2021 OL Latham Likely Pushing Back Commitment Due to Coronavirus
JC Latham was about to come off the board.
The massive two-way lineman, listed at 6-foot-6, 294 pounds ahead of his senior season at Bradeton (Fla.) IMG Academy, was looking at a decision over the next several weeks.
On Wednesday he told SI All-American it would likely have come down to a pair of national powers representing two of the last four programs to be crowned national champions.
"Since my freshman year, LSU and Ohio State have definitely been up there," he said.
Now, as the college football recruiting world is limited to phone communication because of the novel coronavirus, things are also at a standstill for Latham.
"I don't know," he said of making his decision soon. "I had the Ohio State spring game (visit) cancelled because of the coronavirus. My LSU official visit might get cancelled, too.
"I wanted to be committed before the summer, the end of March or April, but I was still probably going to take more visits."
Latham was planning on being in Baton Rouge on April 18 for the Tigers' spring game, one that was just announced among other cancelled events at the university on Monday.
Now his recruitment is likely to ware on and other programs could shake up the defacto top two of the Tigers and Buckeyes.
"It's my relationship with the schools, my parents and my coaches," he said. "It's finding the right fit and my coaches help with the difference between this scheme versus that one.
"The coaches are trying to get to know my parents and my brother and sisters, too, so it's pretty cool."
[Related: No. 1 QB Caleb Williams on life as a recruit during the new NCAA dead period]
Other national powers have increased communicative efforts with Latham since his junior campaign came to a close, as he gets more comfortable with his game as an offensive lineman having focusing on defense earlier in his career.
"I guess you can say Georgia and Alabama..." he said. "'Bama has been talking to me a lot more, I just got off the phone with them. Georgia has been calling me a lot more, I text with FSU every single day."
As more programs enter the race, Latham is looking through options much more in depth than he did when he began adding offers as a young high school star.
"I look at things from a deeper perspective now," he said. "I look at the players who went there, how they did on and off the field and how they got into the NFL as well. It's a different lens, you could say. We even look at the freshmen to see how they develop guys between then and their junior year."
That on-field progress with certain programs is holding weight. The longer the process ends up going for one of the best in the class of 2021, the more programs like Alabama can make a run at the longstanding top two on the list.
"I never really thought, when I was first starting out as a defensive lineman, that I would be a 'Bama type of guy," Latham said. "Then I switched to O-line and they started talking to me a lot more. Then I got on the phone with Nick Saban, it was kind of crazy, but that's my life now.
"He says coming in he sees me as a difference maker and that I have a step up over the other guys coming in because I'm at IMG. I know the college life. Other schools say the same thing."
Playing at IMG afford prospects with the chance to play with or against many future college football stars and that brings connections to various programs across the landscape.
"My coach knows a few players from LSU," he said. "(Justin) Jefferson, K'Lavon (Chaisson), (Grant) Delpit went here. He talked to the whole team a few days ago. He was saying to take advantage of the time here and learn how to keep working hard. But on top of all that we have to learn how to maintain discipline off the field because any little mistake could cost you.
"Every day you wake up you have to think a million dollars is in front of you and doing this and doing that means you're throwing it into a fire. He was saying you have to be mature to handle things and stay focused."
Like the sports world, Latham has much more time to delve into his options over the next month or so. He did not rule out other programs threatening the top of his list going forward.
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