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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 9/27 - Wisconsin weekend preview

LGHL takes a look back at yesterday's Buckeye recruiting news and looks ahead to a big weekend for recruiting.

By Miles Joseph
A mailing NJ TE Mike Gesicki got earlier this year from Ohio State.
A mailing NJ TE Mike Gesicki got earlier this year from Ohio State.

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We're just a day away from witnessing the number four Buckeyes take on number 23 Wisconsin Badgers under the lights Saturday night. Recruits will be flocking to the big game that is probably going to be the biggest recruiting weekend of the fall with to the Michigan game being in Ann Arbor this year.

More: Wisconsin weekend recruiting visitors list

Obviously there are going to be a lot of football recruits at the game, but there are also going to be a fair amount of basketball players in attendance for the 8:00 showdown against the Badgers.

There was one major addition to the visitor list on the women's side of things yesterday as 2014 Detroit (MI) Day County School point guard Asia Doss, who is rated as one of the top 100 players in women's high school basketball. First year head coach Kevin McGuff is looking to bring in a strong recruiting class to improve a Lady Bucks team who really struggled last year.

There will also be a couple a men's basketball commits in attendance this weekend. Three commits in the class of 2014 will be there in forward Keita Bates-Diop, forward Jae'Sean Tate – who was recently nominated for the McDonald's All-American game – as well as guard D'Angelo Russell. All three of these preps stars will have a big role on the 2014-2015 Buckeye basketball team.

2015 point guard commit AJ Harris and top 2015 target Luke Kennard will be at the game too. The Bucks are facing an uphill battle against Kentucky, Michigan, and Duke for the Franklin star, Kennard.

It's now time to talk about the major football visitors on the slate for this weekend. First, I was able to talk to a couple of this weekend's visitors. Here's what the had to say going into their visit.

Detroit (MI) Cass Tech cornerback and Buckeye commit, Damon Webb is one of many commits looking forward to watching the big game in-person. He is one of the leaders of  "The Dream 14" and it's important to have him on campus in order to do some recruiting on a big weekend like one that lies ahead:

"I'm just looking forward to seeing the atmosphere at the game. This is going to be my first Ohio State game, which is very exciting."

A few other set to attend the game are Andrew and David Dowell, twins who hail from Lakewood, Ohio. They are juniors at St. Edward high school, one of the top football schools in the state. Both had things to say heading into their visit Saturday.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing the game time atmosphere in the 'Shoe. I'm also going to be watching all of the Ohio State running backs to see if I can learn things that will help me become a better player."

His twin brother, David had very similar things to say headed into Saturday's visit.

"I'm just excited to see the atmosphere, intensity, and speed college football brings."

There are way too much visitors set to visit this weekend to go in-depth on every player individually, so we're just going to highlight the major visitors.

In my eyes, this weekend's biggest visitor is Manahawkin (NJ) Southern Reg. tight end Mike Gesicki. I feel very good about Gesicki to Ohio State and it should be interesting to where the Buckeyes stand in regards to landing his commitment following the visit. Urban Meyer is one of many people excited to see Gesicki on campus this weekend.

The 247 Crystal Ball shows OSU as the clear favorite to land Gesicki's commitment.

2014 247Sports composite five star safety John "JuJu" Smith is probably the most talented player slated to be on campus this weekend, but it's very unlikely the Bucks end up scoring his commitment when it's all said and done. However, as we've seen in the past, a great visit can change a recruit's mindset in an instant. This is definitely a visit to keep an eye on, but I'm not too optimistic as things currently stand. He is also seriously considering Alabama, Michigan, UCLA, and USC.

Ohio's top two uncommitted players are expected to be in attendance Saturday in the form of athlete Marshon Lattimore and safety Erick Smith. Both are coached by Ted Ginn Sr. at Glenville High School. I'm extremely confident we'll see these two donning the Scarlet & Gray next fall. Though they're letting the process play out like the vast majority of high-profile Glenville recruits do, I would be absolutely shocked if these two ended up elsewhere.

The last two uncommitted '14 visitors we're going to touch on are wide receivers Johnnie Dixon and Travis Rudolph. Both of these speedy wideouts hails from West Palm Beach, Florida, but attend different high schools. Dixon attends Dwyer, while Rudolph goes to Cardinal Newman. Both are very talented players and would be great fits in Ohio State's offense. However, I just don't see them fitting into this class right now, especially after Noah Brown committed to OSU earlier this month. If space opened up, I wouldn't be too surprised to see either of these guys in the class, but for now, it's pretty doubtful.

I think the biggest 2015 target set to be on campus this weekend is massive 6-foot-5-inch, 300 pound offensive tackle Drew Richmond, who will be making the trip up to Columbus from Memphis, Tennessee. Land-Grant Holy Land recruiting analyst Adam Waters did a good job of explaining the Richmond situation in yesterday's edition of "State Secrets".

The last two 2015 prospects I'd like to touch on are Cass Tech juniors Mike Weber and Joshua Alabi, both teammates of '14 OSU commit Damon Webb. I think both favor Michigan State right now, but a good visit and their relationship with Webb could go a long way.

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Stay tuned to Land-Grant Holy Land this weekend as we will be providing all of your Buckeye recruiting coverage as news becomes available.

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