We’re two weeks away from Ohio State beginning to host prospects for official visits.
As official visit season nears, Ohio State’s recruiting board at each position is becoming much more clear and condensed, with the Buckeyes hoping for a productive summer on the recruiting trail.
Currently, OSU has 13 commits and appears to be headed for another top-five recruiting class. But there is still plenty of work to be done, especially on the defensive side of the ball, with 11 of the 13 OSU commits playing offense. To help illustrate what prospects are still in contention for OSU, we’ve broken down each position and identified OSU’s remaining targets.
To be considered for the remaining targets section at each position, we required a target to either lock in an official visit to OSU or at least publicly say they’ve had interest in doing so recently.
Offense
Quarterback
- Commits: Air Noland
- Remaining targets: None
- Breakdown: Ohio State has finished its quarterback recruiting for the 2024 cycle and can now turn its eyes toward 2025 targets Bryce Underwood and Ryan Montgomery.
Running back
- Commits: James Peoples, Jordan Lyle, Sam Williams-Dixon
- Remaining targets: None
- Breakdown: Like quarterback, the inn is full for Ohio State at the running back position in 2024. Considering running back recruiting started rocky with in-state prospect Jordan Marshall going to Michigan, running backs coach Tony Alford should be commended by getting the haul that he did with Peoples, Lyle and Williams-Dixon for the current cycle.
Wide receiver
- Commits: Jeremiah Smith, Mylan Graham
- Remaining targets: Jeremiah McClellan, Keylen Adams, Elijah Moore
- Breakdown: Ohio State would like to take at least one more wideout in the 2024 class and it’s more than likely going to come from one of the three targets mentioned above. All of McClellan, Adams and Moore have official visits scheduled to OSU this summer, so it could come down to which prospect decides to pull the trigger first.
Tight end
- Commits: Max LeBlanc
- Remaining targets: Damarion Witten, Colton Heinrich
- Breakdown: Could this be it? Could 2024 finally be the class Ohio State lands two tight ends in the same cycle? Well, one down, one to go after LeBlanc committed to OSU mere minutes before it kicked off its spring game. Ohio State has prioritized Witten for its final addition in the tight end room for 2024 and while it’s not a certainty Witten ends up in Columbus, the Buckeyes are definitely the favorite entering official visit season. Heinrich, a three-star prospect from Florida, is also another possibility for OSU at tight end and will take an official visit to Columbus.
Offensive line
- Commits: Deontae and Devontae Armstrong, Marc Nave, Ian Moore
- Remaining targets: Daniel Cruz, Brandon Baker, Guerby Lambert, Liam Andrews
- Breakdown: Ohio State has done well with offensive line recruiting thus far, but the Buckeyes would still take up to two more offensive linemen if they were high-caliber recruits. All four prospects mentioned above would fit that bill, and the Buckeyes have at least a puncher’s chance with each heading into official visits. Lambert and Baker would be standout offensive tackle additions, while Cruz and Andrews would likely boost the interior line.
Defense
Defensive end
- Commits: N/A
- Remaining targets: Dylan Stewart, Eddrick Houston, Marquise Lightfoot, Darien Mayo, Elias Rudolph, Nigel Smith
- Breakdown: Once again, Larry Johnson has a great chance to land premier talent on the edge, with Stewart and Houston – both five-star prospects – locking in official visits with OSU in June. Although it went 0-for-3 in pursuit of five-star talent in 2023, the Buckeyes remain in a strong position with Stewart and Houston, hoping to at least land one of the country’s premier pass rushers. There will be plenty of other talented prospects visiting Columbus, though, and even if it misses out on both Stewart and Houston, the Buckeyes will have a chance to put together an impressive defensive end haul.
Defensive tackle
- Commits: N/A
- Remaining targets: Justin Scott, Jayden Jackson, Sean Sevillano Jr.
- Breakdown: Justin Scott is obviously the crown jewel of OSU’s remaining interior defensive line targets this class, so naturally he’ll likely be the hardest for the Buckeyes to nab. Jackson and Sevillano Jr. have both gushed about OSU publicly multiple times, and both would make fine additions to OSU’s 2024 class.
Linebacker
- Commits: Garrett Stover and Payton Pierce
- Remaining targets: Sammy Brown, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Edwin Spillman, Nicholas Rodriguez, Booker Pickett Jr.
- Breakdown: Like Scott in the section above, Brown is the most talented prospect mentioned here, but also going to be the trickiest to land. For what it’s worth, Stover publicly said at the Under Armour Next camp in Ohio he’d like Viliamu-Asa and Spillman to join him in Columbus, and that’s who he and Pierce are hitting hard on the peer recruiting side. Rodriguez will visit OSU in early June with OSU running back commit Jordan Lyle, and while there’s some uncertainty whether Pickett would play on the edge or at linebacker, he’d be a fantastic get for the Buckeyes.
Cornerback
- Commits: N/A
- Remaining targets: Bryce West, Aaron Scott, Miles Lockhart, Zabien Brown, Corian Gipson, Kobe Black, Dakoda Fields, Terhyon Nichols
- Breakdown: There’s no doubt the top priorities here are keeping West and Scott home. Beyond that, Lockhart has practically said OSU is his favorite school so many times publicly it’s fair to assume he’ll commit to the Buckeyes on July 6 until proven otherwise. Brown has visited OSU twice this spring and has a real shot of landing in the 2024 class. Gipson, Black and Fields all seem like leans for other schools at the moment, but landing any of the trio would be a big win for OSU. Nichols is a recent offer and an Ohio prospect, so building a relationship with him quickly will be key if the Buckeyes want to add him to their class.
Safety
- Commits: N/A
- Remaining targets: KJ Bolden, Peyton Woodyard, Jordon Johnson-Rubell, Reggie Powers, Zaquan Patterson, Vaboue Toure, Jakob Gude
- Breakdown: Bolden has been at the top of nearly every Eleven Warriors Heat Check this year, so there’s no questioning the impact he’d bring if OSU was able to nab the Georgia prospect. Holding off Georgia will be no small feat, though, even if Bolden’s cousin is OSU safeties coach Perry Eliano. Woodyard may be a Georgia commit, but his official visit to Columbus in June will be his second trip to OSU since committing to the Bulldogs in January. Powers seems like an OSU lean if the Buckeyes want to go all out for him. Johnson-Rubell will visit OSU in June for the second time. Patterson, Toure and Gude have not confirmed visits to Columbus as of yet, but each has publicly expressed heavy interest in OSU.
