4-star center sets visit to Ohio State

While football may have dominated the headlines on Wednesday, the Ohio State Buckeyes basketball program got some good news on the recruiting trail. One of the top prospects in the 2019 class listed out where he planned on making visits—and the Bucks found themselves penciled in.

Four-star center Omar Payne (Montverde, FL / Montverde Academy) had four of his official visits listed out in a tweet.

While the home state schools of Florida and Florida State get to see Payne early in his visit cycle, Ohio State gets a window to show the No. 37 overall prospect in the class what the program has to offer. Payne is penciled in to visit OSU from Sept. 21-Sept. 23.

Getting a top-15 center would be huge for head coach Chris Holtmann, as it would continue his trend of solid recruiting in his short time in Columbus. Payne is listed as the 11th best center in his class, according to the 247sports composite. Additionally, he’s graded as the seventh best player to come out of Florida.

Early crystal ball predictions, though, indicate that the Gators have the lead for the 6-foot-9 shot stopper. Of the four predictions that have been casted, two of them go to UF, while one each go to FSU and LSU.

LSU has a chance to gain even more ground, as they get an official visit with Payne starting Oct. 12. In addition to the official visit, an in-home visit is penciled in for Sept. 10.

Two members are already in OSU’s class for 2019—and they are pretty good recruits. Five-star point guard DJ Carton and four-star small forward Alonzo Gaffney currently headline the class, but that could change if Holtmann impresses Payne on his visit.