It’s time for a quick look at the rest of the 2011 class.
Things have been relatively quiet since the Tanner commitment. That was until recently when Shane Wynn dropped a mini-bomb by announcing that he and Cardale Jones would like to go to the same school together.
While this certainly is an interesting turn of events, I look at it as typical Glenville posturing to either 1.) put pressure on Ohio State to offer Cardale, or 2.) to give other schools across the country incentive to offer Jones to increase his options if the Ohio State offer never comes.
Either way, I don’t think it affects Ohio State in any significant way.
If Ohio State feels that Cardale has earned an offer (at this point it seems likely that an offer is entirely dependent on his classroom work) he will receive one, regardless of any potential package deal with Wynn.
The bottom line is that there are four Glenville guys to keep an eye on for the rest of the 2011 class: OL Aundrey Walker, WR Shane Wynn, LB/DL Andre Sturdivant, and QB Cardale Jones. It would be a mild surprise if all four ended up at Ohio State, it would be shocking if none did.
In other 2011 news, there are some serious rumors swirling that LB Trey DePriest is starting to lean back towards the good guys after being enamored with Alabama for a majority of his recruitment.
My expectations will remain restrained until there is ink on paper, but these rumors are certainly the most encouraging for Ohio State in some time.
Speaking of linebackers, Ejuan Price is still the most likely LB in the class to become a Buckeye, and he is a strong candidate to be the next commit.
Wrapping up the LBs, Maryland LB Conner Crowell is also close to making a decision, and it has apparently boiled down to Ohio State and Penn State. Based on the fact that he is an east coast guy plus the limited number of scholarships left for Ohio State, I will say that he ends up at Penn State.
Akron CB Doran Grant is close to narrowing his list to 5 schools, Ohio State among them. He wants to commit before the end of his senior season, and the Buckeyes are still the heavy favorite.
As a possible backup plan for Grant, Ohio State is actively recruiting Maryland ATH Darius Jennings at CB.
Florida CB Jabari Gorman is being recruited by fellow 2011 prospect and Ohio State commit Jeremy Cash. It will be tough to pull him from Florida, but it might still happen.
Finally, Ohio State is out of the sweepstakes for PA DB Dondi Kirby and Florida S Wayne Lyons has dropped Ohio State from his list.
Given that the expected class size in 2011 is around 23, here is my prediction for the rest of the class, ranked from most confident to least:
Scholarship Limit
14. QB Cardale Jones
Since there are only 5-7 spots left in the class, obviously not all of these players will make the cut, and unless something happens with the top 6, I don’t think there will be room for anyone below (the chances that most of them choose Ohio State is pretty slim anyways).
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!