It was an exciting day at Nike's The Opening, where many of Ohio State's commits and recruiting targets competed to showcase their skills and athleticism. In fact, the majority of future Ohio State players performed at the highest level inside of the camp itself, including '14 WR commit Terry McLaurin who posted an incredible 4.41 40-yard dash and a 44.8" vertical. McLaurin's former high school coach seemed to be pleased with how Terry has handled his recruiting.
McLaurin wasn't the only to shine out of the Buckeye commitments, but his SPARQ rating equated to 141.96. If you remember last year in the class of 2013, inbound Buckeye LB Mike Mitchell posted a 154.47 SPARQ rating, the highest of all time, and still holds that record today.
Here are some highlights of McLaurin himself, showing off what he can do at the vertical jump (44.8"):
The shuttle (4.07):
Here's Terry at the powerball throw (41.5)
And finally, the 40 yard dash (4.40)
Two recruits in particular caught the attention of Buckeye fans as they progressed through the day's events. '14 WR/TE Austin Roberts and '14 ATH Curtis Samuel had nothing but good things to say at the camp, and both are seriously considering Ohio State as a serious candidate for their services. Roberts had the 25th-best Sparq time at The Opening on Monday, which included a 4.51 40-yard dash, 4.23 shuttle and 38.5 inch vertical jump. Roberts is expected to visit Ohio State for Friday Night Lights, which is being held on July 26th and will no longer visit USC after The Opening as scheduled.
Samuel appears to be a strong lean to Ohio State according to the 247Sports Crystal Ball, and has his top five listed as Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Rutgers round out his top five. Every program but Alabama has offered the skilled athlete. Samuel also did very well at The Opening, where he jumped 40.7" and ran a personal best 4.36 40-yard dash. Samuel also mentioned that he could see himself playing in Ohio State's offense.
Class of 2015 Westerville (OH) South OL Rob Dowdy tells me he will 'most likely' be at #OhioState for Friday Night Lights #buckeyes
— Marc Givler (@MarcGivlerBG) July 1, 2013
Switching gears a bit, '15 OL Rob Dowdy told Marc Givler that he plans on "most likely" attending Ohio State's Friday Night Lights as well. The 6'6", 280-pound Dowdy has offers from Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia, amongst others.
Gunna end it this week #Future
— Jermaine Eluemunor (@TheMainShow_) July 1, 2013
Another big development is that it appears '14 JUCO OL Jermaine Eluemunor will be wrapping his recruitment up shortly. The current UCLA commit has been a soft verbal since he first gave his pledge to the Bruins, visiting Ohio State the weekend after committing to Jim L. Mora's bunch. Much of the speculation has been that OSU are now the front runners for his services. Our Luke Zimmermann spoke with Eluemunor Monday evening and the big man told LGHL he'll "hopefully announce his decision Friday". We'll keep an eye on this one as it develops further.
Of course we'd be remiss if we didn't again mention the awesome shirts the actual 2014 Buckeye commits have been sporting out in Beaverton. Here's a better view of them in case you missed them:
Picture of the shirts the Ohio State commits are wearing this week pic.twitter.com/C9bi0od7rx
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) July 2, 2013
QUICK HITS:
- '14 RB commit Parris Campbell Jr ran a 4.41 40-yard dash, 40.5" vertical and 4.16 shuttle, 14 S offeree Montae Nicholson ran a solid 4.6 40-yard dash, '14 LB commit Dante Booker ran a 4.53 40-yard dash, and '14 RB target Tony Brown ran a 4.35 40-yard dash and a 3.83 shuttle.
- '14 LB target Raekwon McMillan had a 40' powerball throw and a 36" vertical and '14 WR target Speedy Noil posted the second-highest all-time overall SPARQ at 153.51
- '14 CB commit Damon Webb ran a 4.67 40-yard dash and a 4.15 shuttle along with a 28" vertical and '14 OL commit Kyle Berger ran a 4.73 40-yard dash and a 4.21 shuttle, with a 31.6" vertical.
- '15 SG Malachi Richardson named Ohio State as one of the teams recruiting him the hardest.
For a fully updated list on how every single athlete in attendance performed at The Opening, click here.