When James Franklin gave a scouting report on Ohio State during his press conference in Beaver Stadium on Tuesday, he came across some Buckeyes he knew quite well from the recruiting trail.
“You look at (safety) Ronnie Hickman, who we recruited heavily out of New Jersey,” Franklin said. “It seems like he’s been playing there forever.”
Then, Franklin added, there’s “Taron Vincent, who we know out of Baltimore.”
Hickman had 100 tackles to lead the Buckeyes in 2021, and is in his fourth season at Ohio State. Coincidentally, his sister is the girlfriend of Ta’Quan Roberson, the former Penn State quarterback. Vincent, a defensive tackle, is in Year 5 with the Buckeyes.
When Franklin looks across the Beaver Stadium field at the Buckeyes’ offense on Saturday, he’ll spy a pair of Ohio State’s top wide receivers — Marvin Harrison Jr. and Julian Fleming — who he also knows quite well.
To Franklin’s dismay, they are returning to their home Commonwealth in hopes of dominating State.
Both are Pennsylvania natives and in 2022, the pair has accounted for 16 touchdowns, 55 receptions and nearly 1,000 yards receiving. Harrison (38 receptions, 17.9 ypc, 10 TDs) and Fleming (17, 19.2, 6) are key players for a Buckeyes’ offense that is engineered by Heisman candidate C.J. Stroud, who is the top-rated QB in college football.
Harrison Jr. played at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, where he was teammates with fellow Buckeye, quarterback Kyle McCord. Both were offered scholarships by Franklin and Penn State.
Fleming played his high school football just 85 minutes from Beaver Stadium, at Southern Columbia in Catawissa, yet chose to attend college 416 miles away from home. Fleming was the nation’s No. 1 high school wide receiver, and finished his career as Pennsylvania’s high school all-time leader in TD receptions (77) and receiving yards (5514).
Franklin pursued Fleming, whose girlfriend attended Penn State at the time, with gusto.
FLEMING AND FRANKLIN
I had the chance to interview Fleming on Feb. 16, 2019, at the Mr. PA Football Banquet, where he was named small school player of the year for 2018. At the banquet in Harrisburg, Franklin sat just one table away from Fleming and later presented him with his trophy on-stage.
That night, Fleming —just a junior at the time— Tweeted out his top six college choices: Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Penn State.
I was impressed by Fleming; he was mature and respectful, yet relaxed and composed. A snippet of our conversation follows; the full interview is here:
Poorman: “Did you know that James Franklin was a psychology major in college?”
Fleming: “I didn’t know that. I need to ask him about that. He’s certainly a people person.”
Poorman: “Did I see where Franklin was wearing your jersey?”
Fleming: “Yeah, I wear No. 4. He came to my game and wore my jersey. He goes above and beyond for his recruits. My birthday was signing day, and I Facetimed them and all the coaches sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. They had a little No. 4 on their tree. It was cool.”
• • •
Just 73 days later, Fleming officially committed to Ohio State.
As Fleming subsequently said publicly, the lack of success of Penn State five-star wide receiver Justin Shorter, who transferred to Florida, and the turnover at wide receiver coach at Penn State contributed to his decision to attend Ohio State.
At the time Fleming committed, Penn State was on its third wide receiver coach in three seasons (Josh Gattis, David Corley, Gerad Parker). Ohio State, meanwhile, was stable with renowned WR coach and former Buckeye Brian Hartline. Ryan Day, after a successful early-season stint as interim head coach, had been promoted to head coach upon Urban Meter’s departure.
Soon thereafter, on Jan. 2, 2019, Day hired Mike Yurcich to be Ohio State’s passing game coordinator and QB coach. So, Yurcich had a hand in helping to close the deal with Fleming. And, in fact, Yurcich was crucial to the recruiting of Stroud as well.
WHAT FRANKLIN SAYS
For Franklin, the notion of seeing former big-time recruiting targets like Hickman, Harrison Jr. and Fleming on the opposite sideline isn’t new.
But, as he admitted to me when I queried him about it on Wednesday night, it doesn’t hurt any less.
“Let’s be honest, in this league, it happens all the time, especially when you’re talking about regional prospects. It happens all the time,” Franklin said. “You know, it obviously stings a little bit more when you see them.
“When they go far away and you never play those people, it’s a little bit of out-of-sight and out-of-mind — which is also our argument on why they should stay home. There’s been a number of prospects that have left and gone far away. A lot of times you never hear a whole lot about him after that.
“So, I think your point is, obviously, if you lose the guy and now you have to play against him for four years, it’s probably more impactful. I don’t know if it necessarily is, but it feels that way because you obviously see them.”
Of course, Penn State’s top two quarterbacks in 2022 are from Ohio. (As were Todd Blackledge and John Shaffer, who led PSU to national titles in 1982 and ’86). So, it can be a two-way street.
In this case, though, not so much:
Veteran QB Sean Clifford committed to Penn State early in the process and was not targeted significantly by Ohio State. Freshman QB Drew Allar was also a strong Penn State lean from the start, especially given an excellent relationship between his family and Yurcich. By the time Allar committed to Penn State on March 7, 2021, Stroud was already on campus at Ohio State, and Class of 2021 members McCord and five-star recruit Quinn Ewers had committed to the Buckeyes. Ewers played just two snaps for Ohio State in 2021, then transferred to the University of Texas in his home state.
Speaking of Texas: Penn State’s top wide receivers are decidedly not from PA. Parker Washington — the team’s top receiver in 2022 — is from the Longhorn State, while Mitchell Tinsley is from Missouri, by way of transfer from Western Kentucky; Harrison Wallace is from Alabama; and KeAndre Lambert-Smith is from Virginia.
