We’re less than 24 hours away from the start of the Early Signing Period.
That said, it hasn’t been a fun 24 hours for Ohio State. The Buckeyes missed out on Carlon Jones, one of their two remaining defensive line targets, when the Texas prospect chose USC over OSU on Monday following official visits to both schools. A few hours later, a flip weeks in the making came to fruition with four-star running back Jordan Lyle flipping to Miami, becoming the second Buckeye commit this cycle to flip to the Hurricanes along with five-star defensive tackle Justin Scott.
The way things have gone on the recruiting trail recently, OSU could use some much-needed good news in the next day or so. Will the Buckeyes get it? With only one more sleep before National Signing Day, we break down the three biggest storylines surrounding OSU in the 2024 recruiting class entering the early signing period, with a forecast on how each situation will play out.
Two remaining prep prospects on OSU’s wish list
Ohio State struck out with Jones, but still hopes to land the commitments of four-star defensive lineman Amaris Williams and four-star safety Koi Perich. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the prognosis doesn’t look great.
Williams took an official visit to Auburn last weekend and is getting a continued push from Florida to land the talented North Carolina prospect, with both of those teams likely ahead of OSU in the race at the moment. Perich canceled his official visit with Florida State, but appears to be leaning toward staying committed to his home-state Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Prediction: Williams and Perich don’t end up with Ohio State.
If your name is Jeremiah, odds are CFB teams are trying to flip you
This isn’t news to fans that keep up with the day-to-day of Ohio State recruiting, but a heap of Florida schools have been trying to flip five-star wide receiver commit Jeremiah Smith for months. Those efforts have only intensified from the likes of Florida State, Miami and Florida, so OSU fans won’t be able to breathe a sigh of relief until his signature comes in on a National Letter of Intent to Ohio State.
The nation’s No. 1 recruit has visited each of the Florida schools, most recently taking an official visit to Florida State earlier this month. With the early signing period fast approaching, those schools are making their last-minute efforts to try to flip Smith, offering incentives that only the modern era of college football recruiting can offer.
That said, we’ve maintained since his commitment that as long as Ryan Day and Brian Hartline are in Columbus, Smith will be, too. He’s had no shortage of suitors, but nobody has a better relationship with Smith on the recruiting trail than Hartline, and Ohio State remains well-positioned to survive would-be poachers of their most talented recruit in the 2024 cycle.
Four-star OSU wide receiver commit Jeremiah McClellan has also been offered lucrative incentives by other suitors, namely Oregon and Ohio State’s upcoming bowl game opponent, Missouri. Oregon in particular can’t be discounted, but there’s been cautious optimism from OSU that he’ll remain in the class.
Prediction: Both Jeremiah Smith and Jeremiah McClellan sign with Ohio State on Wednesday.
Houston, do we have a problem?
Since five-star defensive lineman Eddrick Houston committed to Ohio State in August, things have been pretty quiet in his recruitment. That was until he took surprise visits to Clemson and Alabama over the weekend.
It’s been reported Houston did not make the trips with his family, instead going with an assistant coach from his high school. While it would be foolish to discount a committed player taking visits elsewhere, there’s cautious optimism from Ohio State that Houston will still be in the class after his signing on Wednesday. From what we’ve been told, Clemson is more of a threat than Alabama to flip Houston away from the Buckeyes, but Ohio State still likes where it stands.
Prediction: Houston signs with Ohio State.
