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Akron Rick
Heisman
RJ has a problem with a 17 yr. old saying "my commitment is done" with two years of h.s. left before it's even necessary to commit. He mentions players like Kamar Wilcoxon and Zach Evans who committed either too early or not seriously. He has no problem with the kid choosing a great school (OSU)with great coaches (Wilson), just that he really doesn't need to say that quote at this point. Topic well must be running a little dry. Glad to be of service.
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Akron Rick
Heisman
I probably used a poor choice of verb with 'compares'. I have edited the above synopsis so maybe it's a bit less inflammatory. Or better yet you could google RJ Young and listen to his comments on Hicks.
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MGMT
Legend
Honestly in a time like this it just sounds like separation to create content. C.J. has every right to “shut it down” if he wants to allocate his focus toward the rest of his high school athletic and academic career.
I like RJ for the most part but this is just swing-and-miss stuff. Hard to fault hosts when there’s literally nothing going on I suppose.
And thank you, by the way.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
THE HURRY-UP: C.J. HICKS LEARNING PASS RUSH MOVES FROM ROBERT LANDERS AND COVERAGE TECHNIQUES FROM TYREE KINNEL, MIKE HALL COMMITS TO ALL-AMERICAN GAME, KOREY FOREMAN DROPS TOP 7
HICKS WORKING WITH LANDERS AND FORMER UM SAFETY
The first time Eleven Warriors ventured over to Kettering’s Archbishop Alter High School in October, we took a look at C.J. Hicks and spoke fairly extensively with the state’s top 2022 riser, one who was initially ranked as a five-star prospect.
Hicks looked solid, athletically built and fluid as he sprinted around the field during an Oct. 1 mid-week practice in preparation for a Week 6 game. But flash forward a little more than nine months later, and Hicks is truly looking the part of what he eventually became – an Ohio State commit.
During a 7-on-7 practice on Wednesday, the 6-foot-4 four-star prospect – now ranked No. 162 overall, No. 15 at athlete and No. 4 in Ohio – looks even more athletic, more comfortable at linebacker and in pass coverage, and he’s gotten much bigger and stronger, as he’s added about 10-15 pounds this offseason to get up to 220 pounds. (Pictures don't necessarily do it justice, but you can check out photos from our time spent with Hicks here.)
Even as we stand more than two years away from him being able to contribute on the field for the Buckeyes, Hicks has begun to grow his body to prepare for his time in Columbus, and it’s showing. That’s been the result of rigorous bodyweight exercises and at-home dumbbell workouts during quarantine before he was able to get back into weight rooms, in addition to cranking up his diet to include more protein.
“It’s kind of easy. It was a struggle at first, but then it got easier as it went on,” Hicks told Eleven Warriors of adding muscle in the offseason. “For me, it hasn’t really been that hard. It’s just been see food, eat food. That’s what I’ve been doing since I got to high school.”
Aside from the physical gains that you can see just by standing and talking to him, Hicks has been making progressions in two other areas as he prepares for his role as a hybrid linebacker/defensive back, and he’s had the help of two familiar faces to Ohio State fans – his cousin, Robert Landers, and former Michigan safety Tyree Kinnel.
“I’ve been trying to move quicker so I’ve been working with BB because he’s been in town, and then the safety who played for the Team Up North, Tyree Kinnel, he graduated two years ago,” Hicks said. “We all train at the same spot. I’ve been working with BB for the pass rush and flipping my hips and stuff, and then Tyree staying mobile and opening up in coverages. It helps because I’m playing the hybrid spot so I’m learning pass rush and coverages.”
Different colleges wanted Hicks for different roles on their defense, but Al Washington and the Buckeyes have their plan of using him in that hybrid role similar to that of Pete Werner and the vision they have for Kourt Williams. So once Hicks committed to Ohio State in May, he had a better plan for how to shape his body and what areas of his game to sharpen up.
“BB is more like working on pass rush skills,” Hicks said. “Coach Washington told me he’s gonna have me blitz quite a bit, so when I’m working with BB, I’m working with the hand techniques and stuff. So if an O-lineman does this, then I do this and know how to counter it. And then Tyree, like I said, just working on my breaks and getting quicker out of those and learning different coverages and stuff like that.”
There is, of course, a third figure that a couple Buckeye backers might remember, too, that Hicks has a bond with and works out with once a week.
“I work out with Braxon Miller on Thursdays so I’ll work out with him (today),” Hicks said. “He’s been a good role model to me. He said if I need anything while I’m up (at Ohio State) give him a call.”
When we first met with Hicks in October, we spoke very briefly about his relationship with Miller toward the end of the interview. At the time, Hicks said he would see Miller a couple of times during the offseason and that he would help out at one of Miller’s camps at his alma mater, Wayne High School.
Seeing Miller working with the youth players reinforced the type of person Miller was in Hicks’ mind.
“He plays with the kids and it’s fun to watch because even though he did make it, he’s still pursuing his dream and still cares for all the little kids,” Hicks said. He’s a good role model.”
Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...rt-landers-and-coverage-techniques-from-tyree
HICKS WORKING WITH LANDERS AND FORMER UM SAFETY
The first time Eleven Warriors ventured over to Kettering’s Archbishop Alter High School in October, we took a look at C.J. Hicks and spoke fairly extensively with the state’s top 2022 riser, one who was initially ranked as a five-star prospect.
Hicks looked solid, athletically built and fluid as he sprinted around the field during an Oct. 1 mid-week practice in preparation for a Week 6 game. But flash forward a little more than nine months later, and Hicks is truly looking the part of what he eventually became – an Ohio State commit.
During a 7-on-7 practice on Wednesday, the 6-foot-4 four-star prospect – now ranked No. 162 overall, No. 15 at athlete and No. 4 in Ohio – looks even more athletic, more comfortable at linebacker and in pass coverage, and he’s gotten much bigger and stronger, as he’s added about 10-15 pounds this offseason to get up to 220 pounds. (Pictures don't necessarily do it justice, but you can check out photos from our time spent with Hicks here.)
Even as we stand more than two years away from him being able to contribute on the field for the Buckeyes, Hicks has begun to grow his body to prepare for his time in Columbus, and it’s showing. That’s been the result of rigorous bodyweight exercises and at-home dumbbell workouts during quarantine before he was able to get back into weight rooms, in addition to cranking up his diet to include more protein.
“It’s kind of easy. It was a struggle at first, but then it got easier as it went on,” Hicks told Eleven Warriors of adding muscle in the offseason. “For me, it hasn’t really been that hard. It’s just been see food, eat food. That’s what I’ve been doing since I got to high school.”
Aside from the physical gains that you can see just by standing and talking to him, Hicks has been making progressions in two other areas as he prepares for his role as a hybrid linebacker/defensive back, and he’s had the help of two familiar faces to Ohio State fans – his cousin, Robert Landers, and former Michigan safety Tyree Kinnel.
“I’ve been trying to move quicker so I’ve been working with BB because he’s been in town, and then the safety who played for the Team Up North, Tyree Kinnel, he graduated two years ago,” Hicks said. “We all train at the same spot. I’ve been working with BB for the pass rush and flipping my hips and stuff, and then Tyree staying mobile and opening up in coverages. It helps because I’m playing the hybrid spot so I’m learning pass rush and coverages.”
Different colleges wanted Hicks for different roles on their defense, but Al Washington and the Buckeyes have their plan of using him in that hybrid role similar to that of Pete Werner and the vision they have for Kourt Williams. So once Hicks committed to Ohio State in May, he had a better plan for how to shape his body and what areas of his game to sharpen up.
“BB is more like working on pass rush skills,” Hicks said. “Coach Washington told me he’s gonna have me blitz quite a bit, so when I’m working with BB, I’m working with the hand techniques and stuff. So if an O-lineman does this, then I do this and know how to counter it. And then Tyree, like I said, just working on my breaks and getting quicker out of those and learning different coverages and stuff like that.”
There is, of course, a third figure that a couple Buckeye backers might remember, too, that Hicks has a bond with and works out with once a week.
“I work out with Braxon Miller on Thursdays so I’ll work out with him (today),” Hicks said. “He’s been a good role model to me. He said if I need anything while I’m up (at Ohio State) give him a call.”
When we first met with Hicks in October, we spoke very briefly about his relationship with Miller toward the end of the interview. At the time, Hicks said he would see Miller a couple of times during the offseason and that he would help out at one of Miller’s camps at his alma mater, Wayne High School.
Seeing Miller working with the youth players reinforced the type of person Miller was in Hicks’ mind.
“He plays with the kids and it’s fun to watch because even though he did make it, he’s still pursuing his dream and still cares for all the little kids,” Hicks said. He’s a good role model.”
Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...rt-landers-and-coverage-techniques-from-tyree
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
HICKS WAS SATURDAY’S TOP PERFORMER
If you stopped by Eleven Warriors on Thursday, when we broke down the physical growth of C.J. Hicks, you knew heading into Saturday that the Ohio State hybrid linebacker/safety commit had pushed himself through a noteworthy transformation.
But to see the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder alongside some of the best players in the Midwest – plus Shawn Murphy, the No. 3 overall player and No. 1 inside linebacker in the 2022 class, of Virginia’s Stonewall Jackson High School – it was instantly clear that Hicks was the most impressive of the group at Saturday’s Elite Underclassmen Camp in Obetz, Ohio.
“He looks like a man-child,” one coach at the camp told Eleven Warriors.
Can confirm.
But it wasn’t just Hicks’ physique that impressed. It was the athleticism, footwork, fluidity and hips that he showcased during drills that made the physicality more meaningful. All day, he looked exactly like the prospect Al Washington, Kevin Wilson and crew recruited him to be – a player who could be a force as an outside linebacker and one with the lateral agility and burst to play as a defensive back who could drop to safety or cover tight ends.
“Coach Washington said he wants me to be like Pete Werner, who plays outside linebacker but is also a safety,” Hicks told Eleven Warriors on Saturday. “But he said there are some formations where he wants me to play where Malik Harrison played like where he was on top of the nose and stuff like that and play some inside and out. I’m open to playing anywhere, as long as I’m on the field it don’t matter that much.”
As we said in that Thursday piece, when visiting with Hicks in October, it’s not as if he was a toothpick by any stretch of the imagination. But he was certainly not there physically, and that’s entirely understandable given the fact that he was only 15 years old.
So that’s an even more important item to remember – he’s only 16 right now and won’t turn 17 until December. He has more time to grow, as long as he doesn’t grow too much. The Buckeyes aren’t wanting him to tack on too much size at risk of him losing some of that quickness and speed. Hicks says he’s hoping to add about five more pounds of muscle to get to 225 pounds.
And as for his speed? Hicks ran a 4.62 in the 40 while adding a 32-inch vertical. Combined with his performance in drills, it was all more than enough for him to get an invitation to the Under Armour Future 50 and the Under Armour All-America Game, both of which he promptly accepted. If there was an MVP award for the one-day camp, Hicks would probably have been the favorite to win it, even though he admits his performance wasn’t entirely tuned up.
“I felt good. There’s some passes that I dropped, but that’s football,” Hicks said. “I gotta work on my hands. But other than that, I feel like I did a really good job. There’s always some stuff I can improve on like my hands and stuff. It just felt good to come out here and compete.”
After the summer camp circuit in 2019, Hicks emerged as a very early five-star prospect, according to 247Sports’ initial August rankings that only ranked a small number of 2022 players. But once the Top247 dropped in March, Hicks was downgraded to a four-star recruit ranked No. 162 overall, No. 15 as an athlete and No. 4 in Ohio.
It would be shocking if he didn’t make a substantial jump whenever the next rankings are released now that evaluators have been able to see how he’s transformed up close and on film when the camp’s tape is eventually dissected. (Every rep and every drill at the camp was filmed, and video and results will be sent to 64 out of 65 Power 5 schools and at least 42 Group of 5 programs, according to The Underclassmen Report’s Twitter page.)
Hicks looked like a potential five-star prospect, so perhaps he could work his way back into that billing in his recruiting profile once again.
Just sayin': "man child"....."5 star"......
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Unbelievable specimen, big guy like that shouldn't move like he does heading into his junior year. He fits the mold of a Chaisson from LSU right now, but honestly I think he is probably closer to Hubbard long term. He just seems to be growing into a DE frame by the day, that is quite the leap physically that he has made. I would bet dollars to donuts he ends up at DE by the end of his career at OSU, but right now I would keep him ranked at LB. Either way, we have a really good player here.
Also, very cool to see Braxton and BB putting in work with CJ. Those Dayton Buckeyes look after their own and its cool to watch.
Also, very cool to see Braxton and BB putting in work with CJ. Those Dayton Buckeyes look after their own and its cool to watch.
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