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Berry “90 percent” sold on Ohio State

Posted by Vico in Recruiting | Jul.28.08

I shy away from individual recruiting updates, simply because there’s so much volatility and uncertainty in recruiting that I’m reticent to do too much on it until after a verbal is issued or a letter of intent is signed (see: Better Know A Buckeye). However, I think this is worthy of a note.

Jaamal Berry
Jaamal Berry, a tailback from Miami, FL, is one of only a few players who I’m certain have scholarships held for them in a recruiting class that’s almost completely full.  Today, he personally put the likelihood of him attending Ohio State at a statistically significant (one-tailed) 90 percent1.

For Berry’s purposes, he wants to go to college and play football for a school with great tradition, tradition as a running school and a family atmosphere where football is a rallying call for everyone.  Basically, Berry acknowledges that he’s struggling to think of a better candidate than the Buckeyes.  He visited Ohio State for their Spring Game with a host of other South Florida kids, including the now verbally commited Duron Carter, and has said that’s the benchmark for all future visits he plans to take.  To unseat the Buckeyes, Berry said LSU, Ole Miss, Michigan and Florida (the other 4 schools in the picture) would have to “blow me away”.

Berry has remained in contact with Luke Fickell and Darrell Hazzell (recruiter par excellence) weekly since his visit in the Spring.  He has set up an August 6 visit to Ohio State and set up his official for the game against the Wolvereenies on November 22.  From what I’ve gathered from people closer to the situation than I am, there’s plenty of good reason to think that Berry will be making that November trip to Columbus as an Ohio State verbal.

Further, the discussion of him attending the Michigan game as a commit is nothing new and I’ve been hearing the dreaded “L word in recruiting” (lock) for the better part of a month and a half regarding Berry.

  1. Yes yes. Recruiting is volatile and this is no means a guarantee of him attending Ohio State, but the statistician in me loved it [↩]

 

3 Responses to “Berry “90 percent” sold on Ohio State”

  1. 1 Max Power July 28th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Fo sho

  2. 2 CL July 28th, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    yea boy

    Berry is going to be a huge addition. I like Hyde and Hall but this kid is another level. Saine and Herron will carry the torch for a little while and then turn it over to these kids. We’ll be in good shape at RB for the foreseeable future.

    It feels like its been a year since the last commitment even though it wasn’t very long ago. I was getting used to the blistering pace Tressel was setting.

    Lets get Berry on board officially and then give it our all in recruiting Hall, Banks, and Adams.

  3. 3 Vico July 28th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Just to clarify: Max is my connection to this situation. The dude knows some people and hence his comment.

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