Starting Five: Four-star Watson opens it, many setting visits

Four-star shooting guard Torrence Watson has backed off his commitment to Ohio State. N.C. State had a big weekend and several seniors are cutting their lists and setting visits.

Earlier in the summer, four-star shooting guard Torrence Watson made a commitment to Ohio State that seemed to come out of nowhere. Not that the Buckeyes staff hadn't done a great job with him -- they had been all over him while at Butler -- the commitment just seemed to happen quick.

Over the weekend, though, Watson reversed course and decided to open things back up when he tweeted that he's backed off of his commitment to OSU.

Though he's not currently doing interviews, Watson mentioned in his announcement that he may look into finding a program closer to home. Previous to his commitment to Ohio State, Missouri, St. Louis, DePaul, Iowa State had offered scholarships to the St. Louis native.

Sources indicate to Rivals.com that Watson could be looking to make something happen in the relatively near future so this is one to keep monitoring closely.

Last week, four-star wing Landers Nolley said that he would visit NC State then the next day he released a final five -- more on that below -- that didn't include the Pack. Undaunted, new coach Kevin Keatts and his staff moved forward and hosted soon-to-be four-star swingman Jericole Hellems for an official visit.

A versatile wing from St. Louis, Hellems put things together in a big way during the summer after a somewhat up and down first three years of high school. He has size, he is a skilled scorer and NC State surely appreciated the chance to set the bar for the rest of his visits. Others under consideration include Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Florida.

Keatts and his staff also hosted five-star wing Keldon Johnson for an unofficial visit. Previously considered to be pretty much down to Texas and Maryland, Johnson's recruitment has taken some interesting turns. He scored an offer from Kentucky during an unofficial visit last week and now he shows up in Raleigh for a visit. At the least, Johnson's recruitment is looking much more open than in the past.

According to his Twitter account, one of the nation's top combo guards, Elijah Weaver, is planning to cut his list down to four this week.

Given that he has already set four official visits, the list cut down would appear to be a matter of solidifying things. As it stands, Weaver has scheduled consecutive visits to USC, Ohio State, Florida and Oklahoma State beginning next weekend.

Assuming that there are no surprises, latest word has been that the Buckeyes and Gators appear to be emerging as the teams to beat headed into Weaver's official visits.

A non-ranked three-star prospect, big man Javian Fleming has the size and athleticism to be a high major frontcourt player. His final five of Alabama, Georgetown, Iowa State, TCU and Texas A&M would certainly seem to back that up.

Fleming has set official visits for Alabama on the last weekend of September and TCU on the first weekend of October. Fleming hasn't yet tipped his hand, but Alabama has long been a major factor in his recruitment and TCU has a good relationship with Fleming's summer program Team Thad due to former Team Thad point guard Jaylen Fisher's success as a freshman and assistant coach Ryan Miller's ties to the Memphis area.

Last week 2018's No. 1 player R.J. Barrett released a top five. Now, the shooting guard has set up his official visits. Barrett will begin his visit barrage this coming weekend with a trip to Kentucky. He'll take a week off before visiting Duke (Sept. 15), Arizona (Sept. 21), Oregon (Sept. 23) and Michigan (Oct. 1). For now, Barrett is expected to have his decision in shortly after his visits wrap up.

We mentioned above that four-star wing Landers Nolley said last week he would visit NC State officially before releasing a final five the very next day that did not include NC State. The schools that did make the cut and will get visits are Illinois (takes his first visit there next weekend), UConn, Georgia, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State.

A week ago, four-star wing Talen Horton-Tucker told Rivals.com that he was in no hurry to make a decision or set up visits. Sunday, he at least took the first step towards making that happen. The do-it-all wing released a list of 13 schools that includes Illinois, Kansas, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Saint Louis, Dayton, Missouri, Iowa State, Ohio State, Xavier, Georgetown and Michigan.

Rivals150 wing Justin Ahrens made a more significant slice to his list. The athletic and tough wing is now down to Michigan, Ohio State and Xavier. He'll see Ann Arbor on Sept. 8, Columbus on Sept. 22 and Cincinnati on September 29. Remember, Ahrens was initially committed to the Buckeyes before deciding to open things back up.

Finally, three-star small forward Khalid Moore has set his first official visit. The New Yorker will visit Georgia Tech on the weekend of Oct. 13. Look for him to have a visit set to Seton Hall in the near future.