Miami '20 FL RB - Jaylon Knighton (MIami FL Verbal)

Rivals.com
24/7Sports

5'10" | 178 lbs | RB
Deerfield Beach
Deerfield Beach, FL
CLASS OF 2020

Ohio State has offered.

 

Blessed to receive an offer from The University Of Ohio State #Buckeyes⭕️ pic.twitter.com/eAj5ic35NJ

— The real Rooster‼️Ⓜ️ (@jaylan_knighton) December 14, 2017

 

Ohio State remains in the mix for Jaylan Knighton
Another of Ohio State’s top targets released what appears to be his final schools on Twitter on Wednesday.



That is Deerfield Beach (Fla.) 4-star tailback Jaylan Knighton, the country’s fourth-ranked all-purpose back and one of the targets being recruited hard by Tony Alford and the Buckeyes. We wrote about Knighton in March to evaluate potential running back options beyond Bijan Robinson and Kendall Milton.

Knighton and Lawrance Toafili have had very good relationships with Alford and probably were under-rated as options, but one of the hangups for Ohio State had been a lack of a visit from the latter.

Well, Toafili is coming to town this weekend — he’ll arrive on Thursday at some point — but Knighton has no plans for that at this juncture and seems to be nearing in on a decision according to his tweet. He spent last weekend at Florida State, and there’s been a sudden surge of optimism there since for the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Knighton, who has also had Clemson and Oklahoma as early frontrunners.

 

FREE: 4-star RB Jaylan Knighton sets decision date following second vsiit to #FSU this offseason. https://t.co/K6DyB7Kddf via @247sports

— Zach Blostein (@ZBlostein247) June 15, 2019

 

#OhioState looked really good to elite RB Jaylan Knighton on his official visit with the #Buckeyes this weekend. VIP https://t.co/Y71tT3ggI0.

— Bill Kurelic (@Bill_Kurelic) June 23, 2019

 

RB • Jaylan Knighton • Deerfield Beach, Fla.

• The Buckeyes absolutely nailed this visit, and Knighton appears down to two schools: Ohio State and Florida State. Sources in Columbus suggested that there was confidence coming out of the visit but are worried that the draw to stay close to home could win out when he returns to normal life in Florida. Knighton has been described to me as a “gotta-have-him” guy by one program source.

 

pic.twitter.com/2vuTuaAiZm

— OSUBasketballJunkie (@ScarletBuckeye2) June 30, 2019

 

Lots of buzz out there for #OhioState to land talented APB Jaylan Knighton. Absolutely love this kid’s game and know he’s high on the #Buckeyes board. He and Bijan Robinson would be an incredible pairing in the backfield

— Alex Gleitman (@alexgleitman) July 1, 2019

 

Jaylan Knighton big bump up from #167 to #135

 

Jaylan Knighton planning to make it to Saturday Night Live https://t.co/9OauU6086Q via @Noles247

— Noles247.com (@Noles247) July 26, 2019

 

He has arrived folks. Major RB target Jaylan Knighton has arrived for SNL. #FSU pic.twitter.com/v5zu34V32q

— Warchant.com (@Warchant) July 27, 2019

 

When Jaylan Knighton was asked what one thing led him to commit to Florida State, his response was this:

"Everything." https://t.co/BgquqoYb5h

— Warchant.com (@Warchant) July 31, 2019

 

Buckeyes hearing from Jaylan Knighton again?
It was mentioned briefly in Wednesday’s Recruiting Question of the Day column, but yes, there has apparently been a bit of contact between Ohio State and Jaylan Knighton in recent weeks.

Does that mean anything right now? Probably not. It is, however, interesting and worth passing along because the dumpster fire that is Florida State football has shown no real signs of improvement from last year’s debacle. A number of talented Seminoles commitments have to be wondering if there’s another shakeup coming in Tallahassee if things continue down this road.

Knighton made an official visit to Ohio State in June. So, if a real desire to reconnect with the Buckeyes comes to fruition, any additional visits he could make to the school would have to be on his own dime. To be clear, there’s been no discussion about that potentially happening, but if the doubts about Florida State are real and the communication isn’t just perfunctory, then he and his family would likely need to find a way to get back to Ohio State this fall.

 

FWIW, I don’t think Ohio State will renew their pursuit of Jaylan Knighton, for those who will ask.

— Jeremy Birmingham (@Birm) November 3, 2019