Buckeyes welcome early enrollees

The students are back on campus on Monday and that means that Ohio State’s early enrollees from the recruiting class of 2019 are on campus and taking their very first on-campus college classes of their Buckeye careers.

Enrolling early is a growing trend for players and colleges alike when it comes to football and the Buckeyes have been no stranger to opening doors early to a handful of players each season and letting them get a semester under their belts academically and of course, participate in spring football.

Social media was busy over the weekend the football program Twitter account welcomed the news players and their families to the Ohio State campus filled with smiling faces even though, deep down you know many mothers were also quite sad to see their sons taking this next big step in their lives and moving on to college and out of the house.

Who is on campus now and who is getting that first taste of college life? We look at who is here early and getting things started on this first day of classes.

There may be no bigger name, at least in terms of the star rankings than Harrison. He had one of the shortest trips to make, just coming down US-23 to campus as a central Ohio star. The defensive end picked the Buckeyes over Michigan and Penn State late in the early recruiting cycle and was really considered a must-get, not only because of that proximity but because he is just that good. He recently had a good week at the All-American Bowl but there was not much time to reacclimate as he had to be on campus by Monday. Expect Harrison to play in 2019 but it will be a crowded depth chart at defensive end. That won’t matter much as Harrison is a special talent but the Buckeyes have a roster full of special talents so the learning curve will be real.

Wilson is another top-40 player nationally and one that the Buckeyes were really focused on landing. Wilson is originally from Central Ohio as well but moved to Austin (Texas) and many felt that it might be tough to pry him away from the local Texas Longhorns. Ohio State did not let geography in the way and when Wilson declared that he wanted to play for the Buckeyes, he announced that he was “Coming Home” and he truly is home now as part of freshman move-in. There will be some opportunity to make early noise for Wilson as the Buckeyes are losing at least three receivers this year and that number could be even higher if anyone decides to make an early departure to the NFL. A lot of Wilson’s path will not only be determined by Wilson and how he responds to the change in adjusting to the college game but also as to where the Buckeyes see him best fitting into the offense. If Wilson ends up as an X or a Z in the offense, the path will be much clearer than a Y or an H designation. With at least one new face in the offensive meeting rooms (Mike Yurcich) there will be a lot of questions to answer as the Buckeyes look to find the right fits on Ryan Day’s first offense as head coach of the Buckeyes.

Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ Hickman is a member of the Rivals250 and while Rivals.com projected him as an athlete, the Buckeyes have seen him as a safety all along and that is where he will get his first taste of the college game. Hickman had close to 20 offers but there was little drama in this one as he picked the Buckeyes early in the process and never seemed to doubt his pick, even as Ohio State saw some internal strife during the calendar year. The Wayne (N.J.) star enters the mix at a crowded safety position and might find it difficult to find a footing on defense this upcoming season but Hickman has all the tools to be an immediate contributor on special teams and that might help him make a name for himself in a crowded safety room as he positions himself for 2020.

Many people felt that the Buckeyes might not be able to hold on to Noah Potter when his older brother Micah decided to transfer from the Ohio State Men’s Basketball team. Noah announced that he is following his own dream and that dream kept him in-state and with the Buckeyes. The Mentor (Ohio) star might be overshadowed by Zach Harrison in terms of star rankings but Potter is another player that might be able to see some snaps on the defensive line this season with the way that Larry Johnson likes to have a deep rotation. While Ryan Day has not come out and said what his view on redshirting is, we gather he is going to play guys who can contribute and Potter certainly has what it takes to contribute, deep defensive end room (with Chase Young and Jonathon Cooper at top) or not.

The Buckeyes have started to develop a pipeline out of the Jacksonville (Fla.) area with Trinity Christian high school. Shaun Wade and Tyreke Johnson already are on campus, as Crowley is now, and the Buckeyes are recruiting a talented 2020 class out of the school as well. Crowley was formerly committed to the Miami Hurricanes, but when Sampson James decommitted from the Buckeyes, that opened an opportunity for Crowley to really catch the eye of the Ohio State coaches and once the Buckeyes were sold on Crowley, it did not take long for Crowley to flip his commitment. As for playing time, we know that Mike Weber is off to the NFL and that means that JK Dobbins will be atop the depth chart. What we don’t know is what Brian Snead’s status will be moving forward but assuming that he is not in the picture, Master Teague would be the next man up and Crowley would be competing with him for No. 2 snaps. Special teams will always be an important role too, but we expect to see Crowley to see some time at RB as the Buckeyes will look to spread the carries out as the year goes on and having at least three ball carriers will go a long way.

Like Potter, Jacoby made the short trip down from Mentor (Ohio) to join the Buckeyes and turned down offers by most of the major programs in the conference and region to join Ohio State. It is not often that a true freshman really steps right into the mix on the offensive line (there are few Michael Jordans out there) but there will be some opportunity as Ohio State has to rebuild its offensive line this year to get into the two-deep with a strong spring. As a recruit, Jacoby was listed at 265 pounds, but it will be interesting to see what Ohio State has him listed at in terms of weight. He is going to have to really adopt everything that Mickey Marotti is teaching in the S&C program to get closer to a good playing weight before he really can make a push toward the field. At this point, it might be too early to project what 2019 will hold for Jacoby but it certainly won’t be from a lack of effort from Jacoby himself.

There is a seventh player in that picture, but he is not a true freshman, but he is taking classes this semester with the Buckeyes and there is a little bit of interest in what he does. Quarterback Justin Fields has transferred from Georgia to Ohio State and for all of the buzz that surrounded any one recruit this offseason, multiply it by 5,000 to equal the intrigue around Fields.

There really is no recruitment to talk about here on this one as he picked UGA as his college choice but before the bowl game decided that he might want to move on to another school. The Buckeyes were immediately listed as one of the most likely destinations as others attached schools like Oklahoma, Florida State and anywhere that might need a quarterback to Fields. There was not a drawn-out or highly visible process for Fields as he just made an announcement when it was official that he was going to Ohio State. Now, things get a little less clear when it comes down to what his 2019 may look like. Fields is going to have to get a special waiver from the NCAA to be eligible this season and while he has retained one of the top attorneys in that field to try and navigate him through that path, nothing is for certain when it comes to NCAA decisions. The Buckeyes (as of this moment) have not announced the status of Dwayne Haskins for next season (even though it would be a major upset if he opted to come back after receiving a first-round draft grade and many have him as a top-10 pick in the upcoming 2019 NFL Draft) and that really matters in terms of what the depth chart will look like. If Haskins does go as expected, it would be a Tate Martell v. Justin Fields (if given the waiver) battle for the starting spot with Matthew Baldwin also in the mix but coming off of an ACL rehab season). If Fields is not given the waiver, the room becomes dangerously thin with just Martell and Baldwin along with former WVU signal caller Chris Chugunov in the mix as well. There will be plenty to watch here.