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LGHL Breaking down the uncommitted 2024 prospects with Ohio State ties
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Breaking down the uncommitted 2024 prospects with Ohio State ties
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
2024 CB Bryce West | 247Sports
The Buckeyes are the current favorite to land over a half-dozen uncommitted prospects.
Ohio State is on an impressive run on the recruiting trail, hauling in six commitments since the beginning of April to catapult all the way up to the No. 1 class in the country in 2024. With spring practice and the spring game now having concluded, Ryan Day and his coaching staff will be looking to build towards the next wave of commitments to keep the good times rolling, with a handful of guys already seeming to be the next in line to join the Buckeyes’ already stacked class.
While the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions aren’t always a surefire guarantee that a player is going to commit to the school in question, it is worth mentioning that the last time we put together a list like this over a month ago, two of the six players have since committed to Ohio State — Mylan Graham and Sam Williams-Dixon — and two others remain on this version with even more momentum towards the Buckeyes than before.
Here is a look at some of the big names currently Crystal Ball’d to Ohio State in 2024:
No. 4 CB, No. 1 OH, No. 48 Overall
If you’ve paid even the smallest bit of attention to Ohio State’s recruiting efforts in 2024, then West is a player that needs no introduction. The Buckeyes’ top in-state target and one of the best prospects in the country at a big position of need, the Cleveland Glenville product seems to be trending stronger and stronger towards Columbus as time goes on. West originally planned to have his recruitment go the distance, but with an official visit to Ohio State scheduled for June 23, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him pull the trigger this summer.
No. 7 CB, No. 2 OH, No. 61 Overall
Scott, like West, is a player that you have likely heard a ton about at this point. He and West were both on campus together earlier this month, and Ohio State is in a favorable position right now to have the two of them lining up next to each other on the field down the line. It is really fortunate for the Buckeyes to have a pair of premiere cornerbacks right in their own backyard, as Tim Walton and company need to replenish the defensive backfield in this cycle. Landing West and Scott would be a massive win, and that seems to be how things are trending at this time.
No. 31 WR, No. 5 MO, No. 197 Overall
Things may have cooled a bit lately between Ohio State and McClellan, with Brian Hartline having already landed both Graham and Jeremiah Smith — two of the top four wide receiver prospects in the country. Hartline can now virtually pick and choose who else he would like to add to the room, and if McClellan fits that bill then he could certainly find himself playing his college ball in Columbus. Of note, McClellan is a product of Christian Brothers Academy in St. Louis, the same school that produced Dallan Hayden.
No. 18 TE, No. 13 OH, No. 373 Overall
Ohio State just recently landed its first tight end in 2024 when Max LeBlanc announced his commitment last weekend, but the Buckeyes really need to bring in at least two guys at the position after failing to do so in each of the last few cycles. Witten appears to be the favorite to join LeBlanc in that room, and new position coach Keenan Bailey would love to add the 6-foot-4 Ohio native’s pass-catching prowess to his unit. Of course, it helps that Witten is teammates with West at Cleveland Glenville.
No. 31 CB, No. 9 AZ, No. 378 Overall
Lockhart, like McClellan, is a guy that we haven’t heard a ton about lately as the Buckeyes have really been focused on West and Scott at the position. Still, Ohio State will need more than just the two in-state corners in this cycle, and so it would be foolish to rule out the Arizona native as a potential third member of the group. Lockhart has shined at Basha High School as both and cornerback and running back, but OSU sees him as a DB at the next level. Oregon appears to be their biggest competitor in this race.
No. 55 S, No. 19 OH, No. 600 Overall
The lone three-star prospect on this list, Powers has been predicted to Ohio State ever since they offered the Dayton native at the end of March. My read on the situation is that the Buckeyes may be holding off on accepting a commitment from Powers until they see how things shake out elsewhere at the safety position. They are still working hard to flip safety Peyton Woodyard, a top-100 player currently committed to Georgia, and trying to land another big name that we will touch on here shortly.
Continue reading...
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
2024 CB Bryce West | 247Sports
The Buckeyes are the current favorite to land over a half-dozen uncommitted prospects.
Ohio State is on an impressive run on the recruiting trail, hauling in six commitments since the beginning of April to catapult all the way up to the No. 1 class in the country in 2024. With spring practice and the spring game now having concluded, Ryan Day and his coaching staff will be looking to build towards the next wave of commitments to keep the good times rolling, with a handful of guys already seeming to be the next in line to join the Buckeyes’ already stacked class.
While the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions aren’t always a surefire guarantee that a player is going to commit to the school in question, it is worth mentioning that the last time we put together a list like this over a month ago, two of the six players have since committed to Ohio State — Mylan Graham and Sam Williams-Dixon — and two others remain on this version with even more momentum towards the Buckeyes than before.
Here is a look at some of the big names currently Crystal Ball’d to Ohio State in 2024:
Bryce West
No. 4 CB, No. 1 OH, No. 48 Overall
OSU Crystal Balls: 7 (Most Recent 4/13)
If you’ve paid even the smallest bit of attention to Ohio State’s recruiting efforts in 2024, then West is a player that needs no introduction. The Buckeyes’ top in-state target and one of the best prospects in the country at a big position of need, the Cleveland Glenville product seems to be trending stronger and stronger towards Columbus as time goes on. West originally planned to have his recruitment go the distance, but with an official visit to Ohio State scheduled for June 23, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him pull the trigger this summer.
Aaron Scott
No. 7 CB, No. 2 OH, No. 61 Overall
OSU Crystal Balls: 3 (Most Recent 4/15)
Scott, like West, is a player that you have likely heard a ton about at this point. He and West were both on campus together earlier this month, and Ohio State is in a favorable position right now to have the two of them lining up next to each other on the field down the line. It is really fortunate for the Buckeyes to have a pair of premiere cornerbacks right in their own backyard, as Tim Walton and company need to replenish the defensive backfield in this cycle. Landing West and Scott would be a massive win, and that seems to be how things are trending at this time.
Jeremiah McClellan
No. 31 WR, No. 5 MO, No. 197 Overall
OSU Crystal Balls: 2 (Most Recent 4/5)
Things may have cooled a bit lately between Ohio State and McClellan, with Brian Hartline having already landed both Graham and Jeremiah Smith — two of the top four wide receiver prospects in the country. Hartline can now virtually pick and choose who else he would like to add to the room, and if McClellan fits that bill then he could certainly find himself playing his college ball in Columbus. Of note, McClellan is a product of Christian Brothers Academy in St. Louis, the same school that produced Dallan Hayden.
Damarion Witten
No. 18 TE, No. 13 OH, No. 373 Overall
OSU Crystal Balls: 3 (Most Recent 4/15)
Ohio State just recently landed its first tight end in 2024 when Max LeBlanc announced his commitment last weekend, but the Buckeyes really need to bring in at least two guys at the position after failing to do so in each of the last few cycles. Witten appears to be the favorite to join LeBlanc in that room, and new position coach Keenan Bailey would love to add the 6-foot-4 Ohio native’s pass-catching prowess to his unit. Of course, it helps that Witten is teammates with West at Cleveland Glenville.
Miles Lockhart
No. 31 CB, No. 9 AZ, No. 378 Overall
OSU Crystal Balls: 3 (Most Recent 4/10)
Lockhart, like McClellan, is a guy that we haven’t heard a ton about lately as the Buckeyes have really been focused on West and Scott at the position. Still, Ohio State will need more than just the two in-state corners in this cycle, and so it would be foolish to rule out the Arizona native as a potential third member of the group. Lockhart has shined at Basha High School as both and cornerback and running back, but OSU sees him as a DB at the next level. Oregon appears to be their biggest competitor in this race.
Reggie Powers
No. 55 S, No. 19 OH, No. 600 Overall
OSU Crystal Balls: 5 (Most Recent 4/16)
The lone three-star prospect on this list, Powers has been predicted to Ohio State ever since they offered the Dayton native at the end of March. My read on the situation is that the Buckeyes may be holding off on accepting a commitment from Powers until they see how things shake out elsewhere at the safety position. They are still working hard to flip safety Peyton Woodyard, a top-100 player currently committed to Georgia, and trying to land another big name that we will touch on here shortly.
Others to keep an eye on...
(These players are not Crystal Ball’d to Ohio State)
- KJ Bolden is the other big name at safety on Ohio State’s radar, and the five-star is clearly their top target at the position as the No. 1 safety in the country. The Georgia native is scheduled to take his official visit to Columbus on June 16.
- Brandon Baker is the top target for Justin Frye as he looks to fill out his offensive line haul with a big national tackle. The nation’s No. 1 OT made a visit to Ohio State on his own dime this March, coming all the way from California, and has an official visit set for June 9. Rated a five-star by 247Sports, Baker would be a massive cherry on top of a strong OL class.
- Dylan Stewart is the biggest name on the board at his position for Ohio State, as Larry Johnson is still looking for its first defensive line commit in 2024. The five-star prospect in the No. 2 EDGE and No. 10 player in the class overall, and after the Buckeyes whiffed on all the top national DL last year, it would be nice to get a big win like this. Stewart has an official visit to Ohio State set for June 16.
- Charles Lester III is likely the biggest long shot here, as it will be hard to pry him away from the in-state Seminoles. Lester is the only player on this list with Crystal Ball predictions elsewhere, with three in favor of Florida State. That being said, the nation’s No. 2 CB made it a point to visit Columbus this spring, and liked what he saw enough to schedule an official visit with Ohio State for June 16. The Buckeyes can’t be fully ruled out here just yet,
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LGHL Column: Teams are overthinking a couple Ohio State prospects ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft
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Column: Teams are overthinking a couple Ohio State prospects ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Two dynamic Buckeyes are a couple of the best prospects on the board, but teams refuse to accept facts.
The NFL Draft process is absolutely ridiculous. Do we really need months of mock drafts? I’ll look at a few here and there, but we definitely don’t need as many as are out there now. The NBA and NHL have it right, since they have their annual player drafts about five minutes after the season ends. There are times when NFL Draft speculation can be fun, I just can’t handle it for the almost three months that are between the end of the Super Bowl and the draft.
Obviously there are big differences between those two leagues and the NFL. It’s a lot tougher to fill out a 53-man roster as opposed to how many roster spots have to be filled in the NBA and NHL. Plus, NHL draft picks are likely going to spend a few years in the minors unless there are talents along the lines of Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon available in the draft.
It used to be that the NFL Scouting Combine and individual pro days were key events in the draft evaluation process. Technology has made those events pretty unnecessary these days. Unlike 30-40 years ago when in-person scouting was key to teams deciding which players they were going to target in the draft, now teams can watch any game from anywhere.
While we are on the subject of the combine, how many of these workouts that players are put through are as important as they want you to think they are? Why do we have 300-pound linemen running the 40-yard dash? How often are they sprinting 40 yards in a game? When are players broad jumping in the game? Don’t even get me started on the 3-cone drill. If you look at those who have put up the best numbers in these drills, the majority of them are guys who were in the league for about five minutes.
By now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with all of this. With so much time between the end of the season and the NFL Draft, teams end up overthinking themselves. You can see this with a couple Ohio State players leading into this week’s draft. Lately there have been more and more reports coming out that has resulted in quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba falling on some draft boards.
The case of Stroud has been quite a roller coaster ride. First it sounded like Stroud was essentially quarterback “1B” behind Alabama’s Bryce Young. Then Stroud was the favorite to be the first quarterback taken in the draft, and possibly even the first overall pick. Now there is talk that three or four quarterbacks could be taken before Stroud. As exhausting as this all is for me to process, I can’t even imagine what it has been like for Stroud.
Could somebody please explain to me as simply as possible why Will Levis is now looking like he could be the second quarterback taken in this year’s draft? Levis couldn’t even beat out Sean Clifford at Penn State, so he transferred to Kentucky. During his two seasons at Lexington, Levis put up good numbers, but he threw 23 interceptions. Stroud threw over 40 more touchdowns and 11 less picks than Levis. I know the offenses weren’t the same, but I trust Stroud to make better decisions than Levis. When I think of Will Levis, I just think of a Jake Locker reboot.
Apparently some of the reason for the drop in Stroud’s draft stock recently has been a cognitive test where the former Buckeye quarterback scored in the 18th percentile, which means it is already a lock that Stroud will be a bust. You want to know my test when it comes to intelligence? If you take the quarterback that puts mayo in his coffee and eats bananas with the peels still on over a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist then you automatically fail.
The case of Jaxon Smith-Njigba isn’t quite as egregious as C.J. Stroud, but there have been some things that the “experts” have said about the wide receiver that have raised some eyebrows. Even before the calendar turned to 2023, Todd McShay was spewing verbal diarrhea about Smith-Njigba protecting his draft stock while dealing with a hamstring injury that sidelined him for essentially all of the 2022 season.
Maybe all this was to get people talking about King, McShay, and the other dorks that release these things. The last time I remember Peter King being relevant was when he said he broke the news of Robin Williams’ death to some waiter in Milwaukee. Aside from that, if you wanted to describe the last decade for King you could give it a title of “Peroni & word vomit”.
I just hope Stroud and Smith-Njigba land in the best possible spots. At least with all these recent reports, Stroud won’t have to worry about being drafted by the Houston Texans, who are one of the worst run teams in professional sports. In a perfect world, Stroud and Smith-Njigba will look back on some of these reports and opinions on them heading into the draft and have a good laugh at them as they wrap up Hall of Fame careers 10-15 years down the road.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24603600/1237523310.jpg "COLLEGE FOOTBALL: JAN 01 Rose Bowl Game - Ohio State v Utah")
Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
More recently Peter King was wondering why Smith-Njigba was the top-rated receiver on the board after dealing with an injury all year. I guess King thinks Smith-Njigba was the first-ever talented wide receiver to ever be sidelined due to an injury. While it definitely wasn’t ideal for Smith-Njigba to be sidelined for the 2022 season, he undoubtedly showed why he deserves to be one of the top receivers in this year’s draft with what he did during the 2021 season.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Two dynamic Buckeyes are a couple of the best prospects on the board, but teams refuse to accept facts.
The NFL Draft process is absolutely ridiculous. Do we really need months of mock drafts? I’ll look at a few here and there, but we definitely don’t need as many as are out there now. The NBA and NHL have it right, since they have their annual player drafts about five minutes after the season ends. There are times when NFL Draft speculation can be fun, I just can’t handle it for the almost three months that are between the end of the Super Bowl and the draft.
Obviously there are big differences between those two leagues and the NFL. It’s a lot tougher to fill out a 53-man roster as opposed to how many roster spots have to be filled in the NBA and NHL. Plus, NHL draft picks are likely going to spend a few years in the minors unless there are talents along the lines of Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon available in the draft.
It used to be that the NFL Scouting Combine and individual pro days were key events in the draft evaluation process. Technology has made those events pretty unnecessary these days. Unlike 30-40 years ago when in-person scouting was key to teams deciding which players they were going to target in the draft, now teams can watch any game from anywhere.
While we are on the subject of the combine, how many of these workouts that players are put through are as important as they want you to think they are? Why do we have 300-pound linemen running the 40-yard dash? How often are they sprinting 40 yards in a game? When are players broad jumping in the game? Don’t even get me started on the 3-cone drill. If you look at those who have put up the best numbers in these drills, the majority of them are guys who were in the league for about five minutes.
By now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with all of this. With so much time between the end of the season and the NFL Draft, teams end up overthinking themselves. You can see this with a couple Ohio State players leading into this week’s draft. Lately there have been more and more reports coming out that has resulted in quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba falling on some draft boards.
The case of Stroud has been quite a roller coaster ride. First it sounded like Stroud was essentially quarterback “1B” behind Alabama’s Bryce Young. Then Stroud was the favorite to be the first quarterback taken in the draft, and possibly even the first overall pick. Now there is talk that three or four quarterbacks could be taken before Stroud. As exhausting as this all is for me to process, I can’t even imagine what it has been like for Stroud.
Could somebody please explain to me as simply as possible why Will Levis is now looking like he could be the second quarterback taken in this year’s draft? Levis couldn’t even beat out Sean Clifford at Penn State, so he transferred to Kentucky. During his two seasons at Lexington, Levis put up good numbers, but he threw 23 interceptions. Stroud threw over 40 more touchdowns and 11 less picks than Levis. I know the offenses weren’t the same, but I trust Stroud to make better decisions than Levis. When I think of Will Levis, I just think of a Jake Locker reboot.
Apparently some of the reason for the drop in Stroud’s draft stock recently has been a cognitive test where the former Buckeye quarterback scored in the 18th percentile, which means it is already a lock that Stroud will be a bust. You want to know my test when it comes to intelligence? If you take the quarterback that puts mayo in his coffee and eats bananas with the peels still on over a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist then you automatically fail.
The case of Jaxon Smith-Njigba isn’t quite as egregious as C.J. Stroud, but there have been some things that the “experts” have said about the wide receiver that have raised some eyebrows. Even before the calendar turned to 2023, Todd McShay was spewing verbal diarrhea about Smith-Njigba protecting his draft stock while dealing with a hamstring injury that sidelined him for essentially all of the 2022 season.
Maybe all this was to get people talking about King, McShay, and the other dorks that release these things. The last time I remember Peter King being relevant was when he said he broke the news of Robin Williams’ death to some waiter in Milwaukee. Aside from that, if you wanted to describe the last decade for King you could give it a title of “Peroni & word vomit”.
I just hope Stroud and Smith-Njigba land in the best possible spots. At least with all these recent reports, Stroud won’t have to worry about being drafted by the Houston Texans, who are one of the worst run teams in professional sports. In a perfect world, Stroud and Smith-Njigba will look back on some of these reports and opinions on them heading into the draft and have a good laugh at them as they wrap up Hall of Fame careers 10-15 years down the road.
More recently Peter King was wondering why Smith-Njigba was the top-rated receiver on the board after dealing with an injury all year. I guess King thinks Smith-Njigba was the first-ever talented wide receiver to ever be sidelined due to an injury. While it definitely wasn’t ideal for Smith-Njigba to be sidelined for the 2022 season, he undoubtedly showed why he deserves to be one of the top receivers in this year’s draft with what he did during the 2021 season.
Continue reading...