The Hurry-Up: AJ Hoffler Enjoyed Third Visit to Columbus, Dante Moore to Visit Ohio State This Weekend

By Garrick Hodge on March 29, 2022 at 5:30 pm
AJ Hoffler
Twitter/@yungajh
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Four-star 2023 Georgia defensive lineman AJ Hoffler called his third trip to Ohio State his “coach J visit.” 

Hoffler, who visited Ohio State with his father last weekend, was determined to watch OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson coach the current Buckeyes in a spring practice to get a feel for what playing at Ohio State would be like. Hoffler said the visit surpassed his expectations, and he still considers the Buckeyes to be the leader in his recruitment. 

“It was good, it was better than what I expected from a practice standpoint,” Hoffler told Eleven Warriors. “Especially from the individual periods with Coach Johnson, it was probably the most efficient one I’ve seen so far. They do all these drills in a short amount of time, they fly through them with efficiency. Seeing the leadership from Zach Harrison to the younger guys was cool, and I really enjoyed watching the one-on-ones.” 

Hoffler said Johnson’s demeanor while running drills threw him off a bit. 

“I didn’t know how calm he was,” Hoffler said. “I could barely hear him the whole time because he wasn’t yelling at all. Not that I was expecting him to be a crazy coach, but I thought if guys messed up he’d get on them pretty hard. He did a little bit, but was more so coaching and didn’t have to yell as much.” 

After Hoffler and his father watched practice, they had a one-on-one film session with Johnson. 

“We sat and watched my film and my highlight tape. He broke down my game tape. Before we started watching, he asked me what I thought about it, then after that he told me the things I need to work on. It was nothing crazy, it was just some things that were inconsistent that I need to work on. He also was breaking down some of the players’ film that he’s coaching now.” 

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound defensive lineman from Georgia is ranked as the 251st-best prospect and the 39th-best defensive lineman in the 2023 cycle, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. He made his first trip to Ohio State in November during a visit to Michigan State, then made another visit to Columbus with his mother in January. 

Hoffler plans to return to Ohio State for a fourth time in June for an official visit. As of now, the only schools Hoffler knows he’ll be making an official visit to are Clemson and Ohio State. 

Hoffler still plans on making a commitment in early August on his birthday.

“Assuming I get all my officials in (by then), that’s the plan,” Hoffler said. 

Moore to visit OSU this weekend

This upcoming weekend was already going to be a massive recruiting weekend for Ohio State. Various key prospects from Florida, such as five-star 2023 wideout Brandon Inniss, five-star 2023 wide receiver Carnell Tate, 2024 five-star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and four-star 2023 safety Daemon Fagan, are planning to make a group visit to OSU.

Five-star 2023 Michigan quarterback Dante Moore will also be joining them on campus, per 247Sports.

Moore just visited Notre Dame on Monday, and the Fighting Irish are likely the favorites to land Moore, followed closely by Michigan. But Ohio State is going to take its shot with Moore anyway. It can only help that Moore will be taking the visit on the same weekend Tate will be in attendance, as the two are close friends, and OSU could easily be considered the favorite to land Tate at the moment.  

Moore, who is ranked as the sixth-best overall prospect and the third-best quarterback in the 2023 class, last visited Ohio State on Oct. 30 for the Penn State game, where he bonded with current Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud. While Moore, who also camped at OSU last summer, currently resides in Michigan, he’s from Cleveland originally. 

Moore told Eleven Warriors in January at the All-American Bowl he wouldn’t be scared off by a quarterback competition, and realizes he’d likely be in for one if he picks Ohio State.  

“If I do make a decision to go there, it would be great to compete, I love competing,” Moore said. “They always have a great quarterback room, one of the top quarterback rooms in the country, most definitely.” 

More weekend visit reactions

In Monday’s Hurry-Up, we started to recap a busy recruiting weekend for Ohio State last week that resulted in four offers from the Buckeyes. 

We couldn’t fit all the other social media reactions into the Monday edition, so here’s a few more Twitter reactions that came in last weekend from various recruits that toured OSU’s campus.

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