GARY GOES IN-DEPTH WITH CLEVELAND.COM

We have talked many, many times about the Buckeyes' chase for another defensive tackle (or two) in the 2016 class and there's no doubt that if they could pick one from the star it'd have been New Jersey's Rashan Gary. The country's top-ranked 2016 recruit, Gary made multiple visits to Ohio State during the last year but at no point did the Buckeyes ever real gain any traction in his recruitment. Still, for a player of his talent, you don't give up the pursuit, even if it's unlikely to yield the result you want.

From Cleveland.com writer Ari Wasserman:

"He's faster than all but one of our receivers," Paramus Catholic coach John Westervelt told cleveland.com. 

Gary's 40-yard-dash time at The Opening camp last year was clocked at 4.7 seconds. That was the fastest of any defensive lineman except for one: Joshua Sweat. That name probably sounds familiar because Sweat was the Gary of the 2015 recruiting class and Ohio State recruited him. 

Sweat, who signed with Florida State, has also been compared to Clowney. But Gary is 50 pounds heavier than both. With 4.7 speed. 

"I jogged back because that was the fastest 40 I ever ran," Gary said. "They were like, 'You got a 4.7,' and I was like, 'Word? That's crazy.' ... When you get around competition like that, they always push you to do better and work harder." 

Gary is heavily considering Michigan, Alabama, Auburn, LSU and others, but he says that Ohio State is still working to try and land one of his official visits.

"Yes sir," Gary said. "I was talking to coach Johnson about it (Monday) night. It's in the making, but I don't know who is going to have an official visit. That's what I was telling him.

"Coach Johnson, he has been recruiting me since ninth grade and we have a great relationship with each other and I try to talk to him every chance I get. Ohio State, It's a program that has academics and has the whole campus environment, everything. It's a good overall feel. Ohio State, it's good because I like their defense and I feel like I'd fit in perfectly with the physical play." 

Earlier this week, the Buckeyes visited Paramus, but from what I've gathered, the visit's purpose was more about visiting other prospects at Paramus, 2017 and 2018 talent, as opposed to putting a full-court press on Gary.

I do not expect Gary to make an official visit to Columbus, but it's clear that the effort to land him has entirely subsided.

KALEB WESSON CONTINUES TO DOMINATE AT TEAM USA TRIALS

Ohio State 2017 basketball commitment Kaleb Wesson continues to impress everywhere he goes. Recently, the 6-foot-9, 300-pound Westerville South star has been working with the USA junior team and his latest highlights show a soft touch on his outside shot, quick feet and active hands on defense.

Wesson visited Ohio State two weekends ago for the Penn State game but, like many football recruits, is unfortunately dealing with an injury that will slow him down as his junior season begins.

The good news for Wesson is that he will not need surgery, according to one of the state's premier basketball evaluators, Zach Fleer, who's remarkably connected on the hoops scene in central Ohio.

KAREEM WALKER BACK IN THE SCOUT.COM SPOTLIGHT

When you're the number one-ranked running back in the country, the spotlight finds you, even if you're trying to avoid the glare of the recruiting world. That's the plight of Kareem Walker, who – despite wanting to stay low key while he takes his next round of official visits – is in the Scout.com spotlight.

From Scout.com:

Walker will visit Alabama, Ole Miss and Arizona State before a planned final official visit to Ohio State which will lead to his final college decision being made.

SIMMONS UPDATE

Although it's in Mike Young's basketball notebook earlier today, I wanted to add a section here tonight about Kobi Simmons, who has apparently added another school to his list of possible options. 

From Mike's notebook:

Simmons trimmed his list of schools down to three in September – Kentucky, Ohio State and UNLV all made the cut. Prior to this, he also considered Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Xavier. 

The news that one of schools jumped back into his recruitment didn't exactly come out of nowhere.

Arizona did not end up visiting Simmons, as it turns out. UNLV did, however. This might go against the notion UK and OSU are the odds-on favorites to land him. 

Simmons took official visits to Columbus, Lexington and Las Vegas. He still has two more at his disposal. So, if he ends up taking an official to Tucson, we'll have a better idea of if the Wildcats are true players in his recruitment.