Buckeyes make the cut for Georgia receiver

STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. - Ohio State has landed plenty of outstanding prospects in its 2018 class but is still looking for its first wide receiver commit with several targets across the nation still being evaluated. One prospect that the Buckeyes are keeping a close eye on is Stockbridge (Ga.) product Marquez Ezzard.

The Rivals250 product is the teammate of recent defensive end commit Brenton Cox and just recently dropped his top eight, which includes the Buckeyes.

"It's Florida State, USC, Ole Miss, Georgia, Auburn, Florida, South Carolina, Ohio State," said Ezzard.

Ohio State and USC are the outliers for the 6-foot-1, 180-pound prospect as the other six programs all reside in the Southeast part of the country.

"Ohio State, they have a great program," he said of why the Buckeyes cracked his list. "They do a great job with getting guys to the NFL and I've heard it's wonderful out there."

Ezzard has yet to make it to Columbus but he's hoping to check that off his list sooner rather than later.

"I'm trying to get out there this summer," he said. "I talk to the receivers coach Zach Smith sometimes and Brenton is telling me a lot about Ohio State. He tells me that they need receivers."

The four-star receiver has been hearing plenty about the Buckeyes since his teammate made the call last week.

"The day (Cox) committed, he just told me, 'I think I'm ready'," Ezzard recalled. "He plays around all the time so I wasn't sure if he was serious or not. I asked him where he thought he was going and he told me it was going to be Ohio State. I was like the first person he told."

Ezzard and Cox have often talked about attending the same school. With Cox now in the fold and recruiting Ezzard on behalf of the Buckeyes, the four-star receiver said there is still the potential for the two to attend college together.

"It's definitely a possibility," he said.

But much like Ohio State, USC is an out-of-region program that has caught Ezzard's attention and the Trojans appear to be surging in recent weeks.

"USC, I have a great relationship with Tee Martin," he said. "We only started talking like a month ago and we're just clicking."

For now, Ezzard is focused on the eight programs that made the cut. Further cuts are coming at some point, but he is in no rush at this point.

"I'm going to narrow it down (further) but I don't know when," he said. "I want to visit all of the those schools (in his top 8) and after that narrow it down to like five."

While the Rivals250 product appears to be pretty wide open, he does have an idea of what it will take to land his commitment.

"The environment," he said. "The coaches, the players, somewhere that I feel comfortable and at home."

Whichever school does land him, they are getting a player who makes things happen between the lines.

"I'm a playmaker," he said. "I know how to make something shake."