Recruiting Roundtable: Bama Battles, 2022 RBs, way too early prediction

In less than one week, Alabama and Ohio State will face off against one another in the College Football Playoff National Championship, which will be played in Miami, Florida. The Crimson Tide are seeking their 16th title, while Ohio State is looking to win their ninth championship in school history.

That had us thinking: How much would a win over Nick Saban's program assist OSU in their recruiting battles with the SEC powerhouse?

In this edition of "Recruiting Roundtable," Andy Anders and Joseph Hastings share their thoughts on the previous question, as well as discussing Ohio State's running back recruiting and a way-too-early prediction for where OSU will finish in the final 2022 rankings.

Anders: Joseph and I touched on this a little bit in the run up to Ohio State’s game against Clemson, but head-to-head results typically aren’t the deciding factor in any prospect’s recruitment.

Speaking specifically about players the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide are competing against each other for, don’t expect to turn the wave too much. Relationships, pro development, campus comfort, program culture, these things are all typically more important than who wins one game.

That being said -- this is the national championship we’re talking about.

Any title win of that caliber, especially after the immense hardship Ohio State’s faced this season, is going to generate a ton of momentum on the recruiting trail. Elite players want to play for elite teams. Nothing screams “elite” more than knocking off two of today’s college football powerhouses en route to a second title in the College Football Playoff era.

Regardless of Monday’s outcome, however, Ohio State isn’t likely to stop dominating when it comes to attracting top talent.

Long story short, while I never think any single head-to-head result is the deciding factor for a player picking between two schools, winning the national title will only bolster the Buckeyes’ recruiting efforts.

Hastings: Last week, we pondered this same question heading into Ohio State's matchup with Clemson.

I believe this one is a little more relevant, however, as I see both of them battling head-to-head for more elite prospects than Ohio State and Clemson will be competing for in the future.

With this most likely being the case, I'm going to say that a win over Alabama on Monday will lead to a lot of rewards for the Buckeyes on the trail.

We just saw LSU finish 5-5 this season, but they check in with the No. 3 ranking in their 2021 class. As long as Ryan Day remains the head coach, Ohio State will not have anywhere close to a drop-off as the Tigers had this past season, and a championship will only verify to their current group of stellar commits that the present and future is bright in Columbus.

As it pertains to head-to-head battles with Alabama, I am not in the mindset that Mondays' result will make recruits think lesser of either program. Unless one team is blown out and the gap between them appears to be the size of the Grand Canyon, which almost certainly won't happen, this won't significantly affect Alabama or Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are already on the right path, but a victory just adds yet another recruiting pitch they can make to targets on their radar.

Anders: Personally, I think the answer to this question depends on who the two running backs are.

Out of their past five classes including 2021, the Buckeyes have taken at least two running backs in three of them. What did all those multi-running back classes have in common? Both ball carriers were four-star prospects in the Rivals250.

Ohio State is likely to take a running back every class, even if it has to dip below its usual talent threshold. Given the depth it’ll have at the position with the emergence of freshman Miyan Williams, the presence of redshirt freshmen Steele Chambers and Marcus Crowley and the two unbelievably talented four-stars committed for 2021, TreVeyon Henderson and Evan Pryor, I’d only expect two running backs for 2022 if both are quite talented.

There’s names on Ohio State’s radar that fit this bill. Primarily the nation’s No. 1 back, four-star Gavin Sawchuk, is someone the Buckeyes would make room for. So too is four-star Nicholas Singleton, considered an Ohio State lean for some time. Kaytron Allen could be another.

Would the Buckeyes take someone lower on their board if he’s going to be a second commitment at the position? My gut says no.

Hastings: After the Buckeyes added two of the top running backs in the country in March of last year, it wouldn't have been surprising if the program opted to pursue just one player at the position in this upcoming class.

Instead, however, it certainly appears as if Ohio State is gearing up to take two running backs yet again in the 2022 cycle.

The program has extended offers to Dallan Hayden, Damari Alston, Emeka Megwa, Jadarian Price, Jamie Felix, Jaydon Blue, Kaytron Allen, Nicholas Singleton and Terrance Gibbs. They've also given the green light to Dillon Tatum, who could play running back or defensive back at the next level.

Based on how they are recruiting the position right now, it looks as if the Buckeyes are more than willing to take on two running backs yet again in back-to-back classes. As Andy mentioned above, however, they won't take players just for the sake of hitting that two-RB mark.

I have yet to submit a FutureCast prediction for a 2022 RB, but I can see Ohio State landing any two of these three running backs: Alston, Hayden and/or Singleton.

Singleton continues to have Ohio State and Penn State at the top of his recruitment, Hayden just included the program in his top four, and Alston still hears from the staff on a consistent basis and is reciprocating interest.

Given where they stand with multiple players at the position right now, I would certainly be surprised if the Buckeyes don't end up signing two running backs before it's all said and done.

Anders: How could you not project the Buckeyes No. 1 at this stage?

It’s unbelievably rare to see three five stars committed for a junior recruiting class before the seniors ahead of them have reached national signing day, but that’s the position Ohio State finds itself in on the recruiting trail right now.

Five-star outside linebacker CJ Hicks, five-star cornerback Jaheim Singletary and five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers, the nation’s No. 1 player, have already pledged their services to the Buckeyes. Three additional top-50 national prospects in four-star wide receiver Caleb Burton and outside linebackers Gabe Powers and Dasan McCullough join them.

This is an unbelievable start. And the finish isn’t looking too shabby either.

Ohio State is considered the leader for two more five-star cornerbacks in Domani Jackson and Will Johnson, five-star linebacker Shawn Murphy and at least among the leaders for countless other Rivals100 prospects.

The Buckeyes are up to 1726 points in the class of 2022 team rankings already, well in front of No. 2 Penn State’s 964. If any sort of momentum holds and the Buckeyes land a lot of the players they’re supposed to, it’d be shocking if they didn’t finish atop the rankings.

Hastings: The key here is going to be what the final rankings look like in February of 2022.

Last year, in the spring/summer, it looked like it would be a slam dunk for Ohio State to finish not only with the No. 1 class, but with one of the best classes ever.

After some shifting in the rankings for Alabama's commits and OSU's pledges, as well as the decommitment of Tunmise Adeleye, it is essentially a guarantee that the Buckeyes will finish with the top-ranked class on Rivals. They were able to seal the deal by adding five-star running back Camar Wheaton a couple of weeks ago.

I am admittedly hesitant to say what I'm about to say because of what happened over the past few months, but I'll predict that Ohio State finishes No. 1 in the 2022 cycle.

They are off to probably the hottest start I have ever seen in a class, and their momentum is not slowing down whatsoever. The program is sitting in a great position with multiple five-star prospects, and their defensive back unit could end up being historically great from a rankings perspective.

Alabama, which will almost certainly be their top competitor yet again, has only one commitment, which does make this prediction more difficult as it's hard to compare them both at this juncture.

In the end, however, I see the Buckeyes using a championship appearance/win to bolster their efforts even further on the recruiting trail, and earn their first-ever top-ranked class in the Rivals.com era.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.