There's been no shortage of changes to the board in the May edition of Heat Check.
Since last month's edition published, Ohio State has added three commitments to the 2023 recruiting class: Four-star running back Mark Fletcher, four-star cornerback Dijon Johnson and three-star wide receiver Bryson Rodgers. With those three in the fold, OSU now sits at nine total commitments for the current cycle.
That number could grow to 10 as soon as Wednesday, as four-star Ohio offensive lineman Austin Siereveld has made a college decision and is set to publicly announce his choice from a final three of Alabama, Notre Dame and Ohio State at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. Siereveld is thought to be down to Ohio State and Notre Dame, and though it's still the likeliest scenario he'll pick his hometown Buckeyes, it can't be completely discounted Siereveld will choose the Fighting Irish.
Spring football is now over, and as such, so are the majority of spring recruiting visits scheduled for prospects making trips to Columbus, though OSU coaches will be traveling to see various recruits across the country through the end of the month as part of the spring evaluation period. The past few weeks and visits have provided some clarity in regards to where some prospects are leaning, and with others, it's only made forecasting their prospective decisions all the more murky.
In the April edition of the Heat Check, there was a single new addition to the board. This month, there are two. There's also a change at the board's top spot, with Brandon Inniss replacing Carnell Tate at No. 1 for reasons we'll delve into below.
| PROSPECT | POSITION | RANK | PREV. | RATING | OTHERS IN THE MIX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRANDON INNISS | WR | 1 | 5 | ★★★★★ | USC•Alabama•Georgia |
| OLAUS ALINEN | OL | 2 | 3 | ★★★★ | Alabama•Georgia•Miami |
| TACKETT CURTIS | LB | 3 | 6 | ★★★★ | Wisconsin•Stanford•Miami |
| RICHARD YOUNG | RB | 4 | 4 | ★★★★★ | Alabama•Oklahoma•Georgia |
| CARNELL TATE | WR | 5 | 1 | ★★★★★ | Notre Dame•Alabama•Tennessee |
| KAYIN LEE | CB | 6 | NA | ★★★★ | Miami•Nebraska•Tennessee |
| CHASE BISONTIS | OL | 7 | 2 | ★★★★ | Michigan State•Rutgers•Notre Dame |
| CALEB DOWNS | S | 8 | 9 | ★★★★★ | Clemson•Alabama•Georgia |
| DARRON REED | DL | 9 | 8 | ★★★★ | Florida State•Clemson•Miami |
| AJ HOFFLER | DL | 10 | 7 | ★★★★ | Georgia•Clemson |
| IAN REED | OL | 11 | NA | ★★★★ | Texas•Clemson•Alabama |
Brandon Inniss
It seems incredible to say out loud, but currently, Ohio State may have a better chance of landing Inniss than it does at landing Carnell Tate, especially with the rumored potential NIL money Tate could earn at Tennessee. More on that in a bit.
Where Inniss is concerned, it's still going to be a tightly-contested battle with USC and Alabama to land the top-rated wide receiver in 2023, but it certainly seems like a recruitment the Buckeyes are going to be in until the end. Inniss likely won't make a college decision until December, and Ohio State will get a late official visit from the Florida product as he'll attend the Buckeyes' game against Michigan in late November. The Buckeyes continue to hold serve as a major contender to land the 6-foot, 190-pound wideout, who by the way is high school teammates with Fletcher.
Olaus Alinen
Ohio State still is in desperate need of elite offensive tackle prospects for the 2023 cycle. That has not changed for months now. What has changed is which prospect OSU seems likeliest to land in the current cycle. Of its top targets, the Finland-born Alinen was the only one to make a visit this spring, and the only one to have set an official visit for this summer (late June).
OSU has a real shot with Alinen, though it’s far from a certainly the Buckeyes are going to land him, as Alabama has always seemed like a top destination for the 6-foot-6, 315-pound product.
Tackett Curtis
There's only one piece of news that is new on the Curtis front: he'll make an official visit to Ohio State in late June.
The Louisiana linebacker remains Jim Knowles’ top preference at linebacker for OSU in the 2023 class, and Ohio State would love to add a player of his caliber to its defense.
Richard Young
The bad news: Young has picked up a 247Sports Crystal Ball projection in favor of Alabama this spring.
The good news: The No. 2 overall running back in the 2023 cycle has locked in an official visit to Columbus for June, so the Buckeyes have plenty of time to make up ground before the Florida product makes his college decision before the start of his senior year.
Carnell Tate
Make no mistake, Tate remains Ohio State's No. 1 choice at wide receiver based on both time invested recruiting and talent. But following Tennessee's ramped up pursuit of the five-star wideout that may involve a hefty investment from one of its NIL collectives, On3 has officially switched its prediction from Ohio State to Tennessee in favor of landing Tate.
It would be foolish to count OSU out of the running for Tate until a commitment is made, but the Florida wide receiver has visited Columbus so much already, no additional visit is likely to present Tate with new information regarding OSU. The Buckeyes will wait it out for as long as they have to for a talent like Tate, one way or the other.
Kayin Lee
Since Lee decommitted from Georgia, no school has been more connected to the Georgia product than Ohio State. Lee took a visit to Columbus in early April, and has since picked up three 247Sports Crystal Ball projections in favor of OSU. Even when Lee committed to Georgia in the first place, he still held lots of love for Ohio State and continued to speak highly of the Buckeyes.
Thus, it's easy to envision Lee joining Ohio State's 2023 recruiting class alongside Johnson, as the Buckeyes may take up to three cornerbacks this cycle.
Chase Bisontis
Bisontis remains on the board purely because he plays the position OSU needs the most in the current recruiting cycle and because the Buckeyes made his recent top eight list. Yet, despite planning to take a visit to Columbus back in February, the New Jersey tackle did not make a spring visit to OSU while visiting other programs such as Michigan State, Georgia, LSU and Miami.
An official visit to Columbus this summer could vault Bisontis up this list in a hurry, but no such visit has been scheduled.
Caleb Downs
Things went well enough on Downs' visit to Columbus in early April that the five-star safety is likely going to make an official visit to Ohio State sometime this summer. Georgia, Alabama and others are going to fight OSU tooth and nail for the No. 1-rated safety in the 2023 class, but the Buckeyes have more than a puncher's chance here to land their highest-priority safety target.
Darron Reed
Ohio State is going to get Reed's final official visit before he makes his college decision on July 4. As of now, Reed may be the most likely top-tier defensive lineman prospect to choose OSU when all is said and done, but Clemson, Florida State and others will be difficult to fend off until then.
AJ Hoffler
Hoffler has tumbled on the board because Clemson has surged in the Georgia defensive lineman's recruitment as of late. It's hard to take him off the board completely because of his emotional attachment to Ohio State, as he's been calling the Buckeyes his dream school since November. Hoffler is expected to take official visits to both schools this summer, so the next few months could be interesting regarding his recruitment.
Ian Reed
Reed makes the board for the first time after visiting Ohio State for nearly an entire week leading up to the spring game and receiving an OSU offer. While Reed currently resides from Texas, he's from the Midwest originally and has family members who root for Ohio State.
What's more, he's a legit tackle prospect, something OSU can never get enough of. Reed will likely take his decision into the fall, giving the Buckeyes a legitimate option to pursue if they strike out on Alinen and Bisontis.
Honorable mentions
The only reason four-star North Carolina wideout Noah Rogers isn't on this list is it doesn't make sense to include three wideouts on it. But make no mistake, there's lots of mutual interest between Rogers and the Buckeyes. You could also make a case for four-star wideout Rico Flores to make the list.
Five-star edge rusher Keon Keeley made an Ohio State visit this spring, but he remains a Notre Dame commit, and as such it's hard to find a reason to include him on the board for now.
Five-star cornerback AJ Harris has fallen out of the Ohio State recruiting news cycle and thus off the board until something changes on his end. It appears Florida is the team to beat for the Alabama product, but should he find his way back to Columbus to an official visit in June, he'll land himself back on the top 11 in a hurry.
Take what we wrote about Bisontis above, slap Samson Okunlola’s name on it instead, and the majority of it would still apply. An official visit would vault Okunlola back up onto the board, but right now, there's just not much momentum there.
Five-star defensive lineman Matayo Uiagalelei visited Ohio State for its spring game, and another visit in the summer would earn him prime board consideration.
Both three-star linebacker Arvell Reese and three-star safety Jayden Bonsu have picked up Crystal Balls in Ohio State's favor, and could be candidates to move into the top 11 in the future.
