The Hurry-Up: Ohio State Extends Three Offers to Recruits After Michigan State Game

By Garrick Hodge on November 21, 2021 at 5:30 pm
Sammy Brown
Sammy Brown
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Another big recruiting weekend for Ohio State resulted in a trio of prospects getting offers.

Three recruits received offers from the Buckeyes after attending Ohio State’s 56-7 victory over Michigan State in its final home game of the year. 

Hoffler gets his wish

Two weeks before his visit, four-star 2023 defensive end AJ Hoffler told Eleven Warriors Ohio State was his dream school because of the reputation of defensive line coach Larry Johnson and the prestige the Buckeyes offer on the field. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound standout from Georgia already has more than 30 Division I scholarship offers, but the Buckeyes were No. 1 on his wish list. 

“That would be my dream offer, so it would be pretty big,” Hoffler told Eleven Warriors before his visit about the possibility of getting an offer from Ohio State. “I’ve been praying about it, that’s what I’ve been working for, to get an offer from them. It would be pretty big to me.” 

Hoffler’s dream became a reality on Saturday.

Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, Hoffler is the 256th-ranked overall prospect and the 40th-best defensive lineman in the 2023 cycle. In 10 games for Atlanta’s Woodward Academy this season, Hoffler has a team-high nine sacks, seven quarterback hurries and 44 tackles (four for loss).

Hoffler said the Buckeyes are primarily recruiting him as a defensive end and haven’t spoken about him about the possibility of playing outside linebacker, even though OSU linebackers coach Al Washington is his primary recruiter and even stopped by one of Hoffler’s practices earlier this year.  

Brown receives Buckeyes offer

Could another mullet be on the way to Columbus? 

Sammy Brown, who sports a similar hairstyle to Quinn Ewers and is rated as one of the top five prospects in the 2024 class, received an offer from the Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon. 

Brown, a 6-foot-2, 215 linebacker from Georgia, is ranked as the fifth-best prospect and the top linebacker in the 2024 cycle.

Ohio State is the 10th school to offer Brown, who also has offers from South Carolina, Ole Miss, Georgia and Auburn, among others.

Willor Jr. picks up offer

Hoffler wasn’t the only defensive end Ohio State offered Saturday. The Buckeyes also extended a scholarship opportunity to Ernest Willor Jr., a 2024 defensive end from Baltimore. 

Ohio State is the fourth school to offer Willor Jr., who is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds and also has offers from Maryland, Penn State and Virginia Tech.

Kirkland, Tate react to visits

One of Ohio State’s top priority targets at the Michigan State game, 2023 four-star offensive lineman Payton Kirkland, spent most of the afternoon hanging around recent 2023 commit Sonny Styles. Styles, a five-star in-state commit, had an interesting prediction concerning Kirkland’s future. 

Kirkland teased Buckeye fans with a reaction of his own to Styles' tweet.

Carnell Tate, a priority 2023 wide receiver target for the Buckeyes, was back at The Shoe for his second game visit of the fall after he took a trip to Columbus for the Penn State game on Oct. 30. Earlier this week, Tate posted he will be dropping a top-five school list soon. OSU will certainly be on that list, ditto for Notre Dame, who is viewed by many in recruiting circles as the Buckeyes’ biggest competition for Tate. He also retweeted a tweet by Kirkland that teased OSU fans.

A key 2024 running back target was also in attendance for OSU’s win: IMG Academy running back Stacy Gage, who was offered by OSU in August.

Other 2024 targets who were in attendance for Saturday’s game included Texas quarterback Carter Noyes, Ohio offensive lineman Ben Roebuck and Indiana cornerback Hudauri Hines. 

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