Ohio State has offered another offensive lineman in the 2024 class.
Three-star Michigan offensive lineman Gabe VanSickle confirmed to Eleven Warriors Sunday he received an offer from Ohio State last week, a couple of weeks after he took an unofficial visit to Columbus for the Penn State game. He plans to take an official visit to Columbus sometime soon but doesn’t have a specific date set.
“The atmosphere there was crazy,” VanSickle told Eleven Warriors after his visit. “And the coaches talked to me about building a relationship with them.”
VanSickle, who is committed to Northwestern, is considered the No. 861 recruit in the nation and the 61st-rated interior offensive lineman prospect. The 6-foot-5, 283-pound prospect committed to the Wildcats on May 15 and had eight Division I offers, with the other Power Five offer coming from Indiana.
Ohio State currently has three offensive linemen committed for the 2024 class in Ian Moore and Devontae and Deontae Armstrong. The Buckeyes' top offensive lineman target for this cycle remains five-star offensive tackle Jordan Seaton, who will visit Ohio State on Saturday for the Michigan State game. Still, the interest in VanSickle is also genuine and is separate from their pursuit of Seaton.
VanSickle is likely viewed as a replacement for former Ohio State commit Marc Nave, who decommitted from the Buckeyes on Sept. 30. Once VanSickle’s official visit is complete, Ohio State will likely know where it stands in terms of having a chance to flip him from Northwestern.
Payton Pierce named high school Butkus Award semifinalist
On Monday, Ohio State linebacker Tommy Eichenberg picked up a significant honor by being named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, an award given to the nation’s best linebacker. A future Buckeye was also honored by the Butkus Foundation as well.
Ohio State 2024 linebacker commit Payton Pierce was one of 12 semifinalists selected for the high school version of the Butkus Award, with the winner being honored on Jan. 27.
Marcelles Williams reacts honestly to Alex Grinch’s firing
Whenever assistant coaches are fired, it’s common for recruiting reporters to check in with commits or targets of that respective school and ask how it impacts their commitment/interest in the school considering that person usually had a big hand in recruiting them to the University. Yours truly did the same thing with multiple prospects after Ohio State’s defensive coaching overhaul two years ago.
Often, these conversations go one of two ways. Option one is the recruit will slightly lament the loss of the staff member but say something along the lines of “I committed to a school, not a coach,” and life goes on. Option two is the recruit will be honest and tell you he’s evaluating his choices about what to do.
Well, four-star USC cornerback commit Marcelles Williams had one of the more interesting quotes I’ve seen from a recruit asked about the firing of an assistant that recruited him after USC parted ways with oft-maligned defensive coordinator Alex Grinch on Sunday.
USC recruits weren't surprised to learn about defensive coordinator Alex Grinch's dismissal today. pic.twitter.com/XULhxMnpCU
— Rivals (@Rivals) November 5, 2023
“He hasn’t been cutting it,” Williams told Rivals, who frankly isn’t wrong in his assessment. “It’s SC. You can’t give up 40 points a game and be where you want to be. He coaches the safeties so he and my brother (Max Williams) were really close with each other. I have nothing against the dude, but on the field, they haven’t been cutting it.”
Micah DeBose to visit Ohio State this weekend
Jordan Seaton won’t be the only five-star offensive line prospect on campus when Ohio State hosts Michigan State on Saturday. Per 247Sports, five-star 2025 Alabama prospect Micah DeBose will be at Ohio State for his second visit to OSU.
DeBose, currently committed to Georgia, visited campus in July for the Buckeyes’ summer recruiting event and left Columbus with a scholarship offer. While DeBose lives in Alabama, he was born in Cleveland and lived there until he was eight years old.
Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, DeBose is the 17th-ranked prospect and third-ranked offensive tackle for the 2025 class.
