Bucks trending for Holmes
As of today, Ohio State has a healthy lead in the race for the top spot in recruiting in the Big Ten conference, even with Michigan adding a four-star receiver on Wednesday. However, the Buckeyes are currently looking up to Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide in the national race.
Perhaps the Buckeyes will soon be inching closer to overtaking that top spot before everything's signed, sealed and delivered. That is because Ohio State may very well be on the cusp of grabbing their SEVENTH five-star recruit in the 2017 class with cornerback Darnay Holmes. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder from Calabasas (CA) all but seemed to be a Bruin for a while now. However, as of late, the Buckeyes have gained some serious momentum in this battle and may have very well taken the lead.
Just about two weeks after Holmes made his official visit to Columbus to watch Ohio State secure their playoff berth by taking down Michigan in double overtime, predictions for the U.S. Army All-American to end up as a Buckeye began pouring in. On Wednesday, that trend continued when highly respected recruiting analyst Alex Gleitman from 247Sports.com followed suit.
As usual, despite the fact that Ohio State may very well be in the lead here, UCLA will not back away. Surely with Holmes attending a high school just under an hour away from the Bruins campus, he will hear and see plenty of things pro-UCLA. We will see if the Buckeyes can stand their ground and reel in Holmes when it’s all said and done.
Cooking with Eddie George
Yesterday, Buckeye quarterback commit Tate Martell (Las Vegas / Bishop Gorman) had quite the surprise waiting for him when he got home. In his kitchen was 1995 Heisman Trophy winner (and former Buckeye standout) Eddie George.
QB Tate Martell didn't see that coming...
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 15, 2016
A Buckeyes legend has something special cooking for the @Gatorade Player of the Year pic.twitter.com/B0WldRaQeX
George wasn’t there just to make Buckeyes; there was a bigger reason. The Heisman winner presented Martell with the Gatorade Player of the Year.
Martell wrapped up his high school career with a 43-0 record, while also finding the endzone on 62 occasions.
Peoples-Jones set to decide
Moving on to ‘17 wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones from Cass Tech (MI), who is another big-time target for the Ohio State staff. The rumors for a potential landing spot for the 6-foot-2, 193-pounder will come to a close tonight; the five-star prospect from the state up north will make his decision live on ESPN around 8:30 p.m. EST.
My stance on this is that despite any murmurs about this being a Florida State-Ohio State battle, I just can not expect anything other than Peoples-Jones to ultimately select the in-state Wolverines. Despite all of the talk throughout the week, I just don’t realistically see any other outcome here. Could I be wrong? Of course.
I will say this: the fact that Urban Meyer, Kerry Coombs and Zach Smith headed to Detroit moments before the dead period began is a bit weird. The fact that they got in one last face-to-face meeting with the No. 1 WR in the country during a snowstorm is very interesting. One would think that if Ohio State knew Peoples-Jones was headed to Michigan or anywhere for that matter, they wouldn’t even bother to make the trip. However, like I stated, I just can’t see Peoples-Jones not selecting Michigan and suiting up for Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor. We shall see.