Ohio State sends offer to a top 5 in-state small forward

With the football program making a whole lot of noise yesterday, the recruiting news on Tuesday seemed to shift to the basketball program when the Buckeyes offered in-state prospect Justin Ahrens (Versailles, OH /Versailles).

Ahrens, a small forward in the class of 2018, stands about 6-foot-5 and is rated as the No.4 player in the state. Ahrens was on an unofficial visit to the school when Thad Matta decided to throw an offer his way. In recent years, Ohio State has gone away from bringing in top in-state prospects and while the product on the court has still been OK the last couple years, it is definitely down from what we're used to seeing from Thad Matta's squads. It's been rumored that Matta and his staff want to get back to putting a bigger emphasis on recruiting the state of Ohio. This was Ahrens' second offer, with Stony Brook taking the honors as the first to offer the Versailles phenom. There is no current timetable on when he'll decide his destination.

Ahrens wasn't the only visiter in Columbus; he was also joined by 2018 shooting guard Robby Carmody (Mars, PA /Mars Area). Carmody is a top 60 player in the country and a unanimous four-star prospect. Ranked as the No.2 player in the state of Pennsylvania, Carmody holds 11 total offers, most notably from Notre Dame, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Michigan. He has not yet received an offer from Ohio State.

It's no question that the Bucks have a shot in this one, but there's definite ground to make up. Thad Matta will have his work cut out for him if he wants to pull the 6-foot-4 sharp-shooter out of Keystone State. Notre Dame and Pittsburgh are the presumed favorites right now, according to the 247sports crystal ball prediction

To the gridiron

A couple highly-touted recruits, both of whom are Ohio State running back targets received a boost when Rivals revealed their new rankings. Commit JK Dobbins (La Grange, TX /La Grange) moved up 28 spots to No.54 overall, while Cam Akers (Clinton, MS / Clinton) received his fifth star and is now rated the No.12 overall player in the country. Ohio State will have to fight all the way to the end in order to grab Akers from a slew of SEC schools who are also vying for his services.

As it stands, the 247sports crystal ball predictions have Ole Miss as the biggest threat to Ohio State in regards to Akers. Adding more fuel to the recruiting fire is the offer from Alabama with Lane Kiffin listed as one of the recruiters, according to Akers’ page on 247sports.

Stay tuned to Land-Grant Holy Land for all the updates on Akers and the Ohio State recruiting circuit.