Around this time last summer, defensive tackle Will Smith Jr. was fighting tooth and nail at Ohio State’s recruiting camps to earn an offer.
Weighing in at around 250 pounds, OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson told Smith Jr., the son of the late great OSU legend Will Smith, that he’d need to get up to 260 pounds by his senior year if he wanted an offer from the Buckeyes.
Smith Jr. put in the work and was rewarded with an OSU offer in January, then committed to the Buckeyes nine days later. And the 6-foot-3, now 268-pound defensive lineman is still working as hard as ever.
Despite being committed to Ohio State already, Smith Jr. attended OSU’s first recruiting camp of the summer Wednesday because of his desire to get better. And he’s not stopping at one. Smith Jr. told Eleven Warriors Thursday he plans on attending all of Ohio State’s six one-day camps.
Ohio State defensive line commit Will Smith Jr. told me he plans to work out at all of Ohio States camps this month.
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) June 2, 2022
He enjoyed camp No. 1: It was definitely a different experience from last year. I felt much less pressure and just got to focus on learning and getting better. https://t.co/S1Y7Iicr9o
“I wanted to go to camp to get the chance to work with coach Johnson and learn from him,” Smith Jr. said. “I’m planning to go to all the OSU camps. I also like the chance to get to know some of the recruits. It was definitely a different experience from last year. I felt much less pressure and just got to focus on learning and getting better.”
Smith Jr. was one of the better performers at Wednesday’s camp, winning nearly all of his one-on-ones. He said he picked up some notes from Johnson that he can now apply to his game.
Will Smith Jr. (@iwillsmithjr) blows by his man in one-on-ones. pic.twitter.com/M5JIfMzh0i
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) June 1, 2022
Ohio State 2023 defensive tackle commit Will Smith Jr. (@iwillsmithjr) is getting some work in with the Buckeyes today. pic.twitter.com/kI84Ued2YH
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) June 1, 2022
“He gave some more pass rush tools to work on and just giving me some feedback during drills,” Smith Jr. said.
Roebuck set to camp June 15
One of the fastest-rising in-state offensive linemen in the 2024 cycle confirmed to Eleven Warriors Friday he will camp with Ohio State later this month.
Four-star offensive tackle Ben Roebuck said he will camp in Columbus on June 15 with hopes of landing an offer from the team he grew up rooting for.
"I saw a couple of other 2024 guys from Ohio get offered (Wednesday), so going down there, I'm going to really try and prove that I can earn that as well," Roebuck said.
The 6-foot-7, 320-pound Roebuck visited OSU earlier this spring with several of his St. Edward teammates and said he was impressed by Justin Frye's coaching style in the sense that he makes it a point to teach during drills instead of criticize. He also said the Buckeyes and Clemson are the teams he’s been talking to the most even though he already has 20 Division I offers.
“I'd say right now it's probably equal between Ohio State and Clemson,” Roebuck said. “I don't really call too many coaches, but Ohio State and Clemson are two that I try and call the most.”
Should he pick up an offer from the Buckeyes, it would change his recruitment tremendously.
"It would change it a lot," Roebuck said. "That would probably instantly put them as my No. 1 or No. 2 school. So I think that would be something that really changes my recruitment up."
A preview of next week’s camps
Ohio State will host its second and third high school recruiting camps of the month next week on Monday and Tuesday.
Two highly-touted recruits who have already picked up Ohio State offers are expected to camp at OSU on Monday. Five-star safety KJ Bolden already visited OSU earlier this spring, and he'll get his chance to work out with Perry Eliano and Tim Walton next week. Four-star defensive lineman Nigel Smith visited Columbus for OSU's spring game on April 16 and will be eager to soak up knowledge from Johnson.
Including Will Smith, a total of five Ohio State commits will be at Tuesday’s camp, as tight end commit Ty Lockwood and offensive line commits Luke Montgomery, Joshua Padilla and Austin Siereveld announced Friday that they’ll be at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday.
Back in Columbus on the 7th! Excited to get up there and work with the guys. @lukeMonty8 @JoshuaPadilla66 @SiereveldAustin @OSUCoachKDub pic.twitter.com/7konKHxcjG
— Ty Lockwood (@TyLockwood7) June 3, 2022
Lets goooo cant wait June 7th afternoon camping!!!! @TyLockwood7 @SiereveldAustin @JoshuaPadilla66 https://t.co/9yM64PXQpY
— Luke Montgomery (@lukeMonty8) June 3, 2022
Letssss goooo!!!! https://t.co/lyXnmp7hEj
— Joshua Padilla (@JoshuaPadilla66) June 3, 2022
Below is a list of prospects expected to be at each camp. Names have been compiled from a combination of our own intel, reports from other outlets and announcements from recruits themselves.
- June 6: Will Smith Jr. (2023 defensive tackle), Justin Henry (2023 offensive lineman), Jordan Hall (2023 offensive lineman), Nigel Smith (2024 defensive lineman), Tyler Tusai (2024 quarterback), KJ Bolden (2024 safety), Luca Puccinelli (2024 tight end), Tory Blaylock (2025 running back), Austin Alexander (2025 defensive lineman), Emaree Winston (2025 tight end), Jordan Cleaves (2026 WR)
- June 7: Will Smith Jr. (2023 defensive tackle), Ty Lockwood (2023 tight end), Luke Montgomery (2023 offensive lineman), Joshua Padilla (2023 offensive lineman), Austin Siereveld (2023 offensive lineman), A.J. Pugliano (2024 tight end), DJ Pickett Jr. (2025 safety), Jake Cook (2025 offensive lineman), Tavien St. Clair (2025 quarterback)
