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Buckeyes are making strong impressions on several key visitors
In Ohio State’s first official visit weekend of the year, the program appears to be knocking it out of the park with several key targets.
Although they have been busy during these jam-packed visits, I did have an opportunity to exchange messages with parents of Omari Abor, Xavier Nwankpa and Zach Rice. I’ll go over what each of them told me, as well as providing some other tidbits from this weekend.
Starting with Abor, I caught up with his father, Randy, earlier today. Randy told me that the visit has been going “pretty good,” and said that there are good people up in Columbus.
One person who has made a really strong impression on Omari and his family has been Larry Johnson. When we spoke this afternoon, Randy told me that Johnson is sticking by the family’s side the whole time during the visit. Besides a few hours today after they ate breakfast, Johnson was with them all of yesterday and most of today.
Randy also said that they’ve been able to speak with Ryan Day a few times as well, but they’ll get a more in-depth conversation with him once the visit approaches its end. He also referred to Day and Johnson as good people, and praised the “great staff” that the Buckeyes have.
On social media, Omari appears to be having a great time. He’s posted videos of him and his family walking on the football field, with other recruits at an on-campus bowling alley, and a video of Johnson where he tagged Chase Young and said, “He’s da real deal bro.” Omari also called Johnson the GOAT, short for Greatest of All Time.
I said before that I believe Ohio State is in his top two, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they take over the driver’s seat following this official.
Switching over to Zach Rice, the five-star offensive lineman hasn’t posted too much on social media as Abor. He did, however, send a video to the Twitter account Hayes Fawcett, and you can hear him saying, “Man, it’s crazy out here. 10/10,” with The Shoe behind him.
His mother, Mary, has been blown away as well from what she has seen. This is what she told me when I messaged her on Twitter asking how the visit has gone.
“Going great!” Mary said. “We are busy learning about the program and taking it all in. Amazing place!”
If you recall, Mary previously told me that she fell to the floor after her son received an offer from Ohio State last year. She has a lot of admiration for the school, both for their football achievements and academic success.
Mary also gave me an interesting tidbit about Zach’s time at Ohio State this weekend. With Zach hoping to become an athletic director in the future, the Buckeyes organized a meeting between him and none other than Gene Smith himself.
“He was/is AMAZING!” Mary said of Smith. “Zach would have the ability to intern with him. So blessed at the opportunity.”
As for what’s next, Mary told me that they are going to do the traditional visit photoshoot tomorrow, and meet with Ryan Day afterward.
The final prospect I’ll briefly talk about is Nwankpa. His family has been fairly busy today, so my conversation with his mother was short-lived. When I asked Amy Erickson about her thoughts on this visit, she had the following to say.
“Loving it!!” Erickson said.
I was also interested in seeing how much time the coaches have spent with them thus far. She told me that they have been with the coaches the whole time, and put a smiling face emoji afterward.
It’s usually tough to get a hold of visitors’ family members just because of how much is packed into one weekend, but I’m glad each of the parents above lent their time to me today.
Even though he isn’t an official visitor, I’ll quickly mention Derrick LeBlanc here as well. The Florida native, who is the No. 38 overall prospect in the 2023 class, is currently in the middle of a three-day visit to Columbus.
We exchanged just a few messages as I will be catching up with him over the phone tomorrow morning, with LeBlanc saying this to me.
“I LOVE IT,” LeBlanc said. “Everything is just amazing.”
He also said that despite Johnson spending a lot of time with Abor, they’ve been able to chop it up about “a whole lot of things.” Stay tuned tomorrow for an update on one of the top pass rushers in the 2023 cycle.
Who is the Boom?
Earlier today, Ohio State wide receiver pledge Caleb Burton hyped up Buckeye Nation on twitter. He tweeted out, “Whole lotta BOOM!” which can be interpreted as one or more commitments coming soon.
I did some digging here, but to no avail.
I reached out to a source close to the situation to narrow down the list, but the only one I could definitively rule out is Omari Abor. According to the source, Abor is not expected to commit to the Buckeyes following this official visit.
The plan for him instead is to take all of his trips before arriving to a decision. He has officials scheduled to LSU next weekend, Oklahoma starting June 19, and Alabama the final weekend of the month.
I like where things stand between him and the Buckeyes right now, but I’ve been led to believe Abor is not the one Burton and others have been referring to.
It definitely seems like everyone in Columbus is keeping it tight-lipped when it comes to this commitment, or commitments. This makes sense as the last thing you want is for a name to get leaked, only for that prospect to feel any sort of animosity over having their big moment spoiled.
I believe the likeliest options here would be that Burton was referring to Aamil Wagner and/or Xavier Nwankpa, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Rice is the one that’s being hyped up. Kyion Grayes told me that we’ll “see very soon” who this commitment is, so it sounds like an announcement could be right around the corner.
Submitted a FutureCast for Ohio State to land a 2023 Rivals100 OL
Luke Montgomery, a Rivals100 prospect who is being recruited by the Buckeyes as an offensive lineman, is a priority target for the program in the 2023 class.
Not only does Montgomery have a lot of potential on either side of the ball, but the Buckeyes need to turn the tide when it comes to o-line recruiting. They missed out on in-state prospect Blake Miller this cycle, and have also lost several battles recently, such as Jager Burton (more so due to the COVID-induced dead period), J.C. Latham and Kiyaunta Goodwin.
Based on what I am hearing, it looks like Ohio State is on track to get the Findlay (Ohio) product on board, potentially as soon as this year. One source I spoke with this week told me not to be surprised if Montgomery ends up committing after his junior season wraps up.
From what Montgomery told me after his Ohio State visit on Tuesday, however, that “we’ll see in the next couple of months” when referencing a decision, and that he first wants to take a few more visits. He did clarify by saying his timeline is to commit before his senior campaign, but I would not be shocked if he makes an announcement sometime this year.
I have put in a FutureCast for the Buckeyes to get Montgomery in their 2023 class, which would be a huge win for Greg Studrawa and company.
Another player I’m close to putting a FutureCast in favor of the Buckeyes for is Alex “Sonny” Styles. Styles was very impressed following his visit to the campus on Wednesday, specifically his time with the coaches during the camp.
The top-30 overall rising junior enjoyed working with coaches at all three levels of the defense, and soaked up a lot of knowledge from Coombs, Johnson and Washington. Styles sees a great fit for himself in their defensive scheme at the “Bullet” position, and also paid close attention to Ryan Day’s NIL pitch.
We will have more in the next section, but I am starting to lean toward saying the Buckeyes will get Styles on board.
Staff Report
Buckeyes impress legacy target Alex “Sonny” Styles
Sonny Styles is one of those players that could commit at any time, and by that we mean that Ohio State would hold a spot for the 2023 safety up until the last second of the signing period, or even beyond (think J.T. Tuimoloau).
Styles has southern schools begging for him to visit, just so they can lay eyes on a player that surely should be among the top players for the entire class of 2023 once things are all said and done.
Of course, Ohio State and Notre Dame seem to be the prohibitive favorites in this one, with Styles’ brother, Lorenzo Jr., going to Notre Dame and Styles’ father, Lorenzo Sr., making his mark at Ohio State.
Sonny has been one to say that he is not a shoo-in to one school or the other and wants to come to his own decision for his own reasons and there is no reason to doubt that, but we have learned that Styles’ recent visit to Ohio State was ‘off the charts’ and something ‘really resonated’ with the talented product out of Pickerington (Ohio).
Now, take everything with a grain of salt; it was the first real visit (camp/unofficial) that he has taken this year. You never know what future trips this month may entail, but our sources were over the moon with excitement in regards to Styles and Ohio State.
No indication on any sort of timetable acceleration here but the idea has been floated to Styles about being the first one in, being the leader of the class and taking it from there.
We will keep digging.
Making a move on Brown?
The Buckeyes had plenty of talent in town for the first of the six camps of the season and Springfield (Ohio) wide receiver Anthony Brown was front and center on Wednesday as part of a talented PM session.
Brown is listed at 5-foot-10 and many feel that may be a stretch as the speedster is certainly not the tallest player in the class of 2023, but he may be one of the quickest.
The Buckeyes have not taken a wide receiver that has been shorter that 6-foot since it brought in Mookie Cooper and subsequently saw him transfer; prior to that and you are back into 2014 with Curtis Samuel.
Ohio State did bring in Jaelen Gill as a hybrid player and he was listed as 6-foot by the recruiting services, but that height may be debatable. What is not debatable is Gill, like Cooper, transferred out of the program as he was never really part of the offensive plans.
So, with misses on Cooper and Gill, Ohio State surely cannot be thinking about bringing in Brown, especially with its track record with shorter receivers, right?
Well, that may not be the case as we have learned there are members of the coaching staff who are more than enamored with the four-star prospect. And trust us, they are aware of the track record prior with smaller receivers, but that has not dissuaded their increased interest in one of Ohio’s best for the class of 2023.
Of course, fans first reaction will be, “Yeah, but can he block?” as Ohio State has always put an emphasis on receivers and backs proving they can block before they can do anything else at their position, and Brown certainly is not the biggest body out there. But, make no doubt, he is a player and if he is given the opportunity down the line, he will make the most out of it.
Just something to keep an eye on, especially with the way that Ohio State has been recruiting at the position and with Ohio State already pursuing players like Johntay Cook, Brandon Innis, Carnell Tate and Braylon James.
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