Ohio State recruiting: E.J. Price, 2016 OL, talks OSU offer

Urban Meyer and his staff have handed out a bevy of offers to prospects in the 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes in the last few weeks.

One of the players who received an offer from the Scarlet and Gray was 2016 Lawrenceville (GA) Central Gwinnett offensive tackle E.J. Price. Price comes from the same high school that freshmen linebacker Trey Johnson graduated from last year.

Price's recruitment has really picked up over the past couple of months. He has already picked up offers from Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Ohio State, and Virginia. Many other top schools are showing interest in the super sophomore.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 275 pound offensive tackle was pretty excited when he received word the Buckeyes had extended him a scholarship offer.

"We had a linebacker that went there last year (Trey Johnson) and my coach keeps in close contact with Ohio State and Trey," he said. "When my coach was talking to them, he mentioned my name, then they watched my film and were impressed since I was only a sophomore. They were also impressed that I had a 3.5 GPA and was able to take care of business off the field. Then they told my coach I had an offer."

While Price hash't had a lot of contact with the Ohio State coaching staff thus far, it's likely things will pick up in the coming days, weeks, and months.

"I had a brief conversation with the offensive coordinator, Tom Herman," he told Land-Grant Holy Land. "My coach has done most of the talking though. I didn't really have any contact with them before they offered me a scholarship."

He has yet to take any college visits, but he plans on getting out to a couple of schools in the near future. Ohio State might be one of the schools he visits.

"I haven't taken any visits yet, but I plan to get to Georgia Tech, Auburn, and Florida," he continued. "I also think Coach Wofford is planning a trip to Ohio State with me and Adonis (Thomas)."

When he takes his visits, he definitely wants to make sure there is a lot of interest in the football program.

"Of course I really want to see a school that has a really good fan base and a good campus environment," he added.

He's probably been hearing the most from Georgia Tech because he only lives about 30 minutes away from their Atlanta campus.

"Coach Ted Roof graduated from Central Gwinnett, so he comes up here pretty frequently," he told Land-Grant Holy Land. "He brought Coach Johnson here once so I got to meet him. I've had a fair amount of contact with both of them to this point."

Price hasn't had as much contact with the other big in-state school in Georgia.

"I really haven't talked to them too much, but they have offered me," he said. "I think I'll be talking more to Coach Bobo in the future."

He did not get the chance to play football with Trey Johnson last year because he was not on the team. In fact, E.J. hadn't played football for quite some time before this year.

"Actually I wasn't on the team last year because I wanted to get adapted to high school because I thought there was going to be a lot of work, so I didn't get to play with Trey" he continued. "I have heard a lot of great stories about him and how great of a leader he was."

Teammate Adonis Thomas is one of the top players in the 2015 class. Price says there's a chance they'd play at the same college, but they haven't really talked about it yet.

"Actually we haven't really talked about that just yet because neither of us has narrowed our choices," he said. "A lot of the same schools have offered us though and we'll be taking a lot of visits together, so it's a possibility that we could end up at the same school."

Price currently claims no leaders, but the school he is hearing from the most to this point in his recruitment is probably Georgia Tech.

"All of the schools who have offered and are showing interest are pretty much equal. I don't have any early favorites and am keeping my options open," he continued."I've probably had the most contact with Coach Roof and Coach Johnson at Georgia Tech, but that's pretty much because they're only about 30 minutes away from where I go to school."

A timeline for making a decision hasn't even crossed his mind as National Signing Day for recruits in the 2016 class is still over two years away. He has thought about the biggest factors in his decision though.

"Obviously one of the major factors is going to be the athletic program," he told Land-Grant Holy Land. "The most important thing will be academics since I have a 3.5 GPA and want to be set up for success after football. Obviously I would love to play in the NFL, but if that doesn't work out, it's really important to have a degree from a good school so you can do well for yourself."

Right now Price is focused on getting better for his junior season.

"I just want to take all the advice my coaches give me and do everything they want me to do to get better," he said. "I was thinking about reaching out to Mitch Hyatt – who's a really good offensive lineman from North Gwinnett – so I can work with him, see what he does to be so dominant, so I can improve my game."

It's way too early to tell where Price will go, but the Buckeyes have given themselves a chance in this race by extending an offer so early. I expect Price to be one of the highest rated 2016 offensive lineman when the first set of rankings are released.