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Five-star OT Tristan Leigh gives the latest ahead of his trip to Ohio State

Tristan Leigh
Tristan Leigh (Rivals.com)

Five-star Tristian Leigh hasn't officially narrowed his list of contenders but there are only a few suitors left in the picture for the Fairfax (Va.) Robinson offensive tackle. After trips to Oklahoma and LSU in the last month or so, Leigh is hoping to take a trip to Columbus to get a closer look at the what Ohio State brings to the table. Leigh broke down the latest in his recruitment and what the next steps in his recruitment could look like.

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CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series

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IN HIS OWN WORDS...

"If my mom can get off of work next weekend, I'm pretty confident we'll go (to Ohio State)," Leigh said. "It's not 100-percent but I really hope we can go so I can get a feel for what the other commits are like and just be in the Columbus area.

"I went for a game last year so I got sort of a feel for it but with these types of visits it's kind of hard because there are no games and you can't see the coaches," he said. "Honestly, my main things are seeing who I would be playing with, what the vibe is in Columbus, and how people act.

"Most recently they've been talking to me constantly about the opportunity at the tackle position because they're not as solid as they were last year," said Leigh. "Recently I've been watching film with coach Stud a lot. He doesn't miss. If you go to him he's going to develop you and get you to where you need to be. Based off his track record, I don't doubt him. It's kind of the same thing with coach Bedenbaugh at Oklahoma. He just gets it done. It's hard not to believe what he says when I'm seeing it actively happen with these guys in the league.

"Nothing is really new with LSU," he said. "Coach Cregg and I are talking on the phone. Coach O and I have been on the phone too. We're talking about how things might have been different if I was playing for them against Missouri and things like that. It's gets me amped up seeing myself in that situation.

"Caleb (Williams) is probably one of the best recruiters Oklahoma has," Leigh said. "I've really been seeing Oklahoma's recruiting picking up with some other guys and with me. It's not just Caleb but you really see what they have to offer and you see it's a good place to be. I'm not really discouraged by this season. You've seen that they can get to the Playoff because they've been doing it.

"Those are probably the three main schools right now but I'm still in contact with Florida and Clemson," he said. "I haven't been hearing as much lately from them. Florida has the same type of opportunity as LSU and that's a big factor for me.

"I'm not really sure what my timeline looks like right now," said Leigh. "I've had talks about narrowing things down to three teams and I'm not sure about my announcement. It's still up in the air. We've been talking about possibly doing it at the All-American Game but I'm not certain we're going to play that."

RIVALS' REACTION...

Even though Leigh has a long list of schools that he is officially focusing on, the core group of contenders really only includes Oklahoma, LSU, and Ohio State. Oklahoma is in the driver's seat because of his experience during his trip to Norman and his relationship with five-star Sooners quarterback commit Caleb Williams is growing even stronger. LSU seems to have fallen back a bit even though he has a very good relationship with the LSU coaching staff and current commits. His family feels very comfortable in that environment too. Oklahoma's current commits and the community around the program did a great job making Leigh's family feel comfortable as well and now it's up to Ohio State to try to match that experience. If Leigh is able to make it to Columbus with his family, it'll be important for the locals to make it a special weekend for them and the other commits that will be in town will really need to put their arms around Leigh and his family to make sure they feel like it's place they fit in and could be comfortable. For now at least, my FutureCase pick is on Oklahoma but that could change after the trip to Ohio State if all goes well for the Buckeyes.


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