3-2-1: Keeping the foot on the gas pedal

In this recruiting-themed edition of "3-2-1," which is presented by Infinit Nutrition, BuckeyeGrove takes a look at some of the most recent news relating to Ohio State football recruiting.

Down below, we talk about three things we learned recently, a couple of questions that we still have and dish out one bold prediction for a 2021 target.

Some of the topics below include the key storylines in the updated rankings for Ohio State's commits, the program's pursuit of a top-20 defensive tackle and what the Buckeyes need to do to hold off Alabama for their first-ever No. 1 class in the Rivals.com era.

1. The updated rankings for Ohio State's current group of commits has been revealed

Just over a week ago, Rivals unveiled the first-ever Rivals250 for the Class of 2022. That list featured all of the Buckeye pledges in next year's cycle, with three of them — C.J. Hicks, Dasan McCullough and Gabe Powers — residing in the top 25.

On Tuesday, we released the updated Rivals250 for this current class, which saw some noteworthy movements from several prospects. Out of Ohio State's 18 senior commits, 14 of them were able to make the cut earlier this week.

I wrote a story on where each pledge checks in nationally, as well as providing the update positional and state rankings for them, but I wanted to take this section to talk about what stood out to me the most.

The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that Kyle McCord moved up two spots. He'll be a five-star as long as he stays at No. 24 overall, but I thought he could have earned that accolade in this latest update.

McCord's showing at the Elite 11 Finals less than a couple of months ago was impressive, according to everyone in attendance and the videos released from the event. Also, fellow signal caller Ty Thompson rose up nearly 60 spots and passed McCord, which was surprising. McCord won’t be able to play in his senior campaign as it was postponed, but I imagine he'll ultimately earn his fifth star down the line.

Another aspect of this list that jumped out to me when I saw it was how Evan Pryor is now higher ranked than TreVeyon Henderson. These are two talented running backs and both are worthy of being in the top 50, but I definitely did not foresee Pryor leapfrogging Henderson, who fell a couple of spots in his national ranking.

It's not likely that Henderson or Pryor will make a significant rise from here on out as their fall seasons were postponed to next spring. Henderson is now at No. 69 and Pryor is at No. 61 in the new rankings, so it will be interesting to see where both of them finish.

Finally, I'm going to mention possibly the biggest shock of them all: The fall of Marvin Harrison Jr. The Pennsylvania-based prospect fell from No. 42 to No. 120, going from a potential five-star to being outside of the Rivals100.

Harrison Jr. still holds his 5.9 Rivals Rating and is a top-20 wide receiver on our network, but his drop was certainly surprising. Harrison Jr.'s senior season will be postponed, so it may be unlikely that he'll be back into the top 100.

2. The Buckeyes are trending for a four-star defensive tackle

Tyleik Williams was a name we heard of back in June. The Virginia-based recruit tweeted out his top six back on June 24 that featured Alabama, LSU, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Carolina and Virginia Tech.

While he did possess an offer from the Buckeyes, which he earned back in April, it was still somewhat of a mystery how much Williams was actually being prioritized by Larry Johnson and company. With Tywone Malone remaining their top defensive tackle target, gauging the program's interest in Williams ultimately led to a wait-and-see situation.

Well, after over a two-month wait, it appears as if Ohio State will indeed be welcoming of Williams on board in their 2021 class.

As of publishing this article, 15 FutureCast predictions have been submitted on Williams' profile page in favor of the Buckeyes. Williams is slated to commit later this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Williams, the 19th-ranked defensive tackle in the nation, actually previewed his upcoming commitment with Rivals recruiting analyst Adam Friedman. You can find the full article and his comments on every program in his top six HERE, but this is what he had to say about Ohio State.

"Coach Johnson is a legend when it comes to the defensive line and putting guys in the league," Williams said. "He knows what he's doing. They have a good program and they do a good job helping guys after school in real life. My mom was interested in that."

If Williams does indeed join forces with the Buckeyes later today, he would be joining Rivals100 member Michael Hall as the only DTs committed to the program at this time.

Also, a pledge from Williams would put Ohio State back in front of Alabama in the Rivals Team Rankings. The Crimson Tide recently surpassed them as a result of some of their commits receiving a boost in the updated rankings, but this decision would give the Buckeyes 31 more total points than them in the standings.

3. The Buckeyes are recruiting at another level in the 2022 cycle

Since I have not written up a 3-2-1 in two weeks due to the two-part series I wrote on Dasan McCullough, I did not get a chance to go over the borderline five-star prospect's commitment.

This was just yet another example of Ohio State flexing its muscles on the trail and adding to a class that is on their way to becoming No. 1 when it's all said and done.

Don't get me wrong, I was definitely impressed by them adding C.J. Hicks, Gabe Powers, Jyaire Brown and Tegra Tshabola to the fold in the span of less than four months.

To bring aboard McCullough, a highly coveted player from several hundred miles away from Columbus, is exactly what is needed in order to potentially put together back-to-back No. 1 classes.

LSU is currently in front of Ohio State in the Class of 2022 rankings purely based on the fact that they have seven commits and the Buckeyes have a handful of pledges. The next junior to announce his commitment to OSU, no matter his ranking, would put the school at the top spot in the standings by a good margin.

Also, the average rating for the Tigers' pledges is 3.86, with that number being 4.2 for the Buckeyes.

On top of all of this, Ohio State is setting themselves up to have a good shot at landing several more five-star targets. The staff is in a solid position with Kam Dewbery, Luther Burden, Shawn Murphy and Zach Rice, so this next class has the chance to outdo what the Buckeyes are getting done in the 2021 cycle.

1. Would two tight ends commit to Ohio State in the span of a few weeks?

Bennett Christian has been a name familiar to Buckeye Nation for roughly a month. The Peach State native told Rivals' Chad Simmons in late July that his top three schools consisted of Ohio State, Penn State and Tennessee.

Christian, the 13th-ranked tight end in the 2022 cycle, now has a commitment date set for Sept. 1, and has eliminated the Nittany Lions from contention. All signs are pointing to Ryan Day's program coming out on top in this one, with over a half-dozen predictions having been submitted for him to choose the Buckeyes over the past week and a half.

If Christian does indeed commit to Ohio State, then his trip to Columbus earlier this month should be credited for playing a key role in his decision.

"I got to see everything I wanted to see," Christian recently told Simmons. "It was really an awesome visit. I saw the facilities, I saw the stadium, I walked around campus and I really got to see everything — I just couldn't go inside it.

"The campus really surprised me. It is in a big city, but there was a lot of trees, water, green, and that really stood out to me. Overall, I had a great time."

What gets interesting, however, is the emergence of Benji Gosnell, whose three finalists are Florida, North Carolina and Ohio State.

I recently submitted a FutureCast prediction in favor of the Buckeyes to land Gosnell based on a previous conversation we had. Gosnell informed me that Ohio State is his leader, and was looking to visit the school "as soon as possible."

During this interview, the fifth-ranked TE on Rivals lit up when talking about the program and his relationship with the staff. He had around 10-15 conversations with the coaches before he even was offered by them in June.

I'm hearing a decision could be coming soon, and Ohio State will remain my prediction until I hear otherwise.

My only question is this: If Christian does indeed commit to OSU this upcoming Tuesday, would Gosnell consider committing to the Gators or Tar Heels instead as both of them do not have tight ends committed in their 2022 class?

If Gosnell doesn't have a problem choosing a school that already has a player at his position committed, however, then I definitely envision the Buckeyes landing commitments from a pair of tight ends in the span of a few weeks.

2. Will Ohio State be able to hold off Alabama for the top spot in the final rankings?

For this section, I am going to assume Tyleik Williams does commit to the Buckeyes today, which would put the program back at No. 1 in the Rivals Team Rankings.

Assuming this does happen, the question now shifts to whether or not they'll be able to hold on to this spot for the remainder of the 2021 cycle.

I wrote in a previous edition of 3-2-1 that it was hard to see a scenario in which Ohio State doesn't finish with the best class, in terms of point total. It wasn't a question of whether or not they'll wind up on top; it was if they could finish with the greatest class of all time.

The latter part of the previous sentence seems to be out of reach, but the college can still beat out Alabama for their first No. 1 class in the Rivals.com era.

In terms of what happened that led to the Crimson Tide surpassing Ohio State, a few of their commits received major jumps. J.C. Latham went from No. 75 in the nation to a borderline five-star, Christian Leary went from outside of the Rivals250 to No. 43 overall and Buckeyes commit Marvin Harrison dropped nearly 80 spots to No. 120.

Even with this massive change in the rankings, the Buckeyes will be ahead of the Crimson Tide (2,750 points to 2,719 points) if Williams commits to the school today.

We know that Ohio State figures to be the leaders for J.T. Tuimoloau, Emeka Egbuka and Tywone Malone. All of them are top-50 players, with Egbuka and Tuimoloau being five-star prospects.

Meanwhile, some of Alabama's top remaining targets are seemingly heading elsewhere at the next level. USC appears to be in the best position to land Korey Foreman, Georgia is likely to keep Amarius Mims in the state, Oklahoma is trending for Camar Wheaton, Florida and Texas A&M are viewed as the favorites for Tunmise Adeleye and Louisiana-based targets Maason Smith and Sage Ryan are labeled as LSU leans.

Assuming there are no major decommitments from now on, Alabama does not land more than two of the targets above and Ohio State can add Egbuka, Malone and/or Tuimoloau, I think the Buckeyes will ultimately finish atop the standings.

The criteria for qualifying as a bold prediction isn't met when essentially everyone views Williams as a future Buckeye, so you can remove the word "bold" from the phrase above.

This is as close to a layup, in terms of a prediction, as I'm going to get for quite some time, so I'm rolling with it for this piece.

Williams isn't the flashy name some have been hoping for, but he's a good d-lineman prospect with a knack for getting into the backfield and disrupting plays. He plays a little bit too high at times, but his quickness and use of his hands to shed off blockers makes him an intriguing player, especially since he'll be learning under Larry Johnson's tutelage.

I also think Williams will be an important get as he is teammates with five-star junior Shawn Murphy. Murphy is already tight with a couple of 2022 OSU commits, namely C.J. Hicks, and Williams heading off to Columbus could entice him to do the same as well.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.