2021 Ohio State commit officially a five-star prospect

It is a quiet time for college football recruiting with the Dead Period beginning on Feb. 2 and lasting until the beginning of March. However, don’t think for one second that this means there will be no Ohio State recruiting news this month.

In fact, on Monday the Buckeyes learned that a verbal commit of theirs in the 2021 class earned a fifth star in the updated Rivals rankings, as well as some of their targets.

The lone verbal commit among Rivals 14 five-star prospects was defensive end Jack Sawyer (Pickerington, OH/Pickerington North) who was slotted at No. 8.

Sawyer, who committed to the Buckeyes more than a year ago, has long been viewed as one of the top prospects in the country. Now a top-10 prospect according to Rivals, Sawyer is the No. 2 SDE in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 2 overall prospect in the country overall.

While he was the only verbal commit Ohio State had in the rankings, the Buckeyes are on good terms with multiple other prospects that made the cut. Alongside Sawyer, defensive back Tony Grimes, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, running back Camar Wheaton and defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau were all listed as five-stars, and all have connections to the Buckeyes.

Of the four Ohio State targets to make Rivals list, Egbuka and Tuimoloau seem to have the best chance to end up joining Sawyer in Columbus, with Wheaton appearing to be the least likely future Buckeye.

Quick Hits:

• Four-star 2021 Ohio State WR target Gavin Blackwell committed elsewhere Monday, joining Mack Brown at North Carolina. Blackwell had narrowed his search down to UNC, Ohio State, LSU and Florida, but the general consensus has been that he would end up with the Tar Heels.

• An incredibly important position for Ohio State in 2021 will be running back, and one of their top targets in the class will be announcing his top six this week. Four-star RB Evan Pryor announced via Twitter that he will be narrowing down his list sometime in the next few days, and the Buckeyes will hope to make the cut. Pryor is the No. 6 RB in the cycle and No. 86 player overall in 2021.