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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 6/6 - Brady Taylor visit, Kiy Hester Top 7

It's the calm before the storm on the Ohio State recruiting scene. Get all the info you need and more heading into an action packed stretch of camps.

By Luke Zimmermann
The Opening's been taking on a scarlet & gray hue of late.
The Opening's been taking on a scarlet & gray hue of late.

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4-star Ohio State linebacker commit Dante Booker Jr. got the much coveted invitation to Nike's The Opening 2013 Wednesday, making it six (!) Buckeye verbal commits that'll be participating in the elite competition in Beaverton, Oregon in July. Booker Jr. joins Parris Campbell Jr., Kyle Trout, Kyle Berger, Damon Webb, and Dylan Thompson as OSU pledges selected for the elite outing. In a promising showing for the future of Ohio State football, the next nearest team has but three commits selected to attend at the moment.

While Ohio State visits – and more specifically the number of prospective student athletes checking out campus in context of one of the camps OSU has coming up – are about to go through the roof, one of the first such visitors will come Thursday in the form of Columbus product Brady Taylor. Taylor, a 6-5 265 pound OT from Bishop Ready High School in C-bus, has been thought to be favoring Kentucky. In fact, the lone 247 Crystal Ball prediction for Taylor at this point has him landing with Mark Stoops' Wildcats. Though there's likely a way to go before the likes of Ohio State offers him, tomorrow begins the another important step in that process. Taylor also has offers from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Pitt, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

In the big recruiting news of yesterday, Elite 11 finalist to be DeShone Kizer finally received the Notre Dame offer he's been seeking. Kizer's long spoke of how "distance" would play a factor in his recruiting, and finally, in contrast to the likes of LSU, Alabama, and Tennessee, he has an offer which is less taxing with respect to how far away it is from his Toledo, OH hometown. The Buckeyes meanwhile continue to be skittish with Kizer, preferring he come prove his offer worthiness at a camp during the next month. This seems more likely to drive Kizer to the likes of ND or LSU than anything, but perhaps it indicates the staff just isn't sold on Kizer's high ceiling but high investment cost necessary to turn him into the kind of player they'd like to leave the 2014 class with.

2015 DT Trenton Thompson apparently feels good about the give and take he's had with the Ohio State coaching staff lately. With him thinking there could be an offer on a horizon, let's get acclimated with the high school junior to be: Thompson checks in at 6-5, 270 pounds, hailing from Albany, Georgia's Westover High. He's a legit 5-star in the 247Composite rankings (granted at this juncture it only includes 247's metrics, as the lone service to have done comprehensive evaluations for next year's class), but as the best defensive tackle, second best overall player in the state of Georgia, and seventh best player overall in the entire class, there's no question he's potentially an instant difference maker for the Bucks.

You can check out Thompson's highlights here.

Speaking of top prospect speaking with the Buckeyes' staff, 2014 SSDE Justus Reed joined the party Wednesday afternoon:

Reed is a 6-5 235 pound end out of Clearwater Central Catholic in Clearwater, Florida. He's the 46th best strong-side defensive end and the 167th best player from the state of Florida, per the 247Composite rankings. Noles247's Josh Newberg has the lone Crystal Ball projection at this point in time for Reed, seeing him winding up a Florida Gator. Reed is also considering offers from Duke, Florida State, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Northwestern.

Here's Reed in action:

Finally, 2014 DB Kiy Hester revealed his Top 7 late Wednesday. The 4-star out of Wayne, New Jersey is evidently still very much considering the Buckeyes:

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