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With all of the recent success that Ohio State has had in the recruiting world, it should come as no surprise that the ball may continue to roll in the coming days. '15 ATH Jerome Baker will be making his decision this week (Friday at 10 a.m. ET, to be exact) and will be deciding between Ohio State, Florida, and Tennessee. Baker's announcement will take place at his high school in Cleveland, OH.
The four-star has been said to be favoring the Buckeyes for a year or so now, and it's widely expected that Baker will end up in the scarlet and gray. Looking at the 247Sports Crystal Ball, the Buckeyes are the heavy favorites with 98 percent of the experts picking Ohio State over Florida (two percent). The 6'1, 205-pound athlete has the ability to play multiple positions and with his speed (he's been clocked at a 4.50 in the 40-yard dash) there's a good chance head coach Urban Meyer will find a way to get Baker on the field sooner rather than later.
Ranked as the fourth best athlete in the country and second best prospect overall in the state of Ohio, Baker holds offers from Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, among others.
Check out Baker's highlight film while you're at it:
Although '15 WR Lawrence Cager does not yet hold an offer from Ohio State, that doesn't mean he's not interested in the Buckeyes. Cager is reportedly waiting for an offer from the coaching staff, which would propel Ohio State to the top of Cager's list. This isn't all that surprising, despite Cager holding offers from schools such as Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, N.C. State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, and Virginia, among others.
Despite ranking as the the 16th best prospect overall in the state of Maryland, Cager is still pretty high on Ohio State, and the Crystal Ball still favors the Buckeyes (60 percent) over new Big Ten members Maryland (20 percent) and Rutgers (10 percent). If Cager is going to earn an offer from coach Meyer, there's no better time to prove his worth to the coaches than at Friday Night Lights, which Cager is planning to attend.
#ESPN300 No. 165 @AndreJames75 just picked #OhioState or #oklahoma to win the national title this season.
— Gerry Hamilton (@HamiltonESPN) July 7, 2014
'15 OL Andre James has had interest in Ohio State for some time, but the Buckeyes aren't favored to have a large shot at landing James (Wait, I feel like I've seen this before..) when the recruit will be making his decision during Nike's The Opening. However, James has had nothing but good things to say about Ohio State and the coaching staff.
The 6'5, 275-pound offensive tackle is ranked as the 18th best offensive tackle in the country and the third best prospect overall in the state of Tennessee. As of now, the favorites (according to the Crystal Ball) have UCLA (79 percent) leading over USC (14 percent) and Oregon (seven percent). Never fear the decision, though, as James has mentioned in the past that there's a chance he would be taking official visits to the other schools that made it as finalists (which includes the Buckeyes) so they wouldn't be completely out of the running for the lineman.