Ohio State shifts recruiting focus to 2021

Ryan Day had himself an incredible first true recruiting class as Ohio State’s head football coach. The Buckeyes currently sit at No. 3 in the country in the 247Sports class rankings, and still have a blue-chip prospect they are chasing in four-star ATH Cameron Martinez (Muskegon, MI/Muskegon).

As a result, Ohio State’s coaching staff can now shift focus to next year’s class, one that is off to a great start. The Buckeyes currently hold six verbal commits in the 2021 recruiting class — good for No. 2 in the country — and they have barely scratched the surface.

5-star DE sets commitment date

One of Ohio State’s top targets in the 2021 recruiting class is strong-side defensive end Tunmise Adeleye (Katy, TX/Tompkins). The five-star prospect would be a perfect candidate to become the next elite DE to develop at Ohio State before making their way to the NFL.

For the majority of his recruitment, the plan for Adeleye has been to commit on Jan. 8, however his plan changed drastically on Monday. Unable to make official visits to Ohio State and Oklahoma, the highly regarded prospect now plans to announce on Aug. 1, and will be releasing his top six schools on Tuesday at 12 p.m. central time.

Adeleye originally had planned to visit with Ohio State in November, but had to cancel. Since then, he has been waiting to make the trip to Columbus as well as sharing the same desire to visit with Oklahoma. It only makes sense that he delays his recruitment until he is able to make those visits.

The Buckeyes will look to make the cut for Adeleye later today, and will likely be joined by Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Auburn and Florida State.

Adeleye is the No. 3 SDE in the 2021 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 26 overall prospect in the country.

4-star CB reps Ohio State

With the recent announcement that Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley will be leaving the program to become the head coach of Boston College, the Buckeyes are already feeling a bit of the aftermath.

While the team was able to keep the majority of their verbal commits in the secondary in the 2020 class, their top-rated DB Clark Phillips III spurned the program during the early signing period for home-state program Utah.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the loss doesn’t seem to be extending to next year’s class, as four-star cornerback prospect Avante Dickerson (Omaha, NE/Westside) took to Twitter Monday to rep the Buckeyes. He did make sure to mention, however, that he has not yet committed to the program.

Dickerson clarified his recruitment is still open, but the tweet speaks volumes to how Ohio State is doing in his recruitment. That being said, all of the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions favor hometown school Nebraska, and the Buckeyes have had limited success historically recruiting in the Cornhusker State.

Ohio State is surely still in the running for Dickerson, so expect them to find a way to get him on campus at least once in the coming year.

Quick Hits:

• One of Ohio State’s targets in the 2021 recruiting class committed elsewhere on Monday, as four-star safety Hunter Wohler chose to stay at home and play for Big Ten foe Wisconsin.