Ohio State four-star OLB target to announce later this month

Monday’s are always one of the busiest days of the work week. While you were spending time getting ready for the week, you may have missed Ohio State making the recruiting headlines. Don’t worry, Land-Grant Holy Land has you covered.

Ohio State four-star OLB has commitment date in mind

Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class is off to an incredible start. Following the weekend commitment of four-star WR Kyion Grayes, the program’s hold on the top spot in the recruiting rankings grew even stronger.

One of the biggest reasons behind the Buckeyes having the top class right now is their impressive haul at linebacker, a position that was made a priority in the class early on. Of Ohio State’s 11 verbal commitments, three are projected to play LB at the next level, and the Buckeyes want to add at least one more to go alongside the likes of Gabe Powers, C.J. Hicks, and Dasan McCullough.

Four-star OLB Jalon Walker has long been a name associated with the Buckeyes, including them among his top six schools late last year, and on Monday he announced he has a commitment date in mind set for later this month.

While typically learning a commitment date for an Ohio State is good news, this is not the case for Walker. The four-star OLB has long made it clear he wanted to visit Columbus before making a decision. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic creating an unprecedented dead period, he has been unable to make the trip to Ohio State.

With this in mind, a commitment date of later this month would seemingly mean Ohio State is on the outside looking in on this one. It isn’t exactly set in stone as of right now, but long-time favorite Clemson looks to have this one wrapped up.

Missing out on Walker would certainly be a big miss, but the Buckeyes are not done recruiting the position. In addition to the already committed blue-chip LB’s, the Buckeyes are also legitimate contenders for five-star ILB Shawn Murphy.

Buckeyes offer two elite TEs

If there was any question about if the Buckeyes would be targeting a tight end in the 2023 recruiting class after already holding commitments from 2022 TE’s Benji Gosnell and Bennett Christian, it has now been answered. To kick off the week, Ohio State dished out offers to two of the best at the position in the soon-to-be junior class.

Starting things off first was four-star Jaxon Howard who announced his Ohio State offer early Monday morning.

As is shown above, the offer is one of dozens Howard has already received. With only two years of high school ball under his belt, Ohio State is joining the likes of Georgia, LSU, Florida, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington and many more.

The blue-chip prospect is listed as the top athlete in the state of Minnesota, but projects as a tight end at the next level. He is also viewed as a top 50 overall prospect in the entire 2023 recruiting class according to 247Sports’ own rankings. But Howard was not alone Monday, as the Buckeyes offered another top TE projection in the 2023 class in Mac Markway, who showed off his Ohio State offer just a couple hours after Howard.

Similar to Howard, Markway holds at least two dozen scholarships after two years of high school football. Alongside Ohio State, Markway also holds offers from the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Washington and plenty of others.

Markway is currently viewed as a four-star prospect by 247Sports and is the No. 3 TE in the class. 247Sports also views him as a top 100 prospect, regardless of position.

After not securing a commitment from a TE in the 2021 recruiting class, as well as the likelihood of losing most of the talent at the position currently on the roster in the coming year, the Buckeyes appear poised to fully replenish the room in the next two classes. Both Howard and Markway would make for great additions to Ohio State’s 2023 class.