COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After a dead period in Division I recruiting that seemingly halted high school recruitment, the tide seems to be changing in Central Ohio. 

That change has started with none other than Westerville Central senior Tasos Cook. In today's Inside Look recruiting article exclusive for All-Access Pass members, we are going to take a deep dive into all that has happened in area recruiting and what is ACTUALLY going on at the college level.

While it took earning OCC-Ohio and Central District Player of the Year honors, a second-straight district title, an insane buzzer beater to win the region and a masterful showing at the state tournament, Westerville Central senior guard Tasos Cook is seeing the Division I blow up that he has been working so hard for.

When Cook finally discovered that he wanted to be a serious basketball prospect going into his junior season at Westerville Central, the 6-foot-2 guard started an insane process of hard work, dedication and commitment that has been manifesting itself all year.

The senior picked up his first Division I offer from Stetson, a low-major program in Florida, on Tuesday. Assistant coach Adam Williams contacted me in late March and inquired about Cook after seeing his name everywhere. After being the first program to offer a D1 scholarship to DeSales star Desmond Watson a year ago, Stetson took another chance on a local player with Cook. 

In typical Division I recruiting fashion, other programs quickly followed suit. Bellarmine assistant coach Beau Braden contacted us on Wednesday morning about Cook and the program wasted no time in offering the senior, as he picked up his second offer on Thursday afternoon.

Only hours later, NJIT joined the party, extending an offer to Cook, his third Division I scholarship in a span of 28 hours. NJIT assistant Joe Gutowski has been a big 270 Hoops supporter and reached out shortly after Cook received the offer, stating the desire of the program to land the Westerville Central product.

It isn't stopping there, however. Marshall is a program that has been in contact with Cook ever since we connected the parties a little more than a week ago. We've had a strong relationship with assistant coach Cornelius Jackson, who we communicated with heavily during the Thundering Herd program's recruitment of Eastmoor Academy alum Taevion Kinsey during the 2017-18 season.

Kinsey returning for his senior year, despite having a chance of getting drafted into the NBA, certainly helps Marshall's chances if they are to pull the trigger on Cook. The Thundering Herd need another athlete in the backcourt and feel that Cook could help them win games. The potential of having a mentor like Kinsey, another local kid, for Cook, would be very intriguing. After all, both were seemingly under recruited in high school despite being elite-level athletes with great character, work ethic, grades and talent. We wouldn't be surprised to see Cook have a career like Kinsey, who has started nearly every game in his college career, culminated by a first team Conference USA selection this past season.

We sent Cook's information out to more than 50 Division I programs in January and heard back from a small majority at that time. It appears programs are beginning to wake up, as the Westerville Central senior is the hottest unsigned recruit in Ohio right now.

• Westerville Central senior point guard Quincy Clark commits to Division I Lipscomb. Clark has a story very similar to his teammate Cook. Both were underrated guys coming into their upperclassmen years and have done nothing but improve and lead their school to unprecedented success. Clark received an opportunity at Lipscomb through assistant coach Tyler Murray, who we have been talking with at nauseum for months. Murray inquired about unsigned seniors in March and after we recommended Cook and Clark to him, he spent several hours watching film of Westerville Central. That led to an intense desire to recruit Clark, who Lipscomb was very excited about thanks to his size (6-foot-3), playmaking ability and unique ability to sit down and defend. Murray felt so strongly about Clark that he was relentless in recommending him to his head coach, which resulted in an offer for the Westerville Central senior after not even having any contact with Lipscomb 10 days prior. That's how quickly the recruiting process can change when you put the work in, succeed on the biggest stage and trust God to deliver you where you need to be.
• Dublin Coffman junior Ajay Sheldon receives first Division I offer from Elon. Another player who received his first Division I offer, Coffman star point guard Ajay Sheldon received a scholarship from Elon on Thursday afternoon. Elon head coach Mike Schrage, a former Ohio State assistant and Dublin resident, had been sold on Sheldon for awhile and finally pulled the trigger after his MVP performance at the 270 Hoops Battle for the City on Wednesday. Elon has great familiarity with Coffman guards, as 2016 graduate Seth Fuller spent four seasons in the Phoenix program from 2016-20. That won't be the final offer for Sheldon, however, as we feel he has high-major ability at the guard spot with his unique blend of elite scoring, shooting, passing and athletic defense. Sheldon is the younger brother of Ohio State women's standout Jacy Sheldon and the son of former college basketball coach Duane Sheldon, which leads us to believe that he is only going to get better as time goes on. The junior is a physical freak as it is and is only going to grow more into his body, which could result in a Chris Quinn type situation. We believe in him that much. Don't be surprised if Ajay Sheldon ends up in the Big Ten. 
• Pickerington North junior guard Jerry Saunders receives a Division II offer from Wheeling. The 6-foot-1 junior guard had a stellar showing at Battle for the City on Wednesday and picked up his second Division II offer from a Mountain East program on Thursday. Wheeling extended a scholarship Saunders' way, joining Concord as the only programs to offer the junior. We see Saunders being a high priority recruit among Division II programs in the region, as he is a hard-nosed and tough guard that impacts winning and will always compete at a high level.
• Bishop Ready senior Darius Parham picks up Division II offer from Concord. After committing to play football at Lake Erie College a few months ago, it seems like Parham is back on the market as a college basketball prospect. The first team all-district selection now has two Division II offers from Ohio Dominican and Concord, as the Mountain Lions offered him on Friday morning. Parham will be able to make an impact early on in his career, as he is a talented and physical two-way player that will do whatever it takes to win.
• Heath junior Brandon McLaughlin picks up Division II offer from West Virginia State. Another junior with two Division II offers, McLaughlin picked up his second scholarship on Thursday after a strong showing at Battle for the City on Wednesday when he helped his Central Ohio team win the junior title. The 6-foot-8 McLaughlin added an offer from Valdosta State prior to the high school season and added another yesterday. Look for him to be a hot commodity recruit among Division II and low-major Division I programs, as he offers great length, versatility and scoring at 6-foot-8.
• Newark senior wing Drew Ballinger commits to Division III Otterbein. The Newark to Otterbein pipeline remained strong on Friday when 6-foot-3 Wildcats wing Drew Ballinger committed to Andy Winters and the Cardinal program. Ballinger is yet another strong commitment for Otterbein, who has also added 6-foot-7 Marysville senior post Garrett Taylor and 6-foot-4 Westerville Central glue guy MJ Davis in this recruiting cycle. Ballinger is a player that will have instant value in college, as he is a dead eye catch and shoot jump shooter on the perimeter, offensive equity that will help him see time early. Coming from a great Newark program that teaches tough man-to-man defensive principles, Ballinger will be well prepared for life in the OAC when he arrives at Otterbein. 
• Harvest Prep senior guard Mario Davis has committed to Division II Kentucky State. Davis heads down south to Kentucky State where he will be on academic scholarship and will have a chance to play in the KSU program. The senior guard is a solid scorer that helped Harvest Prep make a deep run in the tournament in 2020.
• Whitehall senior Jaiion Lowe has committed to junior college Hocking College. The 6-foot-8 post became the second area player, joining 6-foot-3 wing AJ Glover, to commit to Ryan Miley and Hocking College. The relatively new juco has been well versed on local basketball and added an intriguing post player in Lowe, who has a bright future on the hardwood. 
• Worthington Christian point guard DJ Moore has reclassified to the 2021 class to graduate early and play at Liberty University next fall. In the most surprising bit of recent news, Worthington Christian junior DJ Moore, weeks after leading the program to the cusp of a Division III state title, announced that he would be graduating early and joining the Liberty men's basketball program next season. That's big news not only for Liberty, but for Division III basketball in Ohio as a whole, as Worthington Christian still seemed like a favorite with Moore in the fold. Moore will now get a chance to play at a Liberty program that has won more than 23 games in each of the last three seasons, resulting in three-straight conference titles and NCAA tournament bids. 
• Africentric senior forward Earnest Johnson has committed to junior college Fort Scott. Fort Scott CC, located in Kansas, has been active in recruiting Central Ohio talent and landed their first commitment from 6-foot-7 Africentric big man Earnest Johnson last Thursday. Fort Scott CC assistant Dametrius Walker is a 2014 Columbus Marion-Franklin alum and has been in constant communication with us and City League senior talent. We helped Walker land on his feet at Fort Scott CC seven years ago, which he turned into a Division II opportunity at Newman University, where he graduated and has now moved onto the college ranks to help kids in similar situations like he was in as a senior in 2014. Walker is one of the most promising young coaches in the juco ranks and will continue to pluck players from the Columbus area - with Johnson being the start of it all. 

There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to unsigned seniors and scholarship recruiting at the Division I and II levels.

To be completely honest, high school players are not a major priority for Division I programs, UNLESS, you are an elite player with recent success, like Cook and Clark had in leading Westerville Central to the state championship. For other players whose seasons ended almost two months ago, it's a much tougher task getting the attention of a Division I program.

The reason for that is a multitude of things. 

First - the extra year of eligibility given to every NCAA athlete for next season is a huge game changer. It has allowed programs to keep players on their rosters for an extra season, limiting the number of available scholarships for incoming freshmen.

Second - the transfer portal is BOOMING. Between Division I and II, there are more than 2,000 college players in the transfer portal. You have a range of players, from freshmen to fifth-year senior grad transfers, that are available for programs all across the country to recruit. This has made high school prospects even less of a priority, because college programs can now get into the portal, which has become like college free agency. The advantage college transfers have over high school prospects in the eyes of the coaches is the fact that a college transfer has already made the transition from high school to college, is more developed physically (Tasos Cook is the exception) and is more likely to make an instant impact. Division I programs have more pressure than ever to 'win now' and that's why a shift is happening to prefer older players over younger players that need more development. Just look at the Final Four. Baylor's backcourt duo of Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague are both transfers and both older players. The teams all across the country want to be successful. And right now in college basketball, the path to being successful is being old and experienced. The trend to become old and experienced is to pluck transfers from all across the country. None more apparent than Kansas, who picked up a grad transfer from a Division II program last week. 

Third - there is STILL a dead period for Division I recruiting. 2021 prospects have not been seen in person by Division I college coaches for more than a year, dating back to the 2019 summer when this class was playing 16u AAU ball and guys like Tasos Cook and Quincy Clark weren't nearly the prospects that they are now. Much has changed and the 2021 class has been lost in the shuffle, which is very unfortunate but is a reality of what a global pandemic and the NCAA's mishandling has done to the situation. College coaches are more likely to prioritize college transfer recruits who they scout via the use of Synergy Sports, which gives coaches access to COMPLETE game film and advanced metrics that aren't available for high school prospects.

What does this mean? High school seniors without a single Division I, II or NAIA athletic scholarship should greatly consider Division III and junior college basketball. We don't recommend prep school for prospects unless they already have offers and are being encouraged by college coaches to take another year of development.

The reason I say this is because I don't see the recruiting landscape getting that much better for high school prospects a year from now. High school prospects without much attention from scholarship programs right now should be very wary of going to prep school. I've seen a lot of kids make that choice, only to go out of state and be forgotten about at programs far away from home that are surrounded by college programs with unfamiliar coaches.

Division III and juco is a great route for players who want to go Division I or II and don't have that opportunity. We are seeing college transfer move up divisions more than ever right now, which means a high school prospect who feels he was underrecruited in high school, could take that motivation, dominate at a D3 or juco, and move up in a year.

Newark alum JT Shumate is a perfect example of this. He committed to Division II Walsh out of high school. He proceeded to be the GMAC conference player of the year as a freshman, surpassed 1,000 points by his sophomore year and transferred to Toledo where he has two more years of eligibility remaining after a great junior year for the Rockets.

Sometimes its better to love who loves you and take advantage of the opportunities that are right in front of you. Now is not a good time for the average high school prospect to wait around for offers that are more than likely not going to come. Prep school is not a magic wand for earning a Division I scholarship. 

There's nothing wrong with playing Division III or juco basketball. Guys go pro overseas from Division III all the time and we just saw a juco player in Jay Scrubb be drafted 55th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2020 Draft.