The Hurry-Up: Ohio State Offers Avery Henry, Jimmy Rolder, Ellis Robinson IV and KJ Bolden

By Garrick Hodge on October 19, 2021 at 5:51 pm
Avery Henry
Twitter/@AveryHenry731
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Ohio State coaches were busy on Monday evening.

Not just with preparing for their upcoming matchup against Indiana coming off the open week, but also making offers to recruits left and right. OSU made new offers to four total players on Monday, two from the 2022 class and two from the 2024 cycle. We’ll delve into all four of those here. 

Tuesday has already been a busy day of Ohio State recruiting news with the commitment of Kenyatta Jackson, and in case you missed it, you can read about what that means for the 2022 class here.   

Henry emerges as tackle option

Three days after Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa visited St. Clairsville High School to see Ohio resident and three-star offensive tackle Avery Henry play, the former Iowa State commit picked up an offer from the Buckeyes. 

Henry already has a 247Sports Crystal Ball projecting him to land with Ohio State, so his recruiting timeline may move pretty quickly. At the moment, Henry is listed at 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds and has lost a considerable amount of weight (around 50 pounds) since his sophomore season. Henry, whose grandfather played for West Virginia in the early 1960s, visited Ohio State on Sept. 25 for the Buckeyes’ 59-7 win against Akron.

He has six Division I offers at the moment, also including Iowa State, West Virginia, Akron, Eastern Michigan, Syracuse. Henry is ranked as the No. 1321 overall prospect and the 133rd-best offensive tackle in the 2022 class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

Ohio State currently has two offensive linemen committed in the 2022 class: George Fitzpatrick and Tegra Tshabola. Considering OSU wants to take around four offensive linemen in the class, the offer to Henry seemingly indicates a lack of optimism from the Buckeyes regarding their chances of landing at least two of Earnest Greene, Aamil Wagner, Zach Rice, Kam Dewberry and Carson Hinzman. 

Greene plans to take an OSU visit sometime this fall, possibly as soon as Oct. 30 against Penn State. Nobody knows what Rice is going to do on Thursday when he announces his commitment, though it would be pretty shocking if he picked OSU. Wagner seems to be trending away from OSU, and it would be difficult to see Hinzman not picking his hometown Wisconsin Badgers. Dewberry could still be an option, but other schools pursuing him seem to have a lot of momentum there. 

All of that said, Henry’s ability to play tackle and his in-state ties were enough for Studrawa and OSU to deem him worthy of an offer. His low recruiting profile may concern some, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have a successful career. If you remember, OSU right tackle Dawand Jones didn’t have a national recruiting ranking when he committed to the Buckeyes. Jones also had obvious upside with his athleticism at 6-foot-8 and 360 pounds, but Ryan Day is not afraid to take on developmental projects from time to time. 

“You do have to be smart about how many of those guys you take, and that’s part of the puzzle,” Day said at his Tuesday press conference when asked about recruiting lesser heralded players. “Just in general right now, you really have to recruit guys that want to be at Ohio State, guys that want to be Buckeyes and understand what being a Buckeye is. Because the minute something doesn’t go well, they could walk out the door. So we’re really taking that to heart and evaluating all these guys and what we think, not trying to look at the stars or who’s recruiting them. What do we think, and what do we think is the right fit for Ohio State? I think we’ve done a good job of that. There are certain situations where you see traits and then think, ‘Can we develop him?’ Dawand is an example of that.” 

Since Day mentioned he’s wary about how many of those developmental projects he takes year in and out, Henry would be the first one in Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class, as all of the other 15 commits in the class are at least four-star prospects. 

Fast-rising Rolder gets OSU offer

Chicago linebacker Jimmy Rolder is the definition of a late bloomer. Nine days ago, he held a single Division I offer from Ball State. 

Since then, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker – who originally committed to Illinois to play baseball during his junior year – has picked up offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Cincinnati, Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue.

OSU would like to take one linebacker to close out its 2022 class after already landing Hicks and Gabe Powers. Rolder or three-star linebacker Carson Tabaracci, who has OSU in his top five, seem like the most likely options.

Rolder attends Marist High School in Chicago, where 2023 wide receiver target Carnell Tate also played before he transferred to IMG Academy. Tate took notice of his former teammate’s offer.

Rolder does not have yet a composite ranking, though 247Sports rates him as the No. 61 linebacker in the class.

Buckeyes offer two top 2024 prospects

Ohio State’s offers on Monday also includes two prospects who are currently ranked in 247Sports’ top five for the class of 2024: KJ Bolden and Ellis Robinson IV.

Bolden, a wide receiver, is ranked as the No. 3 player nationally in the 2024 cycle. The Georgia product has 15 Division I offers to this point, also including Georgia, Florida, Florida State, LSU and Tennessee. 

Robinson IV, a cornerback from Connecticut, is rated as the No. 4 player in 2024. He has 17 Division I offers, including Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Penn State and Tennessee.

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