Ohio State makes the cut for four-star Center

Ohio State was business as usual on Monday, making the recruiting headlines in both basketball and football. In case your start to the week was as busy as the Buckeyes’, don’t worry, Land-Grant Holy Land has you covered.

Basketball Buckeyes make cut for four-star C

Chris Holtmann has proven in his time at Ohio State to be a great hire to lead the Buckeyes on the hardwood in the post-Thad Matta era. Holtmann has brought success to the program both on and off the court. Ohio State has become a serious basketball program under Holtmann, but where the Buckeyes have found the most success to date has been on the recruiting trail.

What may be the one weak spot for Holtmann has been the lack of a true post presence. While the Buckeyes were one of the nation’s top teams this past season, all of Buckeye Nation was able to point to the lack of a rim protector down low as the shortcoming (no pun intended) of the team.

Following the end of the season, Ohio State was able to secure the commitment from former Indiana center Joey Brunk. However, as helpful as Brunk will be next season, Ohio State needs to be able to bring in a blue-chip prospect at the position in the 2022 class — one that already contains three commitments from blue-chip guards: Roddy Gayle Jr., Bruce Thornton, and Bowen Hardman.

Fortunately on Monday, the Buckeyes made the cut for one of their top targets at the position: four-star center Donovan Clingan.

Alongside Ohio State, Clingan listed Michigan, Georgetown, Syracuse, UConn, Providence, Rutgers and Notre Dame in his top eight schools moving forward.

The update in Clingan’s recruitment was the first in a while, as he has kept his recruitment rather close to the vest. At this point there are no Crystal Ball predictions for the Bristol, Connecticut native, although UConn may be viewed as the early favorite due to proximity alone.

Expect Holtmann and Ohio State to try and get Clingan on campus sooner than later, as the recruiting dead period is seemingly coming to an end.

Clingan is the No. 42 overall prospect in the nation and is No. 6 at his position. He is also the top player from Connecticut.

Ohio State offers 2022 FL Athlete

We could go into details about how impressive Ohio State’s football program has been in the 2022 recruiting cycle, but anyone who follows the football team knows by know just how much Ryan Day and the coaching staff’s work has paid off.

The class is viewed as one of the best in the nation, and there is still plenty of time left. The Buckeyes certainly have a list of priority targets they wish to earn commitments from to finish out the class, but they are also making sure to leave no stone unturned. This held true Monday when the program officially sent a scholarship offer to Florida athlete Kye Stokes.

Stokes has yet to receive a star ranking in the 247Sports Composite Rankings, but this will likely change when they release their final update. In the past week, Stokes has seen his recruitment blow up, and has since been one of the most popular names. Offers from the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee and Notre Dame have all rolled in over the past week. It is easy to tell by this impressive list that Stokes’ recruitment is taking off.

Stokes has just one official visit scheduled thus far, and that is to Indiana on June 18. If Ohio State is able to get him on campus in either an official or unofficial visit, expect them to jump to legitimate contender status. However, at this point it is anybody’s guess where he ends up.

With his recruitment just recently blowing up, expect him to do his due diligence before coming to a decision.

Quick Hits

• Ohio State 2022 four-star cornerback target Austin Jordan took to Twitter Monday to confirm he will be taking an official visit to Columbus the weekend of June 11-13.