The biggest news in the college football world this week centered around USC.
By now, most of you know Clay Helton is no longer the head coach of the Trojans. USC finally pulled the trigger years in the making after a loss to Stanford so Helton couldn’t go on a winning streak late in the season when all appeared lost for a third straight season.
But enough about that. Any time a coach is fired, that has a massive impact on recruiting, not just on the school axing the coach, but a trickle-down effect occurs for every other school contending with that institution for a recruit.
Ohio State certainly hopes it can reap the benefits of an uncertain future surrounding USC by stealing some momentum in recruiting battles.
With the caveat that recruits might wait to make their decision until USC hires a new coach, and it’s always possible targets might love the hire USC makes more than they did Helton or the previous assistants on staff, let's delve into how Helton's firing could impact the recruitments of a few players Ohio State has been battling USC for.
Zion Branch: This one is the most obvious and the most immediate. The Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nevada) 2022 safety is seemingly going to decide between USC and Ohio State when he makes his commitment in January. It sure seemed like the four-star Branch had been trending toward the Trojans the last few months, making multiple visits to campus over the summer and even donning USC apparel in one of his prep games.
Branch, along with Xavier Nwankpa, is OSU’s top priority at safety to finish the 2022 cycle. Six 247Sports analysts have put in a Crystal Ball prediction for Branch, with four projecting the 6-foot-2, 190-pound safety to end up at Ohio State.
But, we’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge Ohio State has a bubbling cauldron of its own right now, after Ryan Day all but gave defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs a vote of no confidence this week. OSU's defense could show new looks this week against Tulsa, and possibly feature a different play caller than Coombs, who does a lot of work recruiting defensive backs for the Buckeyes. If things don’t improve in a hurry, some staff changes could certainly be on the horizon after this season.
The possibility always remains Branch considers other schools besides USC and OSU considering the uncertain futures both have on defense.
Zachariah Branch: Zion’s younger brother, 2023 wideout Zachariah Branch has also been pretty smitten with USC, also donning Trojan attire on his high school uniform. Considering the younger Branch is a junior, he’ll have a lot more time after USC makes a hire to feel out the new staff than his brother will. But considering OSU might not take too many receivers in the 2023 class and is locked in on trying to land Carnell Tate’s commitment, now would be a good time to reach out to Branch while USC is in flux and continue to develop a relationship with the seventh-best receiver in the cycle, per 247Sports’ composite rankings.
Christen Miller: Actually you know what, keep reading a little further.
Miller reportedly down to OSU, Georgia
After some thought USC would be the favorite for 2022 defensive lineman Christen Miller, the four-star recruit told 247Sports this week – before Helton’s firing – that he had narrowed down his school list to Ohio State and Georgia.
In July, Miller had dropped a top four list of Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon and USC. Miller took an official visit to Ohio State last weekend and will take one to Georgia this week.
“My visit was amazing,” Miller told 247Sports. “I didn’t want it to be a perfect visit. I wanted to see the ups and downs and I did. I saw how they took the loss. They took it personal. Now they have a chip on their shoulder for the rest of the season. I loved the brotherhood. The defense could have played better, but they’re young. They're playing a lot of freshmen. They will learn from it. They can only elevate from here.”
Miller plans to announce his commitment in January at the All-American Bowl. OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson got a close look at Miller when he visited Ohio State in June.
“I wanted to show how athletic I was,” Miller said in June after working out with Johnson. “I’m 300 pounds, I’m 6-foot-5, and not a lot of people can move like me. So I just wanted to show Coach that I can run with the wide receivers, I can run with the outside linebackers and show that I’m an all-around athlete. And what I learned from today is there’s a lot of stuff I can work on from my stance to my hands and a lot of stuff. But he told me there was a lot of stuff that I already did good, and it was minor adjustments that I could make. But he said he loved how I finished all the workouts, he loved the motor that I had, the energy, he loved everything about it.”
Hinzman considering OSU
The second-best prospect from the state of Wisconsin, 2022 four-star offensive lineman Carson Hinzman, is heavily considering Ohio State, per Lettermen Row.
Hinzman visited Columbus last weekend, and also made a trip to Ohio State in June, the same month when he received his offer from the Buckeyes. The 6-foot-4, 275-pound interior offensive lineman is seemingly focused on OSU and his hometown Wisconsin Badgers. Hinzman took a visit to Wisconsin two weeks ago, and a decision could come any time. Other offensive linemen that are targets for OSU to fill out the 2022 class include Aamil Wagner, Earnest Greene and Kam Dewberry.
