Buckeyes land Rivals250 linebacker

Ohio State added yet another highly ranked linebacker prospect to its 2018 recruiting class on Friday in Dinwiddie (Va.) linebacker/athlete K'Vaughan Pope. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound prospect had been on commitment watch in Columbus for nearly the past two months and pulled the trigger on Friday evening, becoming commitment No. 17 for Ohio State in the 2018 class. He announced his decision as part of a ceremony at his high school.

Pope setup a June visit to Columbus where he met with the coaches and then worked out for them at camp. It looked at that point like things were moving towards a commitment in a matter of days. However both sides dotted some I's and crossed some T's in recent weeks, with Ohio State checking out transcripts and Pope making one last unofficial visit to Georgia.

But ultimately Ohio State proved to be the best fit for four-star outside linebacker prospect who is being looked at primarily as a walkout SAM linebacker in the mold of players like Darron Lee and Jerome Baker.

The Rivals250 prospect is Ohio State's third linebacker commit in the 2018 class, joining fellow Virginian Teradja Mitchell and Toledo (Ohio) St. John's product Dallas Gant. All three prospects are rated four-stars by Rivals.com, giving the Buckeyes one of the strongest linebacker hauls in the nation yet again.

BuckeyeGrove.com will have more on Pope's commitment shortly, including the impact this has on the Buckeyes' 2018 recruiting efforts with three linebackers now in the fold.