Corey Avery, '14 RB, tells LGHL Ohio State is his leader

Yesterday marked a decidedly confusing day in the recruitment of talented 2014 RB Corey Avery. After taking part in Texas Tech's camp at Lancaster High School in Lancaster, TX (in the South Dallas area not too far from DeSoto, hometown of new Buckeye Dontre Wilson), reports immediately began surfacing that the Dallas Carter halfback had narrowed his interests down to four schools.

Baylor, a name unsurprising to just about everyone, was 100% on 247Sports' Crystal Ball yesterday afternoon and was all but a mortal lock to make his short list. LSU also wasn't too terribly surprising, given both their clout and the matter of fact that Avery had been linked to them for some time now. Texas Tech probably wasn't a stretch given that he'd just wrapped up a satellite camp with them (which as a brief tangent, would be an interesting tactic for Urban Meyer and his staff to adopt in the future; remote camps in and around some of the state of Ohio's talent hotbeds). Texas, while not necessarily thought previously to be a lock to be listed amongst Avery's favorites, makes sense to be included by just about any kid from the state.

But then things got weird.

Not even two hours later, a conflicting report surfaced stating that Avery was down to just two schools. Perhaps even more perplexing, one of those schools was Ohio State. The Buckeyes had first offered the talented back in early May, and at the time, he told me "I mean, Ohio State has always been at the top of my list because I have always liked them. But I was just very amazed, speechless, and excited about the offer."

But who knows; strange things happen in recruiting sometimes (certainly sometimes far stranger than a pair of non-overlapping shortlists). And LSU being the common link between the two reports might lean an informed third party to assume they might just be the front runners for Avery's services.

Still, we wanted to try and get some clarity on the situation.

After reaching out to Avery, he told me that he currently has a Top 5 in "no order" of Ohio State, LSU, Baylor, Texas Tech, and West Virginia...but he did go on to insist that "Ohio State is at the top". Pressed for clarity, he continued to make it clear that the Buckeyes had the edge at the moment. In today's 24/7 social media world, it's completely possible for Avery to wake up tomorrow with a new favorite. But as for now, even in lieu of the variety of information, I don't have any reason not to take Avery at his word.

In terms of where his plans go from here, Avery is looking to make his final decision on where he'll be playing his college ball around the end of July or early August. As far as getting up to see the school he told us is leading for his services? Well, that'll have to wait until he takes his official visit to Ohio State next fall.

Remember, strangers things can – and for that matter have happened. New Buckeye tight end Marcus Baugh famously committed without ever having stepped foot on OSU's Central Ohio campus.

We'll keep an eye on this one and continue to update you as to the latest on Corey Avery's recruiting process.

Luke Zimmermann contributed to this report.