Ohio State gears up for early signing period

These are busy times for Ohio State’s coaching staff — especially first-year head coach Ryan Day.

The Buckeyes are treating this week’s practice like it is a game week. In order to prepare for its College Football Playoff matchup with Clemson, Ohio State is taking no days off, knowing just what is at stake.

On top of that, Wednesday kicks off the early signing period for the 2020 recruiting class. Ohio State is expecting the majority of its verbal commits to sign on the dotted line over the next few days. There shouldn’t be any surprises (positive or negative) as Day has mentioned on multiple occasions he expects all defensive backs committed in the class to sign with the team following the announcement that assistant coach Jeff Hafley will be leaving for the head coaching job at Boston College following this season.

While Ohio State’s class is mostly finalized, there is one recruit the Buckeyes are still hoping to add to the class that has yet to join.

CJ Stroud announces commitment details

The missing piece for Ohio State’s 2020 recruiting class is four-star quarterback CJ Stroud (Rancho Cucamonga, CA/Rancho Cucamonga).

The elite QB has long been associated with Ohio State and contact has only increased as the class has winded down. That being said, the Buckeyes have been competing with Georgia, USC and Michigan for the strong-arm QB down the stretch. While the Buckeyes remain the favorite, Stroud has kept things close to the vest lately and nobody is certain what he is going to do.

On Monday we gained a bit more insight into his recruitment as we learned exactly when and where he will be announcing his decision.

The Buckeyes already hold a commitment from a QB in 2020 in four-star Jack Miller, but Day has consistently made it known how important it is for this team to have four quarterbacks on the roster come next year. If the Buckeyes are not Stroud’s selection tomorrow, the team will be forced to switch focus and potentially miss out on adding the desired depth to the position.

Stroud is the nation’s No. 2- ranked pro-style QB in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and will not only be announcing his commitment tomorrow, he will also be signing his National Letter of Intent. Wednesday will certainly be jam packed with news, so make sure to follow Land-Grant Holy Land as we will be keeping you up to date with all of Ohio State’s commitments.

Quick Hits:

• Another Ohio State verbal commit, DB Lathan Ransom, reaffirms his pledge to Ohio State.

• Ohio State 2020 OT commit Paris Johnson Jr. was named a Sports Illustrated first-team All-American