Another weekend of standout performances for Ohio State commits

The Ohio State recruiting news has slowed down a bit — understandably so as the coaching staff is grinding to prepare for a football season that begins in 10 days. While they are definitely still putting in the work on the trail behind the scenes, the coaches are really starting to see the fruits of their early labor as many of their pledges already on board in the next two cycles have been showing out at the high school level.

Beginning with the guys in the 2021 class, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Kyle McCord really stole the show in Philadelphia St. Joseph’s big 41-24 season-opening win over Chester Life Christian Academy. Harrison was absolutely electric, as the son of the NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver hauled in eight passes for a whopping 212 yards and three touchdowns. Harrison was a favorite target of McCord, who totaled 361 yards passing and three TDs on the night.

You can check out these highlights of the McCord-Harrison connection to get a little glimpse of what to expect at Ohio State in the next few years:

It was a great night for a few future Buckeye blockers as well. Zen Michalski, the program’s most recent commit, looked stout in Floyd Central’s 42-14 blowout win over North Lawrence, while Donovan Jackson was one of the few bright spots for Houston Episcopal in their 49-10 loss to Beaumont West Brook.

Ohio State got a bit of a scare after corner Andre Turrentine went down with an ankle injury midway through the second quarter. He would miss the remainder of the game, but it was later determined that it was nothing too serious. Turrentine still managed to rack up six tackles, including one for loss, and catch five passes for 48 yards and a TD despite playing less than a half of football.

The 2022 class wasn’t without its fair share of standouts either. Although they are listed as linebackers, Dasan McCullough and Gabe Powers have really done it all for their respective teams all season long. McCullough made eight tackles with three for loss and caught six passes for 67 yards for Blue Valley North, while Powers tallied six tackles and rushed for 109 yards and two TDs on just 10 carries for Marysville.

Tight end Bennett Christian caught just one pass for 12 yards, but was lauded for his efforts in the blocking game. Christian’s output is a bit skewed, however, as he really only played one quarter with Allatoona up big on Osborne early.

Elsewhere in the 2022 group, Jyaire Brown was strong in Lakota West’s 44-0 shutout of West Clermont, deflecting a pass and returning a punt for 55 yards. His teammate, fellow OSU commit Tegra Tshabola, was a valuable part of Lakota West’s stout offensive line.

Quick Hits

• Everyone knows that ESPN’s recruiting rankings are not exactly the gold standard, but it is worth checking in on where Ohio State’s commits moved around in the updated ESPN300.

The biggest riser was Donovan Jackson, who jumped up 15 spots to No. 68. Other guys who moved up more than one spot include Jayden Ballard (up two to No. 48), Jakailin Johnson (up two to No. 85) and Jordan Hancock (up three to No. 99). The biggest fall was by Denzel Burke, who moved down six spots to No. 268.

Overall, 16 of the Buckeyes’ 20 commits are listed in the Top 300.