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Take Two: Can Buckeyes reel in four-star RB Jalen Berger?

Jalen Berger
Jalen Berger (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.

MORE TAKE TWO: Can Georgia land two five-star 2020 TEs? | Can teams afford to wait on Zachary Evans' decision?

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

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  THE STORYLINE  

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Six of the top eight running backs in the 2020 class have already committed, with only five-star Zachary Evans and four-star Jalen Berger waiting to make their pledges.

We’ve written ad nauseam about Evans, but Berger’s recruitment is just as interesting as he wades through his favorites, sees other players commit and then has to figure out what’s best for him.

It looked like Penn State was the frontrunner for the Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep standout, but the Nittany Lions could be slipping after pledges from four-star RB Caziah Holmes and four-star athlete Keyvone Lee.

Rutgers is a contender, but the Scarlet Knights have been so bad recently that it’s hard to see them playing a major role here. LSU is in the mix, but Berger has been pegged as someone who probably would like to play in the Big Ten.

So here’s Ohio State again. After striking out on Kendall Milton and Bijan Robinson, the running back board is reset and Berger could be right in the thick of things. The Buckeyes have always shown a lot of interest in the four-star standout and could be emerging as the frontrunner again.

Will Ohio State land Berger’s commitment? Or will the Buckeyes miss on another top target at the position?

FIRST TAKE: MARC GIVLER, BUCKEYEGROVE.COM  

“They’re still trying to figure out what’s going on at running back, but it’s one of those situations where the longer it goes for both parties, the more it may end up making sense. As some options go to the wayside for Berger, it’s going to help the Buckeyes in terms of buying them time to figure out what they’re doing.

“He’s definitely in play, but he’s one of seven or eight guys that will be evaluated in the first couple weeks of the season, watching film and then restacking their board after having to rebuild it from scratch over the last couple weeks.”

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  SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM  

“Ohio State is the most logical choice. Rutgers could be going through a coaching change, depending on how the season goes. There have been some good running backs who have decided to stay in-state and play, like Savon Huggins and others, but this kid is a national talent and he has offers from everybody.

“The Buckeyes struck out on their top running back targets already, and you know they’re going to probably go pretty hard at him. If I had to pick a team right now it would be Ohio State.”

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