Ohio State five-star RB commit set to visit for ‘Buckeye Bash’

The extended recruiting dead period has shifted the college football recruiting landscape significantly. In a normal year, recruits from around the nation would be gearing up to visit the collegiate schools of choice.

However, 2020 has been far from normal. Since March, recruits have been unable to visit with colleges. This obstacle has led to much certainty among both recruits and college football programs around the country.

The dead period has currently been extended through Jan. 1, 2021, and there is no word on if it will be further extended. There is some hope, as all of the power five conferences have committed to having a season. However, with seasons now being guaranteed, ensuring the entire football program is quarantined properly in efforts to avoid COVID-19 could outweigh the want to get high school recruits on college campuses.

But the dead period has not stopped recruits from finding their own way around visiting with campuses, as recruits have been planning their own visits to college campuses to get an idea of the school. It appears at least one Buckeye commitment is planning to make a visit to Ohio State for its kickoff weekend of Oct. 24th.

Bill Kurelic of Bucknuts hinted at the Buckeyes hosting at least one of their top commitments opening weekend, and five-star running back commit TreVeyon Henderson (Hopewell, VA/Hopewell) appears to confirm it is him.

That weekend appears to be what is slowly taking shape as “Buckeye Bash” — a player-driven recruiting get-together similar to the Sooner Summit at Oklahoma. While Ohio State’s coaches and staff can’t meet face to face with recruits, there is nothing stopping prospects from putting together their own scheduled visit as a group.

According to Eleven Warriors, many Ohio Sate commits will be in town to watch the Buckeyes play Nebraska from somewhere on or near campus, with guys like Evan Pryor and Jack Sawyer also confirmed to be making the trip. Five-star OT Tristan Leigh has been rumored as potentially visiting Columbus that weekend as well, but that has not been confirmed.

While Henderson’s recruitment has never been viewed as one to be “up in the air” it is still good news to see the Buckeyes getting their guys on campus. Henderson, being in Virginia, will not be able to play his senior season of high school football. Because of this, he plans to enroll at Ohio State early in the spring. The more time Henderson can spend with OSU, the better prepared he will be when he joins the team.

Henderson is the No. 2 RB in the country and the No. 20 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Make sure to keep up with Land-Grant Holy Land, as the visitor list for opening weekend will likely be long.

Quick Hits:

• On Monday night, three-star OT Zen Michalski decommitted from Louisville. This is significant news for Ohio State, which has seemingly made an aggressive push to steal the Indiana native in the last few weeks. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Michalski become a part of Ohio State’s 2021 class relatively soon. Kurelic has already submitted a Crystal Ball in favor of the Buckeyes shortly after the decommitment.

• Previously mentioned 2021 Ohio State five-star RB commit TreVeyon Henderson will receive his All-American jersey Wednesday evening.