Ohio State landed its top remaining defensive tackle target in the 2023 class when Kayden McDonald committed to Ohio State on Monday.
McDonald became the third defensive lineman to pledge to OSU’s 2023 class and the second player ever from North Gwinnett High School (Suwanee, Georgia) to commit to the Buckeyes. The first was McDonald’s former high school teammate and current Ohio State cornerback Jordan Hancock, who has seen his playing time expand the past few weeks after he dealt with an injury earlier this fall.
Addressing reporters Wednesday, Hancock told reporters he was thrilled McDonald will be his teammate once again next season. In the final season the pair played together in high school, North Gwinnett turned in a 9-4 record, with McDonald recording 12 sacks as a sophomore and Hancock snagging an interception with four pass deflections.
HME @R2X_Rushmen1 @ryandaytime @CoachJimKnowles @NGHSFootball pic.twitter.com/TvTTiu5rys
— Kayden (@KMac_DT) November 2, 2022
“Kayden’s a dog,” Hancock said. “I grew up with Kayden and we’re kind of neighbors, we live in the same neighborhood. He's gonna be a dog, be a team player. He’d do anything for our team to win. So, I'm happy for him to be a Buckeye with me and just have another friend from Georgia. You know, we want to get a pipeline from Georgia going. So I feel like that's coming in.”
Hancock said he had a hand in recruiting McDonald to Ohio State and knew he’d be a priority player for the Buckeyes to land. McDonald picked OSU over other finalists Michigan, Clemson, Florida and Oklahoma.
“Yeah, I was really on him hard, recruiting him because that's my boy,” Hancock said. “So, I really loved him for coming here. And I’ll look out for him when he's here. I’m so thankful for that.”
Wilson to visit Georgia this weekend
One of Ohio State’s top remaining targets will be taking another visit to a recruiting rival this weekend. After receiving his All-American Bowl jersey on Wednesday evening, five-star Florida defensive end Damon Wilson told 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong he and his family plan to be at Georgia Saturday for the Bulldogs’ massive showdown with Tennessee.
He followed by telling the recruiting network he’d likely make a decision sometime after the visit between his finalists of Georgia, Ohio State and to a lesser extent, Alabama. Wilson took an official visit to OSU on Sept. 3 for the Buckeyes’ season opener against Notre Dame, and Ryan Day and Larry Johnson stopped in Florida to visit him during OSU’s off week in October.
He was certainly paying attention to Ohio State’s last game against Penn State, where he saw J.T. Tuimoloau have a career day for which he earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.
“Just watching the last game with J.T., his performance you can definitely see they’re getting prepared the right way and competing at a high level with the edge rushers they have,” Wilson told 247Sports.
As it stands, Wilson has two 247Sports Crystal Ball projections in favor of Ohio State, so the Buckeyes may just have to withstand a final push from Georgia to land the prized pass-rushing prospect.
Okunlola discusses recruiting timeline
The recruitment of five-star offensive tackle Samson Okunlola is finally starting to narrow down. Okunlola told 247Sports this week he’s focused on playing his final two games at Thayer Academy (Brockton, Massachusetts) and when his season concludes on Nov. 12, he’ll start taking his official visits and narrowing down his recruitment. Okunlola said he’ll likely announce a top five schools list after his season concludes as a hint to where he may take his visits, but considering he’s planning on being an early enrollee to whichever school he signs with, he said he plans on committing at the end of November or early December.
#pancakehoncho pic.twitter.com/RRVjPM07JM
— Samson Okunlola 23 (@SAMSONOKUNLOLA_) October 26, 2022
Okunlola didn’t visit Columbus in the spring or summer, so getting him on campus for an official visit on Nov. 26 will be essential for the Buckeyes to land the premier offensive tackle. But it’s unclear if that will occur. An Ohio State source told Eleven Warriors recently the Buckeyes remained cautiously optimistic Okunlola would be on campus for the Michigan game but also acknowledged there are lots of varying factors regarding his recruitment.
Okunlola himself told Eleven Warriors in September he “might” visit OSU on that date, so it will be a wait-and-see process over the next few weeks to find out just how real a shot the Buckeyes have at landing the 6-foot-5, 305-pound prospect.
