Ohio State men’s basketball offers in-state small forward

Ohio State’s men’s basketball program has picked up the intensity on the recruiting trail as of late. Chris Holtmann and the Ohio State coaching staff has built an impressive recruiting class in 2022. The class sits at No. 2 in the country following the commitment from four-star power forward Brice Sensabaugh just a few weeks ago.

The class now holds five verbal commitments and Sensabaugh was likely the last commitment to join. With the class being full, coach Holtmann and Ohio State have quickly shifted focus to the 2023 class. While the Buckeyes have not yet secured a commitment in next year’s class, the team has been busy building relationships from the best recruits in the country.

This trend continued as the Buckeyes played host to one of the up and coming recruits from the state of Ohio this past weekend. Small forward Devin Royal of Pickerington, Ohio was on campus visiting the Ohio State basketball program and after a successful visit, he left with an official scholarship offer from the University.

Royal has seen his recruitment take off recently. Prior to visiting with Ohio State, Royal completed an unofficial visit with Penn State. He also holds offers from some of the top programs in the country including Xavier, Marquette, Dayton, Miami (Oh), Akron, Ohio, Toledo, Kent State, Kansas State.

While the majority of his recruitment has focused with schools within Ohio, he is also beginning to see action from outside of the state. This will likely continue through the following year as more schools show interest and present scholarship offers.

Royal’s recruitment is still relatively early but Ohio State has already taken notice. Royal is now the fourth recruit from the state of Ohio to receive a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes. He joins the likes of four-star shooting guard Rayvon Griffith, center Austin Parks and four-star combo-guard Lawrent Rice.

Chris Holtmann is making it known he is making recruiting the state of Ohio a priority for the upcoming class. The Buckeyes were only able to bring in one recruit from Ohio in their 2022 class in three-star shooting guard Bowen Hardman. However, they were successful in securing a commitment from the top recruit from Ohio in 2021 in Malaki Branham as well as the No. 4 prospect from Ohio, three-star power forward Kalen Etzler.

Look for Holtmann and the men’s basketball Buckeyes to keep in contact with Royal as his recruitment continues to grow. Check out a quick glimpse of what Ohio State could be getting in Royal from Zach Fleer of 270Hoops:

Quick Hits:

• Ohio State’s football team played host to 2023 Ohio athlete Cam Smith over the weekend. A 6-foot, 185-pound athlete, Smith plays on both sides of the ball for his prep squad as both a defensive back and receiver. Smith’s recruitment has taken off as of late as he completed a visit to Notre Dame prior to his Ohio State visit. However, it appears as if Smith’s visit couldn’t have gone any better than planned.

• Ohio State 2022 four-star wide receiver commit Kaleb Brown was presented with his virtual All-American Jersey on Monday.