Ohio State coach Urban Meyer received some good news Wednesday with the commitments of two of the consensus top-50 recruits in the nation -- a future defensive end/linebacker duo that one of the recruits compared to a Terrell Suggs/Ray Lewis combination.
Outside linebacker Justin Hilliard (6-foot-2, 230 pounds), from Cincinnati Xavier, is the consensus No. 21 player nationally in the 247sports.com's composite rankings; defensive end Jashon Cornell (6-4, 260), from Saint Paul (Minn.) Cretin-Derham Hall, is the consensus No. 37 player.
Cornell is the one who foresees a formidable defensive duo.
You certainly like top recruits who are pumped up about playing with other top recruits. And you certainly like top recruits who are confident enough to compare themselves to NFL stars. At the same time, though, perhaps it's time for Cornell to pump the brakes a bit: How about finishing high school and actually playing in college before you put that much pressure on yourself (and others) by throwing out comparisons to one of the defensive duos in recent NFL history.
Plus, Cornell and Hilliard are commitments, and as every recruitnik knows, commitments are non-binding, which means the two might never play with each other. Though it seems extremely doubtful either reneges on his commitment, that possibility exists.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
