Ohio State continues to send out offers during evaluation period

It’s been a busy week of offers in Buckeye recruiting. As they wait on possible commitments from players like quarterback Grant Gunnell, safety Jordan Battle, and offensive lineman Harry Miller, among others, Ohio State is having no issues keeping busy. They issued five offers Monday to 2020 stars like Jaquavion Fraziars, Rylie Mills, Fadil Diggs, and Chris Tyree, as well as 2019 tight end Ethan Rae.

We have you covered for all of that in yesterday’s addition of State Secrets, and on Tuesday, Ohio State issued two more offers. The two newest offers are to Permian (Odessa, TX) receiver Peyton Powell, and Miami Central (Hollywood, FL) cornerback Henry Gray. Let’s take a look at what these offers mean.

Peyton Powell

This offer is yet another case of Ohio State expanding their search for receivers in the 2019 class. Powell, a 6-foot-2, 182-pounder, plays both safety and receiver for his high school. Powell spent some time at quarterback according to his Twitter account.

This offer is, more likely than not, a result of a coach, or multiple coaches on Ohio State’s staff feeling confident that Powell is a bit of an underrated product, and wanting to get in on his recruitment early. He only holds 12 offers to this point, and comes in at 496th in 247Sports player rankings.

Ohio State is really his first major offer. He has also received offers from Baylor and Georgia Tech, as well as Arkansas and Texas Tech, but to this point, no blue blood schools have offered but Ohio State. When watching his film, it’s not hard to see why Ohio State likes him, though it’s also pretty easy to tell why he remains a bit under recruited.

Powell’s speed is his greatest asset. He’s blazing fast on tape, and absolutely electric with the ball in his hands. He’s a fantastic athlete, especially at 6-foot-2, and he obviously has the physical ability to play receiver at a high level. The reason he’s not been highly recruited as a receiver is because he rarely lines up as a receiver.

It’s hard to gleam much of anything from his film about his skills as a receiver, other than the fact that he’s fast, strong, and really dangerous with the ball. Urban Meyer loves to take at least one raw receiver prospect like this every class, and Powell fits that description very well.

Henry Gray

The offer to Gray is a very interesting one. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound cornerback is ranked No. 73 nationally in the 2020 class, and is widely considered to be one of the best corners in the entire class. What makes this offer so interesting, however, is that Gray has been committed to Miami since March 31, after he took an unofficial visit to the campus just miles from where he goes to school.

A 2020 commitment, at this point, means basically nothing. Gray is still two years out from signing with any school, and since his commitment, he’s picked up 10 offers, and will certainly continue to pick up more over the next few months. Ohio State is in now (they wouldn’t offer if they didn’t think they have a chance), and will likely try to get Gray on campus sometime this summer.

Here comes the boom?

Ohio State could be picking up their next commitment on Monday. Longtime linebacker target Brandon Smith announced on Twitter that he’d be announcing his commitment on May 21, at 5 p.m., from his high school. Ohio State offered the Mineral, Virginia, product way back in June 2017. He has visited Ohio State three times during his recruitment—most recently in April.

Despite their best efforts, I think the 6-foot-4, five-star product is likely headed elsewhere. Penn State has led this commitment for quite a while, and unless Texas A&M, Florida State or the Buckeyes make a late push, Smith is likely headed to Happy Valley.