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Dan Hope and Andy Anders of Eleven Warriors bring you inside the Ohio State beat every Wednesday with a podcast covering everything you need to know about the Buckeyes.
Note: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been edited for errors.
[Dan Hope]
Welcome into RealPod Wednesdays, Dan Hope joined as usual by Andy Anders and this week by Garrick Hodge, our recruiting analyst at Eleven Warriors, as it is a big month of recruiting, maybe the biggest month of recruiting for Ohio State. June has become kind of a marquee recruiting month on the calendar as Ohio State is hosting most of its top recruiting targets for official visits this month, as well as hosting seven total high school football camps, five of the skill camp variety, two of the seven-on-seven variety. We will be out at those camps on Wednesday and Thursday and we'll have lots of coverage coming from those on elevenwarriors.com, but Ohio State already hosted one weekend's worth of official visitors and has already gotten some very good news out of that week of official visitors as Bo Jackson, no, not the running back who played for Auburn, but still a very good running back in his own right, has committed to Ohio State, someone who you would certainly consider to be a quote-unquote must-get for the Buckeyes as a top 100 prospect in his class from the state of Ohio, certainly one of the top two running back targets for Ohio State, along with Jordan Davidson in this class, and a big first win as Ohio State's running backs coach for Carlos Lockwood.
[Garrick Hodge]
Yeah, I think first and foremost you got to give that he has an A-plus grade name, regardless of whether you go by his legal first name, which is Lamar, or his nickname, which is obviously Bo. Either way, he's named after a Heisman Trophy winner, so that's just like charisma you can't buy on a football field, right? So, kidding aside, I mean this is a heck of a win for Carlos Lockland, who came into Ohio State in his introductory press conference and proudly boasted that he's a relationship developer, he's not a recruiter.
Well, it doesn't care what you call him, because Ohio State fans are really happy with the addition of Bo Jackson, a guy that can really do it all on the field, and while he's maybe a little raw as a prospect from an athletic standpoint, just like Bo Jackson, he doesn't really have a weakness, he can kind of do it all. He's great at running in between the tackles, you want to run outside zone with him, great. You want to put him at pass blocking, great.
You want to throw him as a pass catcher, catch passes out of the backfield, wherever, fine, he can do all that. It's a really exciting top 100 prospect-like addition for Ohio State, and frankly, like, the dynamic with Bo Jackson and Ohio State has really been on an up-and-down trajectory for the last, well, year, really. You know, when Tony Alford was still here as Ohio State's running backs coach, you know, some thought he preferred Marquise Davis, the other talented Ohio-based in-state running back that was on Ohio State's radar more than Bo Jackson, and, you know, Carlos Laughlin already had a relationship with Bo Jackson because he recruited him quite a bit while he was still at Oregon, so it was a seamless transition to come in here and say, hey, Bo, I recruited you at Oregon. I really think you could be a hell of an addition for us at Ohio State.
Let's do it, and even despite that, you know, they talked every other day, caught up with Bo in May at the Under Armour camp, and he said it was a great relationship, and he was talking to Carlos every other day. Georgia was still hot on the Buckeyes' heels, and he went into that visit a couple weeks ago, and, you know, a lot of swings in the recruiting industry were kind of happening. A lot of really respected guys were saying Georgia might have taken the lead for Bo Jackson, kind of really worried some of the Buckeye faithful, but that really all changed on the Ohio State official visit once Chip Kelly, Carlos Laughlin, Ryan Day all really stressed to him how critical he is to this class and showcased what he can do in those Chip Kelly schemes that everyone always says are going to really change Ohio State's running game, so I'm excited to see how it plays out, and I'll stop talking and let Andy or Dan or whoever jump in, but one last thing I do want to say is once Travion Henderson and Quenshaun Jenkins, assuming they go to the NFL, the 2025 running back room, it's wide open for carries, and there's no reason that a player like Jackson, who has that high prospect pedigree, couldn't have a lot of as a true freshman.
[Andy Anders]
That's why this is such a critical addition for Ohio State in the class of 2025. Running back was a huge need because you're losing Travion Henderson. Good shot to lose Quenshaun Jenkins as well if he decides to go pro, and so you need to restock the cupboard moving forward in that running back room, so you now have Bo Jackson on board and everything that he brings you.
It allows you to kind of narrow your vision in terms of adding that second running back. Garrick, I know obviously Jordan Davison is a big target, has been a big target for a while for Ohio State. Do you see the staff kind of narrowing its focus on him, or are they going to keep a wide net cast here as they look for someone to complement Bo moving forward?
[Garrick Hodge]
Well, I think they could take up to two more running backs. I don't think it's just one or the other, but yeah, like you said, Davison is a huge priority target running back for Ohio State and has been for a long time. Like Bo, he had a great relationship with Carlos Laughlin at Oregon, so that's not a problem whatsoever.
Ironically, Oregon is probably Ohio State's biggest threat to land Davison at the moment, but I still like where Ohio State sits with Davison, but that's sort of, I'm just keeping an eye on that right now to see how the visits play out with both of those schools. But Isaiah West, a former Kentucky running back commit who's now back on the open market, if you want to say that, because of his decommitment, he's another guy that's scheduled to visit, and I think there's a better chance than not he ends up in the class before all's said and done. So I think those two guys have a pretty decent shot of ending up in the class.
We'll see what happens with Jordan, but if for whatever reason it doesn't work out with Jordan, I still could see them going after someone like an Anthony Rogers, an Alabama running back commit who was just on Ohio State's campus last week taking his first visit to campus since Carlos Laughlin offered him on an unofficial visit. He said that he's probably going to take another one this fall. Well, he probably won't need to if Davison and West are already committed in the class, and then there's your three, obviously.
But if, you know, Davison goes to Oregon or something doesn't work out with West or whatever the case may be, you have that flexibility of still going all-in for Rogers, especially with, like you said, Andy, how many vacant carries there could be after Trayvion Henderson and likely Quenshawn Judkins departing after the 2024 season. So that's probably somewhere in those three is probably where all things are heading right now.
[Dan Hope]
Bo Jackson, a big win to start the month for Ohio State, but just the start of a huge month in recruiting for the Buckeyes is there are many more targets who either have visited this past weekend or are going to be visiting over the next several weeks. As you look at this month as a whole, Garrett, what are the most important objectives that Ohio State needs to accomplish?
[Garrick Hodge]
Well, this month in general is already crazy because we go from having not much happening in May to, you know, all hands on deck pretty much every day, whether it's a camp or an official visit or whatever. So there's always something going on. But where Ohio State is concerned is I think priorities number one, two, and three are trying to haul in a premier offensive tackle.
And of course that starts with David Sanders Jr. And I'm sure Andy will have no disagreements about their top priority there. But David Sanders Jr., I think Ohio State's got a great shot to land him. Number one rated offensive tackle in the class.
Still won't visit until late June, so we'll see how things play out there. It depends on kind of who you talk to in the industry, who they think is either the favorite or is trending form. Some think it's Tennessee, some think it's Clemson, maybe some think it's Georgia and some think it's Ohio State.
So, but I will say Justin Frye could really use this recruiting win and landing a player the caliber of David Sanders. Could he not, Andy?
[Andy Anders]
Oh, absolutely. You know, we all know how much I love offensive line talk and that position room has been lacking in terms of elite talent for several years now. It's been a recruiting lapse.
You've managed to wrangle in a couple of good Ohio prospects lately here, Luke Montgomery, Carter Lowe in the current class, but really just haven't had that big five-star name from out of state since Nicholas Petit Frere several years ago. And it's been a hole on the roster as a result. You look at what's cost Ohio State last season, this season, the number one concern is that offensive line.
And so David Sanders, Jr. To me has to be the top priority left in this class to address that front five and maybe start to matriculate even more talent into that room because he, if Ohio State does get him, he's certainly not the only player they're going to be looking to add along that offensive line.
[Dan Hope]
I think we would all agree David Sanders is the number one target for Ohio State right now in this 2025 class. I mean, you know, well, Garrick, you could post the most positive story about any other position in recruiting and somebody is going to ask you, what about the offensive line? And understandably so because the offensive line, it's been a weakness on the field.
It is not been their strongest position recruiting. They badly could use a five-star offensive tackle like David Sanders, Jr. And I mean, I mean, there's other five-star offensive tackles in this class too, but I mean, I think pretty much everybody agrees David Sanders, Jr. Is the cream of a crop in this class. And so that would be a massive win.
I'm not sure if it really even is a close second right now, but if you did have to say, Garrick, like who would be the second highest priority for Ohio State right now, who would you say that guy is?
[Garrick Hodge]
What did I put on my last heat check? Cause I'll probably have a different answer after this, but I'll probably go someone like Fahim Delane or Trey McNutt, just because kind of similar to offensive line, they've really struck out on landing that top safety prospect. Now that kind of was kind of was mitigated because they ended up getting Caleb Downs in the transfer portal and they're going to have them for two years.
And it's pretty hard to get a better prospect than that. But that being said, you know, you still would like to have a successful conversion on a top tier safety, especially one being in your backyard and being a legacy product like Trey McNutt and one with Fahim Delane that's been connected to Ohio State for about as long as his recruitment has been started. Really.
I would still say that they're probably the favorite for Fahim Trey McNutt. I mean, who knows what's going on with that recruitment. I personally think it'll be hard to see him end up anywhere besides Ohio State, but I'm not discounting that he ends up somewhere else and he's definitely trying to keep his options open, but I think it would be good to convert on at least one of them, if not both.
Harry Eliano, probably the biggest mark against him is that he couldn't close it out these top tier recruits. And that's probably a huge reason of why ultimately Ryan Day ended up making the change. So it would be a good start if they could mitigate that gap.
And you know, I know Tim Walton will help quite a bit with it, but I would say probably landing one of these, those two guys at safety would probably be need number two, although need number two is very subjective, but need number one is not.
[Andy Anders]
Offensive line right at the top. Yes, sir. And you, you know, talking about safety, do you see Dorian Brew as someone that, you know, they're recruiting?
He's got some swing abilities. Where do you see him factoring in for the defense long-term? And after Blake Woodby's decommitment, where do you see Ohio State sort of positioned in that recruitment?
[Garrick Hodge]
I like where they're at with Dorian. I know that there's kind of been some angst in, you know, Ohio State fan base about where they sit with Dorian. And, you know, there was a lot of hype in the recruiting industry about him taking visits all over the country.
And, you know, obviously he moved to Texas, even though he's from Ohio, but I think, you know, Blake Woodby decommitting really kind of opened things back up again. Obviously Ohio State wasn't pushing Blake out the door, I would say, but they're also not terribly sad that he's gone because it does give Tim Walton that ammunition of, hey, your spot's right back there. Not that they wouldn't have taken Dorian anyway, even if he wanted in, but it gives him more reassurance, like, hey, you're a priority in our class and we need you.
And I think at the end of the day, Dorian, you know, another legacy, probably will pick Ohio State, but the official visit's got to be nailed and a lot of things got to go right for Dorian. But that whole safety cornerback argument, I don't really know where I sit. I think his body type is probably best suited for safety, but I think he might want to play corner, just like in his heart.
It's hard to say truly, but I think you can put him anywhere and I think he's going to be successful. I mean, I've seen him in person, Dan's seen him in person, and I think that no matter where you put that guy on the field, he's going to be successful.
[Andy Anders]
Who are some other offensive linemen that you feel good about Ohio State's chances with? Obviously, even if they get David Sanders, they're going to need more bodies to fill out the class, maybe some more interior options. Where do they stand with some other top targets there?
[Garrick Hodge]
Well, that's kind of a trick question. I know some options. I don't know about ones that I'd say I feel good about, unless you're talking about interior offensive linemen.
In that case, I feel good about interior guys like Jayvon McFadden, who's going to visit this weekend. Andrew Stargle, who's also going to visit this weekend. Henry Funuku, who just visited last weekend, I feel pretty good about there.
I think you're looking at about probably five offensive linemen, give or take, in this class. I thought it was probably going to be three about a month ago, but I've kind of expanded that to five is where I think they're going to go with it, assuming they can get another offensive tackle, and then maybe a couple of interior offensive linemen as well. But some options, Michael DuBose, who's a Cleveland native, but has lived most of his life in the South.
I wouldn't pick Ohio State as a favorite in that one, but he is still scheduled to visit. LSU's probably the favorite there. Jackson Lloyd's visiting this weekend.
Kind of a new recruitment to Ohio State. Justin Fry just kind of offered him. Alabama's the leader there, so we'll kind of have to wait and see what this official visit really does to maybe movers and shakers things there.
But I'd say those are kind of the group that you're looking at. And I guess Josh Petty, another five-star offensive tackle that has been pretty highly touted. Obviously not quite as highly as David Sanders, but not that far away.
I think they got a shot with him too, although I know he's pretty close with his sister, from what I hear, and his sister's at Florida State, another one of his top schools. So maybe that'll be a tough pull, but I'm not discounting Ohio State's chances with any of them. But outside of those interior offensive line, I don't know if I'd say for the tackle specifically that Ohio State's the favorite for any of them at this moment.
[Dan Hope]
With Bo Jackson's commitment today, Ohio State has now landed three of the top five prospects in the state of Ohio for the 2025 class. One of those being Tavian St. Clair, who has really risen in a big way since he committed to Ohio State last year. He was not a super highly touted prospect when Ohio State landed his commitment last June, but he is now the 14th ranked prospect in the country, a composite five-star recruit.
So he's a great guy to have leading this class, especially being an Ohio guy and being that potential future starting quarterback for the Buckeyes. Carter Lowe, as was mentioned before, is a great guy to start off that offensive line class as an offensive tackle. And now Bo Jackson joining that class as another top 100 prospect.
Ohio State is off to a great start in this class in terms of getting the top players in Ohio to stay in Ohio, but still a couple more big battles that they need to win there. We already touched on Trey McNutt. The other big one is Justin Hill, who seems to like Ohio State.
The question with Justin Hill has always been, where does he fit into Ohio State's defense? Because he's not really a defensive end, but he's more of a pass rusher than he is a true linebacker. And so that Jack position would seem to be the place where he fits into Jim Knowles' defensive scheme.
We haven't seen Jim Knowles use the Jack a whole lot at Ohio State, but he has said that once they recruit to that position, they might use it more. And Justin Hill is exactly the kind of guy they're looking for to play that position as kind of that tweener where he's maybe not big enough to be a full-time defensive end, but he has the athleticism and pass rushing ability where he could be a really dynamic difference maker off the edge. And it certainly sounds like Ohio State was able to sell that vision to Justin Hill on his official visit this past weekend.
[Garrick Hodge]
Yeah, from what I understand, they're not going to use the Jack just to use it. They want to have a type of athlete that actually fits well into that position, and it's not for everyone. I know in terms of classifying recruits, Dan, you have a pretty big pet peeve of when you call someone an edge because you're like, just call him a defensive end or call him a linebacker.
But I've kind of made the exception for Justin Hill because he truly is kind of that stand-up edge rusher, kind of cross-hybrid between, all right, I guess he's kind of an end, but he also could play linebacker too. He's just a really versatile, and I know you hate this term too, but I have to say it anyway, Swiss army knife. And I just think the things you can do with Justin specifically because of his physicality and because of the speed he offers you off the edge, you just got to get a little creative in the ways you deploy him, then bring back a role like that Jack position.
And they've brought in Larry Johnson to help sell him on pass-rushing techniques. James Laurinaitis has been a huge guy at the forefront of that recruitment. Jim Knowles has been talking to Justin Hill.
I think they really moved the needle with him. And again, it's been a common theme with this podcast. Justin Hill is an Ohio guy, but he doesn't want to go to Ohio State just because he's an Ohio guy and that's what he feels like he's supposed to do.
He wants to go there because he feels that's the best place to develop him. But I'm feeling really good about Justin Hill. Obviously he's got more visits to go and he's going to make a July 3rd commitment.
But I think that Ohio State could close this out by adding a pretty versatile pass rusher in Justin Hill, assuming that things continue to go well for the next month.
[Andy Anders]
I think that bleeds well into some more broad defensive line talk. Was the need coming into this class for Ohio State just on how thin their 2024 class was on the defensive line? You got Edric Houston, but not a lot of bodies there on the defensive line.
And then obviously losing your four starters or running out of eligibility after this year, both defensive tackles, both defensive ends. You talk about Justin Hill probably being the top target out there and they've got already London Merritt and Zaheer Mathis in the class. Who else are you looking at and specifically defensive tackle Trajan Odom taking a visit this week?
Because it feels like the interior guys are what's kind of missing for this defensive line class right now, assuming you can bring on that third defensive end.
[Garrick Hodge]
Sure. I guess if you want to start in the interior, Trajan Odom is a great place to start. He actually took an unofficial visit to Ohio State pretty recently, a couple of weeks ago actually.
And from what I understand, things went really well there and Ohio State's in a good position with him. I like his game a lot. I think he can be a three technique, whatever you want on that interior.
But Trajan, I would probably consider Ohio State the favorite, though I would hesitate to pull the trigger right now. We'll see how things go after this weekend and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk with him and see where his recruitment's at. But other guys on the interior, Malik Autry is kind of an interesting one, an Alabama prospect that's committed to Auburn right now.
Maybe Ohio State wants some revenge for the Amaris Williams recruitment from a year ago, where it looked like Ohio State was going to be able to pull him in, but he eventually ended up going to Auburn. So maybe they'll get some, maybe they won't, we'll see. But it also will be interesting to see if he's kind of a package deal with Zion Grady, a high school teammate of his that I'll also be visiting that same weekend.
He's more of a defensive end. But both are prospects that Ohio State would love to have and are really high on, but we'll see how things go. And then another guy on the interior is Maxwell Roy.
He's kind of more of a quiet kid, not necessarily as out there as much as a lot of other recruits that we've talked about this cycle. But I think he's also another capable guy like Trajan, and it's more of a matter of preference, really. And I think they have an equal shot with both, depending on how hard Larry Johnson wants to go on each.
Yeah, defensive end, Zion Grady, like we said, I'll be visiting. Justin Hill, I guess you could sort of count as a defensive end, even though he's more of a stand-up linebacker. So I would kind of consider him on a category of his own.
And I know it's kind of hard to forget, but they already have Zaheer Mathis and London Merritt, like you said, committed in the class. So they already have two top 60 prospects already on the defensive line, which is a heck of a start for Larry Johnson. But two other guys worth mentioning for defensive end, Maryann Dye, who we'll visit this summer and I think is probably more likely to end up in the class than Damian Shanklin right now.
Damian Shanklin's supposed to visit this weekend, if I remember correctly. And speculation there is that LSU leads a little bit, but I think there'll be a long way to go there. Plus, I don't think he's committing until September, so that's not one that's going to resolve on its own.
And we might see how things play out with Maryann before the Damian dominoes unfold. But yeah, there's a lot of different ways that Ohio State can go to fill out its defensive trenches, even though, like I said, they're off to a great start.
[Dan Hope]
Eight defensive players among Ohio State's 12 commits so far, and really, it does kind of feel like, other than defensive tackle, where you probably need multiple guys, every other position, it's like you kind of need one more guy. As you mentioned, you got Zaheer Mavs and London Merritt at defensive end. You've got Tarvis Alford and Eli Lee at linebacker.
You've got two stud corners in Devin Sanchez and Naeem Offord. And then you've got two safeties in DeSean Stewart, Cody Haddad. We've kind of talked about all those positions except linebacker.
A few guys that are going to be making official visits this month at that position. Riley Pettijohn was just on campus this past weekend. They're also going to be hosting Nathaniel Owusu-Boteng, who's the younger brother of Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Cormoa, as well as Madden Farimo.
Eric, how confident are you that Ohio State will land one of those guys, and who do you think they have the best shot with?
[Garrick Hodge]
I would say cautiously optimistic they'll land one of them. I think they have a better shot with Riley than a lot of people say they do, but I'm still not discounting Texas. I would say that recruitment's probably an Ohio State-Texas race, and I think that Texas insiders know that as well.
But Riley being a Texas kid, it's going to be very hard to win that recruitment. Not saying they can't do it. It's just going to be very hard to eventually win that in the end, with a Texas visit still looming, too.
Nathaniel is kind of shaping up to be a Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State race. Between those two guys, especially Nathaniel, I think that he would complement their class really well because of his speed. It's just sort of a different profile fit compared to a guy already in the class, like a guy like Eli Lee, who's more your traditional Tommy Eichenberg-type linebacker.
Whereas I think Madden is kind of similar to Eli, so not saying that they don't really love Madden as a prospect, but they'd like to maybe be a little bit more versatile in the linebackers they bring in if they can, with Nathaniel being kind of more of a speed guy. I would say cautiously optimistic on all three, though I don't think I'd say overly the favorite for any of the three at this point right now.
[Andy Anders]
It's interesting, the dichotomy with this class and past Ohio State classes where we saw the offensive side, particularly offensive skill positions, I guess you should say, really load up and there was kind of a lacking feel maybe on the defensive side, maybe on the offensive line, of course, as we've talked about. From your perspective, Garrick, what's caused this sort of surge of late in Ohio State's defensive recruiting where that seems to be the side of the ball that's more solved at this point in the cycle?
[Garrick Hodge]
I think a good answer to that question is going back to July of 2022, where things were kind of really in a negative headspace for Ohio State defensive recruiting. If I remember correctly, it was right when the 11 Warriors contingent was at Big Ten media days, they had just missed out on Caleb Downs. The staff didn't know that they were going to miss out on Caleb Downs until probably 20 minutes before he committed.
There's still a lot of optimism there and that just kind of deflated the balloon a little bit. Little did they know they'd get him eventually, but I digress. I remember Ryan Day saying a couple minutes after that, that, look, recruits are going to want to see proof in the pudding that Ohio State's defense with Jim Knowles, that it can work.
They don't want to hear it. They need to see an ironclad product on the field that, yes, this is effective. This is going to put you in position to go to the NFL.
This is going to you a first-team All-Big-Ten selection. This is going to put you in a position to succeed both in college and ideally at the next level. The first year was pretty good.
Last year was very good. Top two defense. I think that recruits nationwide have bought in a lot more.
I think it just kind of goes hand in hand. When Ohio State's throwing for 5,000 yards a season back in the glorious CJ Stroud days, and they're putting out a first-round wide receiver every year, guys are going to naturally want to be a part of that. Well, same thing for defensive recruits.
Now that they've put together a steady product on the field, I think you're getting a lot more buy-in from guys all around the country after they're seeing the results.
[Dan Hope]
We're halfway through the show, and we haven't even talked about the highest-rated official visitor who was on campus this past weekend. That being DeCorean Moore, the number one overall wide receiver in the 2025 class. Moore was originally committed to LSU, decommitted from there recently.
Now it seems to be kind of a four-way battle between Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, and LSU still in there. How do you feel about Ohio State's chances with DeCorean Moore coming out of his official visit?
[Garrick Hodge]
Death taxes never count out Brian Hartline. I don't know as I go to say that I consider Ohio State the favorite for DeCorean, but I like their chances. Oregon and Texas both feel very good as well.
To a lesser degree, LSU probably thinks they can salvage it, although him decommitting from LSU kind of tells you where his head's at, just for my opinion. He's still going to take his visit there. They're going to have a chance to woo him again.
I kind of like where they're at with DeCorean, but it's the first visit. He's got a lot more to go, and a lot of things can still unfold. I know that the family is really bought in and that DeCorean isn't going to take two visits in the spring like he did if he's not seriously considering Ohio State.
I consider the Buckeyes a pretty big player in his recruitment, but Texas is pretty confident. Oregon's pretty confident. We'll have to see how it goes.
[Andy Anders]
If Ohio State were able to win that recruitment and make it an incredible four of the last six cycles where Brian Hartline has landed the number one receiver in the class, Julian Fleming, Emeka Abuka, and then obviously last year Jeremiah Smith, this would be the fourth if you could pull in DeCorean Moore. Another five-star that Ohio State has been in the thick of recruiting-wise for a long time is Jamie French. There's kind of been some mixed reports out there about their standing with French, but off his recent visit and his relationship he's built with Hartline, it does seem that there's still a strong bond there.
What do you make of where things stand with him, Garrett?
[Garrick Hodge]
Yeah, I'm a little hesitant with that one. The old adage in recruiting is, go off of why their actions, not what they say. But what he's saying is that he's pretty interested in three schools that are not Ohio State.
And I remember reading pretty recently that he has a dream NIL deal of a Lamborghini, and that's just not going to be the case at Ohio State. It would be cool, but it's just probably not going to end up happening. I'd like a Lamborghini.
I'm sure Dan would like one. Maybe he would too. Yeah, there you go.
But we all want Lamborghinis, but we all are not going to get them, unfortunately. Jamie might get one though. Who knows?
Texas made a... They got that sponsorship ready to go. But no, in all seriousness, if we were doing in or out, I would probably have Jamie as out right now.
Not to say that they couldn't get back in the race or... Jamie's plan was always kind of to take an official visit to Ohio State in the fall anyway. But I don't know if they'll want to keep things going that long.
I think to a degree, Ohio State has what I call Jeremiah Smith PTSD, which is a really weird thing to say because they've won that recruitment. But they're kind of like, all right, how many more times are we going to go through this? We feel really good about our recruit.
The recruit feels really good about us. We're hearing great things. And then all of a sudden, other schools are the leader.
I don't understand it. What happened? And Jeremiah Smith may be the best high school wide receiver prospect we've ever seen.
So you're just going to have to grin and bear it and put up with it. But you don't have to put up with it for every single player that comes through your door. Not saying that Jamie French isn't a very good player because he is.
He's one of the best wide receivers in this class. But he's not Jeremiah Smith because there's only one of them. And they're still in a great position with other wide receivers, guys like DeCorean Moore, who I think is better than And then some other guys that maybe aren't quite as talented as Jamie, but are close, guys like Vernell Brown, who was on campus, the official visit, talked with him, had a great conversation.
I feel like Ohio State's in a pretty good position there, even though Florida would probably be the scariest. Dalen McCutcheon, another guy that, I mean, he told me flat out that Ohio State's at the top of his recruitment right now, even though I wouldn't discount USC or Florida State there either. And then another guy that I'm pretty high on is Quincy Porter.
That's coming this week, a New Jersey product, top 50 recruit. So it's not like Brian Hartline doesn't have options here, guys. And, you know, shocker.
Yeah. Wide receivers are very excited about playing for the prospect at Ohio State. And who wouldn't be right?
Like if you saw the last couple of rounds of the NFL draft. So it's not like they're putting all their eggs in the basket, basket, sorry, on one player. And they don't need to because a lot of elite wide receiver prospects want to play here.
So it's kind of, you know, sometimes you get to feel high and mighty and say, well, are you with us or are you not? And then some recruits, you got to go, well, this guy is significantly higher than the next rating guy on our board. We got to just shut up and take it.
But they don't have to do that at this position. So I think that's kind of where they're at right now.
[Dan Hope]
I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I think Brian Hartline is probably going to end up a pretty good receiver recruiting class. History would suggest that Brian Hartline is probably going to end up bringing in a pretty good receiver class. And to your point, as good as some of these guys are, none of these guys are Jeremiah Smith.
Jeremiah Smith was such a rare prospect that yes, Ohio State bent over backward for Jeremiah Smith. They let Jeremiah Smith play the game all the way up until 11. And what was it?
We had to record Real Pod Wednesdays twice that day because we didn't know if Jeremiah Smith was even going to sign with Ohio State because he dragged it out so long. But they let Jeremiah Smith play the game in a way that they're not going to let many other prospects play the game. Going to a guy who has not played the game, who has been all in with Ohio State from when he committed to them after the seven-on-seven camp a year ago, that being Tavian St. Clair, mentioned it before. He's a guy who really, I think last summer when Ohio State offered him and then he committed, you could certainly see that he had grown a lot from his earlier years where maybe he was kind of on the back burner, maybe behind Ryan Montgomery as the top in-state quarterback in his class. You could see that blossoming starting to take place last summer. And then ever since then, he's just really taken off to become an elite quarterback prospect.
Garrick, I know you went to watch him play last year. We were both at the Elite 11. We saw him in April.
What do you think it is about Tavian that has enabled him to just keep getting better and better and better?
[Garrick Hodge]
Well, it's worth that number one. This isn't a guy that's gotten content with his recruiting ranking or reached the I made it stage, if you want to say that. But every time I see Tavian, I just always kind of go, I can't believe this is the same guy I saw two years ago at that Ohio State camp.
And nothing that was disparaging about that, by any means. I don't know about you, Dan, but I saw Tavian two years ago. I was like, he's a pretty good player.
Don't know if he's quite the quality Ohio State's looking for, but the arm kind of speaks for itself. The frame's not really there yet, but maybe in a few years we'll see. Well, in a few years, he's developed a frame that speaks for itself.
I mean, he's probably more polished there athletically than more quarterback prospects that I can recall in a long time. There's just some guys that look the part the moment you see them, and Tavian is that. And then you see the arm talent.
They almost have to rein it in from him throwing 40-yard bombs all the time because he just has that capability and he's going to deliver it on a rope and it's going to be an accurate pass. And it's really fun to watch when he gets in his element with all that arm talent. He's really worked on not just having the arm strength, but having the precision and the accuracy as well.
And I wouldn't be surprised if he's a top five prospect by the end of the year, guys. We'll see how he does in the Elite 11, which ultimately is probably going to be a huge factor in that, because I know recruiting rankers are pretty high on what a quarterback does in that competition, because it's sometimes a good indicator of how things are going to go. But man, from what I've seen, it's hard not to be really, really, really excited about this guy.
And to a degree, I think he's kind of been a little underrated by Ohio State fans just because he committed to Ohio State early. As soon as he hit that growth spurt in Ohio State, it was like, oh yeah, this is our guy. He was in and he was, I can't remember his specific recruiting ranking, but it was probably like a four-star guy at that time.
And you could see him maybe turning into a five-star, but he doesn't get as much of hype as an uncommitted five-star quarterback would. So from that perspective, I think he's a little underrated, but I would be excited about him, man. He's got all the tools in his tools about, and I think that guy's the real deal.
[Andy Anders]
And even looking back this time a year ago, he was outside the top 300 in the 24-7 sports composite rankings. A guy who's seen his recruitment take off for all the reasons you said the talent was always there. And now the frame has kind of grown to match that.
Outside Tavian, and we've talked about some other guys in this class. Obviously at the top, you have the number one and two corners in the class with Devin Sanchez, Naeem Offord. Who do you think is a guy that is going to outplay his recruiting ranking that's committed to Ohio State right now?
[Garrick Hodge]
It's a little hard to say because the easy answer is like, go look at the three stars, but the guys that were specifically three stars a little while ago are no longer three stars in the composite rankings. I don't think Ohio State has a three-star in the 24-7 sports composite ranking right now. They've all been pushed up to fringe four stars at the very least.
But I guess to answer your question, if I have to pick one, well, I'm not going to pick one. I'm going to hedge because I'm a jerk, but I saw Eli Lee at the Under Armour May camp and man, that guy's really come a long way physically. I'm pretty bullish about him becoming a guy that's pretty impressive in his senior season this year.
And then the other one I'll say is Desi Jones, just kind of like, because when he committed, I know you'll remember this, Andy, all of us were kind of like, huh, what? He did what? Quick funny story about that.
Tarvis Alford committed the same day. Dan and I recorded a video because we knew they're getting two commitments, not Desi. And then I literally leave for the grocery store five minutes after I get the Tarvis stuff up.
And then Desi Jones commits, I don't know, 10 minutes later, I step foot into Kroger and I'm like, oh my God, you got to be kidding me. So Andy graciously came to the rescue on that one. But I think Desi is a good pick here, but just because a lot of fans kind of forget about him because, you know, wide receiver is just such a highly touted and respected position at Ohio state that a lot of fans just naturally go for the, all right, what five-star we get next?
What, what four-star guy we getting? What, what top 50 prospect? Add another one to Brian Hartline's recruiting rankings.
Let's go. But I think he's a really, really polished slot receiver. I think he could be dangerous out of there.
I think if you have to put linebacker on him, he's going to make him look silly. He's got a lot of competition to get on the field because that's a very deep position room, but I wouldn't discount him. That's for sure.
[Dan Hope]
We've talked a lot about the 2025 class, of course, with these camps coming up over the next few weeks, there's also going to be a lot of 2026, 2027, even 2028 guys on campus competing for offers. Who are some of the guys right now who we're expecting to see at camps here over the next few weeks that you're excited to see or that Ohio state fans should know about?
[Garrick Hodge]
Well, Thursday is probably the big eye-popping day for me, at least, at least in terms of like the top tier talent, both Wednesday and Thursday have really good players coming from all three levels of classes. And if you want to see a I wrote on Monday's hurry up of the recruits that we know so far that are expected to be here. And the way these things go is we ultimately have some guys that don't show up.
And then we have some pretty interesting guys that are like, oh, wait, he's here. Oh, I should probably go look at him. So there's a lot of last minute additions that are really cool.
And we'll, of course, keep you apprised on those. But Thursday in particular, I mean, Nate Roberts is going to commit. He's already committed, but he's going to cut the camp before he starts an unofficial visit to Ohio state.
And I'm really kind of excited to see him in action because I haven't really seen him like on a field doing football related activities. You know, I've seen his frame and, you know, I've stood next to him on Ohio state's field, but I haven't actually seen him because he's a really capable of receiving tight end. And then Joaquin Stewart, the number one or sorry, I guess number two, he's the number one defensive tackle and number two overall player in the class of 2026 is coming on Thursday and good luck to the offensive linemen and one-on-one drills trying to block that guy, man, because he's a load.
You want to see interior players look no further. And Andy, you asked about interior defensive linemen. It's not impossible that Stewart ultimately ends up reclassifying to 2025.
So wouldn't that be an interesting way to bolster a defensive line class that could really use the help there and not saying that if he does reclassify, he's going to go to OSU or he'll go to OSU if he doesn't, but I mean, they're in the thick of things for him and he wouldn't be coming up here to camp on June 6th if he didn't really consider Ohio state an interesting suitor for him. So those, at least for me, are the two guys that I have my eyes on for the next couple of days.
[Andy Anders]
Lots of interesting players. And, you know, these recruiting camps are always an opportunity to get out and see guys and interview guys. And, you know, I don't get to put as many eyes on players as you and Dan have in the past, you know?
So I'm pretty excited. I went to this round of camps last year when I was still working for Buckeye Sports Bulletin and I always found it very informative. And, you know, you get the chance to get some one-on-ones with people and really see where things stand.
[Garrick Hodge]
Yeah. Camps are kind of always cool because you'll have like a list offhand. I'll be like, all right, I want to look at this guy.
I want to look at this guy. I want to look at this guy. And then when you get there, sometimes things will work out perfectly and you'll be like, all right, great.
I'll go with the cornerbacks. I'll go with the quarterbacks. But sometimes the guy you really want to see isn't there or the guy you really planned on seeing gets overshadowed because of, like we said, like, oh my goodness, I can't believe this prospect showed up.
So you've got to drop everything and then watch this guy. But really, the coolest aspects of camps are the guys that nobody's anticipating ahead of time. Mylon Graham is a perfect example here.
Absolutely nobody on the beat was like, man, we really got to check out this Mylon Graham kid. We really got, all right, look, he's running with Coach Hartline. Look at this guy.
And then, you know, he gets an offer. That's the first offer he's picked up by any Division One school. And everyone's like, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Who did they offer? And then he ends up being, you know, five-star recruit. So I think that part about camps is really cool.
Like seeing who exactly Ohio State is really impressed by in an individual workout and in a one-on-one setting. To Dan's favorite part, I know this is his favorite part of camp, infamous win-or-lose drills on the megaphone at Ohio State.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah. Tim Hinton always steals the show at these camps. So certainly looking forward to hearing his speech, the same speech over and over again after every camp.
[Garrick Hodge]
If you don't clear it once, you'll have at least five more chances to hear it.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah. It's always very spirited. You got to appreciate the energy that Tim Hinton brings to those camps for sure.
There's no lack of energy from Batman. You mentioned Jahkeem Stewart being the number two overall prospect in that 2026 class. Important to make that clarification because the number one overall prospect in that 2026 class is Chris Henry Jr. Ohio State's only commit in that class, but a pretty good place to start. Certainly I'm sure Ohio State, you know, by the end of this summer would love to have added to that total in that 2026 class. But Chris Henry Jr., certainly a good guy to build around. If you're going to look at probably one position that's going to be in focus for that 2026 class this summer, it's probably going to be the quarterback position because Ohio State already has its quarterback for 2025.
It can now turn its focus to that 2026 position. Typically this is around the time where you really start to see things heat up in quarterback recruiting for the junior class. Again, as we mentioned, it was this month last year where we saw Ohio State land Tavey and St. Clair. So, Garrett, who are some of the 2026 quarterbacks who could be on campus this month and, you know, who are maybe the top guys that Ohio State fans should be looking out for as a potential quarterback for that class right now?
[Garrick Hodge]
The first answer that comes to mind is D'Abel, a five-star quarterback there. I think he'll be on campus next week or the week after. I can't remember.
It has to be one of those two, but it's probably next week. You know, I'm a bad boy and didn't do my homework. My bad.
But definitely D'Abel is the top guy I'm watching. Brady Palmer, California kids coming in on June 11th, DM me that and I'm pretty excited to get a look at him. Brady McCorder, quarterback out of Georgia, has an Ohio State offer.
He'll be on campus. And then there's a couple other guys that will probably trickle in from the class of 27 that we'll eventually find out about all at once. I remember last year, Will Griffin was a 26 kid.
He eventually committed to Florida, but it was kind of interesting for a day, you know, seeing him compared to Tabian. You're like, wait a second, who's this kid? I don't know who this kid is, but he looks pretty dang good.
So I think there will be a lot of interesting 2026 QBs on campus and there'll definitely be worth more watching than three I listed. But for now, I'd say all those guys have Ohio State offers and I'm interested to see how they perform at a camp setting because Ryan Day and Chip Kelly, especially, are really interested to see how they perform in individual workouts.
[Andy Anders]
Mentioned quarterbacks, what are some other priorities for Ohio State to address here as they start ramping up some of their 2026 recruits?
[Garrick Hodge]
Well, honestly, anything. When you have one commit, you kind of got to go anywhere. But I think tight ends will be pretty interesting.
I know on Thursday we have Dan and I have called it tight end day. I think there's four recruits offhand. Brock Harris, I think is one.
Yep.
[Dan Hope]
Brock Harris, Max Sutter, Corbin Fordham and Ryder Mix.
[Garrick Hodge]
Yeah, that's a really loaded list right there. So I'll probably be watching Stewart half the time, but I'm a little salty. I won't be able to see Nate Roberts and all the other Ohio State tight end targets compete on the same field, but I'll definitely be watching some of it, but I'm sure one of you two will probably be over there for most of it just with that level of talent.
So I'd say tight end for 2026 is a great place to start just based off of how many talented guys are going to be on campus on Thursday alone.
[Dan Hope]
Well, there's going to be no shortage of recruiting coverage to come at 11warriors.com this month. Garrick will be leading our efforts there, so we appreciate him taking some time out of his week to join us and talk about it all here on Real Pod Wednesdays. No problem.
[Garrick Hodge]
Thanks, guys.