There have admittedly not been a lot of recent developments over the past week when it comes to Ohio State football recruiting.

Even so, this is the perfect time to speculate if some prospects who have yet to be offered by the program will receive the green light in the near future.

In this week's edition of Recruiting Roundtable, Carson MacRae and Joseph Hastings discuss whether or not Ryan Day's staff should offer five-star prospects Arch Manning and/or Jacoby Matthews. They also share their predictions for who will be the next prospect to commit to the Buckeyes.

MacRae: Yes, the Buckeyes should absolutely pursue Arch Manning. With Quinn Ewers reclassifying to the 2021 class, Ohio State has no QB in this current recruiting cycle, which opens the door for Manning to be the main guy in the program.

Furthermore, the interesting part about Manning is he actually has real interest in Ohio State. He and his father have both stated that they would love to check out Columbus and intend to do so whether it is on an unofficial or official visit.

Do I think Arch is a better quarterback prospect than Ewers and has the potential to jump him? Absolutely not, but I do think when comparing him to the other QBs in the 2023 class, including Malachi Nelson, Arch is my QB1.

The elite pocket passing ability, solid mobility, and large frame allow for Manning to be more comparable to Justin Fields than any current QB prospect they already have in the QB room. If Ryan Day is looking to add players that fit what they’ve already done with Fields, then Manning is a perfect prospect to target.

I like the Buckeyes chances if they offer and have them making a top five for him right out of the gate. After that, it is all speculation with his recruitment.

It should be interesting if they do, but I anticipate they will with his desire to visit Columbus.

Hastings: Absolutely. Without question.

Arch Manning was recently labeled the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 class, and well deserving of that ranking. Manning has excellent fundamentals while operating in the pocket, places the ball with pinpoint accuracy on deep balls, and he’s mobile enough to scramble for additional yards or throw on the run.

Even at the high school level, there doesn’t appear to be a throw Manning can’t make, and he’s impressed me with his willingness to take big hits in the pocket or lower his shoulder on unscripted runs. It also doesn’t hurt that Manning comes from a rich family of quarterbacks, with his two uncles – Eli and Peyton – being No. 1 overall picks and his grandfather, Archie, being the No. 2 overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft.

With a prospect of his caliber, what is the downside in extending an offer and making a run at him?

Manning would not have been a legitimate option if Ewers stayed in the 2022 class; a quarterback with his talent won’t wait two years to earn a starting job. Now, however, it becomes a much easier pitch to sell Manning on waiting potentially only one season before taking over the reins in 2024.

Now, I’m not trying to say that Manning will end up with the Buckeyes. Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas are some of the top schools in his recruitment, but Ohio State absolutely has the tools that would appeal to someone of Manning’s caliber.

Ryan Day’s program provides an elite wide receivers corps, a potentially lethal running back attack by the time Manning would arrive, and a good enough offensive line to protect him. They also are in a position to contend for national championships every year, which is a bonus.

I feel good about their chances with Nico Iamaleava, but tOSU should absolutely kick the tires with Manning.

MacRae: I personally believe Ohio State’s next commit will be Derrick LeBlanc as it stands right now. LeBlanc has taken a few trips to the school on his own dime and there seems to be a lot of growing excitement in Columbus that this one could get finished up sooner rather than later.

I know I have Luke Montgomery also on Boom watch, but I think I give Leblanc the edge here as he’s gone out of his way to make these trips frequently as of late. Ryan Day is still searching to land his first prospect in the 2023 class, and I think that is also playing a factor here.

Day is currently in a position where he has seen a few of his top targets already end up in Oklahoma’s class or Notre Dame’s, so I think the pressure has been amplified for him to close on a big-time player soon.

Now, I personally believe we have until September before we see anything come in 2022, which shows you how close I think both LeBlanc and Montgomery are here. I think there is a possibility Kam Dewberry surprises people early, but the timeline I got for him is mid-September.

Hastings: Before diving into this question, let’s rule out who it likely won’t be.

Hero Kanu won’t announce until January 2022, Xavier Nwankpa and Zion Branch both have multiple official visits they’ll be taking in the fall, and Omari Abor’s father, Randy, recently informed me that his son won’t be deciding until November or December at the very earliest.

Caden Curry (who has yet to take his officials), Chris McClellan, Kayin Lee and Richard Young each released top schools lists recently, so I wouldn’t expect a decision from them anytime soon.

Narrowing it down makes this process a little bit easier, but it still does not help to determine who exactly will be the next commit.

We’ve heard that Kenyatta Jackson could be close to committing, which makes him a strong contender as an answer to this question. Fellow Rivals100 DE target Enai White has hinted a couple of times on Twitter that an announcement may be around the corner.

We also know that Ty Lockwood, who recently dropped a top four, is someone to keep a close eye on in the coming weeks. Staying in the 2023 class, we’ve been told that Luke Montgomery is another prospect that could end up pulling the trigger soon, and Derrick LeBlanc has made it obvious that the Buckeyes are the clear leader in his recruitment.

I was initially leaning toward saying that a rising junior will be the next to commit, but I can’t shake the feeling that it will be from a member of the 2022 cycle.

In my opinion, Ohio State needs to gain much-needed momentum after suffering from a pair of decommitments and seeing Quinn Ewers announce that he was reclassifying. They’ll likely press harder for some prospects than they were in the prior weeks and months, which may lead to them gaining back some momentum in the class.

So, for this response, I’m going with Jackson. His father has told me that he wants his son to be coached by Larry Johnson at the next level, the family visited Columbus twice in the span of two months, and his high school teammate, Ryan Turner, is pushing for Jackson to join him at the next level.

This will be a close one with Oklahoma, but I believe the next commitment for Ohio State would likely be Jackson.

MacRae: I absolutely think the Buckeyes offer Jacoby Mathews. Mathews is Rivals.com’s No. 1 ranked safety and is ranked as the No. 14 overall player in the class of 2022. Mathews was previously committed to LSU, but he has been very vocal as of late on social media stating he wants an Ohio State offer.

Another interesting tidbit is that he is from Louisiana and is actually best friends with Buckeye commit Jyaire Brown. Brown and Mathews have been going back and forth on Twitter saying they should make it happen.

My personal belief is with Ewers reclassifying and losing on Jaheim Singletary and Benji Gosnell, three scholarship spots just opened up and to land an elite talent like Mathews would be worth one of those spots.

Now, I know some of you are going to say what about Xavier Nwankpa and Zion Branch? I think Nwankpa is a lock and the Buckeyes would like two safeties here. If Branch is still wavering between USC and Ohio State by the time Ohio State extends an offer to Mathews, then I think you take the first one to join the class.

There are countless benefits if Ohio State could land Mathews. First off, he’s from Louisiana, which for Ohio State would be like landing a unicorn. Ohio State’s staff has never been able to tap into Tiger territory, and it would be a major win on the recruiting trail.

Furthermore, any time you can win a battle for a top-end DB against the program who looks to crown themselves DBU over Ohio State, it also helps in recruiting for the future.

I think the Buckeyes eventually offer if they feel Branch starts to stray away or is uncertain. Keep an eye out here, I can see it happening.

Hastings: As we reported in the beginning of this month, Matthews would definitely have interest in the Buckeyes if they extended an offer to him.

Now, I initially thought that this could be a situation of a prospect searching for an offer to add to his already impressive resume. But, after texting him and five-star linebacker commit CJ Hicks, I don’t believe that to be the case.

Matthews, who recently backed off of a commitment to LSU, told me that he’s hoping for Day and his staff to contact him. He is very intrigued by the idea of teaming up with Hicks, Jyaire Brown and the rest of their 2022 defensive commits at the next level. The top-ranked safety on Rivals.com even tweeted on Monday, “ain’t nothing like playing along side my villain” while tagging Brown’s Twitter account.

I caught up with Hicks, who confirmed with me that the two of them have been talking extensively about the prospect of them playing together in college. A source did say, however, that while there is certainly a lot of interest on Matthews’ side, this will ultimately be up to secondary coach Matt Barnes.

This is definitely great news as a program will always be happy with an elite recruit being intrigued by the idea of playing for your team. The big concern here is that offering Matthews would interfere with the Buckeyes’ pursuit of Zion Branch.

Branch and Matthews would likely be targeted for the same position, which is a free safety role in their single-high looks that would allow them to operate with a lot of space. Xavier Nwankpa, on the other hand, is said to be recruited for their “Bullet” position, so going after Matthews shouldn’t affect their pursuit of him.

Offering Matthews could turn Branch off a little bit, which could be all the ammunition USC needs to put them over the edge in this close race. On the other hand, if they eventually miss out on Branch and potentially Nwankpa, the defensive back class number could be significantly lower than originally expected.

I’m always in support of a “Go Big or Go Home” mentality, so I think Barnes and Co. should roll the dice and take the chance on Matthews. He’s too talented of a prospect to not pursue, and they could absolutely continue prioritizing Branch while kicking the tires on Matthews.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.