Five Recruiting Storylines to Watch During Ohio State's Spring Football Game Weekend

By Garrick Hodge on April 14, 2022 at 10:10 am
Jadyn Davis
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With Ohio State concluding its spring football season Saturday with the spring game, this weekend will mark the final major recruiting weekend for the Buckeyes before camp and official visit season rolls around in June.

Plenty of big-name prospects are expected to visit Columbus this weekend, both from the 2023 and the 2024 classes. As you can imagine, there’s no shortage of storylines from a recruiting standpoint, so we’ll delve into the most compelling ones going into the weekend.

Davis to visit as Raiola momentum surges

There’s certainly a lot more clarity on what’s happening with Ohio State quarterback recruiting in the 2024 class than there is in the 2023 class, but those things may go hand in hand.

The Buckeyes are in hot pursuit of two of the top three quarterbacks in the 2024 cycle: Jadyn Davis and Dylan Raiola. Raiola visited Ohio State April 1-3, and is said to have loved his time in Columbus. Two 247Sports Crystal Ball projections have been logged over the last two days in favor of Raiola landing with OSU, so there certainly seems to be tons of momentum there. 

Pair that with multiple outlets reporting the 6-foot-3, 225-pound signal caller could commit within a month or two, and the Buckeyes may have their quarterback for the 2024 class sooner rather than later. On Thursday, On3 reported Raiola will be making a return trip to Columbus this weekend just two weeks after his last visit, throwing further fuel on the fire that a decision could be imminent. 

As for Davis, he tweeted Wednesday he’d be visiting Penn State on Friday, which added further speculation that Raiola could be emerging as the Buckeyes’ top quarterback in the 2024 class. But a few hours later, Davis tweeted he’d still attend Ohio State’s spring game on Saturday.

Davis, who is ranked the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2024 class, visited Columbus several times last fall, and the Buckeyes have always been at the forefront of his recruitment. But he has competition from Raiola to be the top quarterback on Ohio State’s board. With both quarterbacks expected on campus this weekend, it sets up one of the most fascinating recruiting weekends in recent memory. 

Ohio State welcomes Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Rogers to Columbus 

Bryson Rodgers and Noah Rogers have a few things in common: They’re both wide receiver prospects with the same last name but different ways of spelling it, they both boast Ohio State offers and both are expected to be in Columbus for the spring game this weekend.  

It will be Bryson’s second visit of the spring, as he was one of OSU’s first spring visitors in early March. 

“I loved it,” Rodgers told Eleven Warriors of his visit in early March. “There’s a great culture there and a brotherhood-like atmosphere. In the practice I watched in the morning, coach Hartline was out there getting intense with the guys. He was really involved with every wide receiver, it was good to see.” 

After that visit, Rodgers told Eleven Warriors Ohio State was “definitely at the top” of his recruitment, and taking a second visit in six weeks certainly backs that claim. Rodgers has said in the past his commitment will likely come in July, so there isn’t likely any #BOOM coming from him this weekend. But as we all know, recruiting is fluid, and maybe he wants to reserve his spot in the 2023 class early. It certainly monitors watching.  

Meanwhile, four-star North Carolina wideout Noah Rogers will make his first visit of the spring to Ohio State. Brian Hartline is very high on the wideout rated the 10th-best wideout in the 2023 class, and the respect is mutual on Rogers’ end. 

Ohio State’s top targets at wide receiver this cycle are Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss, but with the Buckeyes projected to take three or four wideouts in 2023, there are plenty of other receivers who could fill the remaining spots.

Siereveld to make return visit Saturday

For a few months, all was quiet on the Austin Siereveld front. The four-star 2023 Ohio offensive lineman hadn’t taken a visit to Ohio State, the team he grew up rooting for, since Oct. 30. That changed when the 6-foot-5, 315-pound prospect attended one of the Buckeyes' practices in late March.

“I loved everything about what I saw (on my visit),” Siereveld told Eleven Warriors in March. “Watching practice was awesome, getting the chance to see what it is like to be coached if I go here was pretty cool.” 

Now, Siereveld plans to return for his second visit of the spring season this weekend. 

Siereveld recently narrowed down his final three schools to Notre Dame, Alabama and Ohio State. In the past, he’s mentioned he’d like to commit after taking official visits or when he feels comfortable. 

With both Malik Hartford and Luke Montgomery recently committed to the Buckeyes, Siereveld is the top remaining in-state target on OSU’s board for 2023. The Buckeyes will hope to take steps to seal the deal in Siereveld’s recruitment this weekend, especially considering he has a visit to Notre Dame set for next week.  

Buckeyes to put full-court press on Lyons

Ohio State has been searching for another highly touted tight end to pair with four-star commit Ty Lockwood in the 2023 class. One of the Buckeyes’ top options, four-star California prospect Walker Lyons, will return to Columbus for OSU’s spring game. 

Ohio State was among the schools that made the cut when Lyons recently narrowed down his recruitment to six schools. His high school teammate, Rico Flores, just visited OSU last week. Lockwood is also expected to be in Columbus this weekend, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he made a peer recruiting effort to bring Lyons to the Buckeyes.

Plenty of other 2024 standouts expected this weekend

While Davis is the crown jewel of 2024 recruits expected to be in attendance this weekend, there will be other big-name players of interest in his class on campus, too.

Some of those expected attendees include:

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