The rush is your overnight dose of Ohio state football recruiting trail updates, keeping track of the latest confirmations and targets across the country.
Winfield stays home
Route Doctor is not coming to Columbus.
Instead, four-star Lewisville (Texas) receiver Armani Winfield will stay at home, announcing on Tuesday that he has committed to the Longhorns and new coach Steve Sarkisian.
Winfield chose the Longhorns from the top eight that also included Ohio State, USC, Arizona State, Penn State, Florida, LSU, Auburn and Texas A&M.
COMMITTED!! #HookEm pic.twitter.com/RyUXvUIP48
– mani (@armani_winfield) January 12, 2021
The most interesting thing about that engagement is that Winfield actually talked to Sarkisian just before he left for the Alabama national championship game against Ohio State, Winfield told Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports.
At halftime, after watching DeVonta Smith bake the Buckeyes’ secondary and accumulate 215 yards and three touchdowns in 12 receptions, Winfield called in Texas receiver coach Andre Coleman to commit. He wanted to be part of Sarkisian’s attack after seeing him be the architect of one of the best performances of a Heisman Trophy winner after the ceremony.
“I saw what he did in the first half and called (Longhorns recipients) coach (Andre) Coleman and told him I wanted to commit,” said Winfield.
…
“Only the attack, the kind of offensive mind he has, as Coach Sark really uses his guards, he gets the games he wants,” said Winfield.
On the official scoreboard, this will be considered a defeat for the State of Ohio on the recruiting trail. But not really.
Winfield wanted to commit to the Buckeyes in late November, shortly after Texas receiver Caleb Burton and Texan Quinn Ewers announced their engagements in Ohio. There were a few factors at play, however, and Winfield had to wait.
The state of Ohio was still waiting for word from the 2021 receiver Emeka Egbuka, and there are two more receivers in the 2022 class in Kyion Grayes and Kojo Antwi where I believe the Buckeyes are taller than Winfield. In fact, Antwi received a scholarship from Brian Hartline a week before Winfield wanted to make his initial commitment.
Following Winfield’s commitment to Texas, we can now see the hierarchy a little better over Ohio state receiver targets in the class, with Grayes and Antwi emerging as the Buckeyes’ two main targets in the cycle. And even Kaleb Brown from Chicago has emerged as a prime target.
I am totally confident that the Buckeyes will get Grayes, and I feel good about their chance with Antwi, although this is turning into a battle between Ohio and Georgia.
The state of Ohio is recruiting for the country’s largest video clip on the receiver (alongside Alabama), as this remains the main place the program is bringing new talent. It says everything you need to know that the Buckeyes are not bringing a player to Winfield (No. 79 overall, No. 12 WR) who would have been their ninth top-100 receiver in the past three cycles and not affect them much.
Stockton abandons South Carolina clearance
Five-star quarterback Gunner Stockton is back on the market.
Ranked as # 1 double threat quarterback and # 27 overall player in the 2022 class, Stockton had been committed to South Carolina since August 20, but on Tuesday announced his decision to reopen his recruitment.
– Gunner Stockton (@GunnerStockton) January 12, 2021
“After much discussion and prayer with my family, I decided to leave the University of South Carolina,” wrote Stockton on Twitter. “In August, I made the decision to commit to the University, the program and the team. A lot has changed since that time and I feel that I must re-evaluate my situation. I want to thank Connor Shaw for all of his love, support and understanding.”
Stockton was at the same time one of the Buckeyes’ main targets as a defender in the cycle, but with Ewers being a solid commitment to Ryan Day and Co., there is no reason to expect them to continue. Stockton is now trending towards Auburn now that he has retired from the Gamecocks.
Bama, OSU set the stage for more recruitment wars
We talked about it all last week, but it’s worth repeating:
Alabama and Ohio State have been fighting for many of the same players on the recruiting trail for years, and the two programs were created to continue the same recruiting wars for years to come.
The Monday night national championship set the stage even more for that. Just as Alabama achieved an uncontrollable victory in the title game over the state of Ohio, it is doing so on the recruiting trail by running away with the recruiting crown in Class 2021.
As of now, the Buckeyes have substantial leadership in the 2022 cycle for the country’s No. 1 class. They won’t be knocked down in that classification anytime soon, but after Alabama exploded in recruiting last spring and summer, we won’t be surprised if (see: when) Nick Saban and company come on the scene in 2022 class.
It’s extremely difficult (unless you’re Alabama, apparently) to make it to the College Football Playoff. But with the way these two programs are recruiting, we should expect (or at least not be close to being surprised) if we see more clashes between the playoffs and possibly more games for the national title between the two blueblood programs in the next five years.
Header photo: Armani Winfield – Collin Kennedy / 247Sports