Buckeyes land a commitment from Rivals100 wide receiver Caleb Burton
The Buckeyes continue to have some work left to do in this current recruiting cycle, but they are definitely making their presence known in next year's class.
Ohio State already has the No. 1 class in the 2022, and just added one of the top prospects in the country to the fold today. Caleb Burton, the No. 29 overall junior on Rivals, announced his commitment to Ryan Day and his staff moments ago, with this decision coming four days after five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers joined forces with the Buckeyes.
This is incredible news for a program that already holds pledges from four of the top 25 players in the country: CJ Hicks, Dasan McCullough, Gabe Powers and Ewers. Not to mention that they're continuing to establish a stronghold in Ohio with Jyaire Brown and Tegra Tshabola in the fold, and have top-15 tight ends Bennett Christian and Benji Gosnell committed.
In Burton, Ohio State is keeping up their trend of landing coveted wide receivers from the Lone Star State. They signed Jaxon Smith-Njigba in 2020 and borderline five-star recruit Garrett Wilson the year before. If Burton's current ranking holds or improves, then he'll eventually earn five-star status on our rankings service.
Also worth noting is that this commitment is fairly significant considering Luther Burden's decision to join forces with the Oklahoma Sooners last month. I listed Burton, along with Armani Winfield, C.J. Williams and Darrius Clemons, as wide receivers to pay attention to following Burden's pledge. We'll be paying attention to those other pass catchers listed above, along with Arizona pledge Kiyon Graves, for the remainder of this cycle.
Andy Anders will have a full breakdown of Burton's skill set and what this means for Ohio State soon. I did, however, want to include this quote from Burton from June, which may shed some insight into his decision to commit to the Buckeyes.
"Even as a little kid, I grew up watching and knowing about Ohio State," Burton previously told Sam Spiegelman. "Coach (Brian) Hartline, what he does with the wide receivers is really great. He played in the league, so I like talking to Coach because he's been through it all. I was super excited when Ohio State offered because I've been looking forward to that one for a while.
"I learn a lot and Coach Hartline told me he's gonna coach us hard, but it's for the best. He knows everything to do to help you get where you want to get to."
Ohio State could also be in for some more good news in the future as there is the possibility multiple big-time targets could join Burton in committing to the program before the year is over.
Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove for continued coverage on OSU's recruiting efforts.