- 30 year fixed rates in the mid 2’s; 15 year fixed rates below 2%
- 3,000+ 5 star reviews
- A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau
- Nearly 100 Grove members have closed with JFQ
- Free appraisal covered by JFQ
- Email info@jfqlending.com or PM AZBuckeye6 for a free mortgage review
Joseph Hastings’ Report
Massive official visit weekend for the Buckeyes
The over yearlong dead period should be coming to an end once the month of June arrives, and Ohio State is not wasting any time getting things back up and running.
From June 4-6, the coaching staff is expected to host a dozen prospects on campus for official visits. As you will see in the next section, that list could potentially be expanded even more.
Starting off with the commits, most of the Buckeyes’ 2022 class is gearing up to make the trek to Columbus the first weekend of June for officials. These players are Bennett Christian, CJ Hicks, Caleb Burton, Dasan McCullough, Gabe Powers, Jyaire Brown, Kyion Grayes, Tegra Tshabola and Quinn Ewers.
I was also told by four-star tight end Benji Gosnell that he is planning to officially visit with his future teammates, but can’t say so definitively right now due to his track schedule. Also, I’ve yet to hear back from five-star cornerback Jaheim Singletary about his plans for that weekend.
As for which targets will be in attendance, Rivals100 recruits Omari Abor and Xavier Nwankpa, as well as four-star defensive tackle Nick James, are all set to officially visit that weekend as well.
Ohio State figures to be in the top two, if not higher, for Abor and Nwankpa; in fact, all seven of the FutureCasts submitted to this point have Nwankpa heading to Columbus.
I was admittedly a little bit surprised that Ryan Day and his staff would allow all of these officials to be scheduled. One would think that after over a year of no visits, the NCAA would put a cap on the number of visitors allowed for a three-day span.
Ohio State’s coaches most likely know that this won’t be the case as even if there was a small chance there may have been a restriction on visitors, they probably would have held off on permitting all these players to make plans to visit that weekend.
Potentially a few more additions to this list?
This jam-packed weekend for the Buckeyes could get even more impressive.
Based on what I have heard, it is possible that top-50 overall juniors Caden Curry and Zion Branch could end up taking OVs to Columbus the first weekend of June. I heard this information from a couple of Ohio State commits, so I decided to reach out to the parents of these coveted recruits.
Renee Branch, Zion’s mother, said the following when I asked if they were planning to visit the school from June 4-6.
“We haven’t solidified anything as of yet, but that’s the plan,” Branch said. “So, yes, we are targeting the first weekend of June.”
This is very encouraging news for a Buckeyes program that has been labeled by Zion as one of four schools – along with Clemson, Oregon and USC – that are standing out the most to him. The Trojans will be a tough one to beat out given their location and, especially, Donte Williams’ relationship with Branch.
While it is always preferable to get the last official visit for a prospect, getting the first one and a chance to set the bar high is not a bad option either.
Switching over to Curry, his mother, Maria, was not as certain about their plans as Renee was. She did not rule out a trip to Ohio State, but said the family as a whole is working on developing an itinerary for Caden’s visits in June.
In my opinion, this one comes down to Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State. The Buckeyes have location in their favor, as well as the program’s success in the state of Indiana compared to his other contenders; OSU has signed 14 players out of the state since the 2005 cycle, while the Crimson Tide and Tigers have signed just two players combined from Indiana during this time span.
Even so, visits are going to be the determining factor in Curry’s recruitment, and getting him on campus the first weekend OVs are allowed would be huge for the Buckeyes.
Rivals100 DE Enai White locks in official to Columbus
Speaking of official visits, I was told today that Rivals100 defensive end Enai White has locked in his official to Ohio State.
Yusuf Tribble, an assistant coach at Imhotep Institute Charter High School, informed me that White is slated to be in town from June 25-27. If you recall, this is also when fellow Pennsylvania-based prospect Nicholas Singleton will be in town for his official.
The only other official Tribble has been told by White that he will take is one to the University of Florida, which will be from June 4-6.
White has not spoken with anyone from Rivals in quite a while, but Tribble did shed a little bit of insight as to where he believes the Buckeyes stand in his recruitment.
“All I know is Ohio State is very high on his board,” Tribble told me. “Once he takes his official visits, then he will narrow his list down. But Ohio State is definitely high at the moment.”
I’ve been hearing this one will come down to OSU and Penn State for a while now, and I have no reason to believe this is still not the case. This trip would be a key one for the Buckeyes, especially if it’s the last official White ends up taking.
Top-three wideout is continuing to hear from the Buckeyes
I reported shortly after Kyion Grayes’ commitment last month that Ohio State is looking to sign three wide receivers in this class, and that continues to be the case.
On top of pursuing Rivals100 wide receiver Kojo Antwi, they are also after the third-ranked pass catcher on our network: CJ Williams. Williams recently spoke with Adam Gorney about his recruitment, and you can find that full story HERE.
Williams intends on shaving his list down to a top eight after his junior season ends, and says Ohio State is still showing him a lot of interest. Interestingly enough, the Tuscaloosa (Alabama) native told Gorney that the Crimson Tide have cooled off of him recently.
The product out of Mater Dei High School says one of the factors sticking out to him about the Buckeyes is the presence of Quinn Ewers in this class. Gorney also told me that Williams’ relationships with the staff, specifically with Brian Hartline and Day himself, have led to them being high on his board.
Even with Burton and Grayes committed, and having one of the deeper wide receiver rooms in the country, the Buckeyes want to add a bigger outside receiver in this cycle. USC would be a tough one to beat out, but look for Ohio State to potentially get an official visit from Williams down the line.
Note on a 2022 DT who is blowing up
In the past couple of weeks, Germany native Hero Kanu has seen his recruitment skyrocket. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Clemson, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Ole Miss, Oregon, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, USC and Washington have all offered him this month.
We’ve had questions on the board about whether or not Ohio State would be interested in Kanu, who straps up the pads for Santa Margarita Catholic High School.
So, I reached out to Brandon Collier, founder of PPI Recruits, which is a program for international football players. Collier is closely connected to Kanu’s recruitment, and speaks with him often.
Collier, who hails from Cleveland and says he is a “huge Bucks fan,” told me that he spoke with defensive line coach Larry Johnson on Friday. Johnson is still waiting to see Kanu’s tape, so that’s where things stand between the two sides right now.
Kanu is an intriguing recruit as he checks in at 6-foot-5, 295 pounds, can do the shuttle run drill in 4.28 seconds, and is a fairly young player as he won’t turn 17 until September. We’ll be closely monitoring his recruitment.
Carson MacRae’s Report
Key defensive tackle target has Ohio State in his top three
Christen Miller has once again taken this week’s spotlight as he announced via Twitter that the three schools leading in his recruitment are USC, Ohio State and Georgia.
With Georgia already taking their biggest defensive tackle target in “Bear” Alexander, the Bulldogs staff is looking to bring in three to four DTs for their 2022 class. Also worth mentioning is that Tyre West, another five-star at the position, is already committed to the program. Miller has been noted a couple times saying it would be hard for him to want to be in a large DT class as he has thought of himself as a premier player at the position.
The way Ohio State's class is currently shaping up is if Miller decides to pick the Buckeyes, he would be the main DT in the class. This is obviously very beneficial on Ohio State's ends of it. Miller comes as advertised and is a very strong player who has great vision in gap assignments and can make plays from double teams.
The major wall that stands in the way of the Buckeyes landing Miller is the Trojans. USC has been persistent with Miller, and he even just finished up a self-guided visit in SoCal last week. Although the Buckeyes of late have been in some major recruiting battles with the Trojans, I really like the way this one is shaping up in the Buckeyes’ favor.
The way it stands right now, is unclear whether Miller will be attending the Buckeye Bash 2.0 hosted by CJ Hicks and Dasan McCullough the June 4-6 weekend. But, if Miller is able to get out to campus, then I fully expect him to become a Buckeye following the visit.
Buckeyes slipping for five-star DL?
Carrying on with the DT trend, it would appear the Walter Nolen train is starting to slow down towards the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes will most likely make Nolen's top eight once he announces it, but Nolen seems to have them around the back end of his list of schools.
Nolen is Rivals’ No. 3 player in the country and currently plays high school ball in Cordova (Tennessee), which has him attracting the likes of every SEC team in the conference. Usually, Ohio State can build a pretty good platform to make its case for players of this elite level but from the sounds of it, the only program he would consider leaving the south for is Michigan due to family ties.
With that being said, Michigan also sounds like its among that back end of his soon-to-be top eight schools. Many things could change by the end of summer but when this one is all said it done, I would expect it to end up going Nick Saban's way as it stands right now.
FutureCast in for an in-state guard
This past week, I had the chance to speak with 2023 Wayne high school OG Joshua Padilla. Padilla is a player I submitted a FutureCast for already, but it is warranted as most players who get offered by the Buckeyes out of Wayne almost always take the program up on that offer.
This is not way I submitted the cast, though; after speaking to Padilla a little more, I found out that him and Aamil Wagner would love to play with each other at the next level and are very good friends. Wagner is someone who helps Padilla all the time on the practice field and will be a major player in recruiting him to Ohio State.
I also sat down with CJ Hicks this week and he informed me of the long-standing relationship his family has with Wagner's family and that they would be coming with him to the June 4-6 weekend in Columbus. Hicks is someone who seems to be very confident in the Buckeyes landing Wagner.
I will stay close to this recruitment, but that June 4-6 weekend could potentially bring at least a couple of commitments following it, and it is very possible that Padilla is the first 2023 player to take a spot in the class.
