While this weekend’s visitor list may not have the quantity of prospects that attended last weekend’s scrimmage, there’s certainly no shortage of quality.
Several big-name prospects in both the 2024 and 2025 classes are scheduled to be in Columbus this weekend. Especially at cornerback, where highly-touted OSU targets Charles Lester, Zabien Brown and Marcelles Williams are all expected to visit Ohio State.
All eyes will be on four-star Georgia quarterback Air Noland as he hopes to pick up an Ohio State offer one week before he makes his commitment on April 8. While he hasn’t been offered to this point, Noland put OSU in his top seven and Ohio State’s coaches are talking to him daily nonetheless.
“I’m extremely excited to get myself and my mom up there to Ohio State,” Noland told Eleven Warriors earlier this month of his upcoming visit to Columbus. “I think Ohio State’s coaching staff has done a great job recruiting me between coach (Ryan) Day, coach (Corey) Dennis and coach (Brian) Hartline. They’ve visited my school twice, and I think they think I have the right intangibles and all the right things to play quarterback for Ohio State. I think coach Dennis does a great job with quarterbacks and coach Day and coach Hartline’s offensive system is a very quarterback-oriented type of offense.
"A lot of quarterbacks have watched Ohio State this year and previous to this year and saw how explosive the offense can be. I’m very excited and can’t wait to get to Columbus.”
#TheOhioState pic.twitter.com/heEfl1ZgJU
— Pss A N. (@AirNoland_) March 31, 2023
With Jordan Marshall headed to Michigan, James Peoples is Ohio State’s top remaining target at running back in the 2024 class. Peoples has been in Columbus since Thursday and has already scheduled an official visit to OSU in June. This weekend is a prime opportunity for Tony Alford to put a full-court press on the top-70 prospect.
“Ultimately, I'll be looking for how I feel with the coaching staff,” Peoples said last month regarding what he’s looking forward to regarding the visit. “Overall, not just Coach Alford, but in person with Coach Day and Coach Hartline and those coaches, you know. Is it a family kind of atmosphere, what type of things are they talking about, do these things align with what I'm feeling? I'll also be looking for like, environment, things around the campus, you know, the people in the campus, I will be asking in-depth questions while I'm there to be able to figure out where I fit in, in this picture. And you know, just get an outlook on the university.”
Just Landed in C-Bus !!! @Bill_Kurelic @Birm @Bucknuts247 @kirk_barton @NakishaPeoples @peeps1133 pic.twitter.com/4qex8BuLWq
— James (@James_peoples17) March 30, 2023
Meanwhile, Ohio State commits Devontae and Deontae Armstrong along with Ian Moore will be back at OSU, lending their services as peer recruiters.
A full list of expected visitors for this weekend can be found below.
- Marcelles Williams, 2024 cornerback
- Jake Wheelock, 2024 offensive lineman
- Charles Lester, 2024 cornerback
- Kelvion Riggins, 2025 linebacker
- Colton Heinrich, 2024 tight end
- Walter Matthews, 2024 tight end
- Devontae Armstrong, 2024 offensive lineman (OSU commit)
- Deontae Armstrong, 2024 offensive lineman (OSU commit)
- Ian Moore, 2024 offensive lineman (OSU commit)
- Air Noland, 2024 quarterback
- James Peoples, 2024 running back
- Justin Logan, 2024 linebacker
- Zabien Brown, 2024 cornerback
- Marquise Lightfoot, 2024 defensive end
- Marqavious Saboor, 2024 safety
- Jeremiah Watkins, 2024 wide receiver
- Alex Graham, 2025 safety
- Dante McClellan, 2025 linebacker
- Tiqwai Hayes, 2025 running back
- Ra’Shaud Holland, 2026 cornerback
- Malachi Toney, 2026 wide receiver
Jakob Gude puts OSU in top 10
One of Ohio State’s safety targets in the 2024 recruiting class has narrowed down his recruitment to 10 games. Three-star Georgia prospect Jakob Gude announced a top 10 of Alabama, Florida, Louisville, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Oregon and UCF.
Where will I go pic.twitter.com/K4RZKs72Hf
— Jakob Gude (@Jakob6Gude) March 31, 2023
Gude visited OSU for the first time on March 25.
"It was a great experience, honestly I loved the environment,” Gude told Eleven Warriors of his trip. “I loved how everything was about competing. I loved the intensity of the coaches and practice too. I talked to coach Day, coach (Tim) Walton and coach (Perry) Eliano they all were pretty much getting to know me more and stuff."
Jadyn Davis commits to Michigan
Noland may or may not be OSU’s QB for 2024, but another option is off the board. Five-star North Carolina prospect Jadyn Davis committed to the Buckeyes’ archrival today in what seemed inevitable for the last few months.
BREAKING: Elite 2024 QB Jadyn Davis has Committed to Michigan!
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) March 31, 2023
The 61 200 QB from Charlotte, NC chose the Wolverines over Ohio State, Tennessee, Clemson, and UNC.
Michigan got their GUY #GoBlue https://t.co/DXkTvh9Rfx pic.twitter.com/NovEX54ONj
Davis appears to be the heir apparent to Wolverine signal caller J.J. McCarthy, and he gives Michigan 10 commits total in 2024. As it stands, Michigan boasts the nation’s third-ranked recruiting class in 2024 per 247Sports’ team rankings.
