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Ohio State's standing with a handful of noteworthy names
- By Dave Lackford
J.T. Tuimoloau - Alabama is now coming much harder in the past month. It looks like Bama, Ohio State, Washington, Oregon, and Oklahoma are his top five. But I keep hearing how Alabama is surging, from two different sources. One told me that Bama has really turned up the heat lately and the other told me that communication between the two parties has been frequent. I think it’s going to be an Alabama v. Ohio State dog fight with Washington being the sleeper pick.
Tywone Malone – I was told by a source up north that Malone has had good contact with A&M, FSU, Ohio State, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. Of those schools, I think the first three are the realistic options; the two latter programs have some work to do.
Rivals’ Tennessee site actually got ahold of Malone and only asked him questions about Tennessee. Thanks guys. One useful piece of information to come out of that article that only asked a national recruit about one of the schools recruiting him was that: “He hopes to make his decision public at the Under Armor All-American game in Orlando in early January.”
OK, maybe I’m not being fair here. Volquest.com did ask him about the four future casts to Ohio State that analysts have entered. Austin Price, the author of the article, said the following:
“Several people have penciled Malone as an Ohio State lean, but he says that isn't true as of now and is totally open in his recruitment. One school that’s appealing to him is Tennessee.”
Those are Price’s words, not Malone’s, so do with that piece of information what you will. All that we know for sure is this - the notoriously reclusive Malone will take his decision all the way out to whenever, if ever, the Under Armour game, while rarely if ever talking to anyone in the media. What a life.
Jaylin Davies – I don’t think he is going to flip anywhere based of what I was told from some sources out west. In fact, I was told that he is skipping his senior year to enroll early. I don’t know if that means he’s going to pull a Tony Grimes and reclassify, or if it means he just isn’t going to play if the season gets moved back and will enroll in the spring semester. Either way, I was told a flip to Ohio State is “highly unlikely.”
Jager Burton – I think this one has been whittled down to Kentucky and Ohio State. The longer it goes, the better it will be for Ohio State. People close to him have been telling me Kentucky is really pursuing him to the full extent and I’m not sure anyone else is showing him the same love.
I haven’t spoken with Burton in about two weeks. It’s disappointing when a kid you’ve had a good rapport over many years goes dark on you, but that’s the situation and because of that, I tend to think he’s close to picking the hometown Wildcats. I put my pick in for them 25 minutes ago.
Raesjon Davis – A was told by a source in Los Angeles this about the 2021 four-star LSU linebacker commit:
“Davis is for now completely locked in with LSU although USC is trying to flip him, not sure of others.” When I asked if there was any chance Ohio State could flip him, he responded, “Highly doubtful.”
That’s all I have for now. Next week, I will focus my efforts on landing Malone for an interview as well as figuring out what’s going on with Emeka Egbuka, Tristan Leigh, Barrett Carter, and maybe I can track down Jager Burton to figure out what’s going on there.
Couple of quick updates on some Ohio State OL targets
- By Joseph Hastings
When I spoke with Rivals100 offensive lineman Rocco Spindler for the first time, he definitely sounded convincing in his assertion that his recruitment was wide open and that Ohio State had a legitimate shot at him. He also gave props to the Buckeyes for their production on and off the field, as well as giving praise to Greg Studrawa and Ryan Day.
With just under two weeks to go until he announces his college decision, however, I am not expecting Ohio State to come out on top here.
I reached out to someone familiar with Spindler’s recruitment, and they are also in agreeance with the previous statement. This person even described the Buckeyes getting labeled as one of his five finalists as the program being “just a hat on the table.”
As recruiting analysts have been saying for quite some time, I was told that this one will come down to the in-state Michigan Wolverines and Notre Dame on Aug. 8. His other finalists are LSU and Penn State, but they appear to be in the same boat as Ohio State right now.
Even though he’s been to Columbus multiple times, adding Spindler or high school teammate Garrett Dellinger (now committed to LSU) to the fold would have been difficult for Coach Stud and the staff under normal circumstances. Throw in the pandemic and the inability for them to visit, and it’s no surprise that both should be committed elsewhere by the time Spindler announces his decision next month.
I wouldn’t put a lot of stock into Ohio State flipping either of these two Michigan-based prospects, but I’m continuing to keep my eyes out for J.C. Latham. Alabama has received commitments from a five-star OT and the nation’s eighth-ranked tackle this month; this definitely bodes well in the Buckeyes’ favor.
If Amarius Mims, Rivals’ second-ranked overall player in this class, commits to the Crimson Tide on Aug. 15, that would be excellent news for the staff. I would give Ohio State the edge for Latham if the scenario above plays out, so we’ll definitely be following Mims’ recruitment closely over the next few weeks.
Assuming Latham does stick it out with Alabama, we know the other major targets at tackle for Coach Stud are Nolan Rucci and Tristan Leigh. Rucci is unlikely at this juncture, but I view Ohio State as a top-three program for Leigh right now, and an official visit to the school could make them a huge threat to LSU’s chances with him. Earlier this week, Leigh included the Buckeyes as one of his five finalists, and you can watch him break down his top five HERE.
Someone we had been tracking a few weeks ago was Rivals100 offensive lineman Rayshaun Benny. He spoke with Dave Lackford over a month ago and said that Ohio State would make the next cut he made in his recruitment, but the school is, at this time, eliminated from his list of contenders. Benny dropped his top eight yesterday, with the Buckeyes not landing on that list.
Latham and Leigh are the two priority tackles here, and Ohio State would be more than satisfied with reeling in one of them before it’s all said and done.
Recent news in hoops recruiting
- By Joseph Hastings
I definitely want to add some more hoops content to the Skull Sessions, so this section will be dedicated to a couple of recent developments in Buckeye basketball recruiting.
First of all, we saw top-40 overall prospect Malaki Branham commit to Chris Holtmann’s staff back on Wednesday. Branham is listed as a small forward on his Rivals profile page, but he’s expected to be a shooting guard at the next level.
With Branham and Meechie Johnson on board, Ohio State is set with their backcourt recruiting in this cycle. They also have Kalen Etzler in their 2021 class, and he is not wavering on his commitment to the school whatsoever.
The Buckeyes will now turn their attention to the center position to finish off this class. I spoke with incoming BuckeyeGrove basketball analyst Jake Spegal earlier this week, and he said to keep an eye on Charles Bediako, Chet Holmgren, Efton Reid and Frank Kepnang.
Rivals’ national basketball analysts Corey Evans and Eric Bossi recently did “Ranking the Contenders” editions for Holmgren and Reid, and both of them have Ohio State as the No. 2 school in each prospect’s recruitment. Holmgren is obviously the big fish here as he’s labeled as the third-ranked overall player on our network.
Holtmann’s program is not outright in front for any of the centers listed above, but they appear to be in a good spot with each of them.
Secondly, let’s take a quick look at next year’s class. A.J. Clayton (Ohio University) and D.J. Moore (Liberty) recently announced their commitments over the past three days. Neither had an offer from Ohio State, but Spegal said Clayton was a 6-foot-9 recruit who they had contact with and even had come to a game to watch him play last season.
These may be a couple of guys to pay attention to if the Buckeyes want to push for a flip down the line or if their stock rises.
Other than that, Spegal says Holtmann’s staff will be tuning into the 270 Hoops 2022 Challenge to watch point guard Sean Jones in action. Jones, a three-star prospect from Gahanna Lincoln High School, doesn’t possess an offer from Ohio State, but is in a lot of contact with them. Some noteworthy offers on the table for him include Mississippi State, SMU and Xavier.
