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'14 OL Demetrius Knox has had quite a bit of attention on him since his junior season of football. The 4-star offensive guard is ranked as the fifth-best guard in the country and the 15th-best prospect overall in the state of Texas. While many predicted that Ohio State would soon take over, Knox told Scout on Tuesday that UCLA now leads for his services ($), following a visit to their school. Most know that Knox is just a kid and is certainly just enjoying the recruiting process as one does. Ohio State fans shouldn't bet too worried about this latest development, however. We still feel strongly that Knox has Ohio State in the back of his mind with respect to where he ends up longterm.
At the same time, Knox has also received his invitation to Nike's "The Opening" camp, where he says he will be proving who the best offensive lineman is. As for his thoughts on the visit to UCLA:
They said I'd fall in live... Didn't believe it at 1st
— BIG MEECH (@Ummm_Mr_Knox) June 18, 2013
There was also some big news on the quarterback front. As Ohio State plays the waiting game with 4-star QB Brandon Harris, the Buckeyes are starting to look at some fallback plans to have a full grasp of their options. We heard from Stephen Collier on his private workout with the coaches to have them evaluate him several weeks back. Now the latest to get a look from the staff is Oaks Christian in California QB Brandon Dawkins.
As first reported by Marc Givler of Rivals, Dawkins had a private tryout with the Ohio State offensive brain trust yesterday. While the workout failed to result in an offer (at least as of now), our Charles Doss caught up with Dawkins to get his thought on the workout:
"Today went great! The offensive coordinator Coach Herman pulled me and about five receivers aside and had me throw to them. He watched me and then Coach Meyer came out to watch. They talked to me after and said that myself, Brandon Harris, and Deshaun Watson are the top three QBs in this class and they would like to have one of us at their school. He said he is very impressed with my velocity and accuracy. He loves the way the ball comes out of my hand. He also loves my athleticism. I ran a 4.6 today; even my quads are sore. I visited a couple weeks ago and saw the campus and he told me then that he loves my tape but wanted to see me throw. That is why I came back."
'14 3* S Mattrell McGraw (New Orleans) confirms to me that he is not visiting this weekend, but says he is still considering the #Buckeyes.
— Zach Clark (@ZClark_LGHL) June 18, 2013
'14 S Mattrell McGraw told our own Zach Clark that he will not be visiting Ohio State this weekend as planned, but will still have Ohio State in the mix for his services. The 6'0", 183-pound McGraw is clocked at a 4.46 in the 40-yard dash, and holds offers from Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Ohio State, Oregon amongst others. In 2012, McGraw recorded 65 tackles, a sack, four interceptions, 13 pass break ups, two forced fumbles and two of the four interceptions were returned for touchdowns. Check out McGraw's highlights for yourself:
Cut OSU & Alabama RT @Senor_Ocho Decided to trim my list to three and focus my recruiting on 1. #Stanford 2. #Michigan 3. #Northwestern
— Charles Doss (@CDoss_LGHL) June 18, 2013
'14 DE/TE Garrett Dickerson named his leaders on April 18th as Alabama, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State and Stanford. Now, it appears the 6'4", 240-pounder is trimming his list to only Stanford, Michigan and Northwestern, in that order. Ranked as the 11th-best defensive end in the country and fifth-best player overall out of the state of New Jersey, the Buckeyes still have time to try and make a move, but it appears Dickerson may be thinking about joining the Cardinal.
Just got an offer from The Ohio State University! The blessings keep coming!
— Stephen Zimmerman Jr (@BIGG_ZIMM) June 19, 2013
Finally, in a little bit of basketball recruiting, Ohio State offered '15 C Stephen Zimmerman, who is ranked as the second best center in the country and number one player out of the state of Nevada, and 2015 PG Eric Davis. The 6'11", 225-pound Zimmerman has been receiving quite a bit of attention as of late, also receiving an offer from Kentucky on Monday and Texas on Tuesday. Check out what the 5-star big man can do on the court with his highlights:
Davis on the other hand is a 4-star out of Michigan. Check him out in action:
QUICK HITS:
- 4-star DT Thomas Holley (Brooklyn, NY) will visit Ohio State this coming Saturday.
- SB Nation Recruiting's own Bud Elliott tells us that Florida State made a lot of ground with Holley this past weekend and might be closer than the experts think.
- 5-star DT Matt Elam will be visiting Ohio State Thursday.