Ohio State cracks the top five for Rivals100 LB Raesjon Davis

College football programs across the country have, for the most part, signed most of their 2021 class, and are focused on building up relationships with 2022 targets.

One of the schools still recruiting in this current cycle, however, is Ohio State. Head coach Ryan Day and his staff continue to be in the hunt for two of the most sought-after unsigned seniors in the country: J.T. Tuimoloau and Raesjon Davis.

Now, after a surprise tweet from Davis on Sunday, the Buckeyes are in the top five for both prospects.

Roughly a couple of hours ago, Davis unveiled his group of finalists with National Signing Day right around the corner. Along with OSU making the cut, the fourth-ranked outside linebacker on Rivals has LSU, Oregon, USC and Vanderbilt in his top five.

This was not too much of a surprise as Rashad Davis Sr., Davis' father, told us last week that four of those programs were at the top of his son's recruitment. The only surprise here is Vanderbilt, which most people did not figure to be in contention for his services.

Switching back over to Ohio State, they figure to be trailing USC for Davis at this time. Davis is high on the Buckeyes and has established a strong relationship with linebackers coach Al Washington, but it's hard not to deny the momentum the Trojans' have created recently.

They landed the No. 3 overall senior in the country — Korey Foreman — earlier this month, and appear to be on their way to being rewarded with a commitment from five-star junior Domani Jackson in less than a week. Also worth pointing out is that over a half-dozen FutureCast predictions have been submitted on his profile page, all in favor of USC.

While it appears as if the Buckeyes may end up finishing second here, their best chance at turning things around late in Davis' recruitment is if he ends up visiting the school. His father recently told me they are looking to "set up" a trip to Columbus, but there is only a couple of weeks left for them to do so before Davis signs on Feb. 3.

Even though it seems like a small chance Ohio State will land Davis, the staff isn't giving up on him until pen is put to paper. More specifically, Washington has been in touch with both Davis and his father multiple times per week.

“We love Coach Al, he’s a good guy," Davis Sr. previously told BuckeyeGrove. "We’re able to talk about other things than just football, which is really cool; family, life after football, which coach has experience in. He’s played and he now coaches. They have pretty good conversations. I know have a good time talking to coach."

Davis seems to be trending toward USC, but we'll be monitoring which schools he winds up checking out this month, if he ends up taking visits. Getting Davis to join the class would mark the first time Ohio State has signed a player from Mater Dei High School in the Rivals.com era.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.