COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State could be on the verge of losing two highly-rated prospects from its 2018 recruiting class. This weekend could get a little crazy, and very interesting.
The prospects are five-star safety Jaiden Woodbey and four-star quarterback Emory Jones. Jones has been on flip watch for awhile, with most thinking his ultimate jump to another program inevitable even with some seemingly good momentum pushing him back toward Ohio State in recent weeks. The uncertainty around Woodbey has really ramped up this week.
Let's break down each situation, first with Woodbey because it's the freshest and most confusing:
* On Friday night, Rivals national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell reported that Woodbey was on an official visit to Florida State. That's a surprising turn of events, even with new Seminoles coach Willie Taggart offering Woodbey this week:
About 90 minutes after that tweet, Woodbey sent out his own tweet suggesting that the Fontana, Calif., native was actually visiting USC.
So what's the deal?
Apparently Woodbey is visiting both USC and Florida State this week. He confirmed to Farrell that he was at USC on Friday, and would be traveling to Florida State on Saturday for an official visit.
That's a big convoluted mess, and whichever way it ultimately shakes out, this feels like it's not going to end well for Ohio State.
It also seems very unlikely that Florida State would be a real player for Woodbey. The previous coaching staff in Tallahassee never offered him, something he made a note of on Twitter this week. After that tweet, Taggart -- who did offer Woodbey at Oregon -- extended a Florida State scholarship offer that same day. Taggart has been on the job at FSU for 10 days. And though he and Woodbey have some relationship from Taggart's time at Oregon, could Woodbey -- who plans on enrolling early -- really decide to play for a program he's had no previous connection with in such a short window? Perhaps. Seems unlikely. But things are getting weird in his recruitment.
Ohio State should be more threatened by USC, the program about an hour from Woodbey's home that never stopped recruiting him even after his commitment to the Buckeyes.
* Now Jones, who found a way to add a late twist to his own uncertain recruitment with an official visit to Florida this weekend. We've written a lot about Jones visits to Alabama and Auburn this fall, but the Gators are now in play and in need of a quarterback.
Matt Corral, a four-star quarterback prospect from California, flipped from Florida to Ole Miss on Thursday night. The Gators, under new coach (and Urban Meyer's friend) Dan Mullen, have now turned their sights on Jones.
Some 247Sports crystal ball predictions came in on Friday in favor of Florida. If you feared all along that Jones was going to leave this Ohio State class at some point, you could soon be proven right. You just had the other school wrong.
The Buckeyes also hold a commitment from three-star Texas quarterback Matthew Baldwin, who will like sign next week and could enroll early.
Jones is also planning on signing next week and enrolling early.
How about some good news?
So Ohio State could be on the verge of losing the nation's No. 27 overall player (Woodbey) and No. 40 overall player (Jones), but are also now in a really good spot to land the No. 59 player, one at a greater position of need.
Things began trending back in Ohio State's way for four-star Cleveland Heights defensive end Tyreke Smith late this week. On Friday night, Meyer, Larry Johnson, Greg Schiano and Tony Alford were at Heights for Smith's basketball game.
Ohio State is now a heavy favorite for Smith in the 247Sports crystal ball. Penn State was the favorite just two days ago.
Smith won't announce until Jan. 4 at the Under Armour All-American Game. But with Ohio State in major need of pass rushers in this class after the decommitment of five-star defensive end Brenton Cox last week, this would be a major win for the Buckeyes.