The Hurry-Up: Ohio State's April Visitors Will Include Carnell Tate, Sharif Denson and Jeremiah Smith, Reaction to Luke Montgomery's Commitment

By Garrick Hodge on February 20, 2022 at 10:10 am
Carnell Tate
15 Comments

Last April, Ohio State offered five-star 2023 wide receiver Carnell Tate. Almost one year later, the Chicago native and Florida resident plans to visit Columbus, announcing a planned OSU trip for April 1-3. 

Brian Hartline will have his top two wide receiver targets for the 2023 class on campus that weekend, as five-star wideout Brandon Inniss will also visit Columbus on April 2.

Inniss is ranked as the ninth-best player and the top wideout in the 2023 cycle, while Tate is ranked as the No. 21 overall player and No. 3 receiver.

Tate visited Ohio State multiple times last summer and was on campus for the Penn State and Michigan State games this past season. Inniss also camped at OSU last summer, but did not return for any games this fall after committing to Oklahoma. After decommitting from Oklahoma in December, however, Inniss is heavily considering Ohio State once again. 

Needless to say, the first weekend of April will be an important recruiting weekend for Hartline and Ohio State. 

Denson to visit in April

Another visitor on campus for the first weekend of April will be four-star Florida cornerback Sharif Denson, who received an offer from the Buckeyes last June after camping at Ohio State.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound cornerback is ranked as the 164th-best player and the 19th-best cornerback in the 2023 cycle. He told Eleven Warriors over the summer that he was excited about receiving an offer from the Buckeyes.

“It was definitely good, it was like the next step up from the offers that I had,” Denson told Eleven Warriors in August. “It definitely meant a lot.” 

The interest seems mutual on both sides, as Ohio State reached out to Denson immediately on Sept. 1, the first day college coaches could directly communicate with recruits from the 2023 cycle. Denson is well aware of the success OSU has had developing defensive backs.

“They know what real DBs look like,” Denson said in August. “From the tools, to everything else you need to do. They know what an All-American looks like. If I go over there, in three or four years I’ll come out ready for the NFL.” 

OSU’s top targets at cornerback in the 2023 class are five-stars AJ Harris and Cormani McClain, but Denson could be one of the next targets in line if the Buckeyes miss out on either of them.

Smith also visiting in April

Tate and Inniss won’t be the only wide receivers on campus during the first weekend of April. Four-star 2024 Florida wide receiver Jeremiah Smith also sent out a tweet saying he’ll be in Columbus on April 1. 

Smith is ranked by 247Sports as the 39th-best player and the ninth-best wideout in the 2024 class. Smith previously took an unofficial visit to OSU for the Penn State game on Oct. 30 and also camped at Ohio State last June, after which he received an offer from the Buckeyes.

Smith currently holds 23 Division I offers, a sheet that includes Georgia, USC, Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Oklahoma, Penn State and Texas A&M. He attends Chaminade-Madonna Prep (Hollywood, Florida), the same high school 2022 Ohio State signees Ryan Turner and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. went to.

Reaction to Montgomery’s commitment

In case you missed it, Ohio State landed its highest-priority target for the class of 2023 on Thursday when Luke Montgomery announced his verbal commitment to the Buckeyes. 

Now that Montgomery is in the saddle, the player who might not be at the top of the recruiting board is five-star running back Richard Young, the highest-rated tailback in the 2023 class according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

During his commitment press conference, Montgomery proudly claimed he was going to take a leading role in being a peer recruiter for Ohio State, similar to what C.J. Hicks did for the class of 2022. He got right to work one day later, tagging seven of Ohio State’s other top targets for the 2023 class in a tweet.

Of course, he also will be the “primary recruiter” for his brother Ryan, a 2025 quarterback who already holds an Ohio State offer. 

Several members of Ohio State’s staff and other commits in the 2023 class took to Twitter to celebrate Montgomery’s commitment.

The first commit in Ohio State’s 2023 class, four-star tight end Ty Lockwood, posted a photo of himself, Montgomery, fellow OSU commit Joshua Padilla and offensive line target Trevor Lauck. Of those in the photo, Lauck is the only one that remains uncommitted, and Lockwood let him know it.

15 Comments

Five Things to Know About Indiana in Ohio State's Third Top-Five Showdown of 2024 Season

Curt Cignetti

Northwestern Defensive Back Robert Fitzgerald Deletes X Account Following Social Media Backlash from Twisting Jeremiah Smith's Ankle

Jeremiah Smith
View 15 Comments