Four-star offensive lineman plans official visit to Ohio State

Christmas comes and Christmas goes, but OSU recruiting is permanent. No matter the season, holiday or otherwise, the machinations of getting high school prospects to join your program roll on. Plans are being made for the 2021 class, with a big focus on getting them on campus in the spring.

One such player is Jager Burton, a four-star offensive guard. He’s the No. 1 player in Kentucky, and the No. 5 guard in the class. The highly sought after guard told Bucknuts that he will be giving Ohio State an official visit in the spring, along with Oregon and Penn State. He also said that Clemson and Alabama will most likely get a visit, and his hometown University of Kentucky rounds out his top six.

Recruits only get five official visits, and they are usually one of the best indicators that a player is truly interested in your program. For example, commitments shortly followed the official visits for CJ Stroud (who traveled to Columbus Dec. 14 and signed Dec. 18) and on the flip-side for Clark Phillips III, who took his visit to Utah Dec. 14 and committed to them Dec. 19.

Burton was here for the Penn State game in an unofficial capacity, and given his relative proximity it wouldn’t be shocking to see him a couple more times. Official visits are a different animal, however, and spring could be the scene of another Ohio State victory.

More crystal balls come up Ohio State for rising three-star receiver

Troy Stellato released his top six on Christmas, and the usual suspects are there, along with a surprise appearance from North Carolina and USC. Top sixes usually don’t mean too much for a program like Ohio State, where pretty much every top prospect lists the Buckeyes. However, something to put slightly more credence in however are 247 crystal ball predictions.

247 crystal balls aren’t everything, and sometimes they can be silly — like when people put them out after recruits have committed. But as the saying goes, where there is smoke there is fire, and crystal balls are smoky indeed. Stellato is a fast rising three-star wide receiver from Florida that the Buckeyes got in on very early. As a result, he’s had two Ohio State predictions in for him for a long time. However, all of a sudden this season, he has blown up.

From Sept. 15 to Oct. 5, an 18-day span, he earned offers from OSU, Florida, Penn State, LSU, Alabama, Miami, USC, Oregon, FSU and Clemson to name the big ones. That certainly threw a wrench into what originally looked like a slam dunk for the Buckeyes. However, recently it may be more locked up than expected, even with the entry of all the rest of the big boys into the picture. He got two more crystal balls for Ohio State around the same time on Dec. 22, both from recruiting insiders in his home state of Florida.

Clearly something happened for two different insiders to make their decision within an hour of each other, and it sounds quite good for OSU. Perhaps it was the early loyalty from Ryan Day and the coaching staff that has locked him up. While Ohio State didn’t officially offer him until Sept. 15, they were one of his first unofficial visits (April 13, 2019) and the first big program to take major notice of him.

Brian Hartline is a magician on the recruiting trail, and early on it looks like he’s continuing that with Stellato, stealing yet another out of state prospect from under the noses of the other blue bloods.