Recruiting Roundtable: Ewers' leadership, o-linemen recruiting, 2023 class

There was a lot to take away from this past weekend's Under Armour All-America Camp series event in Dallas (Texas).

Joseph Hastings was able to catch up with several prospects, including a trio of offensive linemen targets for the Buckeyes. A few of those recruits opened up about which Ohio State commits they were hearing from, with the primary one being Quinn Ewers.

So, in this edition of Recruiting Roundtable, we lead off with a question about our thoughts on Ewers being a prominent recruiter in the Lone Star State. BuckeyeGrove also discusses how many offensive linemen we believe Ryan Day's staff will take in this cycle, and when is the ideal time to land a 2023 commit.

MacRae: Quinn Ewers is known to be very to himself and quiet when it comes to passing along info to team insiders and recruiting analysts. One thing I would like to confirm, first off, is that Ewers is a very hard commit to the Buckeyes.

In the past, many who followed the Buckeyes and recruiting were worried about the strength of Ewers' commitment. With the commitment of Maalik Murphy to Texas, it settled a lot of rumors and put ease to Buckeye fans everywhere.

What many did not consider or realize was Ewers was silently recruiting many players inside of Texas on behalf of the Buckeyes.

Some names that have been tossed around lately that Ewers has been speaking to are guys like Emeka Megwa, Jaylen Early and even without an offer there has been some talks of Evan Stewart.

Stewart does not hold an offer from the Buckeyes, but Ewers and Caleb Burton have been ‘feeling’ Stewart out as of late on his interest in Columbus. As of now, it is to be considered just talk but make no mistake, Ewers is putting in his efforts for the Buckeyes inside of Texas.

Hastings: This past weekend, I caught up with multiple 2022 prospects from the state of Texas who are in possession of an offer from the Buckeyes.

Emeka Megwa, Jaylen Early and Neto Umeozulu each had something different to say about Ohio State's pursuit of them during our conversation. Here's what they all said, however, that was in common: Quinn Ewers is recruiting each of them.

If you're a Buckeyes fan, this is music to your ears.

For one, Ewers is not the most active person on social media when it comes to tweeting to targets and interacting with them. He does put on his recruiting hat on Twitter and other platforms at times, but it definitely is not as much as fellow pledges CJ Hicks or Dasan McCullough.

To hear that he is indeed active on the trail is encouraging given how dynamic he is as a player and the fact that his state is a hotbed of talent every single year.

For another, Ewers is the only quarterback of this class.

You look to the signal callers to assume the leadership role early on as you are expecting them to be one of the leaders of your team in the coming years. This is why it is important for colleges to get their QB on board early on in a cycle, such as Ohio State did with Kyle McCord in 2019, to get him in the ears of your top targets.

I had been a little curious as to why Ewers wasn't super active on social media, but it's clear to see, after these conversations this past weekend, that he is taking recruiting seriously.

MacRae: I believe as of right now, there is a special number for the Buckeyes at the o-line. That lucky number is five, with the expectation of realistically landing three.

As of right now, the Buckeyes are hoping to land on the optimistic side, three offensive tackles and two guards. The three tackles at this time to be considered the ones currently leading for those extra spots would be Aamil Wagner, Aliou Bah, Kam Dewberry and Kiyaunta Goodwin joining Tegra Tshabola.

Wagner I fully expect, as I mentioned in the Skull Session, to commit shortly. Bah has actually been held off by the staff at this time, but he was fully prepared to commit a month ago. The staff informed him just to hold off a little bit with worries it could affect their top OT target, Goodwin.

Goodwin and Dewberry are the top guys among the staff's recruiting board for the o-line, which comes as no surprise to most. They are both receiving eyes from every Power Five school in the country, so their recruitments could go any way with schools like Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Notre Dame in the mix with Buckeyes.

At the guard position, it is pretty tough to say who the desired two would be as they are looking at converting a few tackles to guard at the college level. The big name on the board as of right now is DJ Moore out of Fort Wayne (Indiana).

If there had to be a second true guard, it would be the St. John Bosco product Earnest Greene. Greene will be a tough pull from California as he is very big on USC and as always you can never count out Alabama when talking about the recruitment of the No.1 OG in the country.

In summary, my prediction is the Buckeyes end up with two offensive tackles and one guard as of right now.

Hastings: The way Ohio State is recruiting along the offensive line right now, it appears as if they would be more than satisfied with adding six o-linemen by the time the two signing periods conclude.

Tegra Tshabola is in the fold now, and I would be very surprised if he does not end up a Buckeye at the next level. Fellow Rivals250 prospect Aamil Wagner is the safest bet when evaluating who the second OL pledge would be, and I don't believe he will wait too long to make his decision.

I think the other realistic options remaining at the position are the ones Carson mentioned above: Bah, Dewberry and Goodwin, and I'll add Tyler Booker and Zach Rice as well.

I could very much see them adding Bah and Goodwin to their group of 2022 pledges, and I believe that this would be a solid class of offensive linemen that Studrawa and Company would have put together.

In my opinion, I also think that they'll need at least one or two guards.

Along with Moore and Greene, Neto Umeozulu certainly cannot be ruled out. The top-150 overall junior in the nation, who had a solid camp outing this past weekend, told me on Sunday that the Buckeyes are doing a great job of communicating with him, and that their success in recent years has caught his attention.

I'm not too sold on them landing any of the players listed as guards, however, so I think the realistic outcome is that Ohio State signs four o-linemen in this class.

I will admit that this number could definitely change if they decide to extend a late offer to another OL at some point this year. The prime candidate for that late offer would be Carter Smith, so I would not be surprised at all if they finish with a handful of offensive linemen.

MacRae: On the recruiting trail, the Buckeyes currently sit as the No. 1 class for the 2022 group. Now, will Ohio State continue that trend for the 2023 class? In the past couple of weeks, the program has started to extend offers to many sophomore prospects.

With that 2023 haul just beginning, the coaching staff is in a search to land their first player of the class. When landing that first guy in the class, it definitely helps when he can become a recruiter as well.

The Buckeyes tend to like to get a strong leader to start the class off, to help build on the rest of it. Whether it was class of 2021 Jack Sawyer, out of Pickerington, (Ohio) or class of 2022 C.J. Hicks out of Dayton (Ohio), both have been major leaders in building the classes.

Often what fits best for a player to be the “leader” of the recruiting class entails someone who holds certain traits. Those traits can often be someone who is a future five-star prospect, a person who displays to the staff their strength as a leader and, of course, if they’re from Ohio, that is a bonus.

The moment the Buckeyes staff can find this type of player and the moment he confirms with the staff he is all in would be the ideal time. It never looks good if a guy who joined the class first decommits.

If I had to make a prediction on who that guy will be, I would have to say Sonny Styles. Styles is a player in the 2023 class that Ryan Day and Mark Pantoni have at the top of their list among all prospects.

Being an in-state prospect whose father played for the Buckeyes, there may be no better guy to help shape this next class up. I had a chance to speak with Styles and he mentioned he would have no problem being that guy once he has had the chance to visit each of his top schools.

Summarily, the sooner the Buckeyes can get their first player in the class locked in, the sooner he can contribute on the recruiting trail.

Hastings: In my onion, the best time to get the first 2023 prospect on board would be sometime in April or May.

Last year, the Buckeyes got off to a great start by adding Jyaire Brown, Tegra Tshabola and CJ Hicks in a three-week stretch from mid-April to early May. Getting Hicks, specifically, certainly helped to take this class to another level as it is currently No. 1 in the 2022 cycle by a wide margin.

Adding a sophomore commit soon would be huge for the program as they will just continue to build upon this momentum. If it's a guy like Styles, then that could also open up the floodgates for fellow recruits in his class to want in as well.

Look, at this point, Ohio State won't be getting junior commits every two or three weeks of the year. They're already up to 11 pledges in the 2022 class, and there will be some targets who decide to wait until the last minute, or after they are able to visit, until they decide to announce their decisions.

But, the Buckeyes can remain in the recruiting world's news cycle on a consistent basis once one sophomore target commits to them, and others opt to follow suit. Ohio State does not want to hit a dull this year as they are coming off of a national championship game appearance and want to capitalize on that momentum, so it would be ideal to get this 2023 class rolling soon.

Alabama only has five commits so far in this cycle, proving it's not imperative to get off to a hot start, but I believe landing a sophomore in the near future would benefit Ohio State greatly.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.