Ohio State football recruiting: What's left to do on offense?

There are enough cliches about college football recruiting to fill every day of the year in one of those quote calendars that occupy desks in cubicles across the country. It's called an "arms race" or the "lifeblood of college football" or maybe you've heard it's all about the Jimmies and Joes, not the X's and O's. Ohio State has a lot of well-armed Jimmies and Joes and a redundancy of "lifeblood."

The question is when is enough, enough? In Ohio State's case, the answer to that question is unclear. They have eighteen seniors leaving in 2021 and nineteen prospects committed so far to take their vacant scholarship. If no one on the roster opts for the NFL before their senior seasons (some will) and no one transfers (some will) Ohio State will have roughly 87 scholarship players to start the 2021 season. Accounting for underclassmen enter the draft and the enhances possibility for attrition in the transfer portal era, let's estimate that Ohio State will take 25 players in this class meaning that they have room for six more signees this cycle. That leaves six more spots for the '21 class and it's safe to assume those six get split evenly among the defensive and offensive side of the ball.

Committed Players:

Quarterback – Kyle McCord (Done)

Runningback – TreyVeyon Henderson, Evan Pryor (Done)

Receiver - Marvin Harrison Jr., Jayden Ballard ( Ohio State will take one more if its Emeka Egbuka or possibly a combination of Emeka Egbuka and Christian Leary.)

Tight end - Sam Hart (Perhaps Ohio State takes one more.)

Offensive Line - Donovan Jackson, Ben Christman (Ohio State will take one more guard and one more tackle.)

Things are looking good with Ohio State and Egbuka. I detailed the receiver situation last week, check it out here. He’s down to four schools Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Washington. The Huskies are the home school and I would put them second to behind the Buckeyes. This one isn’t over by any means. Egbuka will most likely take four official visits before announcing his decision but for now, Ohio State is in good shape. Make sure to read Egbuka's interview with BuckeyeGrove's own Joseph Hastings here.

Recent developments are indicating that Alabama is making a major surge here. I've even heard that the TIde may have actually overtaken Oklahoma who was the longtime favorite. He was supposed to make an announcement in early June but thought better of that and will now take more time to assess things. I've also heard that Ohio State is in consideration but they have work to do.

I believe that if Ohio State lands Egbuka they are done but if Leary wants in they will make room. If they miss on Egbuka and Leary they may not pursue another receiver in this class because of the depth at the position.

TARGETS:

Hudson Wolfe was rumored to be leaning towards Ohio State for a long time but after speaking with people close to the situation I'm not sure that was really the case. I have him choosing Tennessee soon but I wouldn't be shocked, just surprised, if he picked Ohio State or Ole Miss.

I spoke with Jordan Dingle two weeks ago and he said he plans to announce his top schools in June. I expect Ohio State to make the cut so he is a name to watch moving forward. Other schools in the mix are Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Vanderbilt, and Virginia Tech. His brother, Justice, plays for Georgia Tech so they have a built-in advantage. There's a heavy emphasis on academics in the Dingle households and he wants to major ins something related to healthcare administration and he said Northwestern, Pitt, and Vanderbilt, "have some things I'm interested in academically." My Kentucky sources tell me the 'Cats are still very much in play and my Louisville sources ask for more information than they give me, which indicates they're not confident. Remember that Dingle was a prospect who earned his offer at camp.

Others in the mix:

Dametriuos Crownover from Texas is an interesting prospect. He stands at a towering six-foot-seven and weighs 235-pounds. He doesn't do a lot of interviews and I haven't heard his name brought up much so he's the mysterious prospect in this group to watch.

Michael Trigg, from Orlando, Florida is also another intriguing option but I’ve heard from sources that he’s leaning Auburn and Ohio State has work to do.

Thomas Fidone was rumored to be a priority Ohio State target but he didn’t put OSU in his top-whatever so I would put him on the back burner for now.

Honestly, I could see Ohio State only taking one tight end in this class if Wolfe chooses Tennessee this month.

The plan for Burton was to take his official visits in the Summer and announce on Aug., 24. I asked him today if he was delaying his announcement until he could do that and he responded, "No, not yet." A delay is a very real possibility as Burton has gone on the record saying he didn't want to be committed to a school while taking official visits elsewhere. He has visited all the schools in his top seven so he could still make an informed decision on the 24th based on what he's experienced in person.

Latham was long rumored to be an Ohio State lean but recent information suggests that he's going to publicly commit to Alabama in the very near future. All of my sources are saying they are confident that he's headed to Tuscaloosa but they haven't heard anything that makes them 100% sure that's the case. I was also told by a source from Florida that "He changes his mind like the Florida weather." He still hasn't publicly set a commitment date at this point. Sounds like a few twists and turns could be ahead.

Sources close to Leigh's recruitment have indicated that the Ohio State is a legitimate contender for the number two offensive tackle prospect in the country. While the industry seems to think he's headed to Clemson but I'm not sold on him having his mind made up. As I was typing this Rivals' national analyst Adam Freidman just published this interview with Leigh. Here is what Leigh told Freidman about OSU:

“I'd say Ohio Stateis definitely up there because you just can't ignore the development they've had,” Leigh said. “Coach Stud is so technical with his players. He looks for a specific build for his players and you can see the success they've had. He said I remind him ofParis Johnson a lot. Me and Paris get on Zoom and watch film with coach Stud. I like how it's football stuff with him, not just recruiting. I went up there for the Penn State game," said Leigh.

Spindler is an intriguing target becuase opinion as to where he's leaning is split among prognosticators. In today's industry there tends to be a follow the leader approach to predictions but the Michigan pundits are standing firm as are the people from Notre Dame. He gave LSU some love in this article posted a few hours ago and stated that he's not making a decision any time soon. It appears to me everyone who posted a pick for him jumped the gun and their going to have to monitor his recruitment closely and course correct, someone is wrong here. As far as Ohio Stet goes, the Buckeyes made his top-five so don't count them out by any means.

OSU is in Dellinger's top-four. Many think that LSU is the leader for Dellinger and I concur. I believe that Dellinger threw Ohio State in his top-four for clout, as the kids would say.

Others in the mix:

Rayshaun Benny from Oak Park, Michigan is an option Ohio State could pursue should they miss on the prospects above. William Griffin said he’s focusing on Florida, Kentucky, Bama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Louisville. Michael Gonzalez, said he doesn’t hear from OSU much and it looks like a Duke, Louisville, VT race. That being said, if Ohio State misses on the guys above it bears watching to see if the Buckeyes turn their attention to these two prospects.

Ohio State will take two more offensive linemen, most likely one to be groomed to play guard and the other to play tackle.