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Ohio State Recruiting: State Secrets, 10/4- Payton Dastrup, Thomas Holley updates

LGHL takes a look at yesterday's recruiting events, which included a top basketball target committing elsewhere, plus we take one last look back at the Wisconsin weekend and much more.

By Miles Joseph
Holley will be in Columbus for his official visit in two weeks
Holley will be in Columbus for his official visit in two weeks

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After hosting a huge slate of recruits in Columbus for the Wisconsin game last Saturday night, the Bucks hit the road to take on the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston. While, there will be no visitors this weekend, there's still a lot to cover when it comes to Buckeye recruiting news.

Thad Matta and the Buckeye basketball team got some bad news last night when Boston (MA) Wilbraham & Monson Academy composite four-star power forward Goodluck Okonoboh committed to the UNLV Runnin' Rebels over the Buckeyes.

Okonoboh was in Columbus for an official visit last weekend, where things went pretty well. He then made the trip to Vegas a couple of days later and his choice of school switched to the Runnin' Rebs.

His recruitment started to trend towards Ohio State yesterday, but ultimately he felt UNLV was better suited for his skill set and NBA prospects.

Despite losing out on the 6-foot-9-inch power forward, the Thad Matta has an elite 2014 recruiting class thus far and is still awaiting a decision from a few targets, including seven foot center Elbert Robinson, and center Myles Turner. Robinson was on campus last weekend and Turner is visiting in two weeks for the Ohio State-Iowa football game.

There's still more basketball news to get to as Mesa (AZ) Mountain View four-star power forward Payton Dastrup told Land Grant Holy Land's Charles Doss that he would be visiting OSU for Iowa weekend on October 19th. The top 100 prospect is visiting Virginia this weekend.

Ohio State offered Dastrup back in July. There is a long list of programs chasing the 6-9 220 pound forward including; Arizona, Arizona State, BYU and others. It has been reported that Dastrup would like to go on a two year Mormon mission trip after graduating High School, which would mean he most likely won't be on a college campus till 2016.

We also got some big news on the football recruiting side as it was reported that Brooklyn (NY) Abraham Lincoln defensive tackle Thomas Holley would be in Columbus for his official visit in two weeks to watch the Buckeyes take on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 285 pound, composite four-star nose guard has the Buckeyes, Notre Dame, and Penn State at the top of his list. As things currently stand most of the nation's recruiting experts thing Holley will end up in the Scarlet & Gray, but there's still a lot of time left in this race.

Holley joins '15 linebacker Justin Hilliard, '15 offensive/defensive linemen George Brown Jr., and a couple of commits on what could end up being a fairly big recruiting weekend for Urban Meyer and his staff.

The Buckeyes are starting to make a big recruiting impact in the State of Michigan, especially at Cass Tech high school in Detroit, Michigan, which is the home of Ohio State's second commitment for the 2014 class, Damon Webb. His teammates, running back Mike Weber and defensive end Joshua Alabi are a couple of the top prospects in the state of Michigan's 2015 class. All three players were on campus and all had great things to say, especially Weber.

"It was a really fun visit. I really enjoyed myself, got to see LeBron, the game was intense, and the crowd was live."--- Mike Weber

The 5-foot-10-inch, 190 pound running back also had the chance to speak with Ohio State running backs coach Stan Drayton while he was in Columbus.

"Coach Drayton was just telling me that Ohio State is the right place for me and that he wants to continue building a better relationship with me."--- Mike Weber

Weber also said both Damon Webb and his father, Damon Sr. have been talking to him about Ohio State, "all the time". It will be interesting to monitor the progress OSU makes in the state of Michigan.

QUICK HITS:

  • It's been mentioned before, but in case you didn't see, '14 athlete commit Sam Hubbard told our Adam Waters that he would be playing SAM linebacker when he arrives in Columbus.
  • Most of Ohio State's commits and targets will be action tonight. Make sure to monitor Twitter to find out how they're performing.

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