Ohio State’s focus on the 2023 recruiting trail over the past week has been at wide receiver, bringing in Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss and Noah Rogers within the span of three days.
Now, one day after the Buckeyes completed their biggest official visit weekend of the summer and the day that the recruiting dead period begins, Ohio State turned its focus to the position immediately opposite those three receivers.
And it started in Georgia.
Four-star cornerback Kayin Lee announced that he was committing to Ohio State.
He's the No. 17 player out of Georgia in the class, the No. 24 cornerback and the No. 191 player in the country.
Ohio State beat out multiple teams like Georgia, where he was formerly commited to, Nebraska and Georgia Tech for the four-star corner, who had offers from LSU, Miami, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Oregon and Notre Dame, among others.
Ohio State keeps the No. 1 recruiting class title in the country, 168 points ahead of second-place Notre Dame.
What it means for the rest of the 2023 class
It was clear Ohio State was going to get another cornerback in the 2023 class.
While the Buckeyes remain in the hunt for players like Cormani McClain, the No. 1 cornerback in the 2023 class and four-star cornerback Jermaine Mathews out of Cincinnati, who is scheduled to make his commitment announcement July 1, Ohio State started with Lee, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound cornerback out of Ellenwood Ga.
Lee and Johnson match the number of cornerbacks Ohio State got in the 2022 class in Ryan Turner and Jyaire Brown after getting Jakailin Johnson, Andre Turrentine, who transferred to Tennessee this offseason, Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock in 2021.
Ohio State looks to only be losing Brown after the 2022 season, with Burke and a combination of Hancock and Johnson taking over starting in 2023 with Brown and Turner waiting in the wings.
The Buckeyes are viewed as the favorite for a player like Mathews after he received an offer after camping with Ohio State this June. But even a three-man cornerback class seems a bit large for a room that has a set succession plan in place for the next three or four seasons.
