3-2-1: If at first you don't succeed, try again

In this recruiting-themed edition of "3-2-1," which is presented by Infinit Nutrition, BuckeyeGrove takes a look at some of the most recent news relating to Ohio State football recruiting.

Down below, we talk about three things we learned recently, a couple of questions that we still have and dish out one bold prediction.

Some of the topics below include our thoughts on the recruiting dead period being extended yet again, Tywone Malone's recent interview, a senior wideout the Buckeyes have interest in and much more.

1. Big Ten football is back

Even though Kevin Noon wrote a “3-2-1” following yesterday’s announcement, this is big enough news that it should be covered in this piece as well.

The reason for this is that there are certainly recruiting implications for the Big Ten having a football season in 2020.

For one, not playing college football in the fall and the possibility of a spring season not transpiring would have had devastating revenue effects on all programs in the conference. It is already going to be difficult as it is right now with no fans purchasing season and single-game tickets; not making a dollar off of television revenue would have been catastrophic.

In turn, this leads to cutbacks in recruiting as there is not as much money in the pot as there would be with a football season.

Also, high school prospects keen in on which football teams are doing well and how their program is progressing. Without them being able to evaluate how schools like Ohio State and other Big Ten members perform in the fall, the Buckeyes could lose momentum with these prospects.

Take J.T. Tuimoloau as an example.

Tuimoloau is strongly considering Alabama and Ohio State, but the Crimson Tide were the only ones playing this fall up until yesterday. Alabama goes on to make the College Football Playoffs, while the Buckeyes don’t start their season until the following spring. This could play a significant role in where Tuimoloau ultimately ends up going.

Fortunately for Ohio State and Buckeye Nation, this will not be transpiring in 2020. They’ll have an opportunity to potentially make the CFP and compete for a championship yet again.

2. The Dead Period has been extended

It’s not a stretch to say that members of the 2021 and 2022 cycles may have had the toughest collective journey in their recruiting process than any other class in history.

For 2021, no senior prospect has been able to officially visit a school as a result of a prolonged dead period that started in March because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, we have learned that the dead period has been extended through the end of the year.

This is a tough break for early enrollees as they will not have the chance to utilize their officials in their entire recruiting process. For players like Derrick Davis and Tywone Malone, this is a tough break as they are uncommitted and were looking to take trips to different schools before announcing their decisions.

You also have to wonder if some players who intended on enrolling early will now opt to push their signing day back to National Signing Day with the hope that visits will resume in early 2021. Virtual tours were good for the spring and even the summer, but they cannot replace the experience of actually stepping foot on a college’s campus.

When it comes to members of the 2022 class, this dead period has had a significant impact on them as well. They were unable to have coaches come to their schools and see them in person during the spring evaluation period.

The evaluation period is crucial as it gives juniors an opportunity to get on the radars of programs that are of high interest for them. Now, however, football staff members have to rely exclusively on Hudl tapes in order to evaluate prospects, which is not the preferred way to go through this process.

Also, juniors usually use this time to take a bunch of unofficial visits to narrow down their recruitments. It gives them an opportunity to evaluate which schools they are going to strongly consider and, in turn, help decide where they'll take their officials to.

I was initially optimistic that official visits could take place before the end of 2020, but we’ll have to wait until the new year before recruits can start taking trips again.

3. Tywone Malone updates his recruitment

For the first time since I arrived at BuckeyeGrove, we were able to secure an interview with Tywone Malone, courtesy of Rivals recruiting analyst Mike Singer.

Singer attended Malone’s practice earlier this week, and spoke with the top-ranked player in New Jersey about his recruiting process. You can access the premium article, which includes quotes, right HERE, but I will briefly paraphrase the conversation for this section.

Essentially, the big take away here is that Malone and defensive line coach Larry Johnson have manufactured a close relationship. The two of them speak on a daily basis, which goes to show how much of a priority Malone is for the program.

Head coach Ryan Day is in touch with the Rivals100 prospect as well.

Fortunately for Ohio State, they also have the benefit of Javontae Jean-Baptiste being on their squad. He played high school football at Bergen Catholic High School, which is where Malone attends, and is in frequent contact with him.

The final thing to note here is that this conversation took place before the NCAA had announced that the dead period would be extended through the rest of the year. While Malone does intended on committing at the Under Armour All-American Game on Jan. 7, it remains to be seen if that will change as a result of this week’s news.

Malone is going to be playing baseball and football at the next level, but Day and Johnson are doing their part in their pursuit of the coveted senior.

1. Will National Signing Day be pushed back?

As of publishing this article, National Signing Day is set to take place on Feb. 3, 2021. With the dead period having been extended by an additional three months, however, one has to wonder if this should be pushed back as well.

In my opinion, the right move would be to move National Signing Day to March or even to April.

At this point, one of the issues that fans of college football complain about is how often players use the NCAA Transfer Portal. We’ve seen situations where some players don’t even play a meaningful down for their team and decide to leave the school.

Imagine how bad it would be if recruits cannot take any visits before they sign?

We will see players transfer at an even higher rate just because the school may not turn out the way they expected it to because they never got to visit it or take an official there. The amount of entries into the transfer portal will almost certainly increase exponentially as a result of signing day staying in February.

Now, assuming you can safely resume visits in January, pushing back the signing day a month or two will give prospects an opportunity to take all five of their officials. Players are never going to stop using the transfer portal, but I believe a delay to that Feb. 3 date could reduce the amount of people who put their names in it in the coming year or so.

I am fine, however, with the Early Signing Period remaining intact. From Ohio State’s point of view, commits like Ben Christman, Evan Pryor, Jack Sawyer and others are locked in and ready to go Columbus in January, so a delay to National Signing Day wouldn’t affect them.

If some prospects wanted to enroll early, but are hesitant about signing because they still want to take visits, then they can hold off until NSD so they are able to make those trips. It’s unfortunate and unfair as we are living in unprecedented times, but a delay to NSD is the best option to move forward with.

2. Does Ohio State have the advantage if they offer Markus Allen?

With not much developing in the 2021 cycle as a result of Ohio State holding 19 commitments and there being no visits, the recent news surrounding Markus Allen is worth giving a lot of attention to.

Allen, a product of the Buckeye State, decommitted from the Michigan Wolverines last week. With him being back on the open market, Allen knows what he wants from the next program he’s going to commit to.

While speaking with Midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt, Allen said he wants to go to school where he is “loved and wanted.” He also maintains that his interest is open, and that Michigan will not be considered as an option down the road.

A multitude of programs have reached out to him recently, including Arkansas, Florida, Penn State, West Virginia and, not surprisingly, Ohio State.

“My relationship with coach Hartline is actually good,” Allen said. “Me and him were texting way before I even committed. I can talk to Hartline about anything, not even football related.”

This just reaffirms to me that there is a good chance the Buckeyes decide to offer him in the future. And, to answer the question, if that does happen, I’d give the program the edge in his recruitment.

The four-star wideout noted that the dead period being extended through the end of the year “hinders” his recruitment. He’ll be able to take trips and do self-guided tours, but that won’t replicate the traditional visit experience.

With him living just over an hour away from Columbus and being friends with future Buckeye commit CJ Hicks, Ohio State definitely has familiarity on their side. Also, the opportunity to play in an offensive system that is favorable for pass catchers should be appealing for Allen.

This all depends on him being offered or not, but I like Ohio State’s chances if they end up giving Allen the green light.

This could definitely be classified as premature as there are still a lot of unknown variables, but I'm going to be sticking by this prediction over the next several months.

In my opinion, Ohio State would have had a chance to beat LSU had there not been some highly questionable calls in their matchup with Clemson. I probably would have still picked the Tigers given how dynamic that offense was, but I don't see another surprise team like LSU coming out of nowhere this year.

There won't be a juggernaut on offense in the 2020-2021 season comparable to LSU, so I feel confident in Ohio State's chances of coming out on top. I felt like they were the better team over Clemson last season — and I still feel that way — and while Alabama can give them some problems with their defense, I believe the Crimson Tide will not be able to make up for it on the other side of the ball.

Also, we shouldn't question Ohio State's mentality this year. A big reason LSU went on such a special run was because they were battle-tested the season before and had a lot of challenges to overcome. The Buckeyes dealt with heartbreak against Clemson and went through the ringer with the possibility of no season being played, which has led to them adopting the "Ohio Against the World" mantra.

This team has all the ingredients — talent, motivation, a shortened season — to win it all in January.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.