Recruiting

Sunday Recruiting Rundown: BOOM Incoming?

by Ben van Ooyen
Ohio State Recruiting Buckeyes before Nebraska | Recruiting Rundown

Another week has come and gone on the Ohio State recruiting trail. There were no commitments to talk about, but there should be some good news to talk about this week. We saw some more offers get handed out, and the Buckeyes hosted an important visitor this week as well. Let’s jump right in and look at the week that was in Ohio State recruiting news.

Gant Announcement

Tuesday at 3:30 at St. John’s High School, the No. 4 ranked player in the state of Ohio will be making his college decision. Dallas Gant is a 4-star linebacker out of Toledo, who is ranked as the No. 5 outside linebacker in the class of 2018. It is expected to come down to Ohio State and Notre Dame in the decision process. He accumulated over 20 offers so far and narrowed his list to five back in April. The Buckeyes along with the Irish, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State made the list. His birthday is on Tuesday and Buckeye Nation should be celebrating right along with him when his decision is made public.

Speaking of Linebackers

One of the top athletes in the country is expected to be making his decision shortly as well. Virginia linebacker Teradja Mitchell has narrowed his choices down to the Buckeyes and Florida State. He made his last visit this weekend to see what Tallahassee had to offer.

I have had my crystal ball in for Mitchell to the Buckeyes since his visit last month and I have no reason to change that right now. He has been to Florida State many times in the past, so the visit this week might have been just a last-minute check of things to make sure that Ohio State was the right place for him. While he has not set a decision date in stone, he did mention that he would be ending the process shortly after the visit to FSU this weekend. I expect we hear something from Mitchell before the end of the month.

Blue in Scarlet?

One of the most dynamic Ohio athletes in the class of 2018 is Huber Heights star L’Christian “Blue” Smith. It seemed for a while that Smith was trending away from the Buckeyes as they seemed to view him more as a tight end than a wide receiver. Smith was adamant about playing wide receiver at the next level, and Kentucky seemed to swoop in and take the lead. His high school teammate Alex Reigelsperger has taken him down to Lexington a few times over the past few months and the Wildcats got my crystal ball pick shortly after one of those visits.

Smith and his father took an impromptu trip to Columbus on Wednesday to visit with Urban Meyer, and had an “amazing time” while he was up there. I had a chance to catch up with Smith after the visit and he said that Ohio State has moved back to the top after the visit as he enjoyed his time with Coach Stud and Coach Meyer. I switched my crystal ball pick shortly after the trip and feel like the Buckeyes gave him the answers he was looking for. OSU’s wide receiver recruiting has yet to get started, and adding Smith to the fold would certainly be a great start.

Lubbock to Columbus Canceled

Earlier this week we got wind that Texas Tech wide receiver Jonathan Giles had asked for his release from the school and had released his top 10 preferred transfer destinations. The Buckeyes along with the Wisconsin Badgers and Purdue Boilermakers made the list for Giles. However shortly after releasing his top 10, he narrowed that list to three, removing the Buckeyes from consideration. LSU, Oregon and Florida State are now the lone teams remaining for his services. He will have to sit out the upcoming season before resuming his eligibility in the 2018 season.

Gettin’ Open

This week recent OSU commitment Sevyn Banks received an invite to Nike’s prestigious The Opening camp in Oregon this January. Last year the Buckeyes had 11 commitments eventually selected to participate in the camp, and this year they already have five invitees. Banks will join Taron Vincent, Jaelen Gill, Jaiden Woodbey, and Brenton Cox in Oregon.

The Buckeyes also have quite the list of potential commitments selected to participate as well:

Amari Burney – DB – Florida
Jackson Carman – OL – Ohio
Anthony Cook – DB – Texas
Brennan Eagles – WR – Texas
KJ Henry – DL – North Carolina
Teradja Mitchell – LB – Virginia
P.J. Mustiper – DL – Maryland
Micah Parsons – DL – Pennsylvania
Xavier Peters – LB – Ohio
K’Vaughn Pope – LB – Virginia
Jeremy Ruckert – TE – New York
Jamaree Salyer – OL – Georgia
Rick Sandidge – DL – North Carolina
Amon-Ra St. Brown – WR – California
Tyreke Smith – DL – Ohio
Solomon Tuliaupupu – TE – California

Offers Abound

The Buckeyes put an offer out to 4-star offensive tackle Nolan Rumler this week. Rumler is considered a heavy Michigan lean at the moment — he was born in Michigan and grew up a fan of the Wolverines. In the early 247Sports rankings, Rumler is ranked as the No. 15 offensive tackle and the No. 5 prospect form the state of Ohio for the class of 2019.

Another supposed Michigan lean is Luke McCaffrey, the younger brother of current Michigan quarterback Dylan McCaffrey and recent NFL draft pick Christian McCaffrey. Earlier this week McCaffrey, a 4-star dual threat quarterback out of Colorado, earned his eighth offer from Ohio State. The Buckeyes have been on a tear recently in the quarterback recruiting and look to continue that with their 2019 class. They now have offers out to McCaffrey, Michael Johnson Jr., Bo Nix, and Grant Tisdale.

Speaking of Tisdale, he was also the recipient of an OSU offer this week. Tisdale is a 4-star dual-threat quarterback out of Allen, Texas who also has eight offers to date. In the early 247Sports rankings, Tisdale is the No. 4 overall dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2019 and is Texas’ No. 26 athlete. Tisdale could follow in the footsteps of current Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett, who went from high school in Texas to Ohio State starting quarterback.

Back to the 2018 class for a moment, the Buckeyes are going hard after the tight end position after neglecting it in last year’s class. They are sitting in great position for a couple of the nation’s top prospects, however, they are covering all their bases in case one of them falls through. They put out an offer this week to current Penn State commitment Pat Freiermuth. Freiermuth is a 4-star tight end prospect out of Massachusetts. He is ranked as the No. 8 tight end in the class of 2018 and the No. 1 prospect from the state of Massachusetts. He has been committed to the Nittany Lions since August of 2016, and has given no indication that he is wavering at all from that decision.

The Buckeyes also reached out to currently-unranked wide receiver prospect Antoine Green out of Florida. Green has 11 offers to date from Oregon, Duke and Georgia

The Buckeyes have had some recent success down in Florida, especially at the IMG Academy, where they are again hoping their successes there can land them the No. 1 overall defensive end prospect in the class of 2019, Nolan Smith. Smith transferred to IMG, but is from Georgia, He is currently committed to the Georgia Bulldogs, but with it being so early in the recruiting process that commitment could certainly change. Smith has only eight offers, but that will grow over the next year. The Buckeyes will look to sway Smith to visit Columbus and be a part of that noted “Rushmen” group of pass rushers.

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