The summer official visit season is now over, but more BOOMs could still be coming to Ohio State.
Ohio State already landed three big BOOMs from in-state prospects over the past week as quarterback Tavien St. Clair committed to the Buckeyes’ 2025 class last Wednesday and Glenville teammates Bryce West and Damarion Witten joined Ohio State’s 2024 class on Saturday. With Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge filling in for Griffin Strom on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we start the discussion by talking about each of those three commitments and why they were all priority targets for Ohio State.
Then, we predict who will join West, Witten and Ohio State’s other 14 commits in the 2024 class by playing another round of “In or Out” with the Buckeyes’ top 18 remaining targets in the class. A brief summary of our predictions for each player, with more rationale for each of our picks in the podcast:
| Player | Garrick | Dan |
|---|---|---|
| CB AARON SCOTT JR. | IN | OUT |
| S KJ BOLDEN | IN | IN |
| DE EDDRICK HOUSTON | IN | IN |
| DE DYLAN STEWART | IN | IN |
| S PEYTON WOODYARD | OUT | OUT |
| CB KOBE BLACK | OUT | OUT |
| CB MILES LOCKHART | IN | IN |
| LB KYNGSTONN VILIAMU-ASA | IN | IN |
| DT JUSTIN SCOTT | OUT | OUT |
| DT JAYDEN JACKSON | OUT | IN |
| DE MARQUISE LIGHTFOOT | IN | IN |
| DE NIGEL SMITH | OUT | OUT |
| OT BRANDON BAKER | OUT | OUT |
| OT GUERBY LAMBERT | OUT | OUT |
| OL DANIEL CRUZ | OUT | OUT |
| WR JEREMIAH MCCLELLAN | IN | IN |
| WR ELIJAH MOORE | OUT | OUT |
| WR JOSHISA TRADER | OUT | OUT |
Later in the show, we also talk about a few of the players who impressed us most across Ohio State’s six high school football camps, our expectations for Brice Sensabaugh with the Utah Jazz and our thoughts on who did and didn’t make Ohio State’s Four Kings at linebacker.
The full rundown:
- 0:47: Tavien St. Clair’s commitment a prime example of how quickly things can change in recruiting
- 3:52: Ohio State will continue to recruit Ryan Montgomery, but he’ll probably end up elsewhere
- 7:13: Buckeyes took St. Clair because of his potential – and because they knew he wanted in
- 15:53: Bryce West and Damaron Witten were always likely Buckeyes, but closing the deal matters
- 19:43: Vince Marrow’s “groan man” tweet was not a good look for Kentucky
- 21:16: Witten’s potential as a pass-catcher is obvious, but will he be a true tight end?
- 28:14: The race to land Aaron Scott Jr. remains too close to call between OSU and Michigan
- 31:18: Ohio State looks well-positioned with KJ Bolden, Eddrick Houston and Dylan Stewart
- 36:40: A Peyton Woodyard flip from Georgia to Ohio State looks less likely than it once did
- 37:56: Ohio State has gained ground with Kobe Black, but he’ll still be tough to pull out of Texas
- 39:26: Miles Lockhart, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa trending toward OSU after visiting this past weekend
- 42:05: Chances of landing Justin Scott appear to be improving, but his recruitment is far from over
- 43:45: Jayden Jackson appears to be most likely DT commit, but he’s not an Ohio State lock
- 45:26: Marquise Lightfoot is likely in at defensive end, which could leave Nigel Smith out
- 46:44: Top remaining offensive line targets could all end up elsewhere
- 50:10: Ohio State still in a good spot with Jeremiah McClellan, but Elijah Moore could be trending away
- 52:42: Buckeyes not out of the race for Joshisa Trader, but they have to get him back on campus first
- 53:51: Mylan Graham, Devin Sanchez, Jordon Davison among biggest stars of camp season
- 59:13: Brice Sensabaugh went around where we thought he’d go, though not a team we expected
- 1:00:44: Just establishing himself in the rotation will be Sensabaugh’s top objective for year one
- 1:03:06: Tom Cousineau should have been one of the Four Kings at linebacker
You can hear our full thoughts on all of that in the audio player at the top of the page or by subscribing to Real Pod Wednesdays via your podcast listening platform of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts).
