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It was a rather quiet weekend on the Ohio State football front with the basketball squad not just taking the headlines with an awesome, hard fought senior day victory over Michigan State, but also in recruiting. Thad Matta and staff didn't just beat the Spartans in front of thousands of screaming Buckeye fans, but a number of recruits.
Future Buckeye Dave Bell (Garfield Heights), a recent class of 2014 signee, 2016 standouts Tyus Battle (Newark, NJ/Gill St. Bernard's School), Matthew Moyer (Gahanna Lincoln) and 2017 guard Justin Roberts (Indianapolis, IN/Pike) all happened to watch Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith win their last home game in the Scarlet and Gray on Sunday afternoon over the 22nd ranked Spartans.
Most of you are fully aware of the 6'10 power forward, Bell, but might not be that familiar with the aforementioned talented underclassman.
A little over a week after OSU assistant Grep Paulus flew to watch him action, the eighth overall player in the 2016 class (According to the 247Sports Composite), Tyus Battle got an up close and personal view of the Buckeye program. Battle, a 6'5 slasher, who plays for the USA U17 team, has scholarship offers from not just Matta and OSU but also Syracuse, Indiana, UConn, Villanova and a long list of other solid teams.
See why Battle is held in such high regards with these highlights of him in action:
Moyer, a 6'7 power forward, who stated "offers are a blessing that I don't take for granted.", currently holds scholarships from Dayton, Detroit, Wisconsin and Virginia Tech but is no stranger to the Ohio State campus even though he has yet to receive an offer from the Bucks just yet.
The Columbus native has made the short round trip quite a few times this season, but it was yesterdays game that had him at the edge of his seat.
"The game was a nail biter. Very exciting. That dunk attempt by Sam Thompson was amazing. (He has) Crazy hops." Moyer, who also chatted with an OSU assistant, told Land-Grant Holy Land soon after the Buckeye victory. "I spoke mostly with Jeff Boals. He said its time to focus on AAU. He said they will be at our (VCC Ohio Warriors) live period. He also told me to better use my length and athleticism and I intend to do so."
Check out this pretty nice two hand throw down by Moyer, filmed by our friends over at Scarberry Media:
Returning to Columbus after visiting for the Minnesota game last month, Justin Roberts, like Moyer, had nothing but good things to say about his Sunday visit to OSU. "Both visits were great. Not a really big difference but today's game was a lot more intense." The 6'0 freshman who averages just under seven points and three assists a contest for Pike told Land-Grant Holy Land. "The guys were great inside the locker room after the game. Very close team." Roberts added.
Roberts hasn't landed his first scholarship offer just yet but has the attention of not just OSU but many of the top programs in the country including Indiana, Michigan State and Kentucky. The attention from the Buckeyes will only continue as the staff told Justin they plan to watch him on the court during the AAU season.
"I spoke with Coach Greg Paulus and Coach Matta. They just told me that they would be in the front row watching me, especially this summer. They also told me to keep working hard." Roberts said of his interaction with the staff.
Here are some highlights of the talented freshman from this season:
With Jae'Sean Tate out and Dave Bell and Keita Bates-Diop both watching their senior seasons coming to an end last week, the only future Buckeyes chasing Championship dreams are D'Angelo Russell and class of 2015 commit AJ Harris.
Russell and Montverde Academy won't be in action until next month but Harris and Dayton Dunbar were back at it Friday. The short but shifty, point guard, who went down in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, only scored 10 points in a 68-47 District Final victory over Carroll.
Harris shook off Fridays injury to join Bell, Battle, Moyer and Roberts in enjoying the Buckeye win on Sunday:
On my way to Ohio St my second home. Bouta watch boys put in work #SeniorNight #BigTen #GoBuckeyes #BallisLife
— I_WILLRISE12 (@FAMOUS_AMOS12) March 9, 2014
After their blow out win over Carroll, Harris and Wolverines take on rival Thurgood Marshall later this week on Thursday in the Regional Finals.
QUICK HITS:
- 2015 five star Arizona wide receiver Christian Kirk, who visited Ohio State last weekend, was selected to participate in The Opening, a best of the best combine put on by Nike at their headquarters in Oregon every year. This will be the second consecutive year the 5'11 speedster has participated in the event.