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Ohio State recruiting: State Secrets, 8/19 - New Rivals top 100, Braxton Blackwell offered

Get the latest updates on everything Ohio State recruiting.

By Ian Cuevas
Justin Hilliard was one of two Ohio State commits to make the Rivals top 100
Justin Hilliard was one of two Ohio State commits to make the Rivals top 100
Student Sports

Before today revolved around the potential season-ending news of Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller (he has an MRI scheduled for this afternoon, which could determine whether he will be able to play this year or not), the Buckeyes were still going at it on the recruiting trail. While we'll get to how they did that in just a second, it might be a good chance to see what one of the top recruits in the country had to say when he heard the news about Miller.

'15 QB/ATH Torrance Gibson has been a hot topic from a recruiting standpoint for the past several months and that's probably not going to change until he signs to a school for good. But on Monday, he took a break with all of the recruiting to send out a tweet about the rumors surrounding Ohio State's biggest star and leader of the team:

One has to wonder how Ohio State's mindset is when it comes to recruiting the quarterback position. If JT Barrett proves to be a worthy quarterback, will future recruits shy away from the Buckeyes? It's an interesting question, and one I'll put on the back burner as I await the results of Miller's MRI. Not to mention we haven't even seen Barrett in any action since he's joined the Buckeyes.

In some lighter news, Ohio State had two commitments make Rivals' top 100 list that was released on Monday. '15 LB Justin Hilliard (49th) and '15 OT Kevin Feder (87th) were the only Buckeyes to make the cut, which I thought was a tad bit surprising. I would have expected Jashon Cornell or Eric Glover-Williams to make an appearance, but for now, they'll have to wait until the next list to hopefully see their names.

Some of the bigger names that Ohio State is currently targeting to also make the list were DE Josh Sweat (5th), RB Damien Harris (10th), LB Malik Jefferson (22nd), S Rashad Roundtree (24th), OT Drew Richmond (27th), ATH Christian Kirk (29th), and DE Terry Beckner Jr. (31st).

'15 OG Josh Wariboko came out with a new top 8 list and the Buckeyes were featured along with other teams such as California, Louisville, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, UCLA, and USC. The 6'3, 319-pound offensive guard is rated as a four-star under the 247Sports Composite and received an offer from the Buckeyes back in early May.

According to Barton Simmons of 247Sports, '15 OLB Porter Gustin will be taking an official visit to three schools for sure. Those schools include Ohio State, in addition to Florida State and Notre Dame. The 6'5, 240-pound outside linebacker is ranked as the 8th-best outside linebacker in the country and the second best player overall out of the state of Tennessee. As of now, Gustin's Crystal Ball predictions remain the same and feel strongly that USC will win this recruitment.

Finally, in some basketball news, Ohio State has offered 6'8, 220-pound Braxton Blackwell from the recruiting class of 2016. Considered one of the top small forwards in the country, Blackwell holds offers from virtually every school in the country, including Kansas. North Carolina and Louisville haven't offered the youngster yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a coaching staff take his talent early on and allow him to learn their system much faster, so expect even more offers in the coming weeks of his recruitment.

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