COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State is one of five teams in the running to get a commitment from five-star receiver Julian Fleming of Southern Columbia (Pa.) High School.
He is rated the top wide receiver in the 2020 class and the No. 6 overall prospect. If he chooses the Buckeyes he’ll be their second top-10 commit in the class.
There are only two wide receivers listed as 2020 five-star prospects. The other — Demond Demas of Tomball (Texas) High School — has been committed to Texas A&M since September. But Fleming isn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill five-star recruit. He’s a player that a team like Ohio State — who just hired a new head coach with an offensive system that requires top-notch receivers — needs.
“He’s pretty unique,” his high school head coach Jim Roth told cleveland.com.
247Sports.com has Fleming listed at 6-foot-2 and 199 pounds, but Roth states that he’s grown substantially since then. He’s found a way to get stronger while keeping up the speed that makes him a deep ball threat.
“He’s probably pushing 6-foot-3 and he’s up to about 210 (pounds) now because he really put some weight on,” Roth said. “He’s gotten a lot stronger, he probably has as good of strength as a lot of guys that are playing in the NFL. I know he’s repped 225 over 15 times, which is pretty significant for a high school kid. His weight gain was the right type of weight gain. It was done through lifting and natural growth.”
Schools left no doubt of their interest since the beginning of his recruitment process. His versatility creates problems for defenses because he can line up anywhere on the field and even be used as a tight end.
“When you can take a guy who is — they’re going to read him as a wide receiver and that’s how they’re going to read the personnel grouping — physical enough to move in and play almost like a tight end and block someone on the end,” Roth said. “It can give the offense an advantage when you have a guy that can have that dual role and be a really effective wideout and be big enough, strong enough and physical enough to move into the box.”
Fleming doesn’t just fit the receiver prototype Ohio State seeks under Ryan Day, he’s the epitome of it. Dwayne Haskins exemplified what Day wanted in a quarterback. Roth feels that Fleming can be that in wide receiver form. The goal for OSU is to have other recruits see what Fleming and current freshman Garrett Wilson do as Buckeyes and be easily sold that they need to consider coming to Columbus.
“(He’s) very athletic, he’s made the one-hand catches, he’s got great ball skills down the field on deep balls, he can track the ball very well (and) time the ball. He’s got excellent ball skills,” Roth said. “Pretty much every phase of his game is at a really high level. That’s probably why most of these sources have him rated as the No. 1 receiver in the country, I guess.”
Roth stated that Fleming best compares to a player he faced in the 2011 PIAA Class A State Championship. His Tigers lost 35-19 to a Clairton team that featured a four-star receiver by the name of Tyler Boyd.
“That’s the one guy,” Roth said. “Just build wise, running ability, athleticism, that’s one guy that Julian reminded me of.”
Boyd went on to play at Pittsburgh, where he set records in career receptions (229), receiving yards (3,097) and the most receptions by a freshman receiver (77). In 2016 he was a second-round draft pick by the Cincinnati Bengals, where he’s played for the past three seasons.
Fleming is currently competing in the Pennsylvania state track meet. He will compete in the finals in the 100-meter dash — after running a personal-best 10.86 in the prelims — along with the 4x100 and 4x400.
“There are other guys that run 40 times or track times and they’re not that great, yet on the (football) field, they look like they’re very quick,” Roth said. “His times are good on the track, but he’s probably still a guy that runs even faster on the field. It, kind of, translates that way with him. He has really good field speed.”
As a junior, the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year caught 72 passes for 1,497 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also added four interceptions, three of which he returned for touchdowns.
He’s dominated high school football. Friday, college football will find out where he will potentially dominate next.
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