Morning Power Bar: Buckeyes’ coaching staff travels to West Virginia to take a look at Huntington Prep prospects

The recruiting trail never sleeps, and that certainly holds true with college coaches reaching out to prospects earlier and earlier in their career while following the strict guidelines that the NCAA has in place.

This week’s morning power bar revolves around Big Ten programs offering scholarships to underclassmen that may have a future in the conference.

Spartans send out three offers

Michigan State has definitely been the most active Big Ten school in our weekly power bar and they continue to do so after offering scholarships to three high school players this past week, with two of them coming from Michigan.

The lone senior that was included in the trio of scholarship offers was Greg Elliot out of East English Village Prep. Originally hailing from Detroit, Elliot is a two-star shooting guard per Verbal Commits and has schools such has Marquette, Detroit, Eastern Michigan and Milwaukee, along with the Spartans.

There is no doubt that Michigan State is an outlier on Elliot’s list of schools, but maybe head coach Tom Izzo sees something that other Big Ten coaches don’t in the 6-foot-4 guard.

The other two prospects that the MSU coaching staff offered are out of the 2019 class; Romeo Weems and Keion Brooks, Jr.

Weems, out of New Haven, Michigan, is an undersized small forward standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing in at 200 pounds, but he is still ranked as the No. 7 player in his position for the sophomore class. The rising sophomore has the court vision to move to a guard position, so that transition may be an idea of Izzo’s for the future if Weems decides to choose Michigan State at the end of his recruiting process.

Brooks, on the other hand, is from North Side in Indiana and is a 5-star recruit per 247 sports. 247 also has Michigan State in its “crystal ball prediction” for the 6-foot-8 small forward. The other schools that are listed for Brooks are Kansas State, Purdue, and Xavier.

Another note to add about Brooks is that he is being recruited directly by Izzo, so I guess you can say that he is a top priority of Michigan State’s for 2019.

Ohio State pays visit to Huntington Prep to see prospects

Ohio State assistant coach, and former player, Chris Jent, was reported to be seen at the prestigious Huntington Prep this past Wednesday to check out four-star wing Chris Smith who has recently re-classified to the class of 2017.

Smith, a 6-foot-8 small forward out of Fort Worth, Texas, makes his living by cutting to the basket and scoring in transition. He may be a quality addition to the Buckeyes with the speed that they currently have on their roster.

While making his stop to see Smith, Jent also made a point to check out 2018 guard Rasir Bolton. The 6-foot-3 guard also has Clemson, East Carolina, Hampton, Old Dominion and Penn State on his list, to name a few.

With former Huntington Prep star, JaQuan Lyle, in the Ohio State program now, Jent and head coach Thad Matta may have an easier time trying to get ahead on these two names.

Penn State offers Glenn Falls standout

Glens Falls, New York is the hometown of the great Jimmer Fredette, but also the class of 2019 guard Joseph Girard III. Recently, the Penn State Nittany Lions offered Girard, which will only be the beginning of the young guard's offers.

Siena, George Washington, Albany and High Point are the other programs that stand on Girard’s current list, but being in the very early stages of his recruiting process there is plenty of time for schools to add on, and also be knocked off.

Cockburn receives offer from Golden Gophers

Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino has been on a tear in recruiting, really attempting to make the Golden Gophers one of the top teams in the Big Ten.

His most recent move in the recruiting spectrum was offering big man Kofi Cockburn, out of the class of 2019.

As a four-star center per 247 sports, Cockburn stands at 6-foot-11 and has been playing his high school ball for Christ the King Regional in New York. Rutgers is the only other Big Ten school on Cockburn’s list with most of the schools being from the Big East or the Atlantic-10 conferences.

Check back next week for more Big Ten recruiting news.