Four Top-50 Prospects in Recruiting Class of 2023 Headline Ohio State's Fifth Camp of June

By Dan Hope on June 16, 2021 at 9:04 pm
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There was no shortage of star power at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center during the afternoon session of Wednesday’s fifth Ohio State high school football camp of the month.

Players on the field and working out with Ohio State’s coaching staff on Wednesday afternoon included four of the top 50 overall prospects in the recruiting class of 2023: Pickerington, Ohio safety/linebacker Sonny Styles, Alabama cornerback AJ Harris, New Jersey offensive tackle Chase Bisontis and California defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei.

Styles was back at Ohio State for the second day in a row – he watched from the sidelines as his cousin Kylon Wilson participated in camp on Tuesday – and on the field working out at Ohio State camp for the second time in 15 days, as he also participated in Ohio State’s first camp of the month on June 2. After working out primarily with Kerry Coombs, Matt Barnes and the defensive backs at the first camp, Styles spent of Wednesday’s camp working with Al Washington and the linebackers, demonstrating the positional versatility that has made him the No. 15 overall prospect in the 2023 class.

“I had the opportunity to come back, so I might as well,” Styles said after his workout. “I love coming out here and working with the coaches. Really enjoy being able to work with Coach Washington and Coach Coombs, Coach Barnes as well as (defensive line coach Larry) Johnson, I think it’s really cool working all three levels of the defense. I think that’s sweet, honestly.”

Ohio State has always been viewed as a frontrunner to land Styles, given that he lives in the Buckeyes’ backyard and his father Lorenzo played for Ohio State, and he said Wednesday that he “could definitely see myself playing here.” A recent 247Sports Crystal Ball projected that he would commit to Notre Dame, where his older brother Lorenzo Jr. is a freshman wide receiver, but Styles – who says he doesn’t pay much attention to the speculation about where he’ll end up – says he is “still open to go anywhere right now,” though he said Notre Dame is “definitely going to be one of my top schools.”

Harris, Bisontis and Uiagalelei all made their first visits to Ohio State on Wednesday and went through one-on-one workouts with Buckeye coaches as a part of their unofficial visits at OSU.

Harris, who is ranked as the No. 23 overall prospect and No. 2 cornerback in the 2023 class, went through a cornerback workout with Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs and toured the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Wednesday.

Bisontis, who is ranked as the No. 39 overall prospect and No. 3 offensive tackle in the 2023 class, went through a workout led by Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa. He told Eleven Warriors after the workout that he had an “awesome” time learning from Studrawa and believes he can apply those lessons to continuing to improve his game as he enters his junior season as the left tackle at New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep.

“My hands was dropping after my punches, so to keep them up and inside was definitely something I learned,” Bisontis said.

Bisontis said he would “for sure” return to Ohio State for a game this fall and that he wants to keep building a relationship with the Buckeyes’ coaches as his recruitment progresses.

Uiagalelei, the younger brother of Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei and the No. 47 overall prospect in the 2023 class, was part of a large group of prospects from California’s St. John Bosco High School – the alma mater of current Ohio State bullet Kourt Williams and recent Buckeye guard Wyatt Davis – who was at Ohio State on Wednesday.

After going through a one-on-one workout with Larry Johnson, Uiagalelei said he thought “everything” he learned from that workout could help him, that player development would be the most important factor in his recruitment and that he would “maybe” return to Ohio State for a game this fall.

Other notable prospects from St. John Bosco who were at Ohio State on Wednesday included 2022 four-star offensive lineman Earnest Greene and four-star running back Rayshon “Speedy” Luke, 2023 four-star defensive backs R.J. Jones and Jshawn Frausto-Ramos, 2024 linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and 2024 defensive backs Peyton Woodyard and Marcelles Williams.

Neither Greene nor Viliamu-Asa, who are both top targets for the Buckeyes in their respective classes – Viliamu-Asa was actually the first player in the entire recruiting class of 2024 to receive an offer from Ohio State – worked out during Wednesday’s camp, as Viliamu-Asa was sidelined by an injury.

Another 2023 prospect with an Ohio State offer who went through a one-on-one workout with the coaching staff on Wednesday was four-star Florida defensive back Elliot Washington, who is ranked as the No. 132 overall prospect in the junior class. As part of a two-day visit at Ohio State, Washington put his athleticism on display during a one-on-one workout with Buckeyes secondary coach Matt Barnes.

Other notable prospects who participated in Wednesday’s camp included Abdul Carter, a four-star linebacker from Pennsylvania in the 2022 class; Charlie Kenrich, a three-star 2022 tight end from Lakota East High School who went through a one-on-one workout with Kevin Wilson; Dakota Patterson, a four-star 2023 receiver from Kentucky; Joshua Miller and Desaun “Tank” Williams, a pair of three-star offensive linemen from Life Christian Academy in Colonial Heights, Virginia; and running back Christian Davis and lineman A.J. Salley, a pair of three-star prospects from Miamisburg, Ohio.

As of Wednesday night, no participants in Wednesday’s camp that didn’t already have offers from Ohio State had announced receiving them after the camp.

One participant in Tuesday’s camp, however, announced that he had received an offer on Wednesday morning: Sharif Denson, a three-star 2023 cornerback from Jacksonville, Florida, who worked out with Kerry Coombs and the defensive backs on Tuesday.

Stay tuned with Eleven Warriors over the next few days for more coverage from Tuesday and Wednesday’s fourth and fifth Ohio State football camps of the year.

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