What Is Next for Ohio State Recruiting on Offense?

Morning Conversational: What Is Next for Ohio State Recruiting on Offense?

For a long time, the Buckeyes didn’t have any defensive commitments in the 2020 recruiting class. In April, defensive back Lejond Cavazos committed, but then was by himself for the next two months until he was joined in the last couple of weeks by defensive end Ty Hamilton and cornerback Clark Phillips.

Meanwhile, Ohio State has now gone over two weeks without a commitment from an offensive player in the 2020 class.

Fret not, however, because after a heavy two-week slate of official visits, there should be some movement on the offensive side of the ball coming up.

Cincinnati Elder tight end Joe Royer camped at Ohio State this month wanting to earn an offer, which he did. He then took his official visit this weekend to OSU, which is pretty much the standard order for players who earn offers at OSU and are about to commit.

Royer is the No. 3 tight end in the nation in 247Sports’ own rankings and the No. 14 tight end in the Composite. He’s reminiscent of last year’s tight end signee Jeremy Ruckert in that as high schoolers both play out wide or in the slot more than tight on the line of scrimmage.

On Wednesday, Akron running back/linebacker DeaMonte Trayanum announced his commitment to Arizona State. He held an Ohio State offer, but the Buckeyes liked him better on defense. The Sun Devils were much more receptive to bringing him in as a running back. OSU head coach Ryan Day could have played that same card, but he didn’t for a number of reasons. (One of them likely being the presence of the transfer portal — there’s not as many positives as their used to be in telling a player he can play a position a coach has no intention of having him play.)

Given how much Ryan Day has talked about the importance of bringing in Ohio prospects, Ohio State must feel great about where they stand with other running backs. It would seem that 5-star Arizona running back Bijan Robinson has given Day and Co. the kind of assurances that would allow them to watch a talented Ohio running back leave the state.

Is Robinson going to make a decision soon? He has taken official visits to his top three schools of OSU, USC, and Texas in the last two weeks, so all that’s left is a commitment.

Four-star Maryland running back Blake Corum visited Ohio State two weekends ago and will announce his commitment today, but the expectation is that he will select Michigan.

There is also the matter of 5-star offensive tackle Paris Johnson, who has been committed to Ohio State for a year now, but began looking around when Urban Meyer retired. Things have settled down for Johnson, so it will be interesting to see if he reaffirms his commitment or just continues on like the Buckeye commit he has “always” been.

Three-star Indiana offensive lineman Josh Fryar was at OSU this weekend and has now taken official visits to Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon, and Penn State in the last month. The Buckeyes are the heavy Crystal Ball favorite right now, so perhaps Fryar becomes the SIXTH and final offensive lineman in OSU’s 2020 recruiting class.

There are certainly other offensive players in play to make some noise in the next few weeks — like 4-star St. Louis slot receiver Mookie Cooper or 3-star Michigan athlete Cameron Martinez, but as of right now the players listed above are the most likely to make the next bit of big news happen concerning Ohio State’s 2020 recruiting class.