Big Ten interest pouring in for Kirk

A few class of 2021 Ohio prospects already hold major Power Five offers, including Dublin Coffman defensive back A.J. Kirk Jr. The 6-foot, 185-pound prospect has been on the radar for a year now after being a varsity starter at Coffman. The talented defender has also been on the Ohio State radar for a while now as he is the younger brother of former Buckeye great Mike Doss.

"I've had some communication with them already," said Kirk of the Buckeyes. "They wanted me to come up to Friday Night Lights but I was out of town for baseball. But me and Ohio State, we keep in contact. Mostly I talk to coach Alford."

Ohio State has not yet offered Kirk, but the Buckeyes are keeping tabs on him. An offer from the local school could potentially be a game-changer for him.

"Ohio State, to me, right now they would be in my top three schools," he stated. "If I got a shot from them, they'd definitely be up there in my top three, for sure."

While Kirk has undoubtedly heard about the Ohio State program from Doss, he has also formed his own positive opinions about the Buckeyes and how they run their program.

"I like the way that the coaches check in on the players and make sure that they're doing everything that they need to do," Kirk explained. "It's not solely based on football. They want to make sure that your academics are straight. Football-wise I just like their aggressiveness."

Boston College, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Michigan, and Toledo have already offered Kirk a scholarship. The Michigan offer came through in June and it was a big moment early on in Kirk's recruiting process.

"We had a camp where they had their top prospects," Kirk recalled. "Everything went good. They told me they had someone watching me and I guess I did good enough. I was with Mike Drennen and we were in a room with Jim Harbaugh and he asked me about who I was and I told him. He told me that I looked like a 2019 guy out there and he met with coach Zordich and they went to go watch my film and then I got the offer."

Both Kirk and Drennen are being recruited heavily by Michigan early on.

"It's big to me," he said of the offer from the Wolverines. "Any offer, especially a Big Ten offer, is big to me. It was my first Big Ten offer so that was crazy. I was pumped up about it."

Many other Big Ten and Power Five programs are also recruiting Kirk so far, including Michigan State, Minnesota, and Purdue.