Bill Kurelic Recruiting Reports in November November 25, 1997 The other player that made an official visit was linebacker James Cotton (6-4, 245, 4.6) from City College of San Francisco in California. James is an inside linebacker. Cotton is originally from Cleveland Collinwood High School. He visited Ohio State on Saturday night and Sunday. Cotton arived in Columbus about the same time that Ohio State was getting back from Michigan. His visit went very well. He seems to want to go to Ohio State. Cotton has already made an official visit to Florida Statein additon to the one with the Buckeyes, and if Ohio State wants him they have an excellent chance of getting James Cotton. They do, however, have some other excellent linebackers they are pursuing from the high school ranks. One of those linebackers is Sheven Marshall (6-2, 230, 4.6) from Homestead South Dade Florida. The Buckeyes really like Sheven Marshall’s potential. Sheven told me a couple nights ago that Ohio State and Auburn are his top two choices, with Ohio State probably the leader. He is set to visit Ohio State December 5th, West Virginia December 12th, Alabama January 9th, Auburn January 16th, and Florida January 23rd. All five schools have offered Sheven Marshall a scholarship. QB Matt Holliday (6-5, 220) from Stillwater Oklahoma has made an official visit to Florida State. He told me he will set up visits with Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Florida, but he does not have dates yet for those visits. All of those schools have offered him a scholarship. He is also looking at Oklahoma State, but despite his dad being the baseball coach there, he says Oklahoma State is not his favorite. He says he does not have a favorite at all. He won’t take an official visit to Oklahoma State because he has been there so many times. If he takes a 5th official visit Holliday says it would be to either UCLA or Colorado who have also already offered a scholarship. Holliday wants to play both football and baseball in college, and has talked to Bob Todd a couple of times. Holliday says he watched the Ohio State-Michigan game on TV, and that it did not change his opinion of Ohio State, that he is still very interested in the Buckeyes. Holliday also mentioned that he is not concerned that Joe Germaine will be back for another season. It is not a requirement that he would get to play right away as a freshman. He knows that is not usually the case for a freshman quarterback. Holliday threw for 2200 yards this season, 22 touchdowns, and only 8 interceptions. Dahrran Diedrick, running back from Toronto Canada, made an unofficial visit to the Michigan-Ohio State game to see both teams, and said he was impressed with both. He was also impressed with the record crowd at Michigan, and will likely schedule an official visit with the Wolverines. Diedrick has already made official visits to Ohio State and Nebraska, originally committing to Cornhuskers. After visiting Ohio State Diedrick said that the Buckeeyes had pulled virtually even with Nebraska. I spoke to Dahrran Diedrick again a couple of nights ago and he says that Nebraska has moved back slightly ahead with Ohio State and Michigan tied for second, very close behind. Wide Receiver A. T. Simpson (6-5, 200, 4.5) from Indianapolis Cathedral High School in Indiana has made an official visit to Purdue, and he will be making an official visit this weekend, November 29th, to Michigan State to see the Michigan State-Penn State game. A.T. Simpson told me last night that he has also scheduled an official visit to Ohio State December 12, and has visits to Indiana December 19th and North Carolina January 9th. Right now Purdue is his leader. The only question mark with Simpson is academics. If he qualifies, he will have offers from all five schools. November 19, 1997 Defensive back Willie Grant from New Philadelphia, Ohio, announced at his football banquet Tuesday night that he has verbally committed to Ohio State. Willie Grant is a 6-2, 180 pounder. He actually goes by "Cie" Grant. Cie has a 2.2 GPA and a 17 on the ACT, which he will take again in December. He rushed for close to 1,000 yards as a quarterback and threw for over 600 yards. He also played defensive back and linebacker. He has been offered a scholarship by Michigan State and Indiana, and Willie had been asked to make official visits by Ohio State, Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan, Pitt, and Illinois. Willie went to the Ohio State-Illinois game for and unofficial visit, and his dad confirmed to me today that his son was set to announce at his football banquet that he has selected Ohio State. I have Willie Grant rated as the 12th best overall prospect in Ohio this year. He is a good athlete who has a chance to be a fine for Ohio State. Ohio State had two players in for official visits this past weekend. Stockar McDougle (6-8, 360, 5.2), an offensive lineman from Navarro Junior College in Corsicana Texas, made an official visit the weekend of the Illinois game. Stockar is originally from Deerfield Beach, Florida, the same high school as current Buckeye defensive lineman Jeff Wilson. Stockar had a good visit with Ohio State this past weekend, and says the Buckeyes are probably his leader right now, but he is going to visit Miami of Florida this coming weekend November 22th, and he is also thinking about visiting Florida State and UCLA in December. McDougle will have three years to play two season at whatever college he chooses. He will finish up at Navarro Junior College in May. The other player to make an official visit this weekend was wide receiver/defensive back Eric Locke from Murfreesboro Tennessee. Eric says that his visit went very well at Ohio State, but he did not commit to the Buckeyes. He has been offered a scholarship by OSU but right now Eric says that North Carolina is probably his leader, with Ohio State number two. He has already made official visits to both schools and wants to set up an official visit to Florida in December. Florida is his number three choice. Eric Locke says he is also considering Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Alabama a little. Defensive lineman Dave Jorgenson (6-6, 275) from Connecticut made his official visit to Florida State this past weekend and said that everything went very well. He said that coach Bowden impressed him. Jorgenson has now made official visits to Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Michigan, and Florida State. He will make an official visit this weekend, November 22nd, to Florida. Jorgenson says that right now he does not have any clear-cut favorites, and that after taking all five official visits, he wants to go away for the Thanksgiving weekend, write down all the positives and negatives of each school, and hopefully make a decision by December 6th at the latest. The last player is super linebacker Shamar Finney (6-3, 225, 4.5) from Shelby Crest High School in North Carolina. He is one of the top two or three linebackers in the United States. Shamar Finney has already made an official visit to Penn State, and told me a couple of nights ago that he has now pretty much narrowed things down to six schools, and that Ohio State is one of them. He is looking at Penn State, Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State, Ohio State and Nebraska. All have, of course, offered him a scholarship. Other than his Penn State official visit, he has not yet set exact dates for any of the other official visits but he probably will visit Ohio State. He also says that as of right now he is planning on taking all five of his official visits before he makes a decision. There have been rumors that he has been leaning to Penn State, but Shamar says those are inaccurate and he has no leader at all right now. Ohio State is in on a couple of defensive line prospects in the state of Florida. Ryan Pickett (6-3, 290, 5.05) from Zphyrhills, Florida. He has already visited Alabama on and official visit, and will visit Ohio State either December 5th or 12th, and Tennessee January 23rd. Ryan told me he is also looking at Florida State and Florida. He said that Alabama was nice, but Ohio State is his top choice. He is one of the better defensive linemen in Florida. Osa Nosa (6-3, 300, 5.0) Homestead, S. Dade High School, will visit Ohio State December 5th, West Virginia December 12, and also plans to visit Alabama in January sometime. He says that he might be taking his test on the weekend of December 5th and might have to reschedule his visit to Ohio State. Osa is also looking at Michigan and Miami, but as of now does not have a favorite. November 12, 1997: I spoke again last night to wide Receiver Eric Locke from Tennessee just to confirm that he is going to be visiting Ohio State this weekend for an official visit. Eric told me that the visit is all set. He will leave for Ohio State on Friday night after his high school game and he is very excited about seeing the Ohio State-Illinois game. Eric made an official visit last weekend to North Carolina and had a pretty good time but was not overwhelmed. He also says he is going to make an official visit to Florida in December, and that he will visit Michigan as well but does not have a date yet. Ohio State has offered Eric Locke a scholarship. Another interesting prospect that might make an official visit this weekend to Ohio State is one of the country's top linebackers, Aaron Kampman (6-4, 235, 4.65) from Kesley Parkersburg, Iowa. He has easily qualified academically, and I consider Aaron Kampman to be the top prospect in the state of Iowa and one of the country's finest linebackers. He played inside linebacker this season and made 155 tackles. He's being recruited by everyone as a middle linebacker. Aaron told me on Tuesday night that he was waiting for a call either Tuesday night or Wednesday evening from Ohio State to determine if he will make an official visit to Ohio State this weekend. He will visit Ohio State, it's just a matter of will it be this weekend or at a later date. His other visits will be to Iowa and Nebraska. Those most likely will be in December, and he might visit Colorado. All four schools have offered Aaron a Scholarship. Aaron told me he wants to make his decision by Christmas time and does not have any favorite at all right now among the four. Aaron says that he realizes that Andy Katzenmoyer will probably be at Ohio State only one more season, so that might be a good situation for him to move into. I will be calling Aaron tonight and hopefully find out that he is going to be making a visit to Ohio State this weekend. Brandon Williams (6-0, 200) , the outstanding running back from New Kensington Valley high school in Pennsylvania, told me last night that he is planning to make an unofficial visit to Ohio State this weekend. Provided everything goes well, he would then schedule an official visit to Ohio State. Brandon rushed for 1945 yards, averaged almost 10 yards per carry this season and scored 31 times. Brandon has a visit set with Notre Dame for December 12th, one with Syracuse for December 19th, and said that Ohio State and Penn State have both asked him to make an official visit December 5th. He is not sure which one he will visit that date, but in all likelihood will end up making official visits to both Ohio State and Penn State at some point. All the schools have offered him a scholarship and he does not have a favorite at this point. Running back Walter Cross (6-1, 210) out of Oxon Hill, Maryland has committed to Michigan but still might make an official visit to Ohio State. Walter says that even though he verbally committed to Michigan, he is definitely planing on making an official visit to North Carolina State, and he might make an official visit to Maryland. He is still hearing from Ohio State, and if Ohio State asks him, he says that despite his commitment to Michigan, he would go ahead and make an official visit to Ohio State. Defensive back / wide receiver / quarterback Damien James (6-0, 190, 4.4) from Carencro, Louisiana is still interested in Ohio State. He has easily qualified academically. Damien James is one of the country's top athletes. He has not set up any official visits yet but Damien told me he will visit Michigan, Florida, and Florida State. He just needs to work out dates. He is also looking at Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Auburn and LSU. Damien said that he does not have any favorite at this point and that he is considering making an official visit to Ohio State but is not certain yet if he will. Tight End Jason Baggett (6-6, 250, 4.8) from Baytown Lee High School in Texas continues to tell me that Ohio State and LSU are his top two choices. He has, for the most part, rounded out his official visit schedule. Jason will visit Ohio State the weekend of December 5th, Iowa the weekend of December 12th, LSU December 19th, and UCLA January 9th. If he decides to take a 5th official visit, it would be to Miami or Arkansas. All the schools have offered him a scholarship. Jason says that Ohio State and LSU remain his two leaders Running back Ahmaad Galloway (6-0, 205, 4.45) from Millington Central High School in Tennessee says there is a pretty good chance that he will make an official visit to Ohio State. Galloway rushed for 2,300 yards as a junior, and so far this season with his team still in the playoffs he has gone over the 2000 yard mark. Ahmaad has easily qualified academically. Ahmaad does not have his official visits set up yet, but he told me he is looking at Florida, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and Tennessee. Virtually all of them have offered a scholarship. He says that Ohio State is a very good candidate for an official visit, but he hasn't narrowed things down to the point that he can name the exact schools he will visit. Ohio State and all the other schools have asked him to make an official visit. * [As of 10:00 PM 11/12/97 Aaron Kampman had not set up his official visit to OSU. It now looks unlikely that he will take his official visit to Ohio State this weekend. ] November 10, 1997 Wide receiver Javin Hunter from Detroit made his official visit to North Carolina this weekend and did not commit to the Tar Heels. He is going to visit Notre Dame for an official visit November 22nd. At that point he will sit down with his family and talk things over, and if they can't come to a clear cut decision between North Carolina and Notre Dame, then he would continue to make official visits and would most likely visit Colorado December 12th. The other schools he is considering are Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State and Penn State. Everyone on his list has offered him a scholarship. He still says that Notre Dame and North Carolina are his top two choices. Tom Gholston, a defensive lineman from Cincinnati Purcell Marion, was supposed to make an official visit this past weekend to Penn State but that visit was cancelled because his team had a playoff game. He says he will reschedule that visit but he's not sure when that will be. He has already been to Boston College on an official visit, and he has an official set up with Indiana for November 22nd, but he might cancel that. He is still going to visit Notre Dame December 5th and Ohio State December 12th. If he does cancel the Indiana visit, he might visit either Tennessee or Michigan State. All of the schools on his list have offered him a scholarship, but he does not have a favorite as yet. DuJuan Groce is an interesting situation. He has the official visit scheduled with Michigan State for this coming weekend, November 15th. He has an official visit scheduled with Indiana for December 5th. He told me last Thursday that he had called Michigan, but the coach wasn't in and was supposed to return his call on Friday to set up an official visit with Michigan. As of Saturday night Michigan had not called him back yet. He said it didn't bother him too much but you could tell he wasn't thrilled they didn't call him back right away. He says he still wants to set up an official visit with Michigan and that his other two official visits will probably be to Ohio State and Wisconsin, although Syracuse, Nebraska and Penn State are possibilities. Even if he doesn't make an official visit to Ohio State he is seriously considering the Buckeyes. I still think his decision will come down to either Michigan or Ohio State. Groce currently says he has no leader. There are two quarterbacks that Ohio State wants. They would be very happy if they could get either Matt Holliday (6-5, 220, 4.5) from Stillwater Oklahoma or Steve Bellisari. Holliday is also one of the country's finest baseball players. His dad is the head baseball coach at Oklahoma State. I talked to his mom last night and she says that right now he doesn't have it set up but Matt's mom says he is planning on making an official visits to Ohio State, Florida, and Notre Dame. He has already made an official visit to Florida State. He is also considering Colorado, Arizona State and of course Oklahoma State. He does want to play both football and baseball in college. He's been offered a scholarship by all those schools and his dad does speak very highly of Bob Todd and the Ohio State baseball program, so that could be in Ohio State's favor, but with his dad at Oklahoma State they have got to be the school to beat though he says he doesn't have a favorite. Holliday is a drop pass type quarterback who is a great athlete. As a junior he hit .438 in baseball with six homeruns. He threw for almost 2500 yards as a junior with 35 touchdown passes. His brother Josh is a baseball player at Oklahoma State. Steve Bellisari has got some of his official visits set up now, one of which is to Ohio State but it is probably going to have to be switched. He has Notre Dame scheduled for an official visit on December 5th and Ohio State for December 12th, but he's probably going to have to switch that because there is a high school all star game that Saturday that he is more than likely going to be playing in. Bellisari has Florida State scheduled for January 9th. The other schools he is looking at are Northwestern, Clemson, Auburn, Florida, and West Virginia. All of the schools have offered him a scholarship. He says he has no leader at all right now and he plans to take all five of his official visits and then make his decision, but I really think his decision will come down to either Ohio State, Florida State or Notre Dame, the three visits he has set up. Wide receiver Eric Locke from Murfreesboro Riverview High School in Tennessee is scheduled to make an official visit to Ohio State this weekend for the Illinois game. Scott Kuhnhein (6-6, 285, 5.0) is an offensive lineman from Ft. Thomas Highlands High School in Kentucky who has narrowed things down to three schools, all of which have offered him a scholarship. They are Ohio State, Notre Dame and Kentucky. Going into this past weekend his team was 9-1 and ranked first in the state. He has an official visit set up with Ohio State for December 5th unless his team is in the playoffs, which seems pretty likely. Kuehheim has Notre Dame scheduled for December 12th and Kentucky for December 19th. He says all three schools are even right now and his three visits will determine which one he selects. November 8th, 1997 Here is Bill's O-Zone report for November 7th, 1997. The big news in Ohio Recruiting is that defensive back prospect DuJuan Groce is no longer saying that Michigan is his leader. DuJuan now says that he will make his visits with an open mind and give all the schools he visits equal consideration. He has scheduled an official visit at Michigan St. for November 15th, and Indiana on December 5th. His most likely other visits will be to Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Groce's family says they hope to have all his visits set by the end of the week. November 5th, 1997 Defensive end Dave Jorgensen (6-6, 275. 4.8) from Connecticut has made official visits to Ohio State, Vanderbilt, and an official visit to Michigan this past weekend, November 1st. After he got back from the Michigan visit, he said that even though there were over 106,000 people at Michigan, he was more impressed with the enthusiasm at Ohio State when he made the official visit to Columbus. He did like it at Michigan, though. One of the things that really impressed him was that Michigan’s business school is number one in the country, and he wants to go into business. He is going to visit Florida State November 15, and then Florida November 22nd, and then try to come up with a decision. He wants to make his decision by hopefully early December, and then he will enroll at whatever college he selects in January and take part in Spring practice. Right now, all five schools are still in it. There are two other two players who made official visits to Ohio State. One of them is Dahrran Diedrick (6-1, 210, 4.45). He’s a running back out of Toronto, Canada. He’s generally considered the best prospect in Canada this year. Dahrran originally committed to Nebraska after he made an official visit there, but, after he made an official visit to Ohio State October 25th, he was really impressed. Now he says it is dead even between Ohio State and Nebraska. He now says he doesn’t know where he is going to go. He might go ahead and visit Syracuse for an official visit. He is leaning toward making an official visit to Michigan, perhaps for the Ohio State/Michigan game. It’s not definite at this point, but it is a possibility, but right now he says he is trying to decide between Ohio State and Nebraska unless something changes. Both schools have offered him a scholarship. The other player that has made an official visit is Michael Rumph (6-2, 190) a DB from Florida. He originally committed to Miami of Florida, but made an official visit to Ohio State on October 25th for the Northwestern game. He says he is still committed to Miami, but part of that might be that Ohio State did not offer him a scholarship when he made his official visit. I tend to believe he will end at Miami where he as of now is committed. Rumph is considered to be a safety prospect at the college level. He attends Del Rey Atlantic high school. One player scheduled to make an official visit to Ohio State for the Illinois game is a wide receiver from Tennessee named Eric Locke (5-9, 185 4.45), from Murfreesboro Riverdale High School. He actually plays quarterback and defensive back in high school but most likely will be moved to wide receiver in college. He would like to stay on offense, and he knows he is not going to be a quarterback so he’s probably going to be a wide receiver, though he could possibly play on defense. He has scheduled an official visit for Ohio State for the Ohio State/Illinois game. Ohio State has offered him a scholarship. He is also going to set up visits with Michigan and Notre Dame but he doesn’t have dates yet for those visits. The other schools he is looking at are North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Of the schools on his list, he says Ohio State, Tennessee, and Alabama have offered him a scholarship. He thinks Ohio State prefers him as a wide receiver because coach Stobart is the one who is calling him and recruiting him, and coach Stobart is the wide receiver coach. He does not have a favorite right now. He is looking forward to the visit here (in Columbus) on November 15th. One other interesting prospect who is going to be making an unofficial visit to Ohio State November 15th for the Illinois game is Brandon Williams (6-0, 200, 4.5). He is a great running back out of Newkensington Valley, Pa. He’s one of the country’s top running backs. He’s also a very good defensive back prospect, but he wants to play running back on the college level. He’s qualified academically, and with one game to go in the season, he has gone over the 1800 yard mark. He should be close to the 2000 yard mark by the end of the season. As a junior, he rushed for over 2000 yards. He has one visit set up so far. He is schedule to visit Notre Dame on December 12th. The other schools he is looking at are Ohio State, Penn State, Syracuse, Michigan, Pitt, and UCLA. Every school on his list has offered him a scholarship. He is planning to attend the Ohio State Illinois game on an unofficial visit. He’s one that Ohio State would love to land. There are some guys that Ohio State is recruiting that are going to visit other schools this weekend. Tom Gholston, a defensive tackle out of Cincinnati Purcell Marion, is making an official visit to Penn State this weekend to see the Penn State Michigan game. Gholston has already made an official visit to Boston College. He’s got an official visit set up with Indiana for November 22nd, an official visit with Notre Dame on December 5th, and an official visit with Ohio State on December 12th. All five schools have offered him a scholarship. He says he does not have a leader right now. Another player that Ohio State has offered a scholarship to that is visiting elsewhere this weekend is a great wide receiver from Detroit Country Day High School, Javin Hunter. He has an official visit set up with North Carolina this weekend for the Florida State game. Then he has an official visit set up with Notre Dame on November 22nd. Those are his top two choices. If he doesn’t like either one of those schools enough to commit to one of the two after the visits, there is a pretty good chance that he will make an official visit to Ohio State, but Ohio State has got to hope that he goes to N.C. and N. D. without committing. All three schools have offered him a scholarship. Ohio State is still the leader for a great running back out of Louisiana named Johnathan Wells (6-2, 225, 4.5) from River Ridge Curtis high school. He is one of the best big backs in the country. He likes Ohio State because of Eddie George and because Ohio State likes to have big running backs. He wants no thought of playing fullback in college and he thinks he will get the opportunity to play running back at Ohio State. He’s going to visit for sure, but the date has not yet been set, though it will probably be some time in January. He says Ohio State is his leader right now. The other schools he’ll definitely visit are North Carolina and Tulane, and he is also looking at Notre Dame, Michigan, Colorado, Auburn and Penn State. All of them except Penn State have offered him a scholarship. He’s being recruited by coach Salem, but he has been called by coach Cooper, coach Conley, and coach Spencer. He is averaging over 11 yards a carry this season, and in five of the games so far he hasn’t played in the second half because his team has been so far ahead, but he is still close to 1000 yards. Another great player that Ohio State would like to land and will probably schedule an official visit is Bernard Jackson (6-4, 240, 4.7). He is an inside linebacker out of Louisville St. Xavier high school in Kentucky. Florida State is his leader. The other schools in his top six are Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Tennessee. The only one of those schools that has not offered him a scholarship is Florida State, which, interestingly, is his leader. Everyone has asked him to visit. He is virtually sure he will make an official visit to Ohio State, Florida State, and Penn State, but he doesn’t have dates yet for those visits. The weekend of December 5th, there are a number of players scheduled to visit Ohio State. Tight end Jason Baggett from Texas, defensive lineman Ryan Pickett (6-3, 290, 5.05) from Florida, linebacker Josh Thornhill (6-2, 235, 4.65) from Lansing Eastern high school in Michigan, running back Arlen Harris (5-10, 190, 4.4) from Pennsylvania (Aaron Harris’s brother), wide receiver Broderick Nelson (6-1, 170, 4,4) from Florida, fullback Pat Cyrgalis (6-2, 230, 4.6) from New Jersey, running back Tony Fisher (6-1, 200, 4.5) from Euclid, and linebacker Sheven Marshall (6-2, 230, 4.6) from Florida. All of them have been offered a scholarship by Ohio State except Broderick Nelson. |