With Monday’s commitment of Isaiah Pryor, a four-star prospect rated No. 38 overall, on Monday, Ohio State’s 2017 recruiting class added a key piece to a group which is currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
The 2017 group is already strong as evident by its current place in the rankings. But perhaps what’s more impressive about the class is what the Buckeyes are building in the defensive backfield.
Pryor is the nation’s No. 2-ranked safety. Shaun Wade is the country’s second-ranked corner. Marcus Williamson is the sixth-ranked cornerback in America. All three are currently committed to Ohio State.
And another prospect who could find his way into the Buckeyes’ highly-touted defensive backfield group in the 2017 class is four-star cornerback Lamont Wade. The Clairton, Pa. native is ranked No. 5 nationally at his position and has Ohio State high on his list.
Wade was in town last week during the Buckeyes’ annual Friday Night Lights camp and he’s made several visits to Columbus over the past year.
The atmosphere at Friday Night Lights stood out to Wade.
“For a lot of camps, some people don’t even show up for the camps. For the fans to show up for the Friday Night Lights camp that shows a strong fanbase and everything and that’s great,” he said. “When the fans come out and support that’s a good thing.”
As a western Pennsylvania native, Wade is being pursued hard by hometown schools Pittsburgh and Penn State. West Virginia has also been hard after the 5-foot-10, 185-pounder and Wade said he also wants to take a visit out west to visit UCLA. The Buckeyes, though, are right there in the mix for Wade’s services.
Wade said it’s going to come down to a gut feeling for him, though, when he finally does decide to make his decision on where he’ll play college football.
“Me, I want it to be a gut feeling,” he said. “I want to go somewhere and be like, ‘This is where I’m playing. I fit in here, I want to spend the next four years of my life here. I have no problems with it, I have good relationships with the coaches.’”
As he prepares to enter his junior season in high school, Wade is in no hurry to make a decision. He said he’ll likely play out this upcoming season and then would like to make a decision prior to his senior year.
“I really wanna take a visit out to UCLA and after I take a visit out to UCLA I’ll have a lot more on my recruitment and narrowing stuff down and things like that,” Wade said. “I did want to commit next summer probably.”
The Buckeyes are hopeful to land his services, adding to an already loaded defensive backfield in 2017.
