Ohio State’s final official visitor weekend of the summer isn’t lacking for any big names.
The Buckeyes are welcoming seven recruits, including six defensive players, on official visits starting Friday. This could potentially be their most successful official visit weekend of the month, as the Buckeyes are arguably in the driver’s seat or only inches behind with all but one prospect visiting this weekend.
The only visitor this weekend that the Buckeyes clearly trail for at the moment is five-star defensive tackle Justin Scott, but Larry Johnson and Ryan Day have already started putting on a full-court press. They’ll need a big push to land Scott, however, as he is also strongly considering Notre Dame, Miami, Michigan and Georgia.
Go Bucks pic.twitter.com/24LUfumzWl
— Justin Scott (@juustinscott) June 23, 2023
OSU’s first prospect offered in the 2024 class was four-star linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, and now the Buckeyes will try to seal the deal with the California prospect and land their third linebacker commit in the 2024 cycle.
Viliamu-Asa has already visited Notre Dame and USC, so OSU will have the final shot to impress the St. John Bosco standout. The Fighting Irish are likely the Buckeyes’ biggest competition in this recruitment, so this weekend will be critical. It’s no coincidence OSU is also having one of its linebacker commits take his official visit this weekend in Payton Pierce, and the Texas product will help the Buckeyes try to land Viliamu-Asa.
As recently as last week, Kentucky was perceived to have made tremendous strides with Ohio tight end Damarion Witten, with several recruiting analysts casting projections for him to join the Wildcats. In the days since, Witten has camped at OSU and spoke glowingly of tight ends coach Keenan Bailey, and Kentucky landed a tight end commitment on Friday in Willie Rodriguez.
OSU is in a good position with Witten, the lone offensive prospect visiting, but considering he has no decision timetable in mind, there’s still work to be done this weekend.
“Really I want to see how Ohio State operates on a daily basis,” Witten said last week about what he’ll be looking forward to on his official visit. “Workouts, installs, playbook, just me getting a feeling on how everything develops.”
You might be familiar with the in-state cornerback pair of Bryce West and Aaron Scott, both of whom the Buckeyes consider priority targets. Both West and Scott are in Columbus this weekend as OSU gets the last crack this summer at hosting both of them on official visits. Making their recruitments all the more intriguing, OSU is battling Michigan for both prospects, and it would be surprising to see either commit somewhere that isn’t one of those two schools.
CBus Tomorrow #GoBucks @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/qNB4NYwwFo
— (@bryvonny) June 23, 2023
West has taken the Wolverines’ recruiting pitch very seriously and enjoyed his official visit to Ann Arbor, but the Buckeyes are still thought to hold a slight edge entering this weekend’s visit. For Scott, the situation is much murkier. If this were a political election, the result would be too close to call.
Michigan has a real chance to land Scott, but Tim Walton, Day and the rest of the OSU staff will do everything in their power this weekend to convince Scott that Columbus is the place for him.
Besides Pierce, who’s of course already committed to OSU, the most likely visitor this weekend to end up in the Buckeyes’ 2024 class is Arizona cornerback Miles Lockhart. Since Lockhart earned his OSU offer last summer, he’s openly said Ohio State is the leader in his recruitment, a stance he’s never wavered from.
See you tomorrow Columbus #gobucks pic.twitter.com/eU7CaeXbjj
— Miles Lockhart (@MilesLockhart1) June 22, 2023
Lockhart plans on committing on July 6, so OSU appears to be in position for good news in a few weeks barring anything unexpected.
Ohio State will have some extra firepower coming in this weekend from a peer recruiting perspective, as several other commits who already made their official visits will also be back on campus this weekend, including the Armstrong twins and Garrett Stover.
The best in Ohio have always, and will continue to stay in Ohio.
— Devontae Armstrong (@Devontae_440) June 23, 2023
See ya tomorrow Columbus #GoBucks
Dylan Stewart puts OSU in top five
One of Ohio State's priority defensive end targets in the 2024 class has narrowed his recruitment down to five schools. Five-star Washington D.C. product Dylan Stewart released a top five Friday including Ohio State, Miami, South Carolina, Georgia and Maryland.
BREAKING: Five-Star EDGE Dylan Stewart is down to 5 Schools!
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 23, 2023
The 65 250 EDGE from Washington D.C. is ranked as the No. 1 Player in the 24 Class
Where Should He Go?https://t.co/VidYedc3rv pic.twitter.com/UlSsCYiMXI
Stewart has visited OSU, Miami and Georgia so far this summer and will visit South Carolina this weekend. His visit at OSU last week went well by all accounts and the Buckeyes should have more than a puncher's chance at landing the prized prospect.
