BOOOOM! Four-star TE Benji Gosnell commits to Ohio State

There have been a lot of rumors swirling around in the 2022 class when it comes to Ohio State. There have been tons of four and five-star prospects getting their names thrown around involving the Buckeyes in the past few weeks. However, on Wednesday night, Ryan Day and his staff secured a commitment from a guy that hadn’t been involved in any of these rumors.

Making his decision public via Instagram Live, four-star tight end Benji Gosnell announced that he has committed to Ohio State. Gosnell, out of East Surry High School in North Carolina, is the No. 11 TE in the 2022 class, and the No. 265 player in the nation overall according to the 247Sports Composite.

With a total of around 18 offers for the 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior, Gosnell’s final decision came down to Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio State. The Buckeyes were actually one of the most recent schools to send an official offer his way, with that coming on June 2, but Gosnell quickly fell in love with the coaching staff in Columbus and everything the program has to offer.

“I haven’t visited there yet but I’ve taken tons of virtual visits with them. I learned all about their strength coach, their strength staff, nutrition, every single aspect of football from their training groups to their tight ends room,” Gosnell told 247Sports’ Steve Wilftong. “Coach (Kevin) Wilson is a great dude, Coach Ryan Day he’s a great coach. They’re always a top program and I always enjoy texting with Coach Day. Me and him text quite a bit during the week, we just talk about life and he’s a great dude.”

It was pretty clear earlier in the week that Ohio State was likely going to be Gosnell’s choice come Wednesday night. On Sunday morning, he announced via Twitter that he had chosen his commitment date, and shortly thereafter the Crystal Balls came rolling in for the Buckeyes. By that same afternoon, a trio of predictions had come in Ohio State’s favor, including from some very familiar sources in Wiltfong and OSU insider Bill Kurelic, as well as Florida insider Blake Alderman.

Gosnell is aware of the ways in which Ohio State uses its tight ends, and isn’t overly concerned with a potential lack of production in the passing game. He understands that there is more to the tight end position than catching the ball, and is ready to contribute in any way he can.

“I think they had 1,025 snaps with a tight end in there,” Gosnell told cleveland.com in June. “That’s one of the first things me and Coach Wilson discussed the first time we talked is how much they use tight ends. The diversity of things they do with the tight ends. ... It would bring any tight end a lot of excitement to get an offer from there.”

That being said, Gosnell had to like what he saw from the Buckeyes’ offense on Saturday against Penn State. Jeremy Ruckert was third in receptions against the Nittany Lions, behind only Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, and hauled in a pair of TD catches, while Luke Farrell and Jake Hausmann each had a catch for a combined 29 yards. With the embarrassment of riches Ohio State will have at wide receiver these next few years and how much opposing defenses will have to commit to stopping them, it could open things up for the tight ends to get more involved — especially in the red zone.

As a sophomore a year ago, Gosnell hauled in 25 catches for 422 yards and five TDs. He is more of a pass-catching tight end than Ohio State’s other 2022 TE commit in Bennett Christian, who is a great in-line blocker, and so the two will complement each other well at the next level.

Want to see what made Gosnell Ohio State’s top tight end target in 2022? Check out these highlights from his sophomore campaign at East Surry: