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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 1/27 - Kareem Walker, AJ Harris offered

The staff visited with a number of prospects on Friday but still found time to send out some offers. Find out who received a scholarship offer from the staff, plus which member of the Dream '14 might be rethinking his college plans and more Ohio State recruiting news from the weekend that was.

By Charles Doss
Recently offered offensive lineman AJ Harris.
Recently offered offensive lineman AJ Harris.
247Sports

Urban Meyer, Tim Hinton, Luck Fickell and a few of the other assistant coaches on the football coaching staff hit the pavement meeting with a number of prospects on Friday. Coach Meyer started his day off by visiting with future Buckeye Sam Hubbard at Cincinnati Moeller High School. It wasn't his only stop during the day as Meyer also made a trip to St. Xavier, home of class of 2015 linebacker Justin Hilliard before boarding a flight to Connecticut to stop by the school of 2015 tight end Chris Clark later in the afternoon.

Luke Fickell stuck around the familiar streets of Central Ohio. Fickell visited the schools of a number of the top 2015 prospects in the city. A couple of the recruits the Buckeye co-defensive coordinator checked in on was Anthony McKee of Walnut Ridge and Hilliard Davidson's Markus Bailey, who both had Fickell stop by to talk with their respected coaches.

Mckee, a 6'2 190-pound linebacker has offers from the likes of Arkansas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Boston College and feels Ohio State could soon be added to that list. Like McKee, Markus Bailey, also a linebacker, has a number of programs after him, including Boston College, Illinois, Indiana and others. Both players attended multiple Buckeyes games this past season as unofficial visitors and will probably be on make the short trip to campus for a junior day in the coming weeks.

The staff didn't just visit with prospects on Friday but also offered one as 2016 running back Kareem Walker added a scholarship offer from the Bucks. Only a sophomore, Walker already holds offers from Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers, Tennessee and others after rushing for over 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns for Wayne, New Jersey's DePaul Catholic.

On Saturday, class of 2015 offensive lineman AJ Harris received his offer from the staff after talking with offensive line coach Ed Warinner on the phone. Harris is a 6'4 300-pound, three-star prospect out of Kansas and according to the 247Sports Composite is the 26th offensive guard and 529th player in the 2015 class. The Buckeyes aren't the first team to dish out a scholarship, as they now join teams such as Arkansas, Iowa State, Illinois and Kansas State in offering Harris.

Check out these highlights of Harris from last season:

Now to the most surprising news of the entire weekend, per Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, longtime Ohio State commit Jamarco Jones will officially visit Michigan State next weekend. Jones who picked OSU over MSU in June, will also have a in-home visit with the Spartan coaching staff sometime this week according to Scout.com recruiting analyst Allen Trieu.

Jones had a hard time picking between the Buckeyes and Spartans last summer and that still seems to be the case today going into the home stretch before National Signing Day. I feel when it's all said and done, Jones will stick with his Ohio State commitment, but just wants reassurance that his decision to join the Bucks is the right one after seeing what else is out there before heading to Columbus to fight for early playing time.

Wherever he ends up, it looks like he is excited to get thing started:

The future Buckeye hoopers were back at it over the weekend. On Friday, Jae'Sean Tate and his 23 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals were a key reason why Pickerington Central walked away with a 68-55 Ohio Capitol Conference win over Reynoldsburg.

Once again Tate would help lead the Tigers to a victory on Saturday. Alongside Arkansas State signee Connor Kern and class of 2015 guard Rodney Culver, Pickerington Central defeated class of 2016 stud Seth Towns and Northland by a final score of 74-70. Tate chipped in 17 points in the win against the Vikings, including these two pretty slick dunks:

University High (IL) had no problems with Prairie Central on Friday. The Pioneers standout and future Buckeye Keita Bates-Diop almost out scored the entire Prairie Central team himself,finishing with 28 points in the blow out victory. With the win, U-High is now 8-0 in conference play and 16-3 overall on the season.

In front of Ohio State assistant Jeff Boals, D'Angelo Russell and his Montverde Academy (FL) teammates rolled past Evans, 92-78. Russell, who will find out if he will participate in the McDonald's All-American game later this week, scored 21 points in front of his future assistant coach.

On Friday Dave Bell and Garfield Heights had their handful with a solid Mentor team, losing the game by a final score of 64-57. Bell, still a work in progress on the offensive end, scored six points in the Bulldog loss. On Sunday night at the Dunk4Diabetes in Canton, Bell and the Bulldogs got back in the winning circle, defeating Hoover, 56-43, in a tight one. Bell had one of his better all around games on the season, finishing the contest with 16 points and 10 boards.

Class of 2015 commit AJ Harris and Dunbar made their way from Dayton to Akron to face 2016 standout VJ King and St. Vincent-St. Mary. In what sounds like one heck of a basketball game, Dunbar squeaked out a 68-66 win over the Irish. Harris led the way with 19 key points, while King had a quiet night on the offensive end, scoring just 10 points in the loss.

Here are some highlights from the game, brought to you by the guys over at City League Hoops:

Fellow class of 2015 commit, Mickey Mitchell has missed over half of his junior campaign with a back injury but his Plano West (TX) head coach Anthony Morgan seems to be optimistic that his 6'8 standout will be back in action soon. Morgan told StarLocalMedia.Com the following on that very subject:

"(Mitchell is really hurting. It's just say by day and it's killing him because he really wants to come out and help us. I feel for him because this is his love and for him not to be healthy is tough on him. I do (think he'll play again this year). We've got five games left, or it could be in the playoffs, but we'll get him back."

QUICK HITS:

  • OSU assistant Greg Paulus watched 2015 guard Jalen Coleman and his La Lumiere (IN) team roll past Cleveland Central Catholic, 68-43, on Saturday at the Dunk4Diabetes. Coach also watched 2015 forward Esa Ahmad's Shaker Heights squad take on Thomas Bryant, Montaque Gill-Caesar and Huntington Prep (WV). Huntington Prep dominated every aspect of the game, beating Shaker Heights by a final score of 78-36.
  • 2015 Virginia offensive lineman Austin Clark told me on Friday that OSU offensive line coach, Ed Warinner will visit him at school sometime over the next couple weeks. Clark who visited for the Penn State game this season was recently offered by the staff.
  • 2014 Michigan defensive lineman Malik McDowell says he will either visit Ohio State or LSU this weekend.

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