like to announce some career news. My last day at Eleven Warriors will be Thursday, and Iโll pick up with
@IndianaRivals
on Saturday.
Mookie Cooper (
@uheardof5
) made defensive backs look silly in one-on-ones yesterday at The Opening Finals. He's crazy quick. This is him during warm-ups on Day One.
Fleming joins
@geescottjr
(No. 14 WR) and
@jaxon_smith1
(No. 30 WR) as the third Ohio State wide receiver commit, and I donโt think the Buckeyes are done at the position either. Itโs shaping up to be one of the best WR classes OSU has seen. Three commits is the most since 2017.
The Indiana Womenโs Basketball team was here at the
#iufb
Spring Game. As they filed out together, they got a standing ovation from the crowd.
#iuwbb
This morning, Archie Miller discussed the news of DJ Carton stepping away from basketball indefinitely and the role that mental health and wellness plays in the sport.
"There's no more important issue in collegiate athletics. . . than the mental side of it."
#iubb
Three-star Michigan RB David Holloman made multiple visits to Ohio State and Michigan throughout the fall and he runs a 4.39-second 40 at 5-11, 195.
He just committed to Indiana.
#iufb
So between Miles Cross, Donaven McCulley, and Omar Cooper, the IU 2024 WRs were 26-for-40 (65%) on contested targets in 2023.
McCulley and Cooper were already tied for 3rd in the B1G with 66.7%. Cross wouldโve been 9th.
IU has one of the strongest WR rooms in the B1G.
Indiana WR signee David Baker (
@db4hunnit
) knows what it means to feel loss, remain loyal and fight through pain. He leaned on his family.
That familial intuition and the message Tom Allen continues to preach is what brought him to Indiana.
#iufb
Gonna have plenty of ignorant folks dying to give Caitlin Clark credit for a crowd thatโs been showing up for IU all year.
This is pea-brained behavior, and they love to boast it.