re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

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ALPHA DOGS

While Friday Night Lights is a great event for the Ohio State University, for the players that get a chance to be involved and for the fans who are granted free admission and get to see a bunch of recruits they read about in-person, it really is a difficult event to cover from an analysis standpoint. The primary problem is being on-campus, Ohio State coaches are not allowed to cater to the media, which includes getting rosters. Half of the three-hour event, then, is spent trying to identify who is who. I say that because there are going to be prospects who had good performances who we just never were able to identify. And, other prospects in attendance you want to read about may not have been evaluated because we did not see much of them or identify them early enough.

Most of the top dogs, though, we did identify and identify early and it was apparent that defensive line was where many of the top performers were, and probably featured the overall alpha dog: five-star defensive end Micah Parsons. I watched defensive coordinator Greg Schiano pull Parsons out of drills early, only to have him reappear at wide receiver! I captured a couple of his reps on film, but even though they show his athleticism they were among his lesser reps at wide receiver. The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder is definitely a freak athlete.

Freak athlete also describes Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne four-star Blue Smith, the No. 1 ranked athlete prospect in the 2018 class. Do not expect Smith to be listed as an athlete much longer, though. Between Friday night’s camp and then getting to see him at a 7-on-7 Saturday morning, the 6-foot-5, 215-pounder has a clear position: wide receiver.

Other alpha dogs on the defensive line were four-star Brenton Cox, four-star Ani Izuchukwu (who goes by King Ani: Alpha Male on Twitter) and four-star Jayson Oweh. Wide receiver was also deep, with 2018 four-star Jahan Dotson, 2019 four-star Isaiah Williams and 2019 four-star David Bell and 2019 three-star Mershawn Rice. At quarterback you had five-star Emory Jones and 2019 four-star Dwan Mathis both throwing well. Four-star Chris Oats looked good at linebacker, as did 2019 three-star Dezman Cooper. On the offensive line four-star center Tyrone Sampson and 2019 four-star Doug Nester both looked good, but the best performer was 2020 Oak Park, Mich. guard Justin Rogers, who got a lot of attention from the coaching staff.

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Trey Dean, the No. 14-ranked safety by Rivals was set to commit a week from Monday, July 31. That will no longer happen.

The 6-foot-2, 180 pound four star out of Hampton (Ga.) Dutchtown thought he would be ready make his decision the first day of his senior year, but he won't be.

"After a lot of prayers and talking things over with my family, I have decided to wait and to postpone my decision," said Dean. "I am just not ready. I want to take some more time and I will probably commit the first half of my season. I am thinking around the third game of the year, but we will see.

"I just need more time. I am not ready yet."

Dean has been a busy man this summer. Around competing at the Rivals Five-star Challenge, he has visited Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Texas. All those schools are still being considered as is Florida, Florida State and others.

"I am completely open right now. My recruitment is open and I do not have any favorites. I want to take another look at the schools and then I will go from there."

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Christopher Nee CB'd Justin Watkins to Bama

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