5-star cornerback lists Ohio State in top 3

You can almost feel it in the air. The college football season is soon approaching and the Ohio State football team is gearing up for a much-anticipated campaign. With the focus switching to the upcoming season, the college football recruiting world enters a dead period, meaning there will not be any in-person contact between recruits and coaches until Sept. 1. But recruiting never stops for Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes, and the team could have a booming August.

Ohio State makes the cut for 5-star CB

Ohio State inched one step further to acquiring one of its most coveted recruits of the 2018 recruiting cycle yesterday when cornerback Anthony Cook (Houston, TX/Lamar) listed the team as one of his final remaining schools.

Late Monday night, Cook took to Twitter to announce his top 3 remaining schools. Along with Ohio State, Texas and LSU also made the cut for the 5-star CB.

Cook is seen as one of the top prospects in the class across all recruiting databases. He is the No. 2 CB according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, and is the No. 13 overall recruit in the class.

Ohio State has always been held in high regard in Cook’s recruitment and the Buckeyes have been long seen as the favorite to land him.

If Cook was to choose Ohio State, he would mark the third CB commit in this year’s class. Pairing him with four-star Sevyn Banks and three-star Marcus Hooker would make this just another elite CB haul for Urban Meyer.

4-star OT set to announce August 12

With only two offensive line commits in this year’s recruiting class, you can bet that Urban Meyer is looking to add some more talent to a pool that currently includes four-star offensive guard Matthew Jones and four-star offensive tackle Max Wray. Fortunately, the Buckeyes may not have to wait long, as offensive tackle Darrell Simpson (Justin, TX/Northwest) announced he would be announcing his collegiate commitment on August 12.

The four-star OT recently listed Ohio State as one of his top eight schools along with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas.

Simpson is regarded as one of the top offensive line recruits in the country, seen as the No. 13 OT by the 247Sports Composite Rankings and the No. 171 overall recruit.

Communication between Ohio State and Simpson has tapered off since the start of 2017 and hometown school Oklahoma is seen as the favorite to land Simpson. Instead, it seems the Buckeyes are solely focusing on five-star Ohio native Jackson Carman, who is currently projected to commit to Ohio State.

4-star CB set to commit August 22

Another Buckeye target set to announce his commitment next month is Donald “DJ” Johnson (Indianapolis, IN/North Central). The rising cornerback has dozens of scholarship offers including Notre Dame, Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Cincinnati, Western Michigan, and Ohio State.

Johnson has seen his recruitment take off this year, with the majority of his scholarship offers coming at the start of the new year. He has been busy this summer making visits to some of these schools, with the most recent being a trip to Columbus for Friday Night Lights.

The four-star CB has apparently seen all he needs to as he took to Twitter yesterday to announce his commitment date.

However, it appears that Johnson hinted at a top two with emojis referring to Notre Dame and Iowa.

As was previously mentioned, Urban Meyer and Ohio State were the last to receive a visit from Johnson and while the visit was likely a success, Johnson seems to have narrowed down his schools to two.

This could be because of the limited space in Ohio State’s recruiting class this year. The Buckeyes received a commitment from three-star CB Marcus Hooker last week and are coveting other elite CB recruits like Anthony Cook. Johnson wouldn’t be the first blue-chip recruit to commit elsewhere due to the lack of room.

4-star ILB set to commit later this week

Ohio State’s best chance at earning its next commitment is with inside linebacker K’Vaughan Pope (Dinwiddie, VA/Dinwiddie). The four-star ILB has reportedly wanted to be a Buckeye for the last month, but has been waiting on clearance due to academic reasons.

Pope is scheduled to commit Aug. 4 and will likely be choosing between Ohio State and Georgia. While he has not been shy in his interest in becoming a Buckeye, his commitment is no longer a certainty. While having to wait to commit to the school, Pope took time to visit other schools to make sure the wait was worth it.

While these visits resulted in an increase of interest in Georgia for Pope, the Buckeyes are still seen as the runaway favorite to land the elite linebacker.

Pope is currently viewed as the No. 7 ILB in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, and is the No. 168 overall prospect in the class.

If Pope elects to choose Ohio State, he will mark the third LB commit in this class, along with ILB Teradja Mitchell and OLB Dallas Gant.

Quick Hit

• Five-star DE KJ Henry dropped Ohio State out of his top schools yesterday when he listed Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Clemson, and Virginia Tech as his top five schools going forward.