The Hurry-Up: Ohio State Adds Another Legacy As a PWO, Buckeyes Offer In-State Tackle Aamil Wagner, Nicholas Singleton Announces Top Schools

By Zack Carpenter on March 9, 2021 at 6:47 pm
Orlando Pace
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The Hurry-Up is your nightly dose of updates from the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping tabs on the latest from commits and targets from around the country.

Another major OSU legacy

This first item is basically an In Case You Missed It rundown.

Earlier on Tuesday, as we wrote about this afternoon, Ohio State accepted a commitment from its seventh preferred walk-on in the 2021 class and its third legacy player as a PWO. And this one is probably the most noteworthy of the bunch.

Jalen Pace, an outside linebacker out of St. Louis, is headed to the Buckeyes. Pace is the son of Ohio State legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Orlando Pace.

Pace joins Cayden Saunders (Cedric Saunders) and Zak Herbstreit (Kirk Herbstreit) as the third PWO in 2021 who will follow in his father's footsteps and suit up as an Ohio State Buckeye.

"I would like to thank my family, friends and coaches who have helped me become the man I am today," Pace wrote in a statement on Twitter. "I am very excited to announce that I am following my dreams and will continue my academic and athletic journey at THE Ohio State University."

Also, Toby Wilson (son of Buckeye offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Kevin Wilson) will be joining the program as a PWO. That scarlet and gray blood runs deep it would seem.

Buckeyes offer Wagner

The biggest news of the day on Monday came across our social media screens later at night as in-state offensive tackle Aamil Wagner announced that the Buckeyes have come calling with an offer.

Wagner is a 6-foot-6, 250-pounder out of Wayne High School. He is the No. 134 overall prospect, No. 13 offensive tackle and No. 5 prospect in Ohio's 2022 class. And we can probably pencil him in now as a Buckeye who will commit sometime in the near future. With the offer, Wagner is almost certainly now a when, not if type of prospect.

With offensive tackle being the Buckeyes top positional need in the cycle, they will be shooting for at least three at the position and perhaps an outside shot of four. With fellow in-state OT Tegra Tshabola already in the mix out of Lakota West, this OL class is starting to shape up a bit.

Wagner is one of the players we have discussed a bit over the past several months as a player who the Buckeyes had been targeting and mulling over whether or not to offer. He oozes athleticism and potential, and he's a player who could begin to make an impact on the two deep around year three. Ohio State had previously been holding out on offering in order to get a better in-person evaluation, with Wagner really starting to come into his own during his sophomore season.

With a timetable on when those in-person evaluations could possibly come around entirely up in the air (thanks to the ongoing dead period), the Buckeyes have finally decided to extend that offer.

Singleton releases top schools

One of Ohio State's top targets at running back in the 2022 class, and quite possibly its No. 1 target at the position, has whittled his options down.

Nicholas Singleton, the nation's No. 95 overall player and No. 5 running back, announced a trimmed list that has the Buckeyes up against the likes of Penn State, Notre Dame and Alabama as things heat up in his recruitment.

This comes one day after Singleton announced on Monday that he is set to take an official visit to Penn State on June 11-13 for what will likely be his first official visit. Assuming, again, that the dead period is lifted by then.

Speak of the devil...

End of dead period optimism (again)

...There's optimism that the dead period will end! If we had a nickel.

Again, there was optimism prior to the previous time the dead period was extended through May 31 that a quiet period was going to be enacted. But this time it really does at least feel as if a quiet period, at worst, is going to come to fruition.

Athlon Sports' Bryan Fischer reported on Monday night that the NCAA Division I Council is putting plans together for an end to the dead period:

At least it's a positive step in the right direction. Hopefully the NCAA comes through this time.

Williams follows Miller's lead

On Monday, we discussed the fact that four-star Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller – one of the Buckeyes' top targets at the position in the 2022 cycle – is pushing back his original April 4 commitment date and how that was good news for Larry Johnson and Co.

With Miller's delay, that gives Ohio State more time to pull out a win over Georgia. The Bulldogs are still firmly in the driver's seat, but the Buckeyes now have a better shot.

On Tuesday, a fellow Georgia defensive tackle announced a similar decision, as borderline five-star Mykel Williams is delaying his commitment as well.

There's not nearly as much optimism for the Buckeyes to land the No. 4-ranked DT in the nation as there is for them to land Miller (ranked No. 11 at DT). Williams' decision opens the door for other non-Ohio State programs to enter the mix while Miller's delay breeds more confidence for the Buckeyes.

Prysock top 10

Another four-star player whittled his list down on Tuesday, as Mission Hills, California cornerback Ephesians Prysock has Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC and Arizona State among his top-10 schools.

Following his Buckeye offer in the spring, Prysock told us that Ohio State “sees me as a cornerback. They like the fact that I’m tall with speed and quick feet.”

Other cornerback targets are higher on the board for the Buckeyes in this class, though, and we expect the No. 25 cornerback to land elsewhere as it stands today.

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