DAY ONE IN THE BOOKS
June 1 marked the first day of the live period, with Ohio State hosting a handful of prospects on campus for unofficial visits and workouts. Among those who showed up were 2022 linebacker commits CJ Hicks and Gabe Powers, 2022 ATH/DB Delian Bradley, 2022 OL Carter Smith, 2022 DL Christen Miller (stays through June 2), 2022 WR Jacob Bostick, 2023 OL Luke Montgomery, and 2023 DB Kayin Lee.
When it comes to Hicks and Powers, the visits went unsurprisingly well.
Hicks told me he went on a tour, spent time with the coaches and players, and just hung out around the facilities. He spent a lot of time with Powers, but also did some recruiting, spending time with Montgomery. Hicks said the two had a “great conversation” and there is definitely confidence from ‘Captain Buckeye” that he can help get one of Ohio’s top 2023 talents to stay home. Hicks will be back this weekend for his official visit.
As for Powers, he made the short trip to Columbus so that his parents could spend time on campus with the coaches, as they will not be with him on his official visit this coming weekend. Powers said his parents really enjoyed their time on campus, which consisted of a tour of the campus/facilities, as well as spending a lot of time with the coaching staff. This was Powers’ first time on campus in about two years and he also said being able to see the staff in person felt “real good”. One thing to note, Powers is absolutely being recruited as a linebacker at this time, despite some speculation he could eventually move down to defensive end—that was made clear to him by the staff on this trip.
As for Bradley, he worked out for the staff as a safety. While on campus he also spent time meeting with the coaches, specifically Matt Barnes and Kerry Coombs. I’m told that workout went well and when I asked Bradley about it he echoed “it went great!’. I think the Buckeyes will evaluate the film of the workout in the coming days/week, but I don’t expect them to move on an offer just yet. I think right now they want to see how things go with top targets like Xavier Nwankpa and Zion Branch, among a couple others, and then go from there. If things slip away with the talents previously mentioned, I absolutely could see Bradley being a prime offer candidate (and I think he would accept). This is a kid that has several Power 5 offers on the table and will be making other visit/camp stops in the coming weeks. A return trip to OSU is not out of the question, and I would watch for that when it comes to how this one is trending. CHECK OUT THE FULL STORY ON BRADLEY FROM MARC BY
CLICKING HERE
The other 2022 non-committed Ohioan who came to visit the Buckeyes on Tuesday was offensive lineman Carter Smith. He toured the campus and facilities with his parents and worked out in front of Greg Studrawa. From everything I hear that workout went very well---so well in fact that Ohio State invited Smith back for an official visit. While Smith is publicly saying all the right things in that he isn’t sure yet if he’ll make his fifth official to Ohio State (current OVs are set to Tennessee, Indiana, Northwestern, and Virginia), I’d be shocked if he doesn’t take the Buckeyes up on the offer to return. The only way I see that happening is if things change on Ohio State’s end—which is certainly possible, but not likely. It will get interesting here though as OSU has not yet offered and may be slow playing this one a bit. They can’t slow play too much as Carter would like to make a July commitment somewhere, and I’m not sure this would be a situation where OSU can offer all the way until the LOI is about to be signed and still land him. Maybe they could but that strategy hasn’t worked in recent years with a few Ohio linemen, and I think the staff would like to be able to make that call ahead of a potential official visit, then try to lock things up on that trip. From what I heard via a source inside the WHAC, the Buckeyes “really liked the way he moved and were satisfied with his measurables, which were a bit of a concern”. Things are trending up when it comes to the chances Smith ends up in the class, but there are still some dominoes that need to fall before it happens.
Finally, when it comes to Montgomery, this was stop number one of the month at Ohio State, as the talented athlete from Findlay will be back on June 22 to work out for the Buckeyes. Montgomery has a busy month ahead, as he stops at the Young Life camp in North Carolina today, and then is at Michigan (6/10), Tennessee (6/11), Georgia (6/12), Auburn (6/13), Alabama (6/14), Clemson (6/15), Oklahoma (6/19), and Notre Dame (6/26) in addition to the 6/22 stop in Columbus. He’ll also be at Penn State on July 25. What I will say is that Montgomery is doing everything right. He just finished his sophomore year and hasn’t been able to take visits anywhere. He’s using this month to his advantage and getting out to get a good look at several top programs that want him and seeing where he may feel he is a fit. All that said, from everything I hear, right now Ohio State really has to mess this one up to not end up landing Luke. I think they are the clear team to beat and I am told that Tuesday’s visit to Columbus only firmed that up. Again, he will be seeing many other places for the first time and that could change things---but I’d be really surprised if this kid doesn’t end up in Scarlet and Gray. It may not happen this summer and could go into next off-season, but that is eventually how I see this thing going.
