3-2-1: Offensive tackle recruiting, Brown opts to stay close to home

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 the 2021 cycle.

Some of the topics below include a discussion on Ohio State's pursuit of several offensive tackles, the Buckeyes landing in the top 10 lists for a pair of rising juniors and when five-star wideout Emeka Egbuka could be making his decision.

1. A pair of talented 2022 prospects included the Buckeyes in their top 10 lists

In last week’s edition of “3-2-1,” we highlighted several 2021 targets who wound up tabbing Ohio State as a finalist in their recruitments.

Over the past 24 hours, a pair of highly touted prospects in next year’s cycle — Dasan McCullough and Julian Armella — each released a list of their top 10 schools.

Unsurprisingly, the Buckeyes made the cut for both of them.

When looking at these two coveted rising juniors, McCullough is the one Ryan Day and his staff are in the best position to land at this juncture.

I caught up with the 6-foot-4, 215-pound defender last night to discuss what led to him having Ohio State in his top group. A full story will be released tomorrow, but here’s a quick glimpse at what he told me.

"Well, Ohio State was in there because I have a really strong relationship with coach Washington, coach Coombs and coach Day," McCullough said. "They've been recruiting me for a while. I've met their whole staff, including the strength and conditioning staff and the academic advisors."

All the FutureCast predictions submitted for McCullough are in Ohio State’s favor, though he noted that no decision date is set up. If he does opt to make a commitment sooner rather than later, however, then I expect Ryan Day’s program to be the choice for the future Rivals100 member.

The Buckeyes are going to have some work to do in their pursuit of Armella, who is a Florida State legacy.

Our own Dave Lackford spoke with him last week, and the five-star offensive lineman did say that Columbus would be one of his destinations if he could take four out-of-state visits right now.

Armella also listed a few reasons as to why Ohio State is high on his radar.

“I know they do a great job recruiting,” Armella said. “When I call and speak to the coaches, they talked about more things than just football. They tell me about campus life, the things to do at Ohio State and just how they can set me up for life after football.

“They're most definitely a school that's always been a dream. I've always thought about going there.”

The Seminoles appear to be the ones to beat as Armella's father played for the program in the 1990s, and programs like Clemson and Florida will be tough to edge out as well. For Ohio State, however, getting Armella on campus for the first time, whenever that opportunity arrives, will be the next important step.

2. With Latham trending elsewhere, there’s another Rivals100 OL to watch out for

In Dave Lackford's and I’s first “Skull Session” this past Sunday, we noted that we’ve been hearing Alabama is now the favorite to land Rivals100 offensive lineman J.C. Latham.

Latham had previously been trending to Ohio State, but that is no longer the case. The 13th-ranked offensive tackle in the country recently tweeted that he is in need of a commitment edit, and all signs point toward the Crimson Tide adding him to their 2021 class soon.

Even though this is a blow for a program that is looking for another elite player to add to the exterior of their o-line, the Buckeyes still have other options.

These options include Garrett Dellinger, Rayshaun Benny and even Tristian Leigh. I’ll be talking about Dellinger down below and Dave will have an update on Benny later today, so let’s focus in on Leigh for this section.

Leigh does not appear to be in any rush to make a decision as he dropped a top 15 a month ago, and is still considering a number of schools that are pursuing him.

The top-30 recruit on Rivals has never visited Ohio State before, but is staying in touch with Greg Studrawa and a current Buckeye as well.

“I'd say Ohio State is definitely up there because you just can't ignore the development they've had,” Leigh said. “Coach Stud is so technical with his players. He looks for a specific build for his players and you can see the success they've had. He said I remind him of Paris Johnson a lot. Me and Paris get on Zoom and watch film with coach Stud.”

Rivals recruiting analyst Adam Friedman says that while Leigh’s top 15 remains intact, he believes the main group here is Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma.

With Leigh’s recruitment still relatively open, it will be interesting to see if the Buckeyes can become a major contender if they end up striking out on Latham.

3. Jyaire Brown is staying close to Columbus

The Buckeyes received good news on Tuesday from one of their commits in next year’s class.

Jyaire “Hollywood" Brown, who announced his decision to team up with Ohio State in April, revealed this week that he’s transferring to Lakota West High School. He’ll be playing his final two years of high school alongside fellow tOSU pledge Tegra Tshabola.

Based on what Brown told me during our recent conversation, it is pretty significant that Brown chose to stay close to home.

The native of Cincinnati, Ohio, made it clear in the interview that he intends on taking "a lot" of visits throughout his recruitment. He knows this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he wants to take advantage of everything this process has to offer.

Brown previously strapped up the pads for Warren Easton Charter High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is just over an hour away from LSU's campus. A few other options on the table for Brown reside in the Southeastern Conference, such as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

So, instead of making the move to a state that is home to another school besides Ohio State that he could take visits to on a regular basis, Brown will now be roughly an hour and a half away from Columbus. The next closest school to him, from his offer sheet, is Tennessee, which is around four hours away from West Chester, Ohio.

Now, this does not necessarily mean this week's news guarantees Brown will stick in this class, but it makes it a much easier task for the Buckeyes. Brown has never visited Ohio State, so getting him on campus after the dead period to once again reaffirm his decision will be the next step for the coaching staff.

1. Is Emeka Egbuka looking to make a decision soon?

Five-star prospect Emeka Egbuka isn't one to do many interviews with the media, but did speak with BuckeyeGrove earlier this week to discuss Ohio State's pursuit of him.

My biggest takeaway from the conversation was how collected he was with what he was saying, and didn't give any hints as to where he is leaning in his recruitment.

Another takeaway I had, which is the basis for the aforementioned question, is that it appeares to me he could end up making a decision closer to this point in time than to the Early Signing Period.

Just to be clear, Egbuka didn't explicitly say when he wants to commit; I am simply going off of my impression of our conversation.

Egbuka said he will be taking officials to Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Washington, all of whom are in his top four. The top-ranked wide receiver on Rivals is hoping to utilize OVs to each of these programs shortly after the conclusion of the prolonged dead period.

More importantly, he says he wants those trips to be conducted as soon as possible, which is what stood out to me.

Back in April, Egbuka told Rivals recruiting analyst Adam Gorney that taking officials during the season is a difficult process due to him having to fly out after a Friday game and be back in town by Monday.

As a result, he wants to knock those visits out to avoid any conflicts in his schedule in the fall. Egbuka's high school team doesn't begin playing until Sept. 4, so he will have just about five weeks to use those officials if the dead period does indeed end after July 31.

With plans to use his OVs as soon as he can, would Egbuka take things a step further and commit once he's used all of those trips? This would make sense as he would also be able to focus solely on his senior campaign instead of continuing to go through the intense grind of the recruiting process.

It remains to be seen what Egbuka ultimately decides to do, but an earlier decision would mostly likely benefit Ohio State the most as they have the most momentum right now in his recruitment.

2. Does Ohio State have any shot at landing Garrett Dellinger?

One prospect who has decided not to use his official visits prior to choosing where he will commit is Clarkston, Michigan, offensive lineman Garrett Dellinger.

The Rivals250 prospect announced on Monday that he's going to be revealing his college decision on June 24. Four programs are in his final group at this time: LSU, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.

I recently spoke with Dellinger about his interest in the Buckeyes, which dished out an offer to him in the summer before his sophomore season. Dellinger, the 21st-ranked offensive tackle on Rivals, is impressed with their program for life after football and the team itself, and has manufactured a good relationship with the staff.

"So, first thing is the coaches. The coaches are amazing," Dellinger previously said of tOSU making his top four. "Coach Day is probably one of the more normal coaches. He really feels like a strong family man. Coach Stud, great offensive line coach. He showed it last season what his offensive line can do. The coaches really did make an impact."

Dellinger also noted that Ohio State's 2021 class, which is No. 1 on the Rivals Team Rankings, is sticking out to him because of the number of top-tier players that will be making the move to Columbus next year.

With all that said, however, LSU seems to be out in front in this one.

Rivals recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt stated a couple of weeks ago that the Tigers are still viewed as ones in the driver's seat here. He mentioned that there has been a lot of confidence in Baton Rouge since the start of the dead period, and his lone visit to the school last year made a strong impression on him.

Helmholdt did note, however, that Ohio State could be a dark horse contender for Dellinger, who prefers to keep things close to the vest.

As for the question above, I'd probably give the Buckeyes a 5-to-10 percent shot at landing Dellinger in a couple of weeks. This could mean Dellinger and Latham may be off the board by the end of this month, so the Buckeyes can shift their attention to other tackles like Benny and Leigh.

Ohio State ends up with six five-stars in this class

I may be going out on a limb here with this one as the last program to have this many five-star prospects in a class was Georgia (8) in the 2018 cycle. Also, there is the very real possibility that some of the Buckeyes' current commits and targets end up dropping in the rankings.

As I view things right now, however, I do believe that a half-dozen five-star recruits in this class for Ohio State is a realistic possibility.

It's been well-established that the program appears to have the advantage with Washington-based recruits Emeka Egbuka and J.T. Tuimoloau. I'm adding those two to this class and, in my opinion, I don't see either of them losing their fifth star by the time the final rankings are released.

Let's take a look at some other possibilities for the Buckeyes.

Tony Grimes is a name to pay attention to, though Georgia and North Carolina are sitting in a good spot for his services. Even with this being the case, Ohio State is not out of the running here, and his father maintains the program is still being strongly considered by the family.

A couple of other options, who are not yet five-stars, are Tristan Leigh and Tywone Malone.

We talked about Leigh earlier, while Malone is continuing to stay in communication with Day and company on a consistent basis. His head coach recently said Ohio State is doing a "really good job" recruiting Malone, and is one of several coaching staffs prioritizing him the most.

Even if none of the previous three options pan out, multiple commits could be in line to earn their fifth star in the future. Kyle McCord (No. 26 overall), Jakailin Johnson (No. 35 overall) and Marvin Harrison, Jr. (No. 42 overall) could each receive a bump in their rankings when it's all said and done.

This is a prediction I feel fairly confident about, so be sure to hold my feet to the fire if it ends up being wrong.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.