Buckeyes to host a top 2022 defensive end target for official visit

Ohio State is right in the heart of their fall football camp. On the practice fields, the top priority is gearing up for the start of the season — which is just three weeks from today. Seeing the social media content updates each day that show flashes of how talented this roster is should have fans both confident and excited for this team to once again be atop of the Big Ten and in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.

With all efforts mainly directed to the on-field product and the current group of players, recruiting does take a little bit of a backseat. In terms of visits and such, the staff will wait for that to resume during the season, as right now prospective recruits have their own seasons to focus on. Still, with how much of an importance recruiting is for the Ohio State program, developments are still rolling in and giving the program some good news as they continue to try and finish off a stellar 2022 class as well as kickstart the 2023 class.

Buckeyes will get official visit from big-time defensive end

Ohio State has yet to land a commit in the 2022 class on the defensive line. While that’s odd considering how successful the position group is in every cycle for the Buckeyes, there’s zero reason to panic right now. Larry Johnson and Ohio State are in on several top national players and have a great shot to land more than a few of their top guys on the target board when all is said and done.

On Wednesday, Ohio State did get some good news concerning defensive line recruiting when edge rusher Marvin Jones Jr. locked in an official visit to Ohio State when the Buckeyes take on Oregon in week two of the season, according to Lettermen Row. A four-star product out of American Heritage (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida), Jones is currently ranked as the seventh-best defensive lineman in the class as well as the 37th best player nationally per the 247Sports Composite grades. Additionally, according to On3.com, Jones Jr. — thanks to the reclassification of Ohio State’s Quinn Ewers — is now their highest ranked player in the country for the 2022 class.

At 30-plus offers to his name, Ohio State being able to get one of his five official visits is a big time feat for the Buckeyes. A player who hasn’t been pegged by most to be a realistic option for Ohio State, this official visit again shows he clearly has interest in the Buckeyes, and maybe moving forward Larry Johnson and the program become much more of a factor in his recruitment. Nevertheless, getting an elite talent such as Jones on campus isn’t something to write off, and as defensive line recruiting becomes more of a topic moving forward, this could be a name to keep an eye on.

Quick Hits

• During the month of June, Ohio State was able to host tons of visitors, but no prep program was probably more noticed or plentiful as California’s St. John Bosco. A premier program in the country at large, St. John Bosco has been kind to Ohio State the last few years, and due to their wealth of talent, the Buckeye staff is hoping to keep the trend continuing.

On Wednesday, 247Sports analyst Greg Biggins spoke with 2024 target Marcelles Williams, going in depth on his trip to Ohio State and what he came away with after visiting the Buckeyes. Not yet ranked due to his class status, see below for what Williams had to say to Biggins in regards to the Buckeyes.