Former Ohio State basketball commit lists Buckeyes in top 6

The Buckeye basketball program has had a whirlwind of an offseason. The university decided to part ways with former head coach Thad Matta late this summer and replaced him with Chris Holtmann out of Butler.

Since Holtmann has been in Columbus, he has shown an incredible ability to recruit. He has brought multiple highly-touted prospects into the program and led Ohio State to the top recruiting class in the Big Ten this year.

However, with all the chaos surrounding the program, some recruits that committed to the Buckeyes under Matta decided to reopen their recruitment in order to make sure they made the right decision. One former commit has continued to express interest in Ohio State and included the program as one of his top six schools moving forward.

Three-star small forward Justin Ahrens (Versailles, OH/Versailles) announced Ohio State as one of the six schools he will focus on during the rest of his recruitment, along with Michigan, Xavier, Dayton, Vanderbilt, and Purdue.

Ahrens is the No. 7 overall prospect from the state of Ohio, the No. 43 SF in the country, and is seen as the No. 166 overall recruit in the class of 2018, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Holtmann’s staff expressed their interest in retaining Ahrens shortly after his arrival. The staff sent him another scholarship offer July 17 in hopes that he would re-commit to the Buckeyes. While the Buckeyes should be viewed as a top contender for his services, since his departure, Michigan has become a real factor and is seen as the current favorite to land him, with 80 percent of the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions.

Holtmann and his staff still have plenty of work to do in securing a commitment from Ahrens, but if they are able to build a relationship similar to the one he had with Matta, their chances are high.

Key Ohio State WR target suffers major injury

Ohio State’s 2018 recruiting class is off to a booming start. The team already holds verbal commitments from 16 recruits and could add to that total in the coming weeks. However, despite this success, the program has yet to add a wide receiver to the group.

There are two WR prospects the Buckeyes are focusing most of their attention on: four-star WR L’Christian “Blue” Smith and four-star Kamryn Babb (Saint Louis, MO/Christian Brothers College), with Babb being their top target.

Unfortunately, David Kvidahl of the Saint Louis Times is reporting that the up-and-coming WR suffered a possible season-ending injury in his knee. The exact severity of the injury is unknown and it is unfair to speculate much further.

However, if Babb has to miss a significant amount of time, it would be the second consecutive season he will have to do so. Kvidahl mentions in his report that Babb missed a total of five games last season before being able to return for the Class 6 state semifinals.

The injury will likely not have any effect on Babb’s recruitment, as he is still regarded as one of the top recruits in the entire class. The 247Sports Composite Rankings list him as the No. 6 WR and the No. 38 overall prospect.

Babb currently has Ohio State listed as a finalist along with Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, and USC.

The Buckeyes are seen as the clear favorite to land Babb, holding 100 percent of the 22 predictions in the 247Sports Crystal Ball.

Updated Rivals100 2019 rankings

Rivals.com updated its rankings for the 2019 class and the Buckeyes' only current commit made the cut along with multiple other Ohio State targets.

The following players being targeted by the Buckeyes made the list:

• No. 6 WR target Theo Wease Jr.
• No. 9 DE target Zach Harrison
• No. 12 OT target Darnell Wright
• No. 14 WR target Trey Knox
• No. 17 RB target Noah Cain
• No. 19 LB target Owen Pappoe
• No. 20 WR target Ja’shawn Sheffield
• No. 21 LB target Marcel Brooks
• No. 25 OT target Devontae Dobbs
• No. 29 LB target Shane Lee
• No. 49 RB target Kenny McIntosh
• No. 59 OT target John Olmstead
• No. 64 OT target Will Putnam
• No. 69 DT target Jowon Briggs
• No. 70 WR target David Bell
• No. 71 OT target Quinn Carroll
• No. 82 QB target Dwan Mathis
• No. 89 OT commit Doug Nester
• No. 96 LB target Cade Stover
• No. 100 DE target Brandon Smith

This is an easy visual as to why Urban Meyer has dominated college football recruiting at Ohio State.

Quick Hit:

• Ohio State lost a member of its 2018 recruiting class late last night when four-star DE Andrew Chatfield de-committed from the program. Following the surprising news, the Florida Gators are the assumed favorite.

As we’ve stated previously, Land-Grant Holy Land wishes Chatfield nothing but the best going forward.

• Ohio State missed out on four-star WR Cameron Brown (Saint Louis, MO /Christian Brothers College) yesterday when he chose to re-commit to Nebraska over Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri.