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Stud Kansas offensive tackle Braden Smith visited the Ohio State campus Monday. The 6-6 295 pounder's trip around the Midwest won't stop in Columbus, Braden will also check out Michigan and Notre Dame later this week. The five-star talent has offers from just about every school in the nation including Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas to name a few.
College coaches from across america aren't the only ones to take notice, Scout.com has Smith listed as the top player in Kansas the sixth ranked prospect in the class of 2014 and the second ranked offensive tackle in he country. With Cleveland Glenville beast Marcelys Jones and Lancaster four-star Kyle Trout already verbally committed to Ohio State, the staff has definitely made the offensive line a vocal point for the class of 2014 and are sitting pretty with many of the top hogs the class has to offer.
Smith won't be the only talented prospect to visit Ohio State this week, It has been reported that 2014 recruits, Cleveland St. Ignatius linebacker Kyle Berger and 6-5 270 lb defensive tackle and Illinois native Dylan Thompson will check out the Buckeyes this weekend. Berger and Thompson have watched their recruitment blow up the last few months, even if they don't end up in the scarlet and gray that doesn't mean they won't end up future teammates, they are both sporting scholarship offers from Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee to go a long with a gang of other schools.
A pair of Cincinnati Colerain players will also visit this weekend. 2014 linebacker Tegray Scales and 2015 Athlete George Brown Jr. will make the trip down to Columbus Saturday to check out the Buckeyes practice and campus. The 6-2 215 lb Scales, recently picked up his first scholarship offers, coming from Louisville and Western Michigan, those certainly won't be his last, the four-star talent has quite a few other schools showing interest.
Brown Jr., only a sophomore and already standing 6-6 and well over 250 pounds has many scouts feeling the tight end might end up growing into a solid offensive or defensive lineman in the future. Who knows what the future might bring but in the present George holds offers from hometown Cincinnati, Bowling Green and Kentucky to go along with increased interest from Ohio State, Louisville, UCLA and others.
George told Land-Grant Holy Land that when it comes to his Ohio State recruitment he is in contact with Ohio State assistants Kerry Coombs and Ed Warinner the most but his father is friends with Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer. Even though he has a relationship with a few members of the staff, Brown has a couple of things he wants to do during his visit " I just want to get a feel for the coaches and team".
Talked to KSTATE OSTATE UCLA OREGON and NCSTATE today
— ★☆GEORGE BROWN 41☆★ (@G_TheKid41) March 18, 2013
Sunday evening, 2014 Chicago De La Salle four-star tackle Jamarco Jones tweeted that he is down to 11 schools but he didn't mention the teams, i'm confident enough to say the Buckeyes will probably make the cut for the 6-5 290 pound Jones who is no stranger to Columbus. Monday another recruit tweeted out his top four, Dravon Henry a four-star defensive back out of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania trimmed his list to Pittsburgh, Penn State, West Virginia and Ohio State.
After a weekend visit to Knoxville 2014 Georgia defensive tackle Chris Williams told ESPN he now has a tentative top five of (in no order) Tennessee, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and South Carolina. Williams is the teammate of Ohio State wide receiver target Demarre Kitt, The four-star Kitt will make a return visit to Columbus as he added his name to the list of recruits visiting Ohio State the first week of April, no word yet if Williams will join. Speaking of April, looks like another potential Buckeye will add his name to the visitors list.
The coach of five-star New Jersey athlete Jabrill Peppers told Tom VanHaaren of ESPN that Peppers has now trimmed his list to four potential suitors and will visit all four. The 6-1 210 lb Peppers will visit Michigan April 3rd, Ohio State April 5th, LSU on April 12th and Stanford on the 12th of July. Another recruit eyeing an April visit is 2014 Delaware quarterback Darius Wade, told me he plans to visit Columbus April 4th. The 6-2 190 lb Wade, has offers from the likes of Boston College, Nebraska and Syracuse to go along with interest from the Buckeyes, Penn State and others. Check out some highlights of Darius Wade in action below:
In basketball recruiting news, 2013 Ohio State commit Marc Loving was named to the AP Division I All-Ohio first team and was also named player of the year Monday. The 6-8 210 pound Loving averaged over 21 points a game for his Toledo St.Johns squad this season.
Loving wasn't the only Buckeye commit to be awarded for his play on the court, 2014 wing Jae'Sean Tate of Pickerington Central was named second team All-Ohio. Joining Tate on the second team was Shaker Heights forward Esa Ahmad, who recently visited Ohio State. Franklin Sophomore guard Luke Kennard, a Buckeye target was named to the first team and also won Co-Division II Player of the year while Akron St.Vincent St.Mary freshman VJ King was named second team.
Congrats to Marc Loving for being named the Division 1 Player of the Year in Ohio! #Buckeyes
— Jeff Boals (@JeffBoals) March 18, 2013