Four-star Michigan DT has Ohio State in top 10

Monday began what is considered a recruiting dead period in college football — one that extends until the end of the month. A dead period is the most restrictive of all the NCAA recruiting periods, and forbids coaches to have any in-person contact with recruits and their families, as well as halting any and all in-home or on-campus visits.

While this usually means there will be significantly less recruiting news and updates over this period of time, that is not always the case. Athletes and coaches are still allowed to communicate by phone, email, social media and any other forms of contact that isn’t face-to-face. As a result, you can expect all of the top programs — including Ohio State, of course — to remain in constant talks with top targets in the upcoming classes.

Even in the midst of the dead period, Ryan Day and the rest of the staff received good news on Tuesday when the top player in the rival state to the north listed OSU among his top-10 schools.

Damon Payne, a four-star defensive tackle in the 2021 class, is the No. 31 player in the country and No. 1 player in Michigan. Ohio State just recently pillaged one of the top players from the state in 2020 in Cameron Martinez, and will certainly be looking to do the same with Payne. Anytime Day has an opportunity to steal a player away from the Wolverines, who have also made Payne’s top-10, you can be sure he will take that shot.

Payne would be a big addition to an already impressive 2021 class for Ohio State currently ranked No. 1 in the country by 247Sports. The Buckeyes are putting together one heck of a future along the defensive line, already having secured the No. 2 player in the country and No. 1 player in Ohio in defensive end Jack Sawyer, as well as the No. 9 player in Ohio in defensive tackle Mike Hall just a few days ago. Payne would be the third defensive lineman in a class currently containing 10 commitments in total.

Quick Hits

• There have been rumors floating around that one of the Buckeyes’ top targets in 2021, four-star linebacker Barrett Carter, had silently committed to Georgia this past weekend. The No. 6 OLB in the class cleared things up on Twitter early Tuesday morning.

Ohio State sent Kerry Coombs and Al Washington along with Ryan Day to North Gwinnett last week to meet with Carter and teammate Jordan Hancock, a four-star cornerback. With all three of those high-profile coaches making the trip into SEC country, the two athletes are clearly big priorities for the Buckeyes moving forward.