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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 3/25 - Latest on Ian Leever, Andre James offered

Ohio State will host an offensive tackle from the class of 2015 on Thursday, while a top basketball recruit picks Duke over the home state Buckeyes.

By Ian Cuevas
'15 offensive tackle Ian Leever will be making a visit to Ohio State on Thursday.
'15 offensive tackle Ian Leever will be making a visit to Ohio State on Thursday.

Ohio State basketball has had a bit of a rough stretch this last week or so. To begin, the Buckeyes lost to the Dayton Flyers in the round of 64 during the March Madness tournament, finishing the careers of Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr. with a disappointing end. On Monday, head coach Thad Matta and his staff were passed by one of the top basketball prospects in the country - '15 SG Luke Kennard.

To make things worse, Kennard hails from the Buckeye state. Kennard chose the Duke Blue Devils on Monday, spurning teams such as Ohio State, Kentucky, and Michigan. The 6'5, 182-pound shooting guard was widely regarded as one of the best players in the class and the number one player from the state of Ohio. While it came as no surprise that Kennard chose Duke, it still would have been great to have him in Columbus. Now, the Buckeyes will focus on landing '15 PF Carlton Bragg. Their main competition will be Kentucky, who is currently favored to land Bragg according to the 247 Crystal Ball with 62% of the experts predicting the Wildcats.

'15 OT Ian Leever spoke with Land-Grant Holy Land's very own Charles Doss on Monday and as you can see above, told Charles that he will be making a trip to Columbus for a visit on Thursday. Leever stands at 6'5, 280-pounds and checks out as a 3-star under 247Sports. He does not yet own an offer from Ohio State, but does hold offers from Akron, Ball State, Cincinnati, Kent State, and Toledo, among others. However, before too long, I expect an offer to come Leever's way.

Asked about who he's in contact with at Ohio State, Leever says Mark Pantoni and Kerry Coombs have reached out to note the Buckeyes' interest in him. What would an offer from Ohio State mean to Leever?

"An offer from the Buckeyes would be huge. It is the biggest school in our area of the country and they play some great football up there in Columbus."

Leever will be making a series of visits this week, starting with Michigan State on Tuesday, then following that with Eastern Michigan and Michigan on Wednesday. After the Ohio State visit, Leever will be headed to Kentucky on Friday.

'15 OT Andre James received an offer from Ohio State on Monday, marking his 13th offer overall. The 4-star offensive tackle is 6'5, 275-pounds and runs a 5.22 in the 40-yard dash. Rated as the second-best prospect in the state of Texas, James holds offers from Arizona State, Miami, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin, and more.

To see what James can do on the field and why the Buckeyes are interested in him, check out his highlight tape here:

'15 ATH/OLB Adonis Thomas went to Twitter on Monday to share his top 10 schools. As listed above, Florida, UCLA, Arizona, Stanford, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Florida State are all still in the running. This means that Ohio State is no longer being considered for the Georgia-native. The 6'4, 215-pound athlete is ranked as the 20th-best player from Georgia, and has plenty of top-level offers, including a recent offer from Alabama.

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