3-2-1: Preparing for a big June

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 a prediction about what's to come in the summer.

Some of the topics below include a full breakdown of all the official visits that have been scheduled thus far, updating where things stand with some targets in the trenches, a Rivals250 wideout says he's in touch with the Buckeyes, and much more.

1. Taking a look at all the official visits that have been scheduled in June

The month of June will be a huge one for the Buckeyes when it comes to their recruiting efforts for several top targets.

Starting with the first weekend, we have confirmed roughly a dozen official visitors over these past few days. Most of these prospects, however, are already members of Ohio State’s 2022 class, as Bennett Christian, Caleb Burton, CJ Hicks, Gabe Powers, Jyaire Brown, Kyion Grayes, Tegra Tshabola and Quinn Ewers will be visiting that weekend.

It was somewhat surprising to see so many future Buckeyes all planning on going up to Columbus the same weekend. I personally was expecting some of the commits to space out their trips so that they could take their officials with other targets later that month.

With this being labeled as “Buckeye Bash 2.0,” however, then it makes sense that they’ll all be in town at the same time, which should go a long way toward continuing to build the relationships they have with one another.

As for the targets that are visiting the first weekend of June, the staff will also welcome Nick James, Omari Abor and Xavier Nwankpa on campus.

Abor and Nwankpa are interesting as I see Ohio State as a top-two option for both of them. I think it's neck-and-neck between Oklahoma and tOSU in Abor’s recruitment at this time, but I still have the Buckeyes leading for Nwankpa.

The following weekend, Ryan Day’s staff will host Rivals250 offensive tackle Jaylen Early for an official. Early, who attends the same high school as Abor, is high on Oklahoma and the in-state Texas A&M Aggies as well, so this will be an important trip.

From June 18-20, Ohio State will host offensive targets Dallan Hayden and Kojo Antwi on campus.

I find it hard envisioning a scenario in which the Buckeyes land Antwi, but they are absolutely in a great spot with Hayden right now. The Rivals250 running back took a self-guided visit to Columbus in March, and it appears to be down to Notre Dame and Ohio State for his services.

Finally, on the last weekend of June, we have confirmed a trio of official visitors: Addison Nichols and Pennsylvania-based targets Enai White and Nicholas Singleton.

I was told recently that Ohio State is “very high” on White’s board, and the belief has been that this one will be another Penn State-OSU battle. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are also battling it out for Singleton, but Notre Dame is a legitimate contender for his services as well.

Nichols is somewhat of a dark horse as I heard that he is Georgia’s to lose if they really want him. If that’s not the case, then don’t be surprised if Greg Studrawa and Company end up landing the 15th-ranked offensive tackle on our network.

Additional prospects that are most likely taking officials to Ohio State in June are Caden Curry, Jake Pope and Zion Branch.

Branch’s mother told me the plan is for them to visit the first weekend of June, but they haven’t “solidified anything yet.” Pope says his official to the school will be in June, though he’s not quite sure what date it will be.

2. Ohio State is keeping tabs on a Rivals250 wide receiver

Even with two of the top wide receivers in the country committed to a program that is stacked at that position group, Brian Hartline’s work is not yet done in the 2022 cycle.

We know that the Buckeyes are continuing to put on the full-court press for CJ Williams, who is the third-ranked wideout in the country. Williams has solid relationships with both Hartline and Day himself, and is intrigued by the possibility of teaming up with Ewers at the next level.

Also, as mentioned above, Antwi is another key pass catcher that Ohio State has not let up on their pursuit of. Antwi seems to be likely destined for Georgia or Texas A&M, but we’ll see if his official to Columbus changes the tide in his recruitment.

One name that has not been talked about at all, however, is Sam Mbake out of Snellville (Georgia). Mbake, who is in possession of nearly 30 offers, told our Sam Spiegelman this week that he is hearing from three additional schools: Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State.

The Rivals250 junior prospect had high praise for tOSU’s wide receivers coach when talking about the program with Spiegelman.

"It's a similar deal with Coach Hartline,” Mbake said. “He's very detailed in the way he talks football and the way he's produced the receivers that have come through Ohio State the past few years he's been there, they're amazing."

I also reported a few weeks ago that the Buckeyes have been in touch with Penn State commit Kaden Saunders, and that they were in weekly communication with five-star Oklahoma pledge Luther Burden.

Ohio State does not need a third wideout in this class considering all of the success they have had in recent years, but they are certainly recruiting with the expectation that they will land another one to go along with Burton and Grayes.

Saunders doesn’t seem like a likely offer as the goal appears to be for that third wideout to be a bigger, stronger pass catcher, which explains the interest in Mbake. Mbake is 6-foot-3, 193 pounds, so he has at least two inches and 20 pounds on both Burton and Grayes.

3. Aliou Bah is now off the table

Back in late November, IMG Academy offensive lineman Aliou Bah revealed his top eight.

For quite some time after that tweet, some were fully expecting his next announcement to be a commitment to Ohio State.

I submitted my FutureCast for the Buckeyes in late February, and there were even some rumblings that he could commit shortly after Grayes did.

Well, we’re hearing that Bah did indeed try to join forces with tOSU multiple times, but it appears as if they wanted him to wait a little bit before joining the class. Bah must not have been fine with waiting longer as he released his top six earlier this week, with the Buckeyes not cracking that list.

With Bah out of the picture now, and possibly for good, it raises the urgency to land Rivals100 o-lineman Kiyaunta Goodwin and in-state prospect Aamil Wagner.

Goodwin is undoubtedly Ohio State’s top target at tackle in this cycle, and their main competitor at this time is Kentucky. In my opinion, the Buckeyes cannot lose yet another top OL target to the Wildcats like they did last year with Jager Burton.

Both Burton and Goodwin had released a top five at one point prior to their senior seasons, with their finalists including Alabama, Clemson, Kentucky and Ohio State. Now, it seems very much possible that Goodwin, like Burton, will end up choosing the Wildcats over the traditional powerhouse football programs.

Ohio State got over the Clemson hump last season, but will need to start winning these battles in order to win it all. I am a firm believer that an offense’s success starts in the trenches, so missing out on Burton, JC Latham and potentially Goodwin would all be tough pills to swallow.

I’m still not sold on Goodwin being a lock to sign with Kentucky if he commits there as the season could determine his final decision, but the Wildcats are looking more and more like the clear-cut favorite for him with each passing day.

1. What should we make of defensive tackle recruiting right now?

Defensive tackle recruiting in the 2022 cycle has seen a few changes since the start of the year.

Kicking things off was Ohio State delivering an offer to seemingly UGA-bound prospect Christen Miller. Following offers from both the Buckeyes and USC Trojans, Miller has postponed his original commitment date of April 4, and there’s no new date as to when he will announce his decision.

I will never count out Georgia for any top Peach State recruit, but I’m thinking this one will come down to either Ohio State or USC.

Hypothetically, if Miller chose to commit out of nowhere today, then I would assume his choice would be the Trojans. This is due to the fact that Miller that he recently made the cross-country trip to SoCal, and spending that type of money on a self-guided visit on his own shows serious interest in the program.

Assuming he holds out on committing until after he takes another trip to Ohio State, which I expect him to do, I am giving the Buckeyes just as good of a shot to land Miller as USC has.

Interestingly enough, however, the Buckeyes did not stop there when it came to dishing out offers to 2022 interior d-linemen. Last month, Larry Johnson and company gave the green light to Viera (Florida) recruit Jamari Lyons.

Lyons immediately showed interest in Ohio State, telling our Carson MacRae that it meant a lot to be offered by Johnson. The top-25 DT on Rivals also said that the Buckeyes became a contender for his services following the good news he received.

“The offer from Ohio State is a really big thing for me," Lyons previously told BuckeyeGrove. "It does affect my recruitment a lot because they instantly become like one of my top teams as well.”

I initially thought that Lyons would be the last defensive tackle offer for the foreseeable future, but that was not the case. Just yesterday, Ohio State extended an offer to Domonique Orange, a 6-foot-2, 315-pound prospect out of Missouri.

To answer the question above, it seems as if the Buckeyes are not as confident in landing some of their top DT targets, and want a little reassurance just in case those options don’t pan out.

This is a program that has signed just three defensive tackles in the past three cycles, so it’s imperative for them to land at least two or more in the 2022 class.

Walter Nolen is far from a guarantee given the SEC powers that are after him and his family ties to Michigan, Keithian Alexander is committed to Georgia, and fellow five-star Travis Shaw appears to be Clemson’s to lose.

Nick James is definitely high on the program, but there is no clear leader in his recruitment following the top 12 he dropped recently. We’ll hopefully have an in-depth update on him and where things stand following James’ trip to Columbus in June.

Rivals100 prospect Khurtiss Perry remains an option, though we’ll see if any school can beat out the in-state Crimson Tide or Auburn Tigers for his services.

There are no DT prospects, as of writing this article, that are seen as Ohio State leans, so I do not know if I would be confident in saying right now that they will land even two players at the position when it's all said and done.

I would indeed be surprised if they offer another one in this class, but nothing is off the table for the Buckeyes with the need to load up on defensive tackles.

2. When can we expect some news on J.T. Tuimoloau?

This is a question I have myself, but I pose it as Tuimoloau obviously remains one of the more talked about targets for Ryan Day’s program.

Here is what we know: Tuimoloau is going to wait until he takes the visits he wants to take before choosing his college, Ohio State is likely the school to beat heading into those trips, and he will not be rushed in his timeline.

Also, the latest on him, from a recruiting standpoint, is that he released a top five back in December. The programs that made the cut are Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and the in-state Washington Huskies.

Worth noting is that no outside influences will get him to change his course of direction, and Tuimoloau and his family are operating at their own pace.

I have reached out to Tuimoloau and his father in recent days to see when he will be taking his visits, but I've yet to hear back from them. The signing period started on Feb. 3 and ends on Aug. 1, so it is reasonable to assume they will be waiting until June for Tuimoloau to utilize his officials.

The reason why I reached out to them is because it won’t be a surprise when the five-star locks in his visit; moreover, the key will be when he decides to do so.

From my perspective, it would be preferable to get Tuimoloau on a weekend, or possibly even a three-day span in the middle of the week, where there are not too many targets visiting as well. Bonding with 2022 commits would be great, but Tuimoloau needs to spend as much one-on-one time with the coaching staff and his potential soon-to-be-teammates as he can.

We’re still waiting to hear from the Tuimoloau family about what their plans are, but his recruitment will not be determined until those visits are wrapped up and in the books.

I was tempted to go as high as three on this one, but I believe two is a reasonable prediction.

This is also assuming that the current targets mentioned near the beginning of this article will not commit to Ohio State prior to utilizing their officials to the school.

As for which prospects I believe are the most likely to commit in the coming weeks following their trips to Columbus, then I would go with Dallan Hayden and Xavier Nwankpa.

Starting with Hayden, he loved everything about his self-guided visit to the campus last month, and even showed up sporting an Ezekiel Elliott #15 jersey. I believe that Ohio State should be viewed as the unofficial favorite at this juncture, and that some time with the coaches is going to sell him fully on the program when he gets back on campus.

Switching over to Nwankpa, the Rivals100 safety has been talked about by members of the 2022 class as if he is already committed. It would not surprise me whatsoever if Nwankpa is blown away by his time in Columbus and his interactions with the pledges to the point that he scraps his remaining officials and joins the class.

Addison Nichols is another player I'm keeping an eye on as he could become a legitimate option if Georgia opts to explore other options, so I'm expecting a potentially big June/July for the Buckeyes.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.