This is a question that some Buckeye fans have been asking of late.
Justin Fields is a 5-star quarterback out of Georgia who is now rated the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2018 class.
Fields was the star of The Opening, and saw a jump in the rankings following his performance. In fact, he is now the No. 1 player in the nation overall according to 247Sports.
Fields was a one-time Penn State commit, but he decommitted and re-opened his recruiting about a month ago. Since then, he has visited the likes of Georgia, Auburn, Florida, and Florida State.
Following his performance at The Opening and subsequent ratings boost, I received a couple of emails about the subject, and there have been message boards posts asking why Ohio State doesn’t try to get involved with Fields.
My answer each time? Going after Justin Fields is a really good way to lose Emory Jones.
Jones, of course, is currently committed to the Buckeyes, and has been for nearly a year. He is the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the nation and was a high-priority target long before that. Once he committed, OSU’s 2018 quarterback recruiting essentially ended.
To start it back up at this point would be inviting chaos where none is need.
The common belief is that no recruit should be afraid of competition, to which I would say that any quarterback coming to Ohio State has already proven just how worried he is about competition. But if a second quarterback is trying to be brought in, that’s generally because the Buckeyes have concerns about the first guy.
When Ohio State signed Torrance Gibson and Joe Burrow in 2015, they brought Gibson in after having a commitment from Burrow because Gibson was simply too athletic not to sign. If quarterback didn’t work out for him, he would be able to move to receiver. In fact, some will tell you that was always going to be the plan.
When the Buckeyes went after Tate Martell last year, it put the writing on the wall telling Danny Clark that it was time to go and find a new home.
What kind of writing would the pursuit of Justin Fields put on Emory Jones’ wall?
And you also can’t cite competition because, frankly, things are just different at quarterback. Urban Meyer knows this better than anybody. They even have to be careful about upsetting a quarterback commit who is visiting other schools, as Jones has done.
“Yeah, it’s really sensitive because that’s the one position where you just take one,” he said this spring. “At receiver, you take three anyways or two anyways. But that’s a very sensitive subject and that’s one of the negatives of early signing. That position for some reason, especially in the last five years, they’re committing so early that all of the top guys have pretty much said where they’re going. So that’s tough on a school if all of a sudden someone changes. You can’t say here’s a template, ‘We do it this way.’ It depends on the young man and all of that.”
Look at Clemson right now. There is no hotter place for a quarterback to go. They haven’t gone after Fields either. Why? Because they currently have the No. 1 pocket passer in the nation committed in Trevor Lawrence.
Sometimes, the quarterbacks in the hand are worth more than any number of them in the bush.
With the way quarterback recruiting has sped up, making a move on Fields at this point could backfire and have the Buckeyes back to square one at a position that had its square one over a year ago. And that’s even assuming they’d rather have Fields than Jones.
“When I first got here I tried to get two quarterbacks to come to camp so that I could at least see them throw one time, and they committed elsewhere right out of the get go,” Meyer said. “We got J.T., so it worked out okay, but it’s just much earlier than it’s ever been. I’d love to see quarterbacks play their senior year and go recruit them, but those days are so far gone because they’re committing so early now.”
Basically, Urban Meyer hit a triple with Emory Jones. You can’t expect him to ask for a do-over so that he can try to swing for the fences on a pitch that he may not even be able to hit.
Look at the state of the Ohio State quarterbacks right now.
J.T. Barrett, Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins, Tate Martell, and Emory Jones.
Now try to find a more talented group anywhere in the country.
I haven’t looked, but it’s hard to imagine a program on better footing anywhere else.
Why isn’t Ohio State going after Justin Fields? Because they’re perfectly happy with Emory Jones. As long as that remains the case, then don’t expect anything to change with the Buckeyes and the 2018 quarterback picture.
The job is Burrow’s after Barrett. And we should be grateful that Haskins is the backup, and can come in late in games and be a dual threat.
The job is Haskins not Burrow after Barrett.
If OSU appreciates, and develops, Joe B, they will have a national championship qb as Bobby Hoying should have been
Well said. No reason to go after him unless Jones decommits. They are perfectly content with what they have.
I feel Emory Jones is going to be a lot better QB than some are anticipating. It will interesting to see how Jones and Fields progress through their college careers.