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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 7/10 - Travis Rudolph rising?, basketball updates

Urban Meyer continues to plant the Buckeye flag in Florida, the Buckeyes have a chance to be in Damian Prince's top six, while Thad Matta continues to pursue some of the nation's best on the recruiting trail.

By Austin Kemp
Ohio State in the mix for WR Travis Rudolph?
Ohio State in the mix for WR Travis Rudolph?
SB Nation

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Ohio State currently sits at 14 commitments for the class of 2014, and with an estimation of roughly eight spots max left, the ship is filling up fast. Among those that the Buckeyes are chasing is 6’1" wide receiver Travis Rudolph out of West Palm Beach, Florida. Though this isn’t a name that has popped up a whole lot throughout this early recruiting process, Ohio State is putting themselves into a great position to land the sure handed receiver who also holds offers from Florida, Georgia, Miami, and Oregon.

Rudolph is a weapon anywhere on the field. Whether it’s offense, defense, or special teams, the guy makes plays. A commitment would be huge from Rudolph as it would continue to open doors to southern Florida, an area where Urban Meyer hardly needs anymore help. On Tuesday, Rudolph was ranked as the third best prospect in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast for the class of 2014 – right behind fellow Buckeye target Johnnie Dixon.

Curtis Samuel, another playmaker with a legitimate shot to be in this year’s class, was named one of the top offensive surprises of The Opening.

If you’ve followed him before the event, it wasn’t a shocker that Samuel was able to perform and put up the numbers that he did. Ohio State is high on the Brooklyn native and his verbal would give Urban Meyer another weapon to add to his arsenal. Figure that in with that offensive skill talent Meyer brought in last year and it’s beginning to look like Ohio State’s future depth chart could consist of instant scoreboard changers in both the one and two deep.

Another big time prospect that Meyer and his staff are pursuing is five-star offensive tackle Damian Prince. Tuesday evening Prince tweeted that he thinks Ohio State will make his next cut and then proceeded to say his next cut would be his top six.

As long as the Buckeyes can keep this close they’ll have a chance all the way to the end. With the offensive line being Ohio State’s biggest area of need, Urban Meyer has reeled in a couple of the nation’s best at that position and is still going after a handful more.

Moving onto the hardwood, Thad Matta has made quite the splash so far on the recruiting trail, getting commitments from some of the best players in the country and is looking to add even more. With current target Jahlil Okafor dominating competition at the FIBA U19 World Championships, Scout.com’s number five ranked power forward, Leron Black, released a top ten that included the Buckeyes.

This 2014 class is already off to a hot start and the addition of either Okafor or Black would be the cherry on top. While Okafor and Black are only targets at this point, current commits Jae’Sean Tate and D’Angelo Russell have been selected to participate in the Nike Global Challenge which runs from July 18-21.

Skip ahead to college basketball’s class of 2015 and we’ll see that it’s not only Matta putting in work to pull in the nation’s top prospects, but also assistant Greg Paulus is getting in on the action. According to our own Charles Doss, Paulus has been in contact with Kaiser Gates out of Georgia.

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