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The NCAA College Football Playoffs have come to a close and we are still weeks away from National Signing Day — which has lost a lot of its luster since the Early Signing Period became a thing. That being said, there seems to be a bit of a newfound spark for Ohio State’s football program in its recruiting efforts. A lot of this effort can be attributed to the hire of co-defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs.
Now that Ohio State has its coaching staff solidified for next year, the team can get back to work bringing the nation’s top athletes to Columbus. The start of this week was more of the same.
Ohio State offers two elite talents
The Buckeyes’ coaching staff has been travelling all across the country lately, and on Monday their hard work continued to pay dividends as two of the country’s top talents took to Twitter to announce their official scholarship offers to Ohio State.
The first to announce the OSU offer was class of 2021 athlete Denzel Burke (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro). Burke, who is a four-star prospect, is sure to see an increase in his recruitment leading up to his senior year of high school football.
Blessed to earn an offer from the University of Ohio State!!! pic.twitter.com/QiYJDdYZgF
— Denzel Burke (@King10Burke) January 27, 2020
That is not to say that his recruitment has been slow to this point — the opposite in fact. Burke already holds scholarship offers from more than a dozen of the country’s top college football programs including Arizona, Arizona State, LSU, Auburn, Texas, UCLA, Oregon, Nebraska and now Ohio State.
The 6-foot, 189-pound Burke is the No. 16 athlete in the country and is the No. 182 overall prospect. Arizona has been good to Ohio State recruiting lately, and the Buckeyes will look to continue this trend with Burke.
The other Ohio State offer that was announced Monday came from one of the top prospects in the 2022 class. Defensive end Wilfredo Aybar (Fall River, MA/Cheshire Academy) took to Twitter to show off his new offer and can add it to an already impressive list, especially for someone who has completed just two seasons of high school football.
I am excited and thankful to have earned my 14th offer from THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ❗️#GoBucks @Coach_Mehleisen @coachdykeman @BrianDohn247 pic.twitter.com/EMAUvy3muP
— Wilfredo Aybar (@WillAybar1) January 27, 2020
Aybar may be young, but that doesn’t mean he has not shown enough for college football programs to take notice of his potential. Already holding more than a dozen offers, Aybar now can add Ohio State to his stacked docket.
There are no 247Sports Composite Rankings yet for the 2022 class, but when they are released, expect his name to be near the top if 247Sports’ own rankings are any indication. Currently, the recruiting database has him listed as the No. 1 DE in the class and the No. 4 overall prospect.
It is too early to name any frontrunners in his recruitment, but with Ohio State’s recent success in producing NFL talent DE’s, the Buckeyes are sure to grab his attention.
Quick Hits:
- As was previously mentioned, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has been travelling across the country to visit with Buckeye targets, but has also met with those already committed to the University. On Monday, we learned he visited with both early enrollee Gee Scott Jr.’s family as well as Lathan Ransom and his family.
Great to see @ryandaytime and @brianhartline today. Grateful that @geescottjr is in great hands at tOSU. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/6cSXDV66zO
— Gee Scott (@GeeScottSr) January 27, 2020
Appreciate Coach @ryandaytime stopping by. Can’t wait to get up to Columbus with the team #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/S5jbhFtbsS
— L8R (@L8thanRansom) January 27, 2020