The Hurry-Up: Wide Receivers, Defensive Backs Headline Ohio State Official Visit Weekend, Ellis Robinson IV Schedules OSU Visit and Kayden McDonald Puts Buckeyes in Top 10

By Garrick Hodge on June 17, 2022 at 5:30 pm
Brandon Inniss
Brandon Inniss
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Ohio State is hosting its second official visit weekend Friday through Sunday, with plenty of elite recruits scheduled to make their way to Columbus this weekend.

The headliner of the group is five-star Florida wide receiver Brandon Inniss, who arrived at OSU on Thursday evening. 

Inniss took an official visit to Alabama in early June and Ohio State is his last scheduled official visit of the summer. The Buckeyes are viewed as the frontrunner to land Inniss at this stage of his recruitment and a successful official visit would go a long way in getting him to potentially commit soon. 

Speaking of wide receivers, four-star North Carolina wideout Noah Rogers is another high-priority wideout expected to be in Columbus this weekend. Rogers has said in the past he’d like to make an official visit to NC State next weekend, but the Buckeyes remain the favorite to land the top-50 prospect. 

After wowing Ohio State coaches at camp enough to land an offer on June 1, four-star Ohio cornerback Jermaine Mathews will be back on campus for an official visit. Mathews, who recently attended an LSU camp and earned an offer from the Tigers, took his lone official to Cincinnati earlier this month. Entering the visit, Ohio State sits in a great position to land the in-state product. Mathews had recently set a commitment date for July 4 but told Eleven Warriors after getting his OSU offer he may need to push it back.  

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New Jersey four-star safety Jayden Bonsu is another top defensive back priority for OSU and will be on campus this weekend. This official will be critical as Bonsu hopes to cut his list down to five schools by the end of the month and make a commitment before the start of his senior season. Ohio State remains in a great position with the New Jersey product heading into the visit. 

Texas Tech commitment and four-star cornerback Calvin Simpson-Hunt is making his first official visit of the summer this weekend, as the Buckeyes will make their pitch to flip him from the Red Raiders. Simpson-Hunt’s only other scheduled official visit for the remainder of the month is next weekend to Texas Tech. This one seemingly could go either way. 

Four-star Massachusetts safety Joenel Aguero will also be making the trip to OSU this weekend. Aguero has taken officials to Georgia and Florida this summer and is scheduled to take an official to Miami next weekend. Unlike other top prospects on this list, the Buckeyes are not viewed as the favorite to land Aguero unless something drastically changes.

Last weekend, four-star Baylor quarterback commit Austin Novosad made a return trip to campus after getting an Ohio State offer. This weekend, recent OSU offer and 2023 quarterback Brock Glenn will make his official visit to Columbus. 

Glenn, who has taken official visits to TCU, Auburn and Florida State this summer, will likely get a similar pitch from Corey Dennis that Novosad did on why it’s so beneficial for a quarterback to be developed by Ohio State. OSU would certainly like either Glenn or Novosad to wind up in the current class, so if either signal-caller wants in, it may come down to which quarterback commits first. 

Offensive tackle remains a priority in the 2023 class. For the second straight weekend, the Buckeyes will host an offensive tackle prospect on an official visit in four-star Maryland lineman Oluwatosin Babalade, a week after Miles Walker made the trip. Babalade has taken visits to North Carolina and South Carolina thus far and has one set up with Rutgers later in the month. The Buckeye's top remaining offensive tackle target that has set up an official visit with the team is Olaus Alinen, but OSU could potentially take two more tackles in the current cycle. 

It’s not just uncommitted prospects OSU will be hosting on campus this weekend. Six players who have already committed to the Buckeyes will be back on campus for their officials, including Ty Lockwood, Bryson Rodgers, Austin Siereveld, Dijon Johnson, Mark Fletcher and Joshua Padilla. 

Meanwhile, four-star offensive tackle commit Luke Montgomery and four-star linebacker target Arvell Reese will both be taking unofficial visits to Columbus this weekend. 

Robinson IV to visit OSU June 24-26

Next weekend will be another massive recruiting weekend for Ohio State, with around 16 recruits expected to take official visits that weekend. The weekend got even bigger as of Thursday when OSU 2024 priority four-star cornerback target Ellis Robinson IV announced he’d be taking an unofficial visit to Columbus June 24-26.

Robinson IV has been high on OSU for quite some time and put the Buckeyes in his updated top 10 list on June 10. He’s considered the ninth-best player in the 2024 cycle and the second-best cornerback per 247Sports’ composite rankings. 

McDonald includes OSU in top 10

A four-star 2023 defensive tackle with an Ohio State offer has cut his list down to 10 schools. Georgia prospect Kayden McDonald released a top 10 Thursday consisting of Ohio State, Arkansas, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina State, Michigan, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. 

McDonald will take an official visit to Florida this weekend and has a scheduled official for Michigan State next weekend. Georgia and Clemson are viewed as the likely top contenders to land McDonald when all is said and done.

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