Damarion Witten, Trey McNutt and Zahir Mathis Stand Out While Four More Prospects Earn Offers at Ohio State's Third Recruiting Camp

By Garrick Hodge on June 14, 2023 at 6:07 pm
Damarion Witten and Keenan Bailey
Damarion Witten and Keenan Bailey
11 Comments

Three recruiting camps into the summer, Ohio State hasn’t seen any drop-off in talent competing at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Though he’s long held an offer from Ohio State, four-star 2024 Ohio tight end Damarion Witten worked out in Columbus on Wednesday, nearly two weeks before he’s expected to take an official visit to OSU. Witten, who is often utilized as one of Glenville High School’s primary weapons in the passing game, rotated getting work in with both the tight ends and wide receivers, getting coaching from both Brian Hartline and Keenan Bailey with an assist from OSU tight end Cade Stover. 

“It was really smooth out here today,” Witten said. “It was good switching with receivers and tight ends, it’s going to help me in the season in the long run. Coach Bailey asked me what I wanted to work on and I told him I gotta got better in my blocking. He and (Stover) helped me out a lot with that. I feel really comfortable with coach Bailey, my first time working with him, it showed me a lot and that he really cares about how his players develop. That plays a big part.” 

Witten is Ohio State’s top remaining target at tight end in the 2024 class, as the Buckeyes hope to land a second premier tight end to pair with four-star commit Max LeBlanc. Several recruiting analysts have predicted Witten will go to Kentucky following his official visit to Lexington last week, but Witten was adamant Wednesday there is no leader in his recruitment at the moment and that he doesn’t have a decision timeline in mind. 

“Kentucky, they really showed what they had in store and really stood out to me,” Witten said. “Right now, I feel like it’s 50-50 at every school. I’m just taking my officials and getting a feeling of everything.” 

Witten praised Bailey for making him feel prioritized the day he was promoted to tight ends coach and says he speaks with him around three times a week. 

“Me and coach Bailey got really close over time since he got the job,” Witten said. “He said I was the first tight end he called and he wanted to keep working with me. Ever since that day, he’s been truly showing me that he cares.” 

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound product was dominant in one-on-ones, including an impressive contested catch that he secured with one hand. 

“They’ve told me I’m a mismatch tight end,” Witten said. “I can stay, flex, go outside and play receiver and match up with a DB and be used as a mismatch. I want to be used as a tight end and a receiver and the same time.” 

Witten plans on taking an official visit to OSU on June 23 and says he’s looking forward to what Ohio State has to offer. 

“Really I want to see how Ohio State operates on a daily basis,” Witten said. “Workouts, installs, playbook, just me getting a feeling on how everything develops.”

McNutt, Mathis among other top targets in attendance

Before Wednesday’s camp even began, four-star Ohio 2025 defensive back Trey McNutt got some one-on-one work in with OSU secondary coach Tim Walton. McNutt, the son of former Ohio State cornerback Richard McNutt, said he wanted to learn from Walton on Wednesday despite already receiving an OSU offer earlier this year.

“It was a great experience. I got some work in before the camp, got some good work during the camp,” McNutt said. “Coach Walton, me and him are building a relationship right now, and it’s getting better and better. This is my second time here, and I'm having a great time.” 

In the defensive line group, no player was more impressive than 2025 top-40 prospect Zahir Mathis, who picked up his Ohio State offer in late May. Mathis, who made his first-ever trip to OSU on Wednesday, looked the part of an elite pass-rushing prospect in both individual drills and one-on-one competition. 

“It was a good day,” Mathis said. “Very fortunate, had some ups and downs, but everything came out straight though. I have great respect for Larry Johnson. He was telling me about my work ethic and I love this coaching staff. He was helping me out with some reps, I lost some reps then I won some reps, so it was pretty good for me.” 

Four more campers receive offers

Ohio State handed out four new offers to prospects Wednesday, offering four-star 2025 wide receiver Joshua Moore, 2025 safety Ethan Long, 2025 offensive tackle Matty Augustine and 2026 running back Javian Mallory. 

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Moore showed off his athleticism by making a dazzling one-handed catch on the sidelines in one-on-one drills and won the majority of his reps. Per 247Sports’ composite rankings, the Florida prospect is considered the 298th-ranked player and 42nd-rated wideout in the 2025 class. Moore has nearly 30 Division I offers, including Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and UCF. In 11 games last season, Moore caught 50 passes for 1,034 yards with 11 receiving touchdowns.

Long and Augustine are high school teammates at Brunswick School (Greenwich, Connecticut) and are former high school teammates of Ohio State freshman offensive tackle Miles Walker.

“We’ve talked about it a lot,” Long told Eleven Warriors of his conversations with Walker about Ohio State. “Just his experiences and when I’ve come down here he’s been great about showing us around. He’s a great person to look up to.”

Both Long and Augustine were offered by Ryan Day at the exact same time, leading to big smiles from both East Coast products. 

“We know we’re both hard workers and it’s all going to pay off for me and him,” Long said. “(Coach Day) loved the way we performed at camp and was really impressed. He was just great about it.” 

Long held his own against Witten in one-on-ones and received plenty of coaching from safeties coach Perry Eliano throughout the camp. He doesn’t hold a composite ranking but currently boasts 14 Division I offers. 

Augustine also was impressive in the competition portion of camp, matching up well with the likes of Mathis in one-on-ones. Like Long, he doesn’t have a composite ranking yet but has amassed 13 offers so far.

Mallory was the lone 2026 offer of the day. The Florida prospect, who now nearly has 20 offers, racked up 499 yards on 91 carries with six touchdowns in his freshman season.

Stover, Moore return to camp

A pair of OSU commits also showed up to camp Wednesday to get some work in. Linebacker commit Garrett Stover made the short trek from Sunbury, Ohio to get coached by Jim Knowles and James Laurinaitis, while offensive tackle Ian Moore returned to OSU for his second camp of the month and won five of his six one-on-one reps in competition drills. 

11 Comments

The Stark Beauty of Lost Things

Jan 1, 2021; New Orleans, LA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes tight end Luke Farrell (89) celebrates his touchdown reception against the Clemson Tigers with tight end Jeremy Ruckert (88) during the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Russell Costanza-USA TODAY Sports

Ohio State Accomplishes Its Most Important Goal for Post-Spring Transfer Window: Retaining All of Its Key Players

Ryan Day
View 11 Comments