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Less than two days now from national signing day No. 2. As you all know, most of Cincinnati's 2018 class is wrapped up. But the Bearcats are looking to close strong with a couple of late additions.
*First off, the big news is with Rivals250 RB Tavion Thomas, No. 239 from Dayton Dunbar (OH)
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Thomas has a top four of Cincinnati, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Tennessee. He officially visited the Bearcats Jan. 27. This past weekend, he was supposed to visit Ohio State, but cancelled at the last minute. He was committed to Oklahoma from last summer until last Monday...a week after he got back from his UC visit.
I'm told his Cincy visit went extremely well, better than hoped. And the Bearcats' staff came off that visit feeling really good about its chances. Ohio State I think has been seen as the biggest competition. And those are the two it's really down to, though because his Buckeyes visit didn't happen, it doesn't look great for them.
One very good source close to the Buckeyes has told us, "Unless something takes a major left turn the next few days Tavion Thomas to Cincinnati on Wednesday." We haven't heard anything else recently to dispel that, so it sounds like that is very likely unless we hear different. That would be a HUGE pickup for the Bearcats and coupled with Malik Vann, make a big statement in SW Ohio.
**Four-star DE Leonard Taylor has been the next-biggest possibility for UC. He officially visited the Bearcats the same weekend as Thomas, just over two weeks ago. It sounds like those two hit it off well, a good sign for UC that it could pull off a coup and land both.
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An interesting tidbit, that his top four is Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville and Texas A&M. I'm told right now, he's not a take for the Wildcats. I know he's loved the Aggies coaches and his visit there, but I'm not sure if that's not too far away for Taylor to go.
Our sources have told us that "he's in the dark" and isn't sure where he wants to go. Cincinnati sounds like the safe play. So a lot of it may come down to if Taylor thinks he'd be ok to go far away from home. Odds are definitely in the Bearcats' favor.
***Not a ton out there on two other big targets, local four-star linebacker Chris Oats and Louisville Waggener (Ky.) cornerback Jairus Brents. We've heard that the Bearcats have been gaining steam for a while with Oats, whom I know Malik Vann has especially worked on. We'll see if it works. He and Brents have both kept their decisions VERY close to the vest. Not a lot out there from sources. But we'll keep active on those sources and see what we can find.
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If I had to say, best bet is Tavion Thomas, followed by Oats, then Taylor. Brents looks like he's really up in the air. I've heard UC, Louisville, Pitt and Kentucky. If I had to say here, I think Brents goes with the Cardinals, who have gained a ton of momentum and whom he visited this past weekend also. Here's a good story from our Louisville site:
https://cincinnati.rivals.com/news/major-shake-up-in-the-recruitment-of-jairus-brents
